British Council: Closures

(asked on 17th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to publish the business case for the closure of British Council offices.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 23rd November 2021

The unprecedented impact of the pandemic required the government to take tough but necessary decisions on the British Council's global presence and reinforced the need for the Council to do more to adapt to a changing world. As the interim CEO stated in June 2021, the British Council will stop spending Grant-in-Aid funding in 11 countries and deliver Grant-in-Aid programming through offices in other countries in a further nine. Decisions on presence were only taken after a thorough assessment - in partnership with the Council - of how the British Council's priorities link to the Government's foreign policy objectives, as set out in the Integrated Review, and how the Council can achieve the greatest impact. The British Council are in the process of determining their future operating model, which is subject to staff consultation, and this remains an operational matter for the Council.

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