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A Short Guide to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office

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A Short Guide to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office A Short Guide to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office June 2015 Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing | About this guide This Short Guide summarises what the | Contact details Foreign & Commonwealth Office does, how much it costs, recent and planned changes and what to look out for across its main business areas and services. If you would like to know more about the NAO’s work on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, please contact: Chris Bedford Director, FCO financial audit [email protected] 020 7798 7281 Tom McDonald Director, FCO value for money audit [email protected] 020 7798 7706 If you are interested in the NAO’s work and support The National Audit Office scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government. The Comptroller and Auditor General for Parliament more widely, please contact: (C&AG), Sir Amyas Morse KCB, is an Officer of the House of Commons and leads the NAO, which employs some 810 people. The C&AG Adrian Jenner certifies the accounts of all government departments and many other Director of Parliamentary Relations public sector bodies. He has statutory authority to examine and report [email protected] to Parliament on whether departments and the bodies they fund have used their resources efficiently, effectively, and with economy. Our 020 7798 7461 studies evaluate the value for money of public spending, nationally and locally. Our recommendations and reports on good practice For full iPad interactivity, please view this PDF help government improve public services, and our work led to Interactive in iBooks or GoodReader audited savings of £1.15 billion in 2014. © National Audit Office Design & Production by NAO Communications – DP Ref: 10700-001 Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing Key facts £1.3 billion 14,000 About the Foreign the budget for 2014-15, the approximate number of & Commonwealth down from £1.5 billion in FCO staff, based in around Office 2013-14 270 locations across the world Key trends Department spending £511 billion 17,517 the value of UK exports of the number of cases where the Changes to the goods and services in 2013, FCO provided consular support way the FCO works up from £501 billion in 2012 to British citizens abroad in 2013-14 Staff and pay £343 million Staff attitudes the FCO’s contribution to UK and engagement aid spend. This is a provisional 67% estimate for 2014 and is a 120% employee engagement score at the FCO in 2014, 8 points above Major programmes increase on the £156 million the civil service average and developments contribution in 2010 Key themes from NAO reports 37 crises Appendix the number of crises the FCO 67% responded to from 2012 to 2014, of FCO staff overseas are locally including the Arab Spring and the engaged, rather than UK civil terrorist attack in Nairobi servants (as of September 2014) Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) leads on efforts to promote and protect UK values Key facts and interests overseas. In doing so the FCO operates globally and has the following foreign policy priorities: 1/2 About the Foreign • Britain’s national security; & Commonwealth Office • Britain’s prosperity; and Key trends • Supporting British citizens overseas. These are underpinned by a set of activities to support, enable and influence (referred to as Department ‘Our Purpose’ by the FCO in its reports). spending Key terms Changes to the way the FCO works Mission/post: Locations where the Department has a presence, such as an embassy, consulate or high commission Staff and pay Embassy: An official office in another country’s capital city as part of a permanent diplomatic mission. Staff attitudes Consulate: A smaller official office that provides a presence in important cities outside a and engagement country’s capital. Major programmes Consulate general: A larger consulate office that may offer a greater range of services. and developments High commission and deputy high commission: The terms for an embassy and a consulate Key themes from located in a commonwealth country. NAO reports Locally engaged staff: FCO staff of any nationality (including British) who are employed overseas in their country of residence on local terms and conditions. Appendix Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing About the Foreign & Commonwealth Office The FCO operates from embassies, consulates and high commissions in almost 270 overseas locations. Its global network provides a platform for 42 other UK public bodies. 