Diplomatic Service

(asked on 20th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will place in the Library a copy of the internal guidance issued to staff when assessing whether people need consular assistance.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 28th October 2020

I was pleased to meet with the Hon Lady on 19th October to discuss the FCDO's consular work.

As part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) commitment to transparency, details of FCDO's consular assistance are available online on http://www.gov.uk in our publication entitled "Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide". We consider that there is a strong public interest in protecting the space our staff have to consider and discuss options when making decisions on individual cases, particularly when offering assistance in difficult and distressing circumstances. We consider that their ability to do this, and our overall ability to ensure that we provide a tailored service to those most in need of our help, is likely to be negatively impacted by placing our internal guidance in the Library, which would not be in the public interest.

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