Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2025, to Question 81874, on Diplomatic Service: Public Appointments, if Heads of Mission are appointed by open and fair competition; and what role does the Civil Service Commission play in the appointments of Ambassadors.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the oral evidence provided to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 3 November, where these issues were addressed at length.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77564 on Lord Mandelson, if she will publish her Department's HR guidance on the process to be followed once a head of mission is withdrawn.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HR procedures routinely draw from a range of established diplomatic protocols and policies.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77563 on Palantir, whether the visit to Palantir was arranged through Global Counsel; and whether Lord Mandelson was involved in arranging that visit.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Officials from our Embassy in Washington arranged this trip in the normal way.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on external training courses involving actors since July 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Data on external training involving actors is not tracked separately and is spread across various expense codes and expenditure types. Isolating this would require manual review of large volumes of data, making it impractical to extract reliably without disproportionate effort and cost.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will her Department's contracts with Inter Mediate.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 25 September 2025 to question 70453.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 74773 on Civil Servants: Resignations, whether any civil servants have resigned in response to the letter from the Permanent Under-Secretaries.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It is the longstanding policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office under successive governments not to comment on internal HR matters.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to transparency data on FCDO ministerial meetings, April to June 2025, published on 25 September 2025, if she will publish the minutes of the ministerial meeting with the TUC on 16 June 2025; and whether the recognition of Palestine was discussed in that meeting.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As has been the case under successive governments, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not routinely publish the details of meetings with external bodies.