Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February to Question 28082 on the British Council, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of any decision to reduce the number of British Council offices on his Department's objectives.

The British Council is operationally independent from the UK Government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) works with the British Council to ensure strategic alignment between FCDO objectives and British Council activity. Decisions relating to its overseas network are operational matters for the British Council. In an increasingly digital age, the British Council's contribution and impact should be judged by its operational - rather than physical - presence and its results.