House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee
The Role of the FCO in UK Government
This is a volume of submissions, relevant to the inquiry ‘The Role of the FCO in UK Government’, which have been reported to the House.
Only those submissions written specifically for the Committee have been included.
List of written evidence
Page
1 Dr Scott James Ev 1 2 Dr Oliver Daddow Ev 8 3 The Rt Hon Lord Owen Ev 14 4 Professor Daryl Copeland Ev 24 5 Dr Graeme Davies and Dr Robert Johns Ev 33 6 Sir Edward Clay Ev 46 7 Charles Crawford CMG Ev 53 8 The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Ev 63 9 Professor Tony Chafer Ev 68 10 Professor Ritchie Robertson, Professor Sarah Colvin and Dr Peter Thompson Ev 70 11 LSE IDEAS Ev 72 12 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ev 74 13 City of London Corporation Ev 114 14 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum Ev 117 15 Society for Italian Studies Ev 122 16 Anthony Aust Ev 123 17 Oliver Miles CMG Ev 126 18 Sir Michael Wood, KCMG Ev 130 19 Sir John Graham, GCMG Ev 136 20 Sir David Logan Ev 137 21 Sir Peter Ricketts, GCMG Ev 141 22 Daniel Korski Ev 147 23 Catarina Tully Ev 153 24 Rt Hon Jack Straw MP Ev 159 25 Peter W Marshall and other former members of the FCO Ev 160 26 Sir Peter Marshall, KCMG GVO Ev 163 27 CBI Ev 205 28 Professor Hussein Kassim Ev 211 29 Alastair Newton – supplementary evidence Ev 216 30 Professor Dr Sonja Puntscher Riekmann Ev 218 31 Foreign and Commonwealth Office – supplementary evidence Ev 221 32 Sir Peter Ricketts Office – further evidence Ev 286 33 Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP Ev 288 34 Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) Ev 289 35 Carne Ross Ev 292
Written evidence from Dr Scott James
The Changing Role of the FCO in the UK EU Policy-Making Process
Introduction:
The research and recommendations contained in this report are drawn from a doctoral research project titled ‘Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet? Europeanisation and European Policy Making in the UK and Irish Core Executives, 1997-2007’ completed at the University of Manchester between 2005 and 2008, and subsequent research conducted at King’s College London during 2009. The findings are based largely upon the detailed testimonies of sixty serving and former ministers, senior and junior officials, and special advisors drawn from across the main departments of state. The interviews were conducted on a non-attributable basis according to Chatham House rules. The research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and is to be published as a monograph by Manchester University Press in 2011.1
Executive Summary:
• Since 2001 the EU policy making process in the UK has undergone fundamental reform, strengthening the strategic capabilities of the Cabinet Office to the extent that it has become the Prime Minister’s first source of advice and expertise on EU policy.
• Although the FCO retains important formal responsibilities for managing EU policy, its role and influence within Whitehall has been challenged by three developments: increasing EU expertise and networking by departmental policy leads; rationalisation and reorganisation within the FCO’s Europe Directorate; and the waning influence of the formal EU cabinet sub-committee.
• These changes are driven in part by longer-term structural developments that have undermined foreign ministries across Europe: the growing importance and frequency of European Council summits; the increasingly technical and specialist nature of EU policy dossiers; and the tendency to reach preliminary agreements through informal pre-Council discussions.
• The FCO has responded by developing a niche role which seeks to add value to UK EU policy in three respects: by reallocating resources to the UK Permanent Representation in Brussels (UKRep); maintaining and exploiting the UK’s wider diplomatic network of European embassies; and leading efforts to encourage departments to engage more effectively with EU counterparts.
• The reforms have had three unintended consequences: exacerbating the existing conflict of interest between the Cabinet Office’s coordination and strategic roles; further blurring the division of responsibilities for EU policy within and between the Cabinet Office and FCO; and contributing to bureaucratic overload by raising expectations beyond that which could be realistically met.
• The report recommends that the FCO should concentrate at what it is best at, namely strengthening its wider diplomatic network, renewing efforts across Whitehall to promote more effective strategic networking, and refocusing its activities on formulating and articulating a clearer strategic vision for European integration.
• It also recommends that collaboration between the Cabinet Office and FCO could be reinforced by convening a new inter-ministerial committee on EU policy strategy to be chaired by the Prime Minister; and by redefining the role and position of the Minister for Europe so that they are based in both the Cabinet Office and FCO.
1 Detailed Submission:
Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office
1. The role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the management of national EU policy has changed fundamentally over the past decade. For most of the time since the UK’s accession in 1973, the FCO has been at the heart of the process and, crucially, has remained the principal source of foreign policy advice on EU affairs to the prime minister. Traditionally this has taken the form of two private secretaries seconded from the FCO to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). By contrast the European Secretariat (COES) and the Overseas and Defence Secretariat (ODS) in the Cabinet Office have traditionally focused on Whitehall coordination.2
2. In 2001 Tony Blair decided to establish a stronger ‘in house’ foreign policy capability within the PMO, leading to the merger of the positions of private secretary and head of the Cabinet Office secretariat. This created a new ‘Advisor on EU Affairs and Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat’ and an ‘Advisor on Foreign Affairs and Head of the Overseas and Defence Secretariat’. Both had offices located within No.10 and were promoted to the rank of permanent secretary. In addition, a small team of four foreign policy advisors was established within the PMO composed of secondees from the FCO and experts from outside government. By contrast arrangements for domestic policy remained largely unchanged.
3. The real significance of these changes has been the extent to which they have reshaped patterns of power dependency at the centre of the Whitehall EU policy network. The COES now serves as the Prime Minister’s first source of advice and expertise on EU policy. Around two thirds of its workload is now prescriptive and devoted to delivering the Prime Minister’s priorities across government, with only one third expended on traditional coordination or dispute resolution. Although departments have become less reliant on COES for coaching, monitoring and advice, its capacity to provide strategic direction has been greatly enhanced as a consequence of the perception that it is much closer to the PMO than other Cabinet Office secretariats and is viewed as an instrument of the Prime Minister’s will across Whitehall. As a result, departments increasingly look towards it for a guide as to what policy line to pursue in Europe.3 The increasing burden and expectations that this generates has in turn necessitated a near doubling in the size of the secretariat since the late 1990s.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
4. The FCO retains important formal responsibilities in the management of UK EU policy, including: outlining the government’s overarching European strategy, providing briefings for ministers prior to key Council meetings, and chairing the cabinet sub-committee on EU policy. In several important respects however this traditional coordinating role has been challenged as a consequence of three developments.
5. First, the continued value of the FCO to other departments is inversely related to their internal capacity for diplomatic expertise. For well-resourced departments with extensive bilateral connections and experience of lobbying (notably the Treasury, BIS and DEFRA) interaction with home-based FCO officials is minimal. But as engagement and networking by other departments has increased over the past decade (driven, in part, by the 1998 Step Change programme [see below]), so their dependency on the FCO for advice and support has declined.
6. Second, this trend has contributed to a major reorganisation of European business within the FCO. Since 2004 the internal and external aspects of EU policy have been centralised within a single Europe Directorate organised around thematic rather than geographical structures. The introduction of this ‘lead unit’ system means that responsibility for managing bilateral relations with EU member states are divided between several policy-focused groups. But it has also led to the further rationalisation of country-specific expertise. This is reflected in the fact that although the Europe
2 Directorate briefly expanded in response to the 2005 UK EU Presidency, staff numbers have since been cut back significantly and resources redeployed to ‘front line’ diplomats based in overseas embassies.
7. Third, the cabinet sub-committee on EU policy is widely perceived as a ‘rubber stamp’ for decisions effectively taken elsewhere: not least through the informal Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe) which incorporates representatives from the devolved governments, and the Cabinet Office ‘Friday’ meeting which is chaired by the Prime Minister’s EU policy advisor to serve as a ‘clearing house’ for all EU-related issues. By 2004 the committee was struggling to attract a high level of attendance from cabinet ministers, and was henceforth convened in ‘virtual’ form as a mechanism through which EU policy was formally cleared through written correspondence. Since then however the sheer pace and volume of EU-related correspondence has caused the system to become severely overloaded and detrimental to effective decision making.
8. Far from being an isolated example, the changes at the heart of the UK EU policy making process reflect three longer-term structural developments at the European level which have served to empower prime minister’s/cabinet offices and disempower foreign ministries across the EU. First, the pace of integration in areas of ‘high’ politics (such as defence, security, economic, employment and immigration policy) has forced heads of government to play an increasingly prominent role in the management of EU policy across government. The growing frequency of European Council summits since 2002 has also served to usurp the role of the General Affairs Council, which is composed of national foreign ministers, in coordinating EU business.4 Second, the reach of EU competence into highly technical areas of domestic policy (driven by the Lisbon Strategy) means that policy leads are far less amenable to having their preferences subsumed to those of wider diplomatic prerogatives. Third, although foreign ministries continue to brief ministers prior to Council meetings, this masks the extent to which the real decisions are increasingly taken in informal pre-Council discussions led by national permanent representatives or prime ministerial ‘sherpas’ (commonly a senior official that serves as EU policy advisor to a head of government). This is a response to the unwieldy and inefficient nature of formal ministerial Councils and COREPER meetings since the 2004 enlargement.5
Added value
9. The FCO has proved relatively relaxed about the encroachment of the Cabinet Office and other departments on its traditional diplomatic territory. This is for two reasons. Firstly, the sheer volume and complexity of EU business today limits the capacity of any single department to steer substantive policy. Second, the FCO lacks the authority and legitimacy within Whitehall to guide policy, intervene in negotiations and/or arbitrate in disputes.
10. The FCO has responded to this new reality by trying to carve out a niche role for itself. It increasingly seeks to ‘add value’ to UK EU policy by contributing a distinct diplomatic perspective, rather than attempting to claw back the strategic and advisory functions that have been lost to the Cabinet Office. It does so in three main ways: supporting and strengthening the role of permanent representatives; maintaining a wider diplomatic network; and facilitating networking by policy leads with EU counterparts.
11. Firstly, the FCO’s most important role in UK EU policy making today is through the management of the formal interface between Whitehall and the rest of the EU. Paradoxically the main beneficiary of the FCO’s declining role within Whitehall has been the UK Permanent Representation to Brussels (UKRep). It has doubled in size since the mid-1990s as resources have been reallocated away from London in order to keep pace with four demands: further enlargement (which increases the number of countries the UK must lobby), pressure from the devolved governments for increased representation, expanding EU competence into new areas of policy, and enhanced EU engagement by home departments. It has also been indirectly strengthened as a consequence of the changes within the Cabinet Office. Although formally accountable to the Foreign Secretary, the Permanent
3 Representative tends to answer directly to the Prime Minister’s Office as a result of the weekly meeting that is convened with the Prime Minister’s EU policy advisor. This has been reinforced by the fact that the two now meet as ‘equals’, ostensibly because the head of the COES has been promoted to the same rank (permanent secretary).
12. Second, the FCO’s wider network of European embassies have become more, not less, important in the EU decision making process. As a consequence of further enlargement, key discussions and deal making is increasingly conducted in national capitals prior to formal meetings in Brussels. Overseas attaches therefore serve as a vital source of access (to other governments), intelligence (on member state negotiating positions) and assistance (with lobbying activities). At home departments compete for their time and attention – copying them into intra-departmental communications, providing them with regular briefings, and/or arranging periodic meetings – thereby integrating them further into the domestic policy process. This has been reinforced over recent years through advances in new communication technology (email and videoconferencing).
13. Finally, the FCO’s role was enhanced in 1998 as it gained responsibility for driving forward the ‘Step Change’ programme, aimed at underpinning the development of a more constructive European policy by strengthening networking between Whitehall policy leads with their EU counterparts. This entailed monitoring, encouraging and occasionally cajoling ministers and officials to engage more intensively with their opposite numbers. In practical terms this involved monitoring progress through the use of ‘grids’ which listed the number of bilateral trips departments had made or planned, and the use of peer pressure through the circulation of informal league tables. Within Whitehall the programme also took the form of training seminars and roadshows which sought to raise awareness of the importance of networking for strengthening the UK’s influence. It has also continued to provide important logistical support to departments – such as expertise on member states and the EU institutions, assisting with the development of lobbying and negotiating strategies, and through the promotion of public diplomacy at home.
