Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to launch a review of his Department's response to the evacuation of UK nationals from Afghanistan, including the effectiveness of that evacuation.

Following the Afghanistan response in August 2021, the FCDO conducted a lessons learning exercise, as is standard practice after a crisis. It focused on the FCDO crisis response systems, structures and ways of working. The FCDO is implementing the recommendations. The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) conducted a detailed enquiry, to which the then Foreign Secretary and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon gave oral evidence and responded to requests for written information on the evacuation. A summary of the lessons learned was shared with the FAC in March 2022. The FAC published the Government's response to the FAC's report in July 2022. The FCDO Management Board reviewed progress in January and an update was shared with the FAC on 8 February.