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 understanding the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament; 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 whole period of the last five years or differentiate between fast stream and main stream civil servants. However, since July 2015, over 1200 civil servants have completed learning on Parliamentary scrutiny and Parliament's legislative role as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Diplomatic Academy's Foundation and Practitioner Levels. Of these, 23 are senior civil servants.

In addition, the FCO also runs tailored face-to-face courses on Working with Parliament and on FCO Oral Questions every 5 weeks during the parliamentary session and provides ad hoc one-to-one level learning where requested. FCO and Government staff also access material and attend courses organised by Civil Service Learning, which is a cross-departmental resource and is managed centrally.

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 a broad range of the FCO's parliamentary responsibilities.