Unintended consequences
14. The reform of EU policy making has given rise to three unintended consequences that risk undermining the UK’s capacity to exert influence in Brussels. First, the potential conflict of interest that exists between the European Secretariat’s traditional coordinating role and its enhanced strategic role has been exacerbated. This necessitates treading a fine line between impartial inter-departmental brokerage and driving forward the Prime Minister’s agenda, particularly where No.10’s views are at odds with the wider Whitehall consensus.
15. Second, the division of responsibilities for EU policy within and between the Cabinet Office and FCO have become increasingly blurred. On the one hand, the strengthening of the former’s capacity to provide EU policy strategy and advice duplicates the traditional role of the FCO. On the other hand, the reorganisation of business within the Europe Directorate around policy lead units simply mirrors the role of desk officers in the COES. Moreover, rather than fully integrate bilateral responsibility into the new policy teams, the FCO has simply opted to overlay the new vertical thematic division of labour with the old horizontal geographical division of labour. Because policy teams are also responsible for relations with different member states, two teams can often appear responsible for a particular issue at the same time (such as a ministerial visit), based either on their policy specialism or bilateral responsibility. This failure to clearly define responsibility for strategy, coordination and communication contributed to the duplication of functions and bureaucratic overload during the 2005 UK EU Presidency.
16. Third, by attempting to create a prime minister’s department in all but name, the reforms have raised expectations beyond that which could be realistically met. Although the Cabinet Office’s role has been increased, its resource base has failed to keep pace with the demands of integration and policy leads. It also remains too focused on short-term political imperatives and prone to being buffeted by day-to-day events to provide effective strategic direction for EU policy. This has had the
4 effect of reinforcing its relationship of dependency with the PMO. Yet the latter’s capacity to provide the necessary political leadership is itself contingent on the limited time and attention that the Prime Minister can devote to EU issues. Again, many of these failings were apparent during the 2005 EU Presidency as the Cabinet Office tended to over-plan but under-prepare: focused on agreeing and monitoring the delivery of departmental presidency objectives at the expense of strategic preparation, risk management and ‘horizon scanning’ for potential problems.
Recommendations
The FCO should focus on what it is best at
17. The FCO should concentrate on specialising at what it is good at, rather than seeking to challenge or duplicate the Cabinet Office. This means strengthening existing methods and finding new and innovative ways of adding value to substantive EU policy within Whitehall. It can do so in three main ways. First, the FCO should seek to maintain and exploit its wider diplomatic network, in both Brussels and other national capitals, as a valuable source of access, intelligence and expertise on other EU member states. This necessitates raising awareness across Whitehall of the strategic benefits that the embassy network can provide, strengthening existing communication systems between home- based policy leads and overseas attaches, and ensuring that the latter have the requisite policy expertise in order to actively contribute (rather than simply serve as gatekeeper) to technical policy dossiers. It is also likely to require the further reallocation of resources away from London towards ‘front line’ embassy staff.
18. Second, the FCO can take the lead across Whitehall in promoting engagement and networking with EU counterparts. Although the Step Change programme undoubtedly helped to normalise the UK’s relations with Europe, it was flawed in several respects. First, too many officials continue to view Brussels as an obstacle to policy development rather than an opportunity for policy learning or resolving intractable policy problems. Second, departments tend to pursue a strategy of ‘promiscuous bilateralism’6: forging relationships with particular member states on particular issues, but which can over time serve as a source of irritation to other governments. Thirdly, the UK remains relatively poor at high-level political networking by ministers, leaving us isolated from the informal but highly influential political networks within which preliminary Council deals are increasingly forged. A concerted effort at tackling these impediments necessitates a renewed programme of networking, using a combination of awareness-raising and peer pressure, which emphasises the longer-term strategic advantages of relationship-building as a way of fostering trust and confidence, rather than simply as a channel for securing short-term tactical victories. Only the FCO has the expertise and resources to generate sufficient momentum to drive this wider process of cultural change.
19. Finally, the vacuum of strategic thinking on EU policy remains a serious weakness of the UK policy process. Although lead departments regularly reflect upon the medium and longer-term prospects, opportunities and risks associated with the development of particular policy dossiers at the EU-level, there is little attempt to construct a more joined-up approach across Whitehall. This requires answering several questions. Which policies does the UK consider to be strategic priorities? How can the UK play a more constructive role in driving developments in these areas? What future decisions and events are likely to affect the UK’s aims and ambitions? How does the UK government see the EU developing over the next 5, 10 and 20 years? By failing to address these questions, successive governments have continued to frame the UK’s contribution to Europe almost entirely in terms of defending the national interest. More effective influence in Brussels can only be secured by formulating a clear and concise strategic narrative that defines a positive vision for European integration (on foreign policy cooperation, tackling climate change or liberalising energy markets for example) and sets out a constructive role for the UK within it. With its broad strategic overview of UK EU policy, the FCO could maximise its added value by restructuring its home-based Europe Directorate around crafting and articulating just such a vision.
5 Closer coordination between the Cabinet Office and FCO is essential
20. At present the division of labour established between the Cabinet Office and FCO remains ambiguous, contributing to bureaucratic overload at the centre. Moreover, strategic coordination of EU policy is hampered by two problems: the Cabinet Office has become over-dependent on the Prime Minister for political leadership in order to drive and steer EU policy; while the FCO is constrained from performing this role because longer-term developments at the EU-level have undermined the influence and authority of Foreign Ministers more generally. Effective management of UK EU policy can only come through closer collaboration between the Cabinet Office and FCO, not through the further centralisation of EU responsibilities in one location or the other. This can be achieved through two significant reforms.
21. First, the Prime Minister should in future chair a high-level inter-ministerial committee on EU policy. This could be achieved either by replacing the Foreign Secretary as chair of the formal cabinet- subcommittee on EU policy (as is the case in several other EU member states) or through an informal ministerial grouping (as Tony Blair briefly attempted in the run-up to the 2003 review of the ‘five test’ euro assessment). Crucially this would provide more effective political momentum and coordination of the UK government’s broader EU strategy, facilitate the steering of EU policy by providing departments with a much clearer policy lead on key issues, and add much needed weight behind the FCO’s efforts at facilitating engagement and networking with EU counterparts. This ‘strategic’ EU committee should remain separate from the system of correspondence for approving EU policy, which also needs to be streamlined. It should also be mirrored at senior official level through the reinstatement of a European Strategy Group (chaired by the Prime Minister’s EU policy advisor), designed to engage in medium and longer-term strategic thinking and planning on EU policy. This activity tends to be marginalised within the Cabinet Office’s ‘Friday’ meeting at present because it is overburdened as a ‘clearing house’ for EU-level negotiations.
22. Second, the position of Minister for Europe could be greatly strengthened. Quite apart from the rapid turnover of incumbents, the position has traditionally suffered from having an ill-defined role and inadequate departmental support base. As has been attempted in the past, the position should be re-focused towards facilitating the domestic coordination of EU policy: with responsibility for monitoring and scrutinising departments on the transposition of EU legislation, leading the government’s EU public diplomacy, and driving the FCO’s efforts at promoting engagement and networking with EU counterparts. In order to strengthen their influence within Whitehall, the UK government could emulate best practice from Ireland by restructuring the position so that the minister is henceforth based in both the Cabinet Office and FCO. By effectively spanning the two departments, the minister would be able to draw upon the wider authority and legitimacy that derives from having direct access to the Cabinet Office, while taking advantage of the FCO’s superior knowledge, resources and expertise. They would also greatly facilitate cooperation and collaboration between the two, help to foster joined-up thinking on strategy and networking, and serve as an early warning system for potential problems by guarding against wasteful duplication or competition. The shared ministerial position therefore constitutes an innovative solution to an age-old problem: EU policy is neither domestic nor foreign policy, but a complex hybrid of both.
11 November 2010
1 James, S. (2011, forthcoming) Managing Europe from Home: The Changing Face of European Policy Making under Blair and Ahern (Manchester, Manchester University Press). 2 See also Bulmer, S. and Burch, M. (2009) The Europeanisation of Whitehall: UK Central Government and the European Union (Manchester: Manchester University Press) for more detail on the traditional role of the Cabinet Office and FCO. 3 For further details see Cabinet Office (2002) Cabinet Office Annual Report (London: Stationery Office) and Cabinet Office (2003) Cabinet Office Annual Report (London: Stationery Office).
6
4 See in particular Gomez, R. and Peterson, J. (2001) ‘The EU’s Impossibly Busy Foreign Ministers: “No One Is In Control”’, European Foreign Affairs Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 53-74; and Wall, S. (2008) A Stranger in Europe: Britain and the EU from Thatcher to Blair (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 5 Tallberg, J. (2007) Bargaining Power in the European Council, Report 2007:1 (Sweden: Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies). 6 Smith, J. and Tsatsas, M. (2002) The New Bilateralism: The UK’s Bilateral Relations within the EU (London: Royal Institute for International Affairs).
7 Written evidence from Dr Oliver Daddow
‘The Role of the FCO in UK Government’
Summary of main points: 1. The FCO should be the principle repository of experience, information and expertise within Whitehall on the whole gamut of Britain’s external relations. 2. The FCO became marginalised in 1997-2010 by Prime Ministers wishing to exercise more central control over the machinery of government from Downing Street. 3. The Foreign Office needs to be responsible for providing a clear conceptual basis for British foreign policy, bringing issues of ‘identity’ and ‘ethics’ to the fore. 4. Britain has more means at its disposal to shape the international agenda than perhaps it realises. 5. The enduring Churchillian notion that Britain operates in three circles of power and influence was all very well for 1948; it is not so useful for 2011. 6. We should be wary of William Hague’s claim to be putting the FCO ‘back where it belongs at the centre of Government’. 7. Hague wants to take the FCO down two paths with policy and personal ramifications. Both present major challenges for the department. 8. The two key departments of state, FCO and Treasury, need to work more closely together to pursue shared goals for Britain. 9. The FCO’s network of overseas posts should provide three things: advice, early warning and insight. 10. The challenges in explaining foreign policy to the public are twofold: first, devising a coherent message and second, getting the message across effectively. 11. The Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister should jointly be tasked with presenting the government’s vision of British foreign policy. 12. The question of ethics and wider government objectives is sometimes phrased in a way that implies that attention to the former ‘gets in the way of’ the latter. This need not be the case.
Background on contributor: Oliver Daddow was educated in PPE at Oxford University and took his MA (with distinction) and PhD from Nottingham University. In 2000-05 he lectured at King’s College London at the UK Defence Academy and since 2005 he has worked at Loughborough University where he is currently Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations. In 2010-11 he was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for British Studies, University of California at Berkeley.
His research interests are threefold: first, British foreign policy, especially British-EU relations and Euroscepticism; second, the uses of history in making policy; and third, the language of foreign policy. He has published widely across these interests, the most relevant being New Labour and the European Union (Manchester University Press, 2011), Harold Wilson and European Integration (edited, Frank Cass, 2003), Britain and Europe since 1945 (Manchester University Press, 2004) and a co-edited collection based on the proceedings of a two-day conference held at the FCO in February 2010, British Foreign Policy: The New Labour Years (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). In 2009 he co-edited the International Affairs special issue on The War Over Kosovo: Ten Years On, contributing the article on British foreign policy. He is co-editing the British Journal of Politics and International Relations
8 2013 special issue on new approaches to the study of British foreign policy, based on a conference held at Berkeley in December 2010. He has published over twenty other book chapters and journal articles on these and related issues.
Written submission
1. The FCO should be the principle repository of experience, information and expertise within Whitehall on the whole gamut of Britain’s external relations, broadly defined in political, geostrategic and also economic terms. The difficulties it has encountered in maintaining that role have come from two sources. First, Prime Ministers and their Downing Street teams have taken increasingly high profile roles in making and selling British foreign policy abroad, often over the heads of Foreign Secretaries, or using Foreign Secretaries as mere ‘ciphers’ for policies devised elsewhere within the system. Second, technological and communications changes in a globalised world have meant the FCO’s web of embassies and contacts abroad can be by-passed by an interventionist premier wanting to devise policy bilaterally with other leaders, via ‘flying’ visits, conference telephone calls, email and so on. Both factors raise serious questions about the FCO’s role and function within the system of government in the years ahead.
