Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 35281 on British Council: Finance, what plans he has to introduce a longer-term funding model for the British Council following the Spending Review.

While the British Council's Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for the British Council's financial sustainability, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and British Council's shared objective is for the British Council to be financially sustainable for the long term. The FCDO is supporting the British Council to deliver a financial turnaround plan to ensure the British Council's finances are returned to a stable footing.

The British Council's Grant-in-Aid funding for the next three years will be decided through the FCDO allocations process. This was not settled in the Spending Review and will be determined in the round, alongside the FCDO's other Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Non-ODA allocations, in the autumn.