Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when his Department was first informed of Boris Johnson's meeting with Venezuelan government officials; and whether enquiries were made on the nature of this visit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Boris Johnson was visiting entirely in a personal capacity and not acting on behalf of the UK Government. His trip was not funded by the UK Government. As part of his visit, Mr Johnson paid a courtesy call on the British Residence in Caracas. The UK does not accept the legitimacy of the administration put in place by Nicolás Maduro following the 2018 presidential election.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department provided a briefing to Boris Johnson in advance of his meeting with the Venezuelan President.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Boris Johnson was visiting entirely in a personal capacity and not acting on behalf of the UK Government. His trip was not funded by the UK Government. As part of his visit, Mr Johnson paid a courtesy call on the British Residence in Caracas. The UK does not accept the legitimacy of the administration put in place by Nicolás Maduro following the 2018 presidential election.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in his Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the form requested. More generally, I would refer the hon. Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2024, Official Report, PQ 17709 and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Cols. 1901-1904.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what the destinations were of domestic overnight visits undertaken by Ministers within their Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
As has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers' travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers' travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate he has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by his Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits. The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crossgovernment-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022]. This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023.
Details on detected fraud and error in the FCDO in each of the last three financial years can be found in the Annual Reports and Accounts:
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1019938/FCDO_annual_report_and_accounts_2020_to_2021_accessible.pdf]
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62e3bd54e90e07143d51932f/FCDO_Annual_Report_2021_2022_Accessible_290722.pdf]
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64b18b8f07d4b8000d34733a/Foreign-Commonwealth-and-Development-Office-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.pdf]
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Reports and guidance that the Department has published can be found on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what guidance his Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All departments in central government, including arms lengths bodies apply the published guidance: [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business], published by Cabinet Office in March 2023. It applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much funding his Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
(a) The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office cannot provide the budget information for Advertising as we do not allocate budget to this level of granularity.
(b) The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spent £1,701 in 2020/21, £2,176 in 2021/22 and £11,892 in 2022/23 on Advertising costs.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much funding their Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not hold separate financial data on magazine subscriptions as we do not allocate budget to that level of granularity. Many decisions are made by the UK's 281 embassies and diplomatic posts overseas or by individual departments in the UK. As a result, comprehensive information on individual magazine purchasing across the organisation is not centrally recorded and disaggregating this information would incur disproportionate cost.