2. The FCO became marginalised in 1997-2010 by Prime Ministers wishing to exercise more central control over the machinery of government from Downing Street. Tony Blair increasingly came to ignore the advice of the FCO because he predicted (correctly) that its natural caution on using military means to achieve foreign policy ends and its attention to taking a UN-sanctioned route (eg, in Kosovo and much more seriously Iraq) was out of step with the PM’s more interventionist posture on international affairs. Blair was regularly (and correctly) accused of by- passing Cabinet when making key decisions, but it was his bypassing of the Foreign Office that should be of as much concern if we see the Foreign Office as a source of moderation of some of the potential eccentricities of modern, leader-centred governance (the author has written an interview-based case study on the ‘Kosovo effect’ on British foreign policy-making in International Affairs vol.85, no.3, 2009; further details can be supplied if necessary). This points up the need for the FCO to be working as closely as possible at all times with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office, and for constructive dialogue on the nature of foreign policy challenges and possible solutions to be as open and frank as possible. Disagreement should not mean that these offices cannot work together effectively as long as the broad picture and desired direction is clear to both. To be seen to be abiding by the tenets of international law can be one way in which the FCO leads on helping Britain once more be seen to be a ‘good international citizen’, which rather got lost after 2001.
3. The Foreign Office needs to be responsible for providing a clear conceptual basis for British foreign policy, bringing issues of ‘identity’ and ‘ethics’ to the fore. These factors have been sadly and dangerously lacking in recent years. The policy framework established by the NSS, the creation of the NSC and the SDSR all continue trends previously ingrained by the New Labour governments, of what appears to be a reactive approach to foreign and defence policy-making: define the threat and then make the policy accordingly. What happened to devising defence
9 policy from first foreign policy principles (the ‘baseline’ of the 1998 SDR)? Foreign and defence policies now seem to be geared to combating a whole series of ‘threats’ which come in all forms (from international terrorism and environmental degradation) and from all corners of the globe. This approach, valid though it might be in identifying fundamental challenges to the national interest, risks stretching the limited resources at Britain’s disposal to breaking point, especially when key allies are facing the same grievous financial constraints. A ‘threat’ focussed approach to creating foreign policy seems, in fact, to be rather missing the point by using up lots of valuable resources listing things which for any rational, thinking person are really rather obvious. It is how Britain deals with them and why they have become perceived as threats that now require urgent attention, and this can only come from a thoroughgoing reconsideration of Britain’s role on the world stage.
4. Britain has more means at its disposal to shape the international agenda than perhaps it realises, but these means are not just military or economic; they are rooted in British values and its sense of identity. Conventional diplomacy, aided by pulling military and economic levers, is undoubtedly useful. However, they need to be operated alongside a more thoroughgoing revision of what it is Britain stands for in the world. New Labour’s ‘Cool Britannia’ and Robin Cook’s ‘ethical dimension’ to foreign policy (it was not an ‘ethical foreign policy’ per se) might have been lampooned in some quarters, but at least they made a start in that direction. A Foreign Secretary who held the Prime Minister’s ear for longer than Cook did might have succeeded in integrating issues of ethics more closely into the foreign policy arena (see paragraph 12 below). His relative failure should not mean the end of the matter for the FCO- there was certainly something in it. Post-Iraq there is a more pressing need than ever to refashion tired images of Britain on the global stage as a means of forging a brighter national and global future. Revivifying the Commonwealth will hardly get pulses racing around the country.
5. The enduring Churchillian notion that Britain operates in three circles of power and influence was all very well for 1948; it is not so useful for 2011. Those ‘hard’ power relationships (effectively just a list of Britain’s key allies at one historical juncture) need to sit alongside subtler, sometimes more cautious diplomacy that takes account of what identity Britain wants to express globally, and the values it wants to lead in promoting on the world stage. Not all academics and think tanks produce useless ‘theory’ divorced from the ‘reality’ of the world situation; much current work is in fact directly targeted at having policy relevance. There is a certain anti- intellectualism within British society in general that pervades also some quarters of government; compare to the US where the doors between policy and academia are revolving constantly. This is not a call for policy-makers to ‘use’ academics to put a gloss or add fake credibility to their policy pronouncements, but for a deep and ongoing debate about British foreign policy in the spirit of constructive engagement on both sides. In reconsidering how to devise practical policy at the nexus of ‘power’, ‘identity’ and ‘ethics’, the FCO could deepen its engagement with thinkers outside the department, especially those critical of recent trends in British foreign policy, including academics, pressure groups and Non Governmental Organisations. Being ‘critical’ does not mean that these ‘outsiders’ are hostile or opposed to ‘government’. They are critical because they care.
10 6. We should be wary of William Hague’s claim to be putting the FCO ‘back where it belongs at the centre of Government’ if it implies an attempt to recreate the Victorian heyday of Empire via a revivified Commonwealth. Does it matter if the FCO is not at the ‘centre of government’ (whatever that means) if it is helping Britain achieve its national and international objectives? The British obsession with being ‘central’ to everything is starting to see more than passé, but outright anachronistic. Times have moved on and new thinking is called for; not the solutions of the past. The paradox in making such a claim is that Hague is simultaneously parroting the government’s obsession with the ‘network revolution’, picking up all the technological changes discussed in paragraph 1, above. Either things have changed, or they have not. And if they have: what has changed- and how? The nature of the changes need spelling out because they will help us identify possible solutions, and how the FCO can help. And if Hague believes they have changed, then new ways of managing the FCO’s role in contemporary government are called for. Hague needs to spell out more clearly, therefore, what he means by ‘where it belongs’. It is not obvious to me what he means by this.
7. Hague wants to take the FCO down two paths with policy and personal ramifications. Both present major challenges for the department. From a detailed reading of his speeches since 2009 it appears that Hague first of all wants to involve the FCO in supposedly ‘forgotten’ areas of foreign policy, notably relations with China, Russia, India, Brazil and so on (the BRIC powers). I would venture that these were not forgotten at all by New Labour, it is just that attention naturally came to settle on the US, Iraq and other ‘flashpoints’ in Britain’s external relations after 2001; note for instance the landmark China Strategy document that was published near the end of the New Labour years. Some organisational memory could help Hague appreciate where New Labour took Britain and then the FCO could, with him, discuss where best to go next and, critically, think about why. Second, Hague wants to create a more equal and effective partnership between Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. An admirable objective as far as he personally is concerned, he also has the political weight and leadership experience to pull it off. Something to consider for the future will be how foreign secretaries with less political ‘clout’ fare when faced by an activist PM wanting to dabble in foreign policy across the board. How can the FCO recognise this propensity in a leader and maintain a constructive input to foreign policy decision-making when faced with that scenario?
8. The two key departments of state, FCO and Treasury, need to work more closely together to pursue shared goals for Britain, especially as its trade relationships are concerned. Brown’s years at the Treasury effectively wrested control over Britain’s Euro policy from the PM and the FCO, severely curtailing what might have been a more genuinely pro-European policy on the part of the New Labour governments. Friction, mutual suspicion and tension appear to have been the order of the day and this damaged the government’s ability to build a national consensus around a European-focussed foreign policy. The FCO seems to work well with DFID, so the two key points of focus for it now should be to get its views heard earlier within Downing Street and greater, more constructive dialogue going with the Treasury on matters of shared importance. Within the FCO, meanwhile, junior ministers should be given the opportunity to genuinely influence the debate. It seems that this was not always the case under New Labour. For example, how much impact did Ministers for Europe have on British EU policy? Were they listened to, or just ignored? If someone
11 is worth a post of that significance, they are surely worth listening to, and being asked to justify foreign policy in their realm of expertise (see paragraph 11 below).
9. The FCO’s network of overseas posts should provide three things. First, advice and updates on the political situation in the respective countries as they affect the British national interest, materially or otherwise. Second, early warning on specific policy challenges that may need meeting in the immediate future in the country or region. Finally, insight into opportunities for greater British involvement in the respective country, but only in so far as that involvement will enhance Britain’s clearly conceptualised national interest via its foreign policy goals.
10. The challenges in explaining foreign policy to the public are twofold: first, devising a coherent message and second, getting the message across effectively. Ultimately, however, it will be the government as a whole, not the FCO specifically, that discharges an effective message about Britain’s external relations in their entirety; this requires careful co-ordination across departments and crucially with the Communications unit in Downing Street. Basically, most media attention is focussed on what the PM says, followed – albeit a way behind – by what the Foreign Secretary and Chancellor say. New Labour badly mixed its messages on foreign policy. It presented Britain as a global player but did not define clearly what that meant. It said it was a pro-European government but pandered to the Eurosceptical press in denigrating many key aspects of the EU. It did not present a clear appreciation of the history of the British national story after 1945 and lacked the guts to present a European version consistently and coherently. Fatally, it lost trust on the Iraq issue, particularly after the ‘dodgy dossier’ which undermined the public’s faith in the communications machinery. Had that been a first year student undergraduate essay it would have failed, not least on the grounds of part-plagiarism! Achieving a coherent message about British foreign policy can only come when the FCO, Downing Street and other interested parties have thought critically about the conceptual basis of foreign policy, and where the government wants to take Britain in the years ahead. The Churchill model will not do.
11. The Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister should jointly be tasked with presenting the government’s vision of British foreign policy, for example in keynote foreign policy speeches in and around the time of the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet speeches. They should be aided by the relevant junior ministers where necessary (on that: does the public understand the role of junior ministers? Raising their profile might show more collective decision-making at work, as long as it is genuine and not merely for show). On a technical note, in research for my New Labour and the EU book the Foreign Office website during the New Labour years was found to be very badly managed and difficult to navigate. It proved almost impossible to locate speeches by the Foreign Secretary compared to the ease with which they could be located on the Treasury and Downing Street sites. The FCO website should be much less ‘clunky’. It is through the speeches that the visions are communicated, mainly via the media and academics, but also direct to the interested public. Set piece communications events for targeted audiences in and outside the FCO only hit a handful of people; it is the website that most people will encounter on a day to day basis.
12 12. The question of ethics and wider government objectives is sometimes phrased in a way that implies that attention to the former ‘gets in the way of’ the latter. This need not be the case, and deeper attention to the conceptual basis of foreign policy can act as a corrective to this simplistic view of the place of ethics in contemporary foreign policy-making. I quote here from the introduction (co-authored with Jamie Gaskarth) to our forthcoming co-edited collection on British foreign policy 1997- 2010: ‘If policymakers are going to pursue policies, from measures against climate change and global terrorism to preventing genocide and supporting economic development, they will have to cooperate with a range of actors beyond the Commonwealth, Europe and the Anglophone states. Some of these actors will have poor human rights records, a different conception of world order and society than the UK, and may be much more powerful than the UK, militarily, economically and politically. Incorporating identity, ethics and power into the decision-making process will allow the decider to appreciate the full implications of policy both domestically and internationally. Each will interact to allow a larger sense of what the costs and benefits are of allying with powerful states that do not share Britain’s values, of pursuing “ethical” interventions abroad, of constructing a role for the UK in the world that places it in a position of leadership and responsibility.’ In sum, what we are saying in that book is that greater attention to the ethical component of foreign policy is not a distraction from the ‘real’ issues of trade and security, but are fundamental to Britain’s ability to pursue its global objectives. Thinking of ethics and the national interest in zero-sum terms does a disservice to the synergistic relations between them and therefore obscures the undoubtedly vital role Britain can play in leading on global values. The problem for the FCO is making that case in an era since Iraq and when the expenses scandal has further damaged the faith of the public in what politicians say and do. Restoring the public’s ‘trust’ in public servants could certainly be aided by an upgrading of the ethical component as a driver of British foreign policy because it could help generate a new consensus around Britain’s role in the world and help put some of the shine back on Britain’s tarnished image on the global stage. A ‘good international citizen’ has more credit in the bank than a ‘bad’ one, and such reputations can be won and lost very easily, as the New Labour years demonstrated all too effectively.
18 November 2010
13 Written evidence from The Rt Hon Lord Owen
The Rt Hon Lord Owen CH FRCP
David Owen was a Member of Parliament for 26 years from 1966-92. Under Labour Governments, he served as Navy Minister, Health Minister and Foreign Secretary. From 1992-95 Lord Owen served as EU peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia. He currently sits as a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. His business interests include director of Abbott Laboratories Inc and Hyperdynamics Corporation and Chairman of Europe Steel. He was formerly Chairman of Yukos International, Global Natural Energy and a director of Coats Viyella.
