Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2017 to Question 62602, what the number of security passes issued by his Department to people not employed by his Department is; what business needs suffice for such a security pass to be granted; and what the number of passes issued to people who work for private companies which have currently or previously been awarded government contracts or which are bidding for such contracts is.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) ensure that any contractual employees granted with a security pass hold the correct level of vetting. Security passes are issued to contractors from private companies on a case by case basis. As a matter of policy, the FCO does not publish the number of active security passes issued by the Department and we cannot provide a statistical breakdown of the passes issued. The FCO does not keep records of awards of all government contracts to private companies.