Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on (a) art, (b) wine and (c) hospitality in each of the last seven financial years for which figures are available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
a) The information regarding the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) expenditure on art is publicly available as part of the FCO's annual report on the gov.uk website. The FCO accounts for art as expenditure under Antiques and Works of Art representations of the FCO.
b) No central record is held of global expenditure on wines and spirits in the UK and overseas FCO. The Government Wine Cellar is managed by the FCO's Protocol Department and has been self-financing since 2011: costs are covered by sales of older, higher value stock. An annual report on the Government Wine Cellar is presented to Parliament each year under cover of a Written Ministerial Statement and is available on the gov.uk website.
c) The FCO accounts for its hospitality expenditure under Representation of the FCO and Business Hospitality. The total cost is
2010-11 | £7,840,245 |
2011-12 | £8,206,034 |
2012-13 | £9,096,057 |
2013-14 | £9,010,820 |
2014-15 | £8,177,552 |
2015-16 | £7,984,424 |
2016-17 | £9,386,848 |
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether electronic communications from hon. Members to Ministers of his Department are passed through any third parties before they reach their recipient.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Electronic communications are passed across the internet via internet service providers. The routing of an email between members of Parliament and a Government department is dependent on which system and by which service the email is sent. Ministers' Private Offices and correspondence teams routinely handle and respond to emails on behalf of their Ministers.Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what grant in aid was awarded to the trustees of Chevening in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Alistair Burt
None.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the annual running costs of No. 1 Carlton Gardens were in each of the last seven years for which figures are available.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The annual running costs for 1 Carlton Gardens are shown below:
Financial year 2010/11 £751,802
Financial year 2011/12 £766,524
Financial year 2012/13 £721,231
Financial year 2013/14 £740,332
Financial year 2014/15 £933,736
Financial year 2015/16 £850,099
Financial year 2016/17 £984,491
The rise between 2013/14 and 2014/15 was due to an increase in annual rent (following a Crown Estates rent review). The rise between 2015/2016 and 2016/17 was primarily due to increased security costs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many protected disclosures were made by staff in his Department in each of the last three years for which figures are available; how many such disclosures were found to be valid; how many staff alleged detriment as a result of making such a disclosure; and how many staff who (a) made such a disclosure and (b) alleged detriment as a result of a disclosure subsequently left the employment of the Department.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The figures on the numbers of protected disclosures (whistleblowing/raising a concern) in each of the last three years at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and their validity is as follows:
2016/2017 9 whistleblows, 0 proven
2015/2016 13 whistleblows, 1 proven
2014/2015 16 whistleblows, 1 proven
The identity of all persons raising a concern remains confidential to the Anti Fraud & Corruption Unit and we are not informed as a consequence of any person leaving the FCO employment.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on (a) hotels, (b) hospitality, (c) food and drink and (d) transport in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO's expenditure is as follows:
a) FCO accounts for all its hotel expenditure under Accommodation. The total expenditure is:
£6,567,637 in 2012-13,
£9,846,595 in 2013-14,
£13,835,786 in 2014-15,
£10,252,699 in 2015-16
£9,409,571 for 2016-17 (1st April 2016 to 28th March 2017).
b) FCO accounts for its hospitality expenditure under Representation of the FCO and Business Hospitality. The total expenditure is
£9,096,057 in 2012-13,
£9,010,820 in 2013-14,
£8,177,552 in 2014-15,
£11,398,281 in 2015-16
£11,723,112 for 2016-17 (1st April 2016 to 28th March 2017).
c) FCO accounts for all its Food and drink expenditure under Meals. The total expenditure is
£1,349,255 in 2012-13,
£1,805,092 in 2013-14,
£2,367,609 in 2014-15,
£2,775,632 in 2015-16
£2,165,648 for 2016-17 (1st April 2016 to 28th March 2017).
d) We have interpreted your request for transport as Travel. The total expenditure is
£26,518,447 in 2012-13,
£25,683,935 in 2013-14,
£25,834,703 in 2014-15,
£25,222,838 in 2015-16
£21,848,618 for 2016-17 (1st April 2016 to 28th March 2017).
The FCO's travel category includes expenditure on UK air travel; rail; sea ferry; car rental; taxis; children's concessionary journeys; staff travel costs to cover temporary duties overseas; Post air travel; dual work place travel; mileage; seasonal relief travel and floaters travel. These figures exclude expenditure on the FCO's staff travel package. This is an entitlement for staff posted overseas and for their qualifying dependents to travel during an overseas posting.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the five most visited websites were by staff of his Department in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The sites which received the most hits from centrally monitored computer terminals across the FCO’s UK estate were: an Internal Government Internet site, Google, Google Analytics, Facebook and BBC.