2/2 Numbers of staff overseas (numbers of locations) 175 to 1,000 (15) 100 to 175 (16) 50 to 100 (40) 15 to 50 (57) 1 to 15 (31) 0 to 1 (110) Notes 1 FCO offices range from a large scale presence to a small number of people. 2 Numbers include both UK-based and locally employed staff as at 31 March 2014. 3 These numbers include UK Trade & Investment staff. From 2014-15, UKTI will not be reported on as part of the FCO. Source: PQ 2282052 – www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-03-18/228205/ Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing Key trends in the FCO’s operations and environment. Key facts Average cost of an embassy Average cost per consular assistance case About the Foreign £ million £ & Commonwealth 3.0 5,000 Office 2.5 4,000 Key trends 2.0 3,000 1.5 Department 2,000 spending 1.0 1,000 0.5 Changes to the way the FCO works 0 0 2010-112011-12 2012-132013-14 2014-15 2010-112011-12 2012-132013-14 Staff and pay Cost Cost FCO contribution to UK aid spend FCO consular assistance cases Staff attitudes and engagement £ million Thousands 400 25 Major programmes 350 20 and developments 300 250 Key themes from 15 NAO reports 200 150 10 Appendix 100 5 50 0 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2010-112011-12 2012-132013-14 Cost Spend target Cases Source: Foreign & Commonwealth Office annual reports and Foreign & Commonwealth Office British Behaviour Abroad report 2014 Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing Based on the FCO accounts (2013-14). Key facts About the Foreign & Commonwealth Great Britain – Office China Centre Wilton Park £0.8m £0.24m FCO direct spend2 Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission £2m Key trends £1,098m Westminster Foundation for Democracy £4m Reimbursement of duties to Department other governments £41m spending Changes to the way the FCO works Services provided to UK Visas Total (gross) and Immigration £142m departmental spend1 Peacekeeping and £2,486m conflict prevention budget5 Staff and pay £473m Staff attitudes and engagement Subscriptions to international organisations £156m BBC World Service3 Major programmes £238m and developments British Council £162m UKTI4 Key themes from £170m NAO reports Appendix Notes 1 This analysis is gross resource expenditure only and excludes capital expenditure and income. 2 The Department’s direct expenditure mainly comprises of staff and other costs associated with front-line service delivery, expenditure on programmes and consular operations. 3 BBC World Service will not be included in the FCO’s accounts from 2014-15. 4 UKTI will be treated differently in the accounts from 2014-15 as a result of the creation of a single UKTI budget. 5 The peacekeeping budget pays for the government’s international obligations to United Nations, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and EU peacekeeping missions. 6 Figures may not add up due to rounding. Source: Foreign & Commonwealth Offfice Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14 Overview Britain’s Britain’s Supporting British Supporting, enabling national security prosperity citizens overseas and influencing Overall savings programme Key facts Departmental expenditure limits (DEL) for the FCO The FCO’s budget decreased in 2014-15 by £0.2 billion to reflect (excludes Annually Managed Expenditure and in year budget adjustments from the fact that the FCO no longer funds the BBC World Service the supplementary estimates) from the 2010 spending review and the 2013 spending round About the Foreign (whose costs will be met out of the Licence Fee). At the 2010 & Commonwealth spending review, the FCO committed to making £100 million of £ billion Office efficiency savings by 2015. At the end of September 2014, the 1.8 FCO reported that it had achieved around £92 million in savings, Key trends and had identified how to save the remainder. The FCO has made 1.6 efficiencies through: 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 Department Human resources 1.4 spending Reshaping the workforce to make greater use of local staff. 0.1 The FCO reported savings of £12.9 million in 2013-14. 1.2 Changes to the way the FCO works Corporate services Consolidating some finance, human resources and procurement 1.0 Staff and pay functions into global or regional hubs. The FCO reported savings of £33.6 million in 2013-14. 0.8 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 Staff attitudes Estates 0.6 and engagement Restructuring the FCO’s UK and overseas estate to reduce costs 1.2 of office and residential accommodation, the FCO reported Major programmes savings of £17.4 million in 2013-14. 0.4 and developments Procurement Through increased use of central government buying arrangements 0.2 Key themes from and implementing a central procurement strategy approval board, NAO reports the FCO reported savings of £5.2 million in 2013-14.
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