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 people undertook an unpaid work placement in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many such placements lasted for longer than one month.
Answered by Alan Duncan
All those who undertook work experience at the FCO between 2012-2016 were paid an allowance, except:
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 spent on (a) iPads and tablets and (b) paper in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
In 2016/17 (as of 1 February 2017) the FCO spent £57,500 on tablet devices.
In 2015/16 it spent £3,610.
In 2014/15 it spent £146,125.
The FCO does not keep a central record of figures for tablet purchases before 2014.
The FCO employs over 14,000 people in a worldwide network of nearly 270 diplomatic offices. There may have been additional purchases of tablet computers out of devolved budgets. This information is not held centrally and to collate it would incur disproportionate cost.
Expenditure by all Central Government departments on office equipment, including paper, dating back to financial year 2011-12 is published on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/greening-government-commitments#annual-reports.
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 staff in his Department are employed in media relations and communications roles; and how much was spent on the salaries of such staff members in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Communication is core to diplomacy and is a component of many roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO): it is therefore not possible to specify the exact number of staff who have a communications remit.
The FCO's central Communication Directorate had 88 staff on its UK based headcount as of 31 January 2017.
The Communication Directorate consists of four departments: a Media Office, a Campaigns and Engagement Department, a Digital Transformation Unit and a Counter Daesh Communications Department. Collectively they have responsibility for a range of activities to achieve the FCO's priorities of protecting our national security, generating economic growth and helping British people overseas. These include increasing Britain's influence in the world through sponsoring the British Council and the Marshall and Chevening Scholarships schemes, promoting trade and investment with the UK through activities on the GREAT Britain campaign and providing travel advice so British people can keep themselves safe when overseas.
Salary costs for the Communication Directorate from 2009/10 to 2015/16 inclusive were as follows:
Year | Salary costs |
2015/16 | £3,025,594 |
2014/15 | £3,243,852 |
2013/14 | £2,801,066 |
2012/13 | £2,498,697 |
2011/12 | £3,070,242 |
2010/11 | £3,552,733 |
2009/10 | £3,593,416 |
Our management information system does not allow us to go back further than 2009/10. Sourcing equivalent data for the years 2006/7 – 2008/9 inclusive is therefore not available except at disproportionate cost.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2017 to Question 59261, on football: China, which organisations the funding was allocated to.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The British Council is directly managing the UK's contribution to this programme. It is not allocating funding to other organisations. In addition to the UK's £3 million allocation, the Chinese partners have invested a significantly higher sum which will be directly invested in the UK, for example through payment to UK Universities and UK training organisations for 600 Chinese coaches to train in the UK.
China has begun a huge investment in football and this project is helping to establish the UK as their priority partner for sport. It will help to promote UK football in a major market, leading to long-term cultural and economic gains for the UK, which may include benefits across the wider sporting sector in relation to the establishment of private training academies, sports infrastructure, sports technology, sports TV and merchandising rights.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2017 to Question 59261, on football: China, when he plans to assess the effect of the funding provided.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The British Council has confirmed that there will be annual progress reports and a full evaluation will be undertaken on completion of the programme in 2020.
The programme started in 2016-17. The British Council anticipates the first report being completed in May 2017, assessing the first year of the programme.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2017 to Question 59261, on football: China, if he will publish the advice he received before the decision was made to allocate that funding.
Answered by Lord Sharma
This is a British Council project which is funded through surplus generated by the commercial activity of the British Council. No additional Exchequer funding was made available for this project. China has begun a huge investment in football and this project is helping to establish the UK as their priority partner for sport. It will help to promote UK football in a major market, leading to long-term cultural and economic gains for the UK.
The British Council has advised that the programme is generating direct economic benefits for UK Higher Education and training sectors, and has helped to create the condition for indirect benefits across the wider sporting sector in relation to the establishment of private training academies, sports infrastructure, sports technology, sports TV and merchandising rights.
A letter from the Chief Executive of the British Council providing an update on the project to date will be placed in the Library of the House within ten working days.
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 assessment his Department has made of the outcome of the £3 million funding for a grassroots football programme in China announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 23 September 2015.
Answered by Lord Sharma
As this programme is in its early stages, no assessment has yet been made, but its impact will be evaluated during and after execution to ensure impact and value for money. The British Council manages the allocation of our funding for grassroots football in China, which aims to position the UK as China's priority partner for sport.