Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has received representations on delays or challenges in securing the return of British children from Poland under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government takes International Parental Child Abduction (IPCA) extremely seriously. Affected parents have reported issues to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regarding the enforcement of Polish court orders requiring the return of abducted children to the UK. I met the Rt. Honourable Member's constituent in January to discuss his daughter's abduction and the devastating toll IPCA takes on those affected. This Government will continue to raise the issue at every appropriate opportunity with the Polish authorities, including at ministerial level.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Polish counterpart on improving cooperation in (a) cross-border family law cases and (b) cases involving parental child abduction; and what recent steps he has taken to improve the effectiveness of Hague Convention mechanisms in cases involving the abduction of children from the UK to (i) EU countries and (ii) Poland.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government takes International Parental Child Abduction (IPCA) extremely seriously. As a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention, the UK remains committed to the effective enforcement of court orders requiring a child's return to their place of habitual residence. On 19 December 2024, the Foreign Secretary raised the issue of IPCA in Poland with Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski. On 28 February, I raised the issue with my Polish counterpart, Minister Marek Prawda, and with the Polish Ambassador to the UK on 29 April 2025. HMG officials also raise issues directly with Polish authorities. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Ministry of Justice, and other key UK authorities hosted a Polish delegation in April to enhance cooperation and improve outcomes in cross-border family cases.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of (a) the size of his Department's workforce and (b) the cost of his Department's workforce in the (i) 2025-26, (ii) 2026-27, (iii) 2027-28, (iv) 2028-29 and (v) 2029-30 financial years.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has a workforce budget of £1.02 billion for Financial Year 2025-26, which currently supports a workforce of 17,300, inclusive of 5900 UK based staff in the UK, 2,200 UK based staff overseas and 9,200 non-civil servant country-based staff employed in-country.
The FCDO is working through our Spending Review settlement with HM Treasury, which will enable detailed workforce projections for the Spending Review period to be made. Overall, our expectation is that the size of the workforce will reduce in the coming years, but spending decisions will need to be balanced against investment in technology, estate, and capability to ensure the FCDO can continue to deliver the government's priorities.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much (a) funding is available for voluntary exit schemes in (i) his Department and (ii) non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department and (b) his Department has forecast will be spent expenditure on voluntary exits in each financial year until 2029-30; and what estimate he has made of the number of voluntary exits from his Department in each financial year until 2029-30.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office agreed a voluntary exit scheme settlement for Financial Year 2025/2026 with His Majesty's Treasury of £35 million. The current scheme does not include any non-departmental bodies. Exits must be completed by the end of the financial year and will total around 500 exits. This is an estimated figure as applicants may withdraw from the scheme. There are no plans for a further scheme at this time. Voluntary exit schemes are a helpful and commonly used process by most large organisations, and future schemes will vary in scale and scope to meet business need. All future plans will be subject to the outcome of Phase 2 of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 20 December 2024 and 13 March 2025 to Questions 18362 and 32977 on Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Cost Effectiveness, what plans his Department has to make efficiency savings in the (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29 financial years, broken down by (i) savings programme, (ii) savings targets for each programme, (iii) productivity improvements identified, (iv) IT programmes and digital innovation programmes identified and (v) workforce changes.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As agreed with HM Treasury in Phase 1 of Spending Review 2025, The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will make savings of 2 per cent of total Resource budgets in Financial Year 2025-26 (£26 million). The FCDO plans to achieve this through: the completion of multi-year IT programmes saving £24 million including Osprey and Echo 2, sustainability innovations at global Posts saving £1 million, and productivity improvements in Arm's Length Bodies saving £1 million. There are no workforce changes anticipated from the planned savings and efficiencies in Financial Year 2025-26.
As part of Phase 2 of the Spending Review, all departments are expected to meet savings and efficiencies of more than 5% of their 2025-26 budgets by the end of the period (2028-29). Detail of these proposals will be confirmed once the Spending Review concludes.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Prime Minister discussed the (a) UK's future ODA plans and (b) reparatory justice for (i) Barbados and (ii) the Caribbean when he met the Prime Minister of Barbados on 4 April 2025.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the readout of the meeting on gov.uk.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which legislation will require changes due to the proposed treaty with Mauritius; whether the Office of Parliamentary Counsel has drafted the necessary legislation; and when he plans to publish the relevant Bill.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the response given to her previous Parliamentary Questions 39402, 39403 and 41824 on the details of the treaty.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Time To Pay Agreements with (a) individuals and (b) businesses there were in each year since 2020; how many of those agreements have been (i) terminated and (ii) renegotiated since July 2024; and how many complaints about those agreements from (A) individuals and (B) businesses HMRC has received since July 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publishes data on the number of customers in Time to Pay (TTP) arrangements as part of its quarterly performance updates, which can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Over 90% of TTP arrangements are completed successfully. There is a variety of reasons why a TTP arrangement might end before the agreed period; for example, a customer may fail to make their payments on time, the customer may pay the debt in full, or they may ask HMRC to “renegotiate” the TTP to include new liabilities becoming due or to reflect a change in circumstances. HMRC’s systems do not hold data on how many TTPs have specifically been “terminated” or “renegotiated”. “Renegotiated” TTPs are included in the overall published TTP figures.
Extracting the relevant information to confirm how many complaints HMRC has received about “terminated” or “renegotiated” TTPs since July 2024, broken down by individuals and businesses, would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold for Written Parliamentary Questions.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which representatives of the Mauritian government his Department has had discussions with on the proposed treaty since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the response given to her previous Parliamentary Question 36637, which remains the same.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has received from his Mauritian counterpart on the proposed treaty since 31 January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the response given to her previous Parliamentary Question 36637, which remains the same.