Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff his Department employed in British Embassies and Consulates in South America in financial year (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.

We have interpreted the question to mean how many staff were employed by the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office in South America in each of the financial years, (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20. All the figures shown are based on the headcount as at 31 March in each year.

The figures below cover our Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions in Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. These figures do not include staff from the then Department for International Development (DFID).

• 2017-18 = 540-559
• 2018-19 = 560-579
• 2019-20 = 540-559