Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, where the funding will come from for the proposed expansion of the UK’s diplomatic network; over what period that expansion will take place; and whether that funding will be taken from elsewhere in his departmental budget.

The funding for the expansion of the diplomatic network is coming from £90 million of additional resource over two years agreed by the Treasury to support the Government’s Global Britain ambitions. The expansion is planned to cover a period beginning in 2018 and ending in 2020. This funding will not be taken from elsewhere in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s budget. Expansion beyond March 2020 is subject to the forthcoming spending review.