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE
• The National Security Council should be put on a statutory basis to ensure it is a sustained innovation. Legislation should enshrine:
- the specific personal responsibility of the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary for the overall Ministerial control of the intelligence agencies
- the over-arching role of the Foreign Secretary in relation to the UK membership of the United Nations, and in particular our permanent membership of the Security Council, NATO and the Commonwealth clarifying the relationship with the MOD and DFID.
• Our shocking record of incompetence over the last decade in foreign and security policy at many levels will not begin to be set right if we focus only on Ministerial decisions and do not attempt to correct, in the case of the Diplomatic Service, its overriding culture of wanting, not just acquiescing in, ever greater integration within the EU.
• We have no interest in damaging or destabilizing the euro even though the UK should stay outside the eurozone. The smooth working between the eurozone and the non eurozone within the EU is in the interests of all Member States. The UK coalition government, in this context, is right to take special measures to help Ireland facing grave difficulties within the eurozone.
14 1. Though there are matters of detail that I will briefly touch on, the main thrust of my evidence is to focus on Question 1 on “What is the FCO’s role in UK Government?” and the “creation of the National Security Council”.
2. I begin by asking how we can put right the defects in the working relationship between the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office and the Prime Minister and No 10 that have been revealed in many different ways during the Prime Ministership of Tony Blair, but particularly from 2001-2007.
3. The Blair presidential style is not a totally new problem. There are at least three major warnings from the last hundred years of the adverse consequences of concentrating the determination of foreign policy in No 10 with a Prime Minister.
4. The first warning comes from the period of 1921-22 when Lloyd George’s personal diplomacy meant that the then Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon’s role and that of Foreign Office advice was greatly diminished on a number of Treaty negotiations to the detriment of British interests. Lord Curzon, however, put up with every form of humiliation in order to stay in office. Sadly he was not the last Foreign Secretary to adopt such a posture.
5. The second warning comes from 1937 when Neville Chamberlain began to bypass the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, over Anglo-Italian rapprochement. Then Chamberlain without consulting Eden in 1938 poured a “douche of cold water” on President Roosevelt’s proposal for Anglo-American cooperation. Eden’s brave resignation, sadly, had little effect on Chamberlain’s dominance in developing the policy of appeasement. Eventually when Lord Halifax, stiffened by Cadogan, the then Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Office, criticized the Godesberg demands in Cabinet on 25 September 1938, it still did not stop Chamberlain flying off to sign the Munich Agreement.
6. The third warning came from the handling of the Suez Crisis by Prime Minister Anthony Eden. As the months went by following the nationalization of the Suez Canal, Eden became ever more controlling of foreign policy. This was highlighted by him summoning the then Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, to return overnight from New York, where he was negotiating with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, only to immediately fly out with Eden to France to meet the French Prime Minister Guy Mollet. At that meeting Eden confirmed that if an Anglo-French clandestine agreement that Israel would attack Egypt took place Britain would intervene militarily on the Canal with France. This momentous decision was taken with no time for the Foreign Secretary to be advised by officials of the consequences of denying any prior involvement for relations with the United States and the Arab world.
15 7. It will be argued by some that a similar bypassing of the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office took place under the Prime Ministership of Margaret Thatcher. I do not think that the Thatcher period came anywhere near as far in undermining the collective handling of foreign policy as the Tony Blair period. In my judgement the best, briefest, and fairest, description of Margaret Thatcher’s relationship with the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office comes from the concluding chapter of Sir Percy Cradock’s book, In Pursuit of British Interests1, pp. 200-210. Over Rhodesia, the Single Market, Hong Kong and China, as well as German reunification, the Prime Minister’s initial positions were substantially modified and Cradock as her foreign policy adviser from 1984-1990 was in a unique position to assess relations between the FCO and No 10. Another insight comes from a former Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign Office, Sir John Coles, in his book, Making Foreign Policy,2 pp. 38-39.
8. The years of Tony Blair’s Prime Ministership, in relation to foreign and security policy, has already been analysed in the report on intelligence under the Chairmanship of Lord Butler. It will soon be reported on more generally by the Inquiry chaired by Sir John Chilcot. I have written a chapter entitled “The Ever Growing Dominance of No 10 in British Diplomacy” in British Diplomacy: Foreign Secretaries Reflect3 and a chapter on “Bush, Blair and the War in Iraq” in In Sickness and In Power.4
9. Amongst the mass of information on the handling of the aftermath of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, the Committee might find it useful to focus attention on two specific illustrative aspects of the decision making between the Foreign Office and No 10 in the Blair period. Both have, hitherto, received, in my judgement, insufficient attention though this may be corrected, in part at least, by the report of the Chilcot Inquiry.
10. Firstly, the handling of the second UN Resolution from early January 2003 until 8 March when it became apparent that the French Government had counted the votes in the UN Security Council more precisely all along than the UK Government and that the six undecided countries, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan, would not support the UK’s advocacy of a second
1 Percy Cradock, In Pursuit of British Interests: Reflections on Foreign Policy under Margaret Thatcher and John Major (London: John Murray , 1997), supplied to the Committee in hard copy. 2 John Coles, Making Foreign Policy: A Certain Idea of Britain (London: John Murray, 2000), supplied to the Committee in hard copy. 3 Ed. Graham Ziegner, British Diplomacy: Foreign Secretaries Reflect (London: Politico’s, 2007). 4 David Owen In Sickness and In Power: Illness in Heads of Government during the last 100 years (London: Methuen, 2008).
16 Resolution. It has been a long standing practice that the Foreign Secretary is the main determinant on how the UK positions itself in the Security Council relying on an assessment made within the Foreign Office of other countries’ voting intentions by a specialist unit drawing on all available information. Though of course the Permanent Representative’s Mission in New York plays a key role, it cannot be the sole source of guidance. In many cases it is essential to have a feedback from the Member States’ capital and to rely for this not just on the British Mission in that country but sometimes information from the intelligence services. Did such a system operate in 2003? To what extent were judgements made inside No 10 rather than in the FCO?
11. Secondly, the handling of the de-Ba’athification and the disbandment of the Iraqi army. Also the memo of our then Ambassador in Egypt, John Sawers, on 11 May 2003 suggesting bringing the British 16th Air Assault Brigade in Iraq, but due to return home, to Baghdad, also supported by Major General Albert Whitley, the most senior British officer with US land forces, serving in the US Headquarters of Lt General David McKiernon. De-Ba’athification was an area of policy on which the Foreign Office had considerable knowledge, particularly from the time in 1990-1991 when detailed consideration was given as to whether or not the British Government would support going on from liberating Kuwait to using armed force to take Baghdad and dismantle by force Saddam Hussein’s command and control of Iraq. The reasons why it became an agreed policy between the US and UK under President Bush and Prime Minister John Major not to do so at that time was highly relevant to the necessary preparation of planning for the aftermath of the military invasion of Iraq in 2003. Yet not only does it appear that there was an insufficient input from the FCO but one official has recalled “I don’t think that the Prime Minister felt he had to take any more of a personal interest in stabilizing Iraq. He was leaving it all to the Americans.”5 The Sawers’ memo was of immense potential importance, coming from someone who had been asked to go to Baghdad as the Special Emissary of the Prime Minister. According to Anthony Seldon “when Blair heard the plan, he gave his full backing. But nothing happened. It ran into the implacable opposition of Michael Walker who had succeeded (Admiral Sir Michael) Boyce as Chief of the Defence Staff”.6 Yet this was one of the rare moments when a British decision to deploy British forces into Baghdad could have had a profound effect on the continued success of the US/UK military operation. Had the Prime Minister ensured such a deployment was implemented it would have been virtually impossible for President George W Bush not to have increased American forces in Baghdad as well. The US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, would also not have been allowed by the President to bring home the 16,000 soldiers of the
5 Anthony Seldon “Blair Unbound” (London: Simon & Schuster, 2007) p191. 6 Ibid, Anthony Seldon, p189-190.
17 1st Calvary Division. How did the decision-making procedures in No 10 relating to this request operate? Why did no UK deployment result?
12. The coalition government established on 12 May 2010 a new National Security Council (NSC) to oversee all aspects of Britain’s security as their response to perceived failings in the previous arrangements. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, appointed Sir Peter Ricketts (Permanent Under Secretary at the FCO) as his National Security Adviser, a new role based in the Cabinet Office and charged him with establishing the new Council’s structures and to coordinate and deliver the government’s international security agenda. The Council is chaired by the Prime Minister and its permanent members are the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Defence, the Secretary of State for International Development and the Security Minister. Other Cabinet Ministers and the Chief of Defence Staff and Heads of intelligence services attend as required.
13. Sir Peter Ricketts reported to a meeting in Chatham House on 21 October 2010 on how this NSC process was working. He described in a published document, the NSC as “classic cabinet committee government as far as I am concerned. But the key thing is that the Prime Minister is driving it” …..”. That, in itself, drives Whitehall because if departments can see that there is a prime minister–chaired committee meeting systematically, taking decisions on national security issues, then Whitehall pays attention.” The Prime Minister has regularly chaired weekly meetings and the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chairman of the JIC and the heads of the intelligence agencies have normally attended NSC meetings. In this sense the NSC is different from previous Cabinet sub-committees.
14. The NSC clearly has important implications for the role of the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office. It should ensure that they cannot be sidelined by the Prime Minister as has happened before and the very existence of an NSC could enhance the FCO’s role. Sir Peter Ricketts mentioned, for example, that joint working on conflict prevention and on stabilisation has meant that “we have found more money for the conflict pools in Whitehall, most of it coming from the DFID budget but to be useful, you have to have not just DFID money which has to be spent under the ODA (Official Development Assistance) rules set by the OECD, but also money from other Departments for more military training and the military assistance programmes for which ODA money does not qualify. So you need a mix of it, and it needs to be flexible and as rapidly usable as possible.” There appears to be scope in the context of the NSC for the FCO and DFID to operate in a more integrated way. At present the separation of their activities seems less cost effective and driven by an agenda which appears to want separation for its own sake and is suspicious of sharing tasks and facilities. We cannot turn the clock back to the situation in 1977 when I was sworn in as
18 Minister of Overseas Development as well as Secretary of State although Judith Hart was responsible for overseas development and able to attend Cabinet. We have, however, lost something important in the Foreign Secretary’s dual role and it is worth the Committee examining this area to see if a more structured relationship can be achieved. There are no doubt many questions about the NSC which the Committee will also wish to tease out in oral evidence from Ministers and officials. But I wish to highlight one matter.
15. First and foremost, in order to be sure that the NSC represents a real and sustained innovation and not one subject to the whim of a particular Prime Minister, as the Cabinet Committee structure has been, I recommend that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee examines whether the NSC should be put on a statutory basis. This would make it very difficult in the future for any Prime Minister to bypass the NSC without first having the legislative authority to do so.
16. As part of that legislation the Committee might wish to consider some aspects of the statutory role of the Foreign Affairs Minister in the Dutch government. There is much to be said, in my view, for defining the role of the Foreign Secretary in legislation covering the National Security Council and some other Ministers’ roles. In particular I think it is very necessary, in view of the private wish and pressure from many former Prime Ministers to take over responsibility for MI6 and MI5, to enshrine in NSC legislation the specific personal responsibility for the overall Ministerial control of these agencies to the Foreign Secretary and to the Home Secretary. These responsibilities, it should also be made clear, are not ones that can or should be delegated to other Ministers within their Departments.
17. It would be worth clarifying in relation to the MOD and DFID the over- arching role of the Foreign Secretary in relation to the UK membership of the United Nations and in particular our permanent membership of the Security Council, also our membership of NATO and of the Commonwealth. In relation to the UN and the Committee’s Question 5 “What should be the role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts”, I believe strongly that the closure of Missions in UN member states must stop. There is a need for the permanent members to keep in direct contact with all member states and narrowing UK representation in the Member States is of itself damaging to our credibility as a permanent member.
18. Inevitably the conduct of UK government policy in relation to membership of the European Union, because so much of its activity relates to domestic affairs, will have to extend across many departments. This is best coordinated, therefore, by the Cabinet Office and the present system should continue where the Prime Minister of the day determines the cabinet committee structures for dealing with
19 EU matters and which Ministers should chair such committees when they are not being chaired by the Prime Minister. But it is nevertheless a fact of life that EU membership has recently weakened the power of the Foreign Secretary and the FCO on overseas policy, so much so that the growing public backlash to ever greater integration has in part stemmed from concern that the powers of the UK as a sovereign nation have been stretched so tight that they are in danger of breaking. There is legitimate public concern over the Lisbon Treaty’s potential to further erode essential sovereign powers and the public demand for referenda as a restraining mechanism is both understandable and correct.
