Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) IT strategy and procurement approach is aligned with the Government Commercial Function paper "Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments". The FCO believes that disaggregating major IT supplier contracts can give better visibility and control, as well as deliver substantial cost savings. We are planning the disaggregation of our major expiring IT contracts and maintain regular contact with colleagues in the Cabinet Office to ensure our IT strategy is in step with wider Government policy.
The FCO has also carried out significant market insight activity to guide its disaggregation approach towards a vision of market-aligned, cloud-first services. The size and skill mix of our in-house management team is being reviewed to ensure it has the skills and resources ready to manage supplier and service transition effectively.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times his Department's Senior Information Risk Officer role has been vacant for a week or longer since 2012.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO) role has not been vacant for a week or longer since 2012.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many data incidents his Department (a) recorded and (b) reported to the Information Commissioner's Office in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Information regarding incidents involving the loss or compromise of personal data is published in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Annual Report and Accounts.
The figures concerned are on page 41 of the 2017 report and page 54 of the 2016 report.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations any Minister of his Department has received from Bell Pottinger on behalf of (a) Atos IT Services UK Limited, (b) Centrica PLC, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) Monarch Holdings Limited.
Answered by Mark Field
No written ministerial correspondence has been received in 2017 from Bell Pottinger on behalf of Atos IT Services UK Limited, Centrica Plc, Ernst & Young and Monarch Holdings Limited.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to the House of Lords European Union Committee on 31 October, how many civil servants his Department (a) has recruited and (b) expects to recruit to work on leaving the EU.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) keeps its staff numbers under regular review in response to Ministerial priorities. Furthermore, the FCO works closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union and other Government Departments to prepare for EU Exit. Staff within the FCO's Europe Directorate lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues. However, staff across the Department leading on other issues also provide advice and analysis as required. It is therefore not possible to give an accurate figure for the number of officials working on issues related to the UK leaving the EU, given the interactions between EU Exit work and the FCO's other priorities.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the transparency document entitled FCO ministers: travel - April to June 2017, which tickets relating to which journeys were (a) first, (b) business, (c) economy and (d) any other class; and what the cost of each such ticket was.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office publishes details of all ministerial travel on a quarterly basis in full accordance with the Cabinet Office requirements and processes.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which public telephone lines for his Department's services are charged at higher rates; and how much was taken by each such telephone line in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office public telephone numbers are prefixed with either London or Milton Keynes codes, or are of the local call rate type. No premium rate numbers are used.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of his Department's spend in the last year has been with Government strategic suppliers.
Answered by Alan Duncan
In FY16-17 the Department spent 10 per cent through Government Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Strategic Suppliers.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department holds a central list of the IT and digital assets of its arm's-length bodies.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office only holds details of its own IT and digital assets, including those located at arms-length bodies. Separate systems owned and used by the FCO’s arms-length bodies are managed by their own IT departments.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many diplomatic positions have been established since June 2016; and what the cost of their salaries is to the public purse.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO keeps its staff numbers under regular review in response to Ministerial priorities. Since June 2016, in response to the EU referendum, we have added 50 diplomatic positions to our Europe network and a further 6 positions at multilateral posts. The cost of posting these staff – including salary, overseas compensation and accommodation – is £4.2 million. Some of these posts have been funded through resource efficiencies and re-prioritisation identified by the Diplomacy 20:20 transformation programme.