Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2018 to Question 146171 on procurement, what the daily rate of pay is of each of those contractors who have been employed by his Department for five years or more.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO has employed six contractors for five years or more. Some are paid hourly rates and not daily rates. On the basis that 7.5 hours is a work day, the daily rates for the six contractors range from £94.42 per day up to £353 per day.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many contractors currently employed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As of 31 May 2018 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not employ any contractors on £1,000 or more per day.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many contractors have been employed by his Department for (a) up to one year, (b) between one and five years, (c) between five and 10 years and (d) over 10 years.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As of 23 May 2018 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs a total of 71 contractors. The breakdown is :
a) Up to one year = 38
b) Between 1 – 5 years = 27
c) Between 5 – 10 years = 6
d) Over 10 years = 0
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the job titles are of civil servants in his Department who have been provided with (a) an official car and (b) a driver.
Answered by Mark Field
No civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been allocated an official car or a driver.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which regulations his Department (a) has introduced as a result of EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to date and (b) expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not introduced any regulations as a result of EU legislation since 23 June 2016 and we do not expect to introduce any regulations as a result of EU legislation in 2018.
In 2019, we also do not expect to introduce any regulations as a result of EU legislation. However, the exact number is subject to ongoing negotiations.
All regulations implementing EU legislation that have been introduced since 2013 and impact assessments, where available, can be found on www.legislation.gov.uk
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, if the Government will include imports of coal from Russia in the list of sanctions against that country; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alan Duncan
EU sectoral sanctions, which have been in place since 2014, target parts of the Russian energy sector. Coal is not currently included under these sanctions. In response to the Salisbury incident, we continue to consider the full range of potential levers, both domestically and through international fora.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much GCHQ spent from the public purse on sponsorship of the National Diversity Awards 2017; and how many full-time equivalent GCHQ staff worked on that project.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Any law enforcement or intelligence agency must represent the diverse communities it serves to enable them to gather the intelligence they need to keep us all safe. Diversity is therefore recognised as a crucial component of the intelligence agencies' workforce. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament recognised as much when they carried out an inquiry on Parliament's behalf into women in the intelligence agencies.
It has been the longstanding policy of successive Governments not to reveal details of the budgets or spending of the intelligence agencies. Statutory oversight for budgets and expenditure of the intelligence agencies is provided by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of his Department's staff had a pay increase (a) above, (b) at and (c) less than one per cent in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The table below shows the numbers of UK based staff receiving a pay award increase (a) above, (b) at and (c) less than one per cent in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
| | (a) above 1% | (b) 1% | (c) less than 1% |
| 2014 | 2,152 | 0 | 2,457 |
| 2015 | 2,042 | 0 | 2,427 |
| 2016 | 2,764 | 5 | 1,526 |
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department's main policy priority is for 2017; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has three Strategic Objectives: to protect our people; project our global influence; and promote our prosperity. Our Annual Report and Accounts, published and presented to Parliament every year in June, reports on our progress.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) mean and (b) median pay was for staff in his Department who were (i) male, (ii) female, (iii) white, (iv) from an ethnic minority background, (v) disabled and (vi) non-disabled in the most recent year for which information is available, broken down by (A) full-time and (B) part-time workers.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Mean and median salaries for UKB staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office broken down by diversity characteristics and working pattern are at 31 January 2017:
| Mean Salary | Median Salary | ||
| Full time | Part time | Full time | Part time |
Female | £36,748 | £35,471 | £29,864 | £29,716 |
Male | £41,658 | £49,199 | £34,357 | £49,051 |
White | £41,404 | £39,009 | £34,004 | £36,414 |
BME | £31,499 | £30,904 | £27,221 | £23,657 |
Non Disabled | £39,521 | £38,656 | £32,000 | £34,357 |
Disabled | £36,269 | £36,463 | £29,864 | £33,289 |
Staff in the FCO are paid according to standard salary scales that apply equally to all staff. We have made progress in improving diversity in the most senior levels of the FCO which will reduce the current pay differences but we recognise there is still work to do.
The data above is taken from a snap shot of UKB staff data at 31 January 2017 and is representative of staff who have made a declaration of ethnicity and/or disability but does not include staff who do not wish to declare nor those who have made no declarations. Salaries for staff working part time are full time equivalent i.e. not pro rated for hours worked.