19. There are gathering pressures within the EU for the European Council to take ever more decisions on EU foreign and security policy. The Council now meets regularly four times a year and has increasingly taken to having ad hoc meetings, something that is likely to increase with the two new positions of a single President of the Council, Herman Van Rompuy, for a renewable two and a half year term to a maximum of five years and the new powers for the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton now chairing all meetings of EU Foreign Ministers. These pressures are compounded by the frequency of visits to London by Heads of Government from all over the world. They expect to meet the Prime Minister. These pressures to focus all decision making around one figure, the Prime Minister, needs to be resisted if one wishes to retain Cabinet government and reject the presidential model. This is quite apart from the difficulty any one person has in being able to involve oneself in so much of the detail that accompanies many of these issues. One of the ways that this pressure on the Prime Minister’s time can be reduced is if the Foreign Secretary adjusts their travel schedules to be more available in London and in Brussels. The days of leisurely travel around the world are over if the Foreign Secretary wishes to exercise their role as the Cabinet’s principal adviser in developing, discussing and agreeing British policy overseas.
20. Finally, Question 8 relates to using the FCO to promote UK trade and economic recovery. There is apart perhaps from a new emphasis little that is original in this proposition. It was discussed and advocated by the CPRS Report on our overseas representation published and in part implemented in 1977 when I was Foreign Secretary.
21. Firstly, a few words of caution. One of the lessons arising from the internal report I commissioned in 1979 over the fall of the Shah, which is soon to be made public, was that we had focused too much attention in the FCO on trade and economic activity in the Embassy in Teheran and that this had been done at the expense of political reporting.
22. We also need to remember that there has been no more persistent an advocate of British entry into the eurozone within government than that of diplomats within
20 the FCO often in open conflict with Treasury officials. There was little readiness within the diplomatic service generally to learn the detailed economic lessons from the structural problems in the design of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and the reasons why the UK had to leave the ERM in 1992. It was also a tragedy that the very valuable contribution British diplomats made to the negotiation of the intergovernmental pillars in the Maastricht Treaty by John Major gave way to embracing the dismantling of most of this structure in the run up to the proposed Constitutional Treaty ensuring that much of that valuable ground was never recovered in the subsequent negotiations over the Lisbon Treaty.
23. It is easy for diplomats to claim that they only serve politicians and that it is the political leaders who are responsible for all that has gone wrong. But this is too simplistic. The Diplomatic Service is given a special role in overseas policy, not wholly dissimilar to the special role of the Armed Services in the development of defence policy. The climate of opinion amongst officials within both the Diplomatic Service and the Armed Service can have a profound influence on the end result of Ministerial negotiations and decisions. The last decade has seen in the actual conduct of our foreign and security policy a quite shocking record of incompetence at many levels. We will not begin to set this right if we focus only on Ministerial decisions and do not attempt to correct, in the case of the Diplomatic Service, its overriding culture of wanting, not just acquiescing in, ever greater integration within the EU.
24. Without the commitment to a referendum, forced on the Conservative Party in large part by the Referendum Party, before the 1997 General Election, and reluctantly conceded in opposition by the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, it is almost certain the UK would have entered into the eurozone during Tony Blair’s Prime Ministership and be now having to cope with a far deeper crisis than just our structural fiscal deficit. It also has to be faced that the culture within which Foreign Office diplomats work has been insufficiently concerned about the exact wording of EU legislation. This has had a profoundly adverse effect on British life and business practice. Examples are the European health and safety legislation, the working time directive, and EU regulatory activity concerning the financial services industry. There are many other examples where too great a readiness to go along with the majority within the EU has had damaging consequences on efficiency, unit costs and the competitiveness of British industry. There will have to be a fundamental change within the FCO itself if diplomats are to carry much conviction in any enhanced role in trade promotion and economic recovery.
25. It is undoubtedly a good idea that UK Missions abroad should focus more on promoting UK trade and economic recovery but it is questionable how much this should become a specialized skill of diplomats. It is at least worth the
21 Committee very seriously considering the alternative of more mixed Missions with representatives from other departments in Whitehall serving overseas. They have, provided they can acquire the language skills, the requisite specialized knowledge and can arguably make a greater contribution to this necessary reorientation. One of my personal regrets is that some of the aspects of the CPRS Report that were agreed by Ministers in the Labour government were never fully implemented after we lost the election in 1979. While there have been some notable exceptions, there has not been the cross fertilization between the home and overseas departments that was envisaged in terms of secondment both ways. Nor have we maintained our global representation by cutting back to one person Missions supported by local staff. Such a single representative does not always have to be a diplomat; in some very poor countries a representative from DFID might be more appropriate and in other small islands for instance someone with a Treasury or a Ministry of Trade background to deal with an offshore financial service industry might be more appropriate.
26. In the summer of 1977 the Labour Cabinet held an all-day meeting on the European Community, on the basis of a detailed memorandum which I was asked by the Prime Minister to prepare personally. Under the 30 year rule it should be available within the National Archives but it has not been placed there despite the document being referred to as the ‘Property of Her Majesty’s Britannic Government’. Perhaps this is because it was written to form the basis of a party political discussion as well as providing guidance for a distinctive policy over the EEC for the then government. For anyone interested I have forwarded a copy to the Clerk of the Committee. There is an important section in it dealing with the enlargement of the Community from nine to twelve to include Portugal and Spain as well as continuing with the enlargement negotiations for Greece. It was argued that enlargement, in the section on Commitment to Confederation, would provide an antidote to federalism and so it has, in the main, proved to be.
27. Today’s challenge for the UK is how to help restructure the eurozone. Many of us who have long argued against British membership have nevertheless accepted that a euro currency within the EU was a legitimate objective for other Member States and that we had no interest in damaging or destabilizing the euro. In this regard it was reasonable for the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to assure other Member States that the British would not stand in the way of sensible changes in the working practice and running of the eurozone, even if they involved Treaty amendment, with the essential proviso that they would have no consequential changes in powers relating to the UK and the provisions for our opt-out of the eurozone. Such a clean separation will, however, be very difficult to achieve. For example, the Swedish position outside the eurozone is not really compatible with the existing Treaty language. There is also a strong case for the UK helping to establish that Member States not in the
22 eurozone are part of a settled structure within the EU and not in some anti- chamber waiting for inevitable entry to the eurozone. It is, for example, very apparent that as a result of the present difficulties of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain and even Italy, there will be a far greater reluctance of eurozone countries to enlarge membership than existed hitherto. Therefore the non eurozone part of the EU needs to have a less transient nature with each country free to make their own mind up as to whether they wish to join the eurozone and entry not to be assumed to be automatic if they fulfill specific criteria. The UK coalition government, in this context, is right to take special measures to help Ireland as it faces its economic difficulties within the eurozone, particularly since we have a common border, history and a great many economic links.
28. What this crisis within the eurozone has revealed are structural problems that may yet still require some countries to leave the eurozone and for a period, at least, have the freedom to fix their own exchange and interest rates. We are facing growing demands within G20 and from countries dependent on commodities currently linked to the dollar, for consideration of a basket of currencies. The non eurozone part of the EU may consider it worthwhile examining some of the detailed discussions about a hard Economic Currency Unit (ECU) along with other innovative ideas being discussed in the wake of the 2007 global financial crisis. There are dangers in the UK adopting a totally hands-off attitude to the changes and rebalancing that is starting to emerge as a result of the continuing crisis in the eurozone. We are proving day by day that we are not hostile to the eurozone itself but that we will not become a member. How the non eurozone operates is a matter of fundamental interest to the UK and the smooth working between the eurozone and the non eurozone within the EU is in the interests of all Member States.
18 November 2010
23 Written evidence from Professor Daryl Copeland
Summary
• The FCO should serve as the UK government’s central agency for the analysis, coordination and management of all aspects of globalization. • The FCO’s knowledge of, and connection to people and places in the world represents its core value proposition as an instrument of international policy, as well the basis of its comparative advantage in relation to other government departments. • The availability of adequate resources represents the sine qua non for FCO effectiveness; brilliant management, strict economies and working smarter are necessary, but at the end of the day cannot substitute for budgetary sufficiency.
About the submitter
Daryl Copeland is an analyst, author and educator specializing in diplomacy, international policy, global issues and public management. He has written over 50 articles for the scholarly and popular press, and his first book, Guerrilla Diplomacy: Rethinking International Relations, was released in July 2009 by Lynne Rienner Publishers. That volume features a chapter on the reform of foreign ministries (pp. 143-60).
Mr. Copeland grew up in downtown Toronto, and received his formal education at the University of Western Ontario (Gold Medal, Political Science; Chancellor’s Prize, Social Sciences) and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (Canada Council Special MA Scholarship). He has spent years backpacking on six continents, and enjoys travel, photography, arts and the outdoors. Mr. Copeland serves as a peer reviewer for Canadian Foreign Policy, the International Journal, and The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Place Branding and Public Diplomacy.
From 1981 to 2009 Mr. Copeland served as a Canadian diplomat with postings in Thailand, Ethiopia, New Zealand and Malaysia. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was elected five times to the Executive Committee of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. From 1996-99 he was National Program Director of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs in Toronto and Editor of Behind the Headlines, Canada’s international affairs magazine. In 2000, he received the Canadian Foreign Service Officer Award for his “tireless dedication and unyielding commitment to advancing the interests of the diplomatic profession.”
Among his positions at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Ottawa, Mr. Copeland has worked as Senior Intelligence Analyst, South and Southeast Asia; Deputy Director for International Communications; Director for Southeast Asia; Senior Advisor, Public Diplomacy; Director of Strategic Communications Services; and, Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy and Planning.
Mr. Copeland is Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, where he has designed and delivers a graduate seminar on Science,
24 Technology, Diplomacy and International Policy. In 2009 was appointed as a Research Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy.
Background and Introduction
1. In today’s highly conflicted world, diplomacy and foreign ministries matter more than ever, but if they are underperforming and face a crisis of relevance and effectiveness. Diplomacy, and its institutions and practices, have not adapted well to the challenges of globalization. A host of substantial problems have been exacerbated by a negative image. Diplomats? To the extent that they are thought of at all, they are seen typically as dithering dandies lost hopelessly in a haze of obsolescence somewhere between protocol and alcohol.
2. For these reasons and more, in recent years diplomacy has been ignored, if not scorned by journalists, think tanks, international relations scholars and, most surprisingly, by governments. That neglect, however, has proven costly, as international policy has become increasingly militarized and as many states have come to rely on armed force as the international policy instrument of choice. The results – in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere - have been calamitous, while the exploration of alternative ways forward, including the expansion of trade, investment and technology transfer, have not received the attention they deserve.
3. Diplomacy’s problems can be remedied, but the necessary transformation will require a fundamental rethinking of some key elements of international relations, in particular the notions of “security” - which is not a martial art - and “development” - which is not to be confused with aid. Most of all, the entire diplomatic ecosystem, which consists of the foreign ministry, the foreign service, as well as the diplomatic business model, requires reconstruction from the ground up.
4. Diplomacy, the foreign ministry, and the foreign service are more, respectively, than the animus, the machinery, and the face of a nation to the world. All are closely related, and in fact, interdependent - a change in any one of the constituent parts will have knock-on effects elsewhere. The ecology of diplomacy represents an interlocking, organic whole, the matrix of international policy, the place where new ideas live or - too often and frequently for the wrong reasons - die. Like so many other ecosystems, this one too is beset by a cascade of adversity.
5. Hammered by relentlessly diminishing resources, diplomacy and its supporting institutions are going through a rough patch most everywhere. The initiative in
25 international policy development has passed to other actors, mainly defence departments, central agencies, NGOs and the private sector. Power and influence have moved upwards, to supranational institutions, outwards, to civil society actors, and downwards, to other levels of government. Leadership in foreign ministries has waned and creative international policy analysis and advice have in recent years given way to a reactive posture that responds mainly, and not especially well, to external demands. Grand strategy, a critical pre-requisite for successful navigation aboard the ship of state, is notable for its absence. 6. How, then, to bring diplomacy from the margins back into the mainstream, to get from fighting to talking, from diktat to dialogue and from coercion and compulsion to negotiation and compromise? In two words, not easily.
