Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps their Department is taking to improve response times to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs). The department has an established central team dedicated to responding to WPQs accurately and within Table Office deadlines.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps their Department is taking to improve the response time to FOI requests.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO takes its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act very seriously and will continue to strive to answer Freedom of Information (FOI) requests within the required timescales.
We have taken a number of steps aimed at improving response times. To date, the FCDO has:
· Undertaken a series of recruitment exercises to fill vacancies within the team.
· Dedicated resources to additional surge capacity slots to help speed up processing times.
· Created a dedicated Subject Access Request team.
We have undertaken a two stage review:
· Stage 1: (June 2023) The bringing together of Knowledge and Information Management Services with the Information Rights Unit to align all information related responsibilities in one place.
· Stage 2: (October 2023) To review our FOI process in the FCDO.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO's Consular Crisis Strategy [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consular-and-crisis-strategy-2022/consular-and-crisis-strategy-2022] emphasises our commitment to 24/7 accessibility and increasing the number and quality of digital services available for the public.
We build and run our digital services in line with cross government standards covering accessibility and user experience, including the GOV.UK Service Manual [https://www.gov.uk/service-manual] and the Technology Code of Practice [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-technology-code-of-practice]. Our content published on the gov.uk domain is covered by the GOV.UK Accesibility Statement [https://www.gov.uk/help/accessibility-statement].
We have an ongoing programme to improve our digital services, which includes accessibility testing and user research. Recent examples include improvements to our Travel Advice service and Emergency Travel Documents service.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what data their Department holds on the average response time to enquiries by Members; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence and endeavours to respond to all correspondence within Cabinet Office timeframes. However, we do not hold central records on average response times and this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. Correspondence data for all Government Departments is published annually by the Cabinet Office [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers-2022].
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what has been the average time taken to respond to public inquiries by his Department in each of the last five years; and whether he plans to introduce measures to improve this.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence and endeavours to respond to all correspondence within Cabinet Office timeframes. However, we do not hold central records on average response times and this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps they are taking to reduce backlogs of Member correspondence in their office.
Answered by David Rutley
Since COVID the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been working hard to clear its correspondence backlog. Correspondence data for all Government Departments is published annually by the Cabinet Office [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers-2022]. The FCDO has implemented a successful programme of work to streamline correspondence processes and this has significantly reduced the overall correspondence backlog year on year as shown below:
June 2021 - 932 letters
June 2022 - 199 letters
June 2023 - 60 letters
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if they will take steps to visit Solihull constituency in 2023.
Answered by David Rutley
The Foreign Secretary has no plans at present for a visit to Solihull constituency in 2023.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average time taken by his Department to respond to freedom of information requests in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by David Rutley
For the majority of the financial year 2022-23 the FCDO's response rate to Freedom of Information Requests (FOIs) was well above 80 percent on time. In the 3rd Quarter there was a dip in performance due to a number of factors including:
· An upsurge in Subject Access Requests and FOIs relating to Sanctions
· A historical issue with vacancies within the Information Rights Team
· An increase in Internal Reviews from requesters after an FOI was closed
In the final Quarter of 2022-23 the response rate recovered to around 80 percent on time. We continue to work to improve on this.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information their Department holds on the level of staff retention; and what steps they are taking to improve staff retention.
Answered by David Rutley
For all people leaving the FCDO, the FCDO records their leaving date and their leaving reason from a set list of options. This informs FCDO turnover rates. While some staff turnover is natural and appropriate, to prevent undesirable departures the FCDO is investing in staff retention through a variety of actions, including its implementation of the 2023 FCDO pay award for UK Based Staff (UKBS) and Country Based Staff (CBS), its ongoing development of a capability framework to support staff career planning, and its ongoing organisational responses to the 2022 Civil Service People Survey results for the FCDO.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what their Departments policy is on Civil Servants in their Department working from home and receiving the London Weighting Allowance.
Answered by David Rutley
If a role is based in a London FCDO Office, the role holder is eligible for a London Location Allowance (LLA) or a London Allowance (LA) dependent on their terms and conditions. The allowances only apply while an individual is London-based and will be removed if they change their usual place of work. The FCDO expects individuals to attend their usual place of work in line with the FCDO Hybrid Working policy.