Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department was made aware of any financial insecurities when awarding a new contract to Interserve in 2018 that could result in possible job losses in the following financial year.

​No. The contract was awarded after Interserve had secured refinancing in April 2018, which had increased their financial stability and with the full agreement of Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. Any changes to staffing on the contract delivered to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are a result of the change to the proposed service delivery model and are not a result of Interserve's financial position.

Interserve announced on 27 February that its lenders, bonding providers and Pension Trusteee have agreed to its proposed deleveraging plan, a significant milestone in the delivery of their refinancing.