Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 20 February (HL5413), whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will receive additional funds from HM Treasury to offset the £4.2 million cost of creating 50 new diplomatic posts in Europe.

The 50 new diplomatic positions we have created in Europe are being funded through internal reprioritisation. Our revised estimate for the cost of these positions is £4.1 million. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has secured additional funding from HM Treasury for EU Exit preparations and with this funding we are now in the process of creating more than 150 additional positions in London and the overseas network to support EU Exit. At the 2017 Autumn Budget, HM Treasury made another £1.5 billion of funding available for EU Exit preparations in 2018/19. We are currently working with the Treasury to determine our allocation for 2018/19 with the aim to agree this soon. The Treasury has committed to informing Parliament of these allocations once they are made.