Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what training his Department has provided to (a) general civil servants, (b) fast stream civil servants and (c) senior civil servants on devolution and inter-governmental relations; how many such courses have taken place; and how many civil servants have attended such training courses in each of the last five years.

​Our records do not cover training provided over the last five years nor differentiate between fast stream and main stream civil servants. However, since July 2015, over 350 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff and over 300 from other Government departments have learnt about devolution as part of the Diplomatic Academy's Foundation Level and Practitioner Levels. Of these, five are senior civil servants.

In November 2017, the FCO in partnership with the Open University launched a new online Devolution and Foreign Policy Practitioner Level learning module providing a deeper understanding of how devolution relates to every day foreign policy work. The pilot saw over 40 staff in London, North America and Asia Pacific undertake training, and the learning will be rolled out across the network in 2018.

All fast stream new entrants to the FCO have since last year been required to study for and pass a City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in UK Foreign Policy and Diplomacy, as do some staff to obtain promotion. This diploma includes material on devolution. A briefing on devolution is also provided to all new Fast Stream entrants as part of their induction.

Heads of Mission routinely visit a devolved administration as part of the Overseas Leadership Development Programme. This aims to increase engagement and equip Heads of Mission to better understand and represent the interests and priorities of devolved administrations as well as inter-governmental relationships and devolved structures, and to highlight how the FCO works with other Government departments and delivers support for the whole of the UK. Since June 2016, 56 new Heads of Mission have undertaken such a visit.