7. Foreign ministries, and the conventional diplomatic business model which they embody, have not adapted well to the challenges of the globalization era. They are rigid rather than fluid, hierarchic rather than networked, authoritarian rather than innovative, and staffed for the most part by a cadre of employees whose skill sets no longer fill the bill. Amongst the oldest agencies of government, the bureaucratic culture within foreign ministries tends to be change-resistant and risk-averse. Too thin on the ground at home, and even more severely stretched abroad, an under-financed diplomatic corps today finds itself in large part without the necessary tools or capacity required to respond to the rapidly changing environment in which it operates. The crisis is epidemic and systemic.
8. In this age of uncertainty, formal state-to-state relations are still necessary, but they are no longer sufficient to obtain the kinds of international policy outcomes required. If foreign ministries are to be effective, they can, and in fact must connect directly with foreign publics - through the new as well as the conventional media, by opening storefront and temporary operations, by negotiating joint ventures with civil society… whatever works. The days of near universal reliance upon standard operating procedures and diplomatic convention have passed.
9. Diplomacy may still begin and end with interstate relations, but the effective exercise of influence is related increasingly to forging partnerships, managing networks and shaping opinions. Few foreign policy objectives can now be achieved without carefully crafted initiatives designed to engage, to understand, to advocate and to influence. Whether a country needs to build international coalitions, cooperate to protect the ecosphere, or compete to attract foreign investment, skilled workers and students, the cultivation of a broad and diverse cross-section of civic support has become essential to success.
26
10. For these reasons and more, foreign ministries most everywhere are concluding that the doctrine and practice of public diplomacy seems best suited to meeting the challenges inherent in the era of globalization. How, then, should today’s diplomats be spending their time? Building project-based networks, both conventional and virtual, negotiating mutual interest alliances with the like- minded, working on media strategy, leveraging private sector activity… In sum, using attraction rather than coercion and exercising influence through dialogue and relationship-building.
11. In the early 21st century, emerging world system is looking increasingly heterpolar, which is to say that competing states or groups of states derive their relative power and influence from dissimilar sources - social, economic, political, military, cultural. Unlike the multiploar world of, for instance, 19th century Europe, the disparate vectors which empower these heterogeneous poles are difficult to compare or measure. Stability will therefore depend largely upon the diplomatic functions of knowledge-driven problem solving and complex balancing. Participation in those sorts of meaningful exchange holds forth the promise of effecting behaviour at both ends of the conversation, and therein lies the key to diplomacy’s enduring utility and appeal.
12. Diplomacy, then, is our best hope, but if it is to be in a position to deliver, then foreign ministries will need first to be fixed. While better placed than most, the FCO nonetheless exemplifies many of the patterns and problems sketched above.
Key Questions and Issues
13. What is the FCO’s role in UK Government? Given the policy framework established by the new National Security Strategy, the creation of the National Security Council and the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, what should the FCO’s role now be, and how should the Department relate to other parts of Government?
14. The FCO should serve as the UK government’s central agency for the analysis, coordination and management of all aspects of globalization. The FCO’s knowledge of, and connection to people and place in the world represents its core value proposition as an instrument of international policy, as well the basis of its comparative advantage in relation to other government departments. The
27 availability of adequate resources represents the sine qua non for FCO effectiveness; brilliant management, strict economies and working smarter are necessary, but at the end of the day cannot substitute for budgetary sufficiency.
15. How should the Foreign Secretary’s claim to be putting the FCO “back where it belongs at the centre of Government” be assessed?
16. In practice, repositioning the FCO closer to the centre of government operations will involve a dedication and commitment to intellectual leadership and policy entrepreneurship, and the development of a new narrative for the organization as an international policy catalyst, broker, guide and storyteller. It will entail a much greater emphasis on forward planning and the analysis of broad, crosscutting policy clusters such as governance, sustainable development, the rule of law, and the promotion of rights and democracy, and coordinating and integrating these issues across government. Also crucial will be rebuilding the depth and strength of the FCO’s eroded and undervalued geographic expertise, which has suffered over time as a result of various cost-cutting exercises and re-organizations. Acquisition of this unique form of knowledge - of people and place, of history, language and culture - is a major benefit conferred upon the FCO by virtue of its missions abroad.
17. What should be the role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts?
18. The FCO’s over-arching understanding of, and connection to the world, arising from and manifest through its network of missions abroad and geographic divisions at headquarters, represents its ace in the hole. Nowhere else in government do we find the capacity to develop a strategic overview of the UK’s place and direction in the world, to examine first-hand the many facets of globalization, and to assess what they might mean for the UK and its citizens. Diplomatic posts are crucial in this respect - neither journalists, nor businesspeople, nor academics have the mandate or the ability to come to terms with a changing world through the unique prism of British values, policies and interests. This assumes, however, that those assigned abroad are actually doing diplomacy - swimming like fish in the sea of the people and not flopping around like a fish out of water, or sitting around inside the chancery talking to like- minded others about what might be going on outside. Diplomats should not be reduced to international policy bureaucrats. If that is to be avoided, much of their time must be spent away from their desks, making contacts, developing networks, and engaging in dialogue - not just with the usual suspects, but with strange bedfellows as well. Maintaining a broad range of interlocutors is essential for both representational and intelligence-gathering purposes.
28 19. What is the FCO’s role in explaining UK foreign policy to the British public?
20. The effective conduct of international policy outreach at home is the domestic equivalent of conducting public diplomacy (PD) abroad, and as such should be regarded as an essential element of the FCO’s responsibilities. The outreach function, however, is frequently overlooked - diplomats are notorious for having their faces to the world but their backs to their own citizens. Moreover, foreign ministries are typically without the domestic constituencies more easily developed by government departments with large national programs - especially those involving significant local expenditure. In the case of both PD and outreach, the effective use of new and social media which leverage the interactive qualities of the internet will be elemental. The FCO has to date made some significant strides in this respect (FCO bloggers, and the corporate use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so forth).
21. What should be the FCO’s role in relation to non-governmental organisations?
22. The FCO should be the government’s key point of contact for NGOs with interests and activities related to international policy. Effectiveness can be leveraged through partnerships and joint ventures where shared priorities and objectives make that approach sensible. Mutual interest is the mother of the best collaboration.
23. Given the new Government’s emphasis on using the FCO to promote UK trade and economic recovery, how can the Department best avoid potential conflicts between this task, support for human rights, and the pursuit of other Government objectives?
24. At the highest level of analysis, international policy represents the expression, on the part of those representing states, of the constantly shifting balance between values, or that which is seen as important (such as human rights, social justice or democratic development), and interests, or that which is sought (such as prosperity, through trade and investment; security, through development cooperation or peacekeeping; the rule of law, through the promotion of good governance and international law). The two are often closely related - the way in which interests are pursued often reflects values, for instance in a preference for negotiation over conflict. Similarly, the extent to which values are considered in decision-making often reflects interests, for example in the complex trade-offs between international environmental standards/stewardship and resource development/use, or commercial relations and human rights. Because of the dynamic balance between values and interests in a constantly changing world, foreign policy is vexingly difficult to codify and complete coherence is unusual.
29 Indeed, one of the mature pleasures of adulthood - and they are few - involves learning to live with paradox, ambiguity and unresolved issues. That said, it is the responsibility of foreign ministries to manage the trade-offs (the broker function) and to communicate and implement the results.
25. The Committee would welcome submissions which address, in particular, the FCO’s relationships with the Department for International Development, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office (including the National Security Council); the role of the security services in relation to the FCO; and the FCO’s role in the management and implementation of EU business for the UK Government.
26. In Guerrilla Diplomacy I argue that in the age of globalization, development has become the flip side of security, and accordingly diplomacy should replace defence at the centre of international policy. In the 21st century, the most profound challenges to human survival - climate change, public health, food insecurity, and resource scarcity, to name a few - are rooted in science and driven by technology (S&T). Moreover, underdevelopment and insecurity, far more than religious extremism or political violence, represent fundamental threats to world order. In that context, the capacity to generate, absorb and use S&T could play a crucial role in improving security and development prospects. By way of comparison, the continuing pursuit of the Global War on Terror - under whatever new name - tends to have the opposite effect. International policy has become excessively militarized, yet the military is both too sharp and too dull an instrument to deal with the problems of globalization. Simply put, you can’t call in an air strike on a warming planet, or garrison against pandemic disease, or send out an expeditionary force to occupy the alternatives to a carbon economy. Bombs and guns, generals and admirals, and a reliance upon armed force can’t provide for either security or development in the face of complex transnational issues.
27. From this line of argument it follows that long-term, sustainable, equitable and human-centred development - addressing the needs of the poor, and bridging the digital divide - advances the cause of security, and accordingly should become a pre-occupation of diplomacy in general, and of science diplomacy in particular. The FCO’s Science and Innovation Network represents an important start in responding to this observation, but much more needs to be done to equip British representatives with the S&T skills and experience required.
28. A word is also necessary about a frequently misunderstood term, intelligence, particularly in reference to the FCO’s relationship to the security services. Intelligence is simply information whose value is based on its accuracy,
30 timeliness and relevance in relation to the objectives, priorities and interests of the information consumer - in this case, HMG. While intelligence may be generated through covert or secret means (espionage), it has been my experience that the most worthwhile and accurate assessments are based usually upon oral exchanges, first hand observation and the careful reading of open, unclassified sources. With the declining importance of formal, state to state relations in the overall international relations mix, diplomacy is increasingly about establishing networks of contacts for the express purpose of collecting information of tactical and strategic importance to governments, which is to say, intelligence. This will be increasingly so as the FCO moves towards implementing a model of public diplomacy which features lobbying, advocacy, and, especially, dialogue, which is the source of what is referred to in the trade as human intelligence. In these respects, and resulting from its extensive network of missions and representatives abroad and system of secure desktop communications, the FCO is well-positioned to increase substantially its contribution to the collective intelligence gathering effort. That, in turn, would bolster the UK’s position in other major allied capitals, where bringing more to the table will almost always produce tangible dividends.
29. To create a foreign ministry that is relevant and effective, new forms of representation abroad, and a headquarters establishment that is flatter, more agile and responsive, and not least, more influential and powerful, are the order of the day. An FCO that is more attuned and relevant to the work of other departments of government, and to the preoccupations of Britons would be positioned to lead on major international issues across government instead of scrambling incessantly, chasing a receding horizon, and fighting often ill-fated, rearguard actions to defend turf best left to others. Line departments may well have a better capacity to manage specific international policy files, such as diminishing biodiversity or international finance and monetary issues, but the management of the broad threats and challenges arising from globalization is no one else’s job. 30. On the more practical side, and this cannot be overemphasized, the FCO is at risk of becoming a department of service dispensers, spending more time and money providing housing, administration, technological support, and office space - often for the representatives of other government departments - than pursuing core international policy objectives. However necessary, this is not sufficient if the FCO is to avoid becoming a giant administrative tail wagging a tiny, emaciated international policy dog barely capable of barking.
31. Translated into action, this will mean reconstructing a foreign ministry that can interpret, articulate, integrate, and advocate by assessing what changing world means for the UK. In this dispensation, the FCO becomes an international policy catalyst (across government), a global guide (for Britons) and an accomplished storyteller (to the world). To do this, it will be necessary to maximize assets in the
31 field, to connect with wider networks, to renew professional skills, and to strengthen policy capacity.
32. Finally it may be asked: if HMG moves to create a foreign ministry dedicated to harmonizing the UK’s international policy and interests, to acting as a focal point and broker for global issues and world affairs, to client service (trade, consular, passports) and to managing the overseas platform (the network of missions abroad), will this be enough? While reconsideration and reform are clearly required, neither can improve performance and produce results in the absence of adequate resources. A fundamental re-thinking of the FCO’s organizational design and business model must therefore be wed to the promise of re-investment, as the alternative is continued drift into low-end logistical support, and, eventually, increased ineffectiveness and irrelevance.
23 November 2010
32 Written evidence from Dr. Graeme Davies, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds and Dr. Robert Johns, Department of Government, University of Essex
British Public Attitudes about International Affairs1 Summary:
1. The evidence from this memorandum comes from Foreign Policy Attitudes and Support for War Amongst the British Public, an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project (Award Ref. 062-23-1952). The data were collected in early 2010 on a representative sample of 5,000 British adults. Respondents were questioned about their attitudes towards international affairs, the use of military force, perceived security threats, nuclear weapons, MI6 and international trust amongst others. The purpose of this evidence is to give the committee members an indication of the public opinion parameters within which the FCO will have to operate. This memorandum reports a selection of our results.
