Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 10 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts: 2020-2021, HC 660, published on 22 September 2022, what assessment she has made of the impact of resourcing challenges in respect of securing staff and skills experienced by her Department on (a) making progress on her development priorities and (b) Britain's global standing.

The merger of the two legacy organisations has brought together a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills needed to make progress on both the FCDO's development priorities and Britain's global standing. Prioritisation of the internal workforce continues, to ensure staff are deployed to the areas of the FCDO's greatest need.

Work is ongoing on the FCDO's Strategic Workforce Plan, which will define the skills and experience the organisation needs both now and in the future and how the organisation will develop or acquire those skills where they do not exist in the current workforce. In the meantime, the Diplomatic and Development Fast Stream, the Diplomatic and Development Economist Fast Stream schemes and the Direct Entry Scheme for Advisers (DESA), remain some of the primary methods for bringing new skills and future talent into the organisation. The FCDO also recruits for specialist skills and experience, aligned to our Strategic Workforce Plan, from across Government, or externally where the skills are not readily available from within the Civil Service.