Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which persons not employed by his Department and its agencies hold security passes entitling them to enter his Department's premises.

Civil servants have to have the ability to work flexibly across government sites where there is a business need to do so. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including its overseas Diplomatic Missions, allow those with the correct security passes to enter its buildings. Passes can also be issued to others, including contractors or secondees based within Government premises, on a case by case basis in regards to specific business needs. Numbers of passes issued directly to non-civil servants for access to departmental buildings will fluctuate over the course of a year.