2. Some of our main findings are:
• The British public are supportive of an ethical foreign policy, largely eschewing the use of torture, supporting strict controls on the arms trade, and preferring negotiation to the use of military action. • Only 3% of the British public rank defence and foreign affairs as their most important policy priority compared to 57% who placed the economy first. • 51% of the British public tend not to trust other nations. • 57% of the British public declare themselves to be interested in international affairs. • 48% of the British public are confident that MI6 produces accurate intelligence; only 17% are confident that the British government will present this information accurately to the public. • 61% of the British public rank international terrorism as a critical threat to British security. • 41% rank proliferation of nuclear weapons as a critical threat to national security. • 54% agree with the statement that “Britain is too small a country to be out policing the world”.
1 More material is available on request.
33 • 49% of the British public believe that negotiations are an effective approach for dealing with a country whereas 18% believe that military action is more effective. • 46% of the public believe torture can never be justified.
3. Our evidence suggests public feelings about Britain’s role in the world are confused – or, at least, heavily contextual – with some responses suggesting that the public believe we should be less active, whereas other responses suggesting a desire for greater engagement. While respondents profess themselves interested in international affairs, it did not rank very highly as a policy priority for the public. When we do engage in international affairs we should do so in conjunction with other states. However, the public believes that the UK spends too many resources supporting US military activities and that we contribute too much to international organisations. The public is also generally mistrustful of other states in the international system.
4. The evidence presented will examine British public attitudes in eight areas:
a) International affairs b) Negotiations and sanctions c) Security threats d) International aid e) International trade f) National debt and military action g) Confidence in intelligence and government h) Nuclear weapons
The authors
5. Dr. Graeme Davies: Lecturer in International Security at the University of Leeds and Co- Director of Project. Dr Davies has published research on domestic politics and the initiation of international conflicts, North Korean foreign policy behaviour and the effect of coercive diplomacy on Iran. He is currently working on British and US public attitudes towards international conflict and international affairs.
6. Dr. Robert Johns: Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Essex and Co-Director of Project. Dr Johns researches and has published in the fields of public opinion and political psychology. He has been lead researcher on a number of major survey projects investigating political attitudes in Britain.
34 Attitudes towards international affairs
7. The public in general regard themselves as interested in international relations, with 59% of respondents saying that they pay attention to international politics. However, only 3% of the public rank defence and foreign affairs as their most important policy priority. When considering Britain’s role in the world, the British public show a strong preference for multilateral efforts and tend to want the British to avoid policing the international system. Looking at Figure 1 we see that 78% of the British public agree or agree strongly that the UK should work with other countries in solving problems like climate change and poverty. However, 20% of the public agree strongly that we are too small a country to be out policing the world and only 8% agree strongly that we should be trying to end conflicts around the world. Generally the public appear to be roughly equally split on ‘internationalism versus isolationism’ with 38% of the public believing that we should concentrate on problems at home, 41% disagreeing, and 22% unsure. This is characteristic of a broader ambivalence in British public attitudes towards international affairs. In particular, our findings suggest that there considerable uncertainty about active engagement in military matters, but the public do want to see us cooperate with other states on non-military matters. As with so many findings in this survey, this is clearly reflective of Britain’s recent foreign policy experience.
Figure 1 Public Attitudes about Britain's Role
Concentrate on Britain Active solving Conflicts Work with other nations Too small to police world
41 37 35 34 32 32 24 22 24 20 20 19 14 15 8 9 6 5 2 3
Agree Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Disagree Strongly
8. In terms of military alliances the public are particularly unwilling for the British to become involved in unilateral action or ‘coalition of the willing’-style actions with the United States (Figure 2). 70% of the public are willing to support British involvement in UN-led operations and 45% of the public are willing to support EU-led operations. 30% of the public are willing to support British involvement in US-led coalitions, marginally lower than the 32% who are willing
35 to support unilateral military action. Clearly, if Britain is to act abroad then the public would prefer that we worked with other nations; if we are to go to war, they feel that we should act within formal international organisations, preferably the UN.
Figure 2 Would you support British military action in the following circumstances?
Yes No
70 65 70 68 45 55 30 35 30 32
UN Mission NATO Mission EU Mission US led Coalition Alone
Attitudes towards international negotiations and economic sanctions
9. One of the areas addressed in the survey is attitudes towards international negotiations, a matter directly under the FCO’s remit. While the public are generally mistrustful of other countries in the international system, this does not translate into opposition to negotiations and the public is clearly in favour of negotiating with Iran, North Korea and the Taliban. Looking at Figure 3, we see the public are very supportive of diplomatic attempts to deal with states that have or might be developing nuclear weapons. We also examined attitudes towards military strikes against Iran and found that the public is again in favour of a more diplomatic approach. There is slightly less willingness to support negotiations with the Taliban, although it still remains the preferred option for a significant portion of the public. Overall, the public is inclined to regard negotiations are a more effective tool for foreign affairs than military action (Figure 4).
36 Figure 3 Public Perceptions on Negotiation
Negotiate With North Korea Negotiate With Taliban Negotiate with Iran
48 39 30 17 17 17 14 16 12 16 16 10 7 8 11 4 3 3 2 6 3
Definitely 12345Definitely Should Not Try Should Try
Figure 4 Which is more effective: military action or diplomacy?
39 28
12 12 8 4 2
Negotiations 12345Military action more effective more effective
10. Respondents were on balance likely to see economic sanctions as effective (Figure 5). Confirming the dovish tendency among the British public, sanctions were, like diplomacy, seen as preferable to military action in dealing with countries perceived to be a problem for the United Kingdom.
37 Figure 5 Sanctions
Sanctions
30 23 16 11 6 4 3
Not at all 12345Very Effective effective
Security threats
11. The British public clearly perceive that the rise of Islamic extremism and the spread of international terrorism as posing the greatest threat to British national security, trumping even the spread of nuclear weapons (Figure 6). The rise of international terrorism has had a significant impact upon the British public with 73% believing that Britain will be the target of terrorist attacks in the next few years and 27% of respondents believing that they might be the victim of such an attack (the latter probably an undue pessimism considering the historical record of terror attacks). Interestingly, the rise of China is viewed by the British public as an important if not critical security threat. These attitudes are clearly subject to the influence of the media and political debate more generally, and public perceptions of national security priorities may well reflect the focus in public discourse on terror rather than on, say, energy security.
38 Figure 6 Threats to British National Security
Critical Threat Important Threat Not a threat
68 61 61 63 59 54 52 47 49 50 41 34 34 32 35 26 19 22 23 13 14 14 559 5 6
Aid policy
12. There seems to be a general if slightly grudging acceptance of foreign aid, with half the population believing that the aid budget is either about right (30%) or too small (21%) (Figure 7). A further 9% answered “don’t know”, leaving a large minority (40%) who believe that we spend too much. There is roughly an even split on how the British public view foreign aid priorities (Figure 8), with around 39% of the population believing that we should focus our aid policy on national interests and 42% believing we should focus on need of the developing countries.
Figure 7 Public Perceptions about Aid Amount of Aid 30
17 12 13 10 4 5
Far too little The Right Amount Far too much
39
Figure 8 Aid distribution priority
Aid distribution priority
20 17 16 14 16 9 9
According to 12345According to Need our national interests
Trade policy
13. The next area we focus upon is the extent of protectionist attitudes amongst the British public, and in particular on their attitudes towards the arms trade. Generally the public opposes both unbridled protectionism and completely free trade; rather they are supportive of limited restrictions upon imports (Figure 9). (This flock to the middle option may also reflect a public that knows and thinks little about the subject.) There is similar balance on the issue of arms exporting, but here there is a core of strong opposition, with 14% strongly disapproving of the arms trade (Figure 10). The support of the rest of the public comes with conditions, however, relating to where the public believes those arms are going. A separate question revealed that, while 21% flatly oppose any arms exports and 11% take an entirely permissive approach, the large majority of the public believe that we should only sell arms to democracies and countries with a good human rights record (Figure 11). Arms deals with countries that have poor human rights records would clearly go against public opinion.
Figure 9 Restrictions on Foreign Imports 31
19 18
9 10 7 6
Tight restrictions12345No restrictions
40 Figure 10 UK Arms Trade
Approval 28
19 16 14 9 8 6
Strongly 12345Strongly Disapprove Approve
Figure 11 Where should we export arms? 69
21 11
Export to anyoneExport to democracies and countries with good human rights recordNo exports
National debt and military action
14. Looking at Figure 6, we can see that 94% of the British public view the financial crisis as an important or critical threat to British security. One of the implications of the financial crisis is the size of the deficit and the overall level of national debt. We examined public views about whether it should affect government decision-making about the use of military action. Clearly, the deployment of armed forces is a costly business and financial restrictions may affect national priorities. A small majority of the British public (54%) believe that the level of national debt should not influence military decisions. However, a significant minority (36%) believe we should rule out any new military endeavours until the debt has been reduced substantially and 11% of the public believe that we should suspend all military actions until the national debt has been significantly reduced.
41 Figure 12 Military Action and National Debt 54
36
11
Suspend all military activities until Rule ot any new activities until debt Debt should not influence military debt is substantially reduced is substantially reduced decisions
Confidence in intelligence and the government
15. One of the clearest findings we have in our study is that, while the British public are broadly confident in the intelligence produced by MI6 (48% to the ‘confident’ side of the middle point), they are far less confident that the British government will present that intelligence accurately (only 18%) (Figure 13). The flawed use of intelligence during the build up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has clearly influenced public attitudes about how government uses intelligence. Further analysis suggests that an individual’s confidence in intelligence and government reporting of that intelligence will have a significant impact upon their support for pre-emptive military action. This will have significant implications for British foreign policy if future decisions are based on – or at least publicly justified using – intelligence.
Figure 13 Confidence in Intelligence Accuracy and Government Reporting of Intelligence
MI6 Accuracy Government Accuracy
29 27 25 20 20 15 16 15 11 6 5 5 4 2
Not at all 12345Very Confident confident
42 16. We also examined public attitudes towards the use of coercive questioning methods. Most within the public show a strong distaste for the use of torture and enhanced interrogation techniques (such as water-boarding), 46% of the public believing that torture and 34% that enhanced interrogation can never be justified (Figure 14). On the other hand, there remain significant minorities who are much more sanguine about such methods.
Figure 14 Public Attitudes towards Information Extraction
Torture Enhanced Interrogation 46 34
19 17 15 10 11 13 11 7 3 5 4 7
Definitely 12345Definitely can cannot be be justified justified
Nuclear weapons and the NPT
17. The next area that we investigated was public attitudes towards nuclear weapons, their costs, and our obligations towards the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We asked the public if they believed that we spent too much, too little or just the right amount on our nuclear deterrent (Figure 15). While the largest minority of the public felt that we spent about the right amount on our nuclear deterrent (32%) a sizeable proportion of the public (38% to that side of the mid-point) tend to think that too much money is spent. When asked about Britain’s obligations to disarm under the NPT, respondents showed general support for the removal of nuclear weapons but little enthusiasm for leading the way on that front. A majority of the public (52%) believe that we should disarm at the same pace as the other nuclear powers and few were in the extreme categories: just 9% of the public believe we should retain the deterrent regardless of the actions of other states, and still fewer were unilateralists – just 5% favoured immediate disarmament.
43 Figure 15 Expenditure on Maintaining Nuclear Deterrent
32
17 12 7 9 3 2
Far too little 1 2 The right 45Far too much amount
Figure 16 Public Attitudes Towards NPT Obligations 52
17 17 9 5
Keep Nuclear Get rid of nuclear Get rid of nuclear Start the process of Immediately get rid of Weapons weapons last weapons at the same getting rid of its all nuclear weapons pace as other nuclear weapons countries
Conclusions
18. The picture emerging from this research is of a broadly multilateral public. Their focus is generally on international cooperation within formal institutional frameworks. They are concerned about ad hoc military campaigns and believe that we should neither be acting in unilateral fashion nor attempting to police the international system. The public support nuclear disarmament but again they want the government to act in conjunction with the other states.
19. This desire for multilateral action is also consistent with the wider demands for an ethical foreign policy. The public eschews the use of torture, is broadly supportive of international aid (even at a time of domestic economic difficulty), and, while not opposed to the arms trade, wants strict controls on where British weapons are sold. An ethical foreign policy at the heart of government will receive strong support from the British public.
20. There is a general confidence in the intelligence that is produced by MI6, but an uncertainty about how that intelligence will be used by the government. This has immediate policy implications: an independent agency that is free from political control and can produce publicly
44 available intelligence dossiers may be necessary to improve British public confidence in evidence presented for military action. It also has implications for the nature of public opinion about foreign policy, a topic often remote from people’s everyday concerns (and often given little prominence in the mass media). While the public reported considerable interest in international affairs, the apparently moderate positions taken on most issues may reflect the top-of-the-head responses from citizens who have seldom reflected on that question before and grasp at what sounds like a reasonable response. Attitudes tend to crystallise when previously remote issues are thrust into their attention, as with the Iraq war and accompanying controversies about intelligence. Public opinion in this field thus offers policymakers a degree of room for manoeuvre. However, there is a point beyond which the ‘permissive consensus’ will break.
25 November 2010
45 Written evidence from Sir Edward Clay
About the writer: I was a diplomat from 1968 – 2005. I served as High Commissioner in Kenya (2001-5), Cyprus (1999-2001) and Uganda (1993-7, during which period I was for a time accredited on a non-resident basis to Rwanda and Burundi); between 1997 – 9 I was the Director of Public Services in the FCO, responsible for consular, visa, information and news, cultural and parliamentary work, and for managing the FCO’s relationships with the British Council, BBC World Service and the Wilton Park Conference Centre. I otherwise spent my overseas career in Eastern and Southern Europe (twice in Cyprus), and Eastern Africa (including twice in Kenya). In London, I spent most time on issues of defence and international security, and human resources. I am particularly interested in development issues, and their relationship to governance. I became known in Kenya in particular for speaking out on human rights, constitutional reform and corruption. I was declared (as I remain) PNG in that country three years after I retired, soon after the violent end to the disputed presidential election of late 2007. Since I retired, I have served as a trustee or committee member of a number of NGOs, all with a development aspect. I am an associate director of the Centre for Political and Diplomatic Studies.
Note: what follows has not been cleared with the FCO. My last encounter with the Foreign Affairs Committee concerned my argument with the FCO about their attempt to constrain tightly what retired diplomats could say. I was grateful for the FAC’s support for the case I made for relaxation of the offending Rule. The regulation concerned, DSR 5, had been tightened indefensibly at Mr Straw’s behest in 2006. It was finally relaxed in 2009. I attach for ease of reference at the end of the following submission my letter of thanks to the Chairman of 16 March 2009.1
The Role of the FCO in UK Government
Main points: Government needs a foreign policy co-ordinator within Whitehall. The role and standing of that co-ordinating department, and its Secretary of State, should be appropriate to the role and standing HMG seeks in the world. The department must be resourced so that it can take an authoritative, independent and intelligent part in inter-departmental discussions of issues on which other departments enjoy a recognised lead, and with parliamentary groups, NGOs, media and think-tanks which have important perspectives of their own.
1 Not published.
46 Its essential expertise lies in its ability to influence, argue, negotiate, and to report, interpret and advise upon how international developments bear on British interests, and vice-versa. Its authority rests upon recognition abroad, in Whitehall and at Westminster, of the foreign ministry’s primacy in the United Kingdom on foreign affairs. Reflections on possible conflicts of interest.
1.1 The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) – or any alternative ministry responsible for international policy - needs such standing and authority in Whitehall as is needed to serve successfully British society and its governments. The Office cannot for long make up for weaknesses in British society or within British governments. The question is, not of boxing above our weight but how to box most effectively at our weight: foreign governments will scrutinise our country for its health, and our system of government for evidence that international affairs are no longer dealt with as seriously as they need to be. If our foreign ministry and its servants want to be effective and taken seriously abroad, they and their ministers need to be taken seriously at home, and in Whitehall.
1.2 The FCO must be the principal means by which HMG plays its effective part in international organisations to which we belong (the UN and its family; the European Union, including the new European External Action Service; NATO; the Commonwealth; the World Trade Organisation; the International Financial Institutions, and so on); the leader in influencing and persuading, negotiating treaties and understandings, and upholding those to which the UK is party; and fulfilling in relation to international institutions and other countries our shared and bilateral obligations of all kinds, in partnership with other Whitehall departments.
1.3 The UK’s ambivalence about its European avocation has been a handicap to this country’s international standing, security and foreign policy for much of the last thirty years. It has arguably made us less successful in areas of our strength and emphasised (but sometimes disguised) our weaknesses. Our hostility towards Europe has divided the FCO from much political opinion; it has not demonstrably made us more useful as a pivot of Atlanticism, nor strengthened our effectiveness in NATO – arguably the opposite. Europe is one of those issues on which the consensus within the FCO for perhaps thirty years has been far from what was fashionable, and may have helped lose it parliamentary and public respect and support in its continuous battles over resources. Another major issue of which the same can be said include Arab/Israel and Middle Eastern policy more widely. In any case, our national interest and the drive for a more economic diplomacy should lead us to engage wholeheartedly in the EEAS and in the formulation of an effective European international policy.
2.1 Only one - and preferably just one - department is needed to bring together analysis of international issues, assessments of the interests of the United Kingdom and of pressures bearing upon those interests. One department is
47 needed to focus HMG’s conduct of our international policy accordingly, in the light of inter-departmental views. That department must also engage with, harvest ideas from and gain the respect of the many non-governmental sources of expertise on international policy. International policy is not a preserve of one department: many or perhaps most Whitehall departments have policies with international dimensions.
2.2 The new National Security Council (NSC) might not have been invented if the FCO had not lost important capabilities and suffered particularly debilitating attacks on its resources in the early part of the 21st century. The FCO should be re-skilled to do what it used to do very effectively in co- operation with the intelligence, security and defence authorities.
2.3 The NSC is an extra cost to government, a source of rivalry where we cannot afford it, and represents a large intrusion of prime ministerial power into foreign policy: our postwar history of prime minister-driven foreign policy is not encouraging, and it undermines the post and potential contribution of the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. We should not, at any rate, need two (or more) Whitehall departments running foreign policy.
3.1 The FCO does not need to be greater – in size or budget or in any other sense – than other Whitehall or non-governmental stakeholders in international policy. It does not need to compete with the expertises of other, lead departments. There are urgent reasons for the favour in terms of funding shown to the intelligence agencies in recent years and their increasing public profile. Such phenomena are not the problem. The relationship with the Ministry of Defence worked admirably for years despite the disparity of size and the MOD’s high profile.
3.2 What the FCO must do is recruit, retain and organise itself to remain a first-class policy department, in the first place. Successive governments have demeaned its role (‘the ministry for foreigners’) and blamed it for failures, reduced its resources deliberately or negligently, and increasingly behaved as if service delivery is the department’s only or chief function at the cost of policy formulation and implementation. Service delivery is important, but it is not a substitute for a foreign policy.
3.3 The Prime Minister’s declaration that ‘ambassadors must be salesmen’ is not a startling new departure: the security and prosperity of the UK have always been basic purposes of the diplomatic service. The question in the present era of globalisation of promoting exports is more complicated than it was (what is a British company or a UK-branded good?), while promoting inward investment in the UK is perhaps the more important task. Since I did commercial work when it was passing through one of its periods in fashion thirty years ago, the number of commercial posts abroad has shrunk as it has taken a lowly place behind other priorities. Diplomats need the chance to get experience of commercial work in their youth, before they are called upon to do it as an ambassador. The purpose of a diplomatic career is to train people in key skills and give them a chance to develop and practise them before they reach senior positions: the planning for a proper structure and cultivation of
48 talent is something the FCO needs always to do, to realise full value from its investment in its people.
3.4 The establishment of the Department for International Development (DfID) with a mandate embodied under the International Development Assistance Act and a ring-fenced budget is a huge innovation in the UK’s international policy framework. DfID has sometimes behaved as an alternative, overseas representative of HMG. The department’s institutional character as a spending agency is marred by its profligacy and weakness on governance. Its flaws reduce the effectiveness of a large and otherwise well- conceived aid programme, and cut across efforts to make international policy coherent and cohesive.
3.5 DfID needs to shed its old resentments, stop avenging itself on the FCO for decades of co-habitation, re-join Whitehall and adapt itself to the collegiate formulation and execution of foreign policy in partnership with other stakeholders, under the leadership of the FCO. Ministers must show a lead on this. Some of its large budget needs putting to purposes not usually regarded as aid. The argument that DfID’s big budget is insignificant in terms of overall UK government expenditure, is false: the aid budget is about equivalent to what we plan to spend on the Olympics or a bit more than the very hefty increase in funding steered by the last government towards policing in the UK. DfID’s budget needs to respond to the wider objectives of HMG and to be assessed more rigorously, like other departments’ spending. The new Independent Committee on Aid Impact may be useful, though whether its remit extends to recommendations to spend less or spend differently is doubtful. DfID money is badly needed for conflict prevention or resolution, and to fund a proper FCO, for example.
4.1 The FCO’s unique role and contribution within government is to assess the significance of developments beyond the UK to British interests, and to report confidently and confidentially to London upon them. In doing so, they will need to draw upon the resources and interests of non-governmental organisations, the media, think tanks and other important stakeholders and departments. They must have a more open dialogue on key foreign policy issues with parliament, through the FAC and all-party groups, under the supervision of their ministers.
4.2 The continuing ICT revolution and differences in the way countries do their business have arguably made the collection of information easier, but the interpretation of its reliability and significance more demanding. The FCO will continue to post most of its best people to its multilateral missions and functional desks in London to promote the UK’s role in the management of key international issues. The network of bilateral missions has, however, an essential role in informing policy on those issues, and in its promotion and delivery in other countries. For a member of the P5 with worldwide responsibilities, non-resident missions are not an adequate substitute for resident missions in other states, flexibly and lightly managed, but capable of representing HMG’s interests properly, seeking to exert influence and interpreting foreign governments and countries to HMG. Rwanda in 1994 is a reminder – and not the only one - of that.
49
4.3 Of course, the FCO will continue to need to hire and pull in expertise from other departments to help do this work of reporting, analysis, influencing and negotiation. The personnel should be systematically and appropriately selected elsewhere. But if work needs doing in support of our international policy, the budget of the FCO should provide for it to be done.
4.4 The pool of expertise may also include experts contracted from outside the public service altogether, including foreign citizens recruited in third countries. Such recruitment should not, however, prevent the acquisition of expertise and experience by career members of HM Diplomatic Service. Nor should liberties be taken with the requirements of discretion and trust which would compromise the delivery of confident and confidential advice to the process of international policy-making.
5.1 The domestic utility of the FCO as a foreign ministry relies substantially upon three things: first, its expertise in international policy-making and diplomacy; second, wide acceptance of the weight within Cabinet and Parliament of its Secretary of State; third, the clear acceptance by foreign governments and heads of international organisations of the unique authority of ambassadors and high commissioners to speak on behalf of HMG as a whole (which in turn will reflect their assessment of the weight the FCO and its ministers carry within government).
5.2 However good the FCO, its skill in promoting British interests depends primarily on the international reputation of the United Kingdom as an effective, economically successful and respected independent State, taking seriously its accepted obligations and aspirations to maintain and develop an international system based upon rules and law.
5.3 Foreigners will not take seriously a country or a government which seems not to take foreign policy seriously, appears unreliable or uncertain, and undernourishes its foreign ministry.
6.1 I have not so far dilated on the question of possible conflicts raised in your inquiry’s terms of reference. I have left it and my reflections of my personal experience until last.
6.2 Diplomats may, as individuals, sometimes be torn between conscience and duty, and very occasionally driven to question whether they can continue to do their public duty. Your terms of reference suggest there might be a special conflict between supporting British exports and promoting human rights. Such was widely supposed to be the Prime Minister’s dilemma during his recent visit to China.
6.3 In fact, in my experience, the conflict has arisen much more often when domestic actions by the British government have belied the high moral tone we have taken over the denial of democratic freedoms and liberties to citizens of other countries. Such conflicts arose during the Cold War when we wished to encourage freedom of movement or of expression among citizens of Warsaw Pact countries while applying a visa regime designed to prevent such
50 movement; applying domestic restrictions on our rights during the troubles in Northern Ireland posed similar problems. In recent years, our response to international terrorism has resurrected those difficulties. British diplomats are prudent not to get too het up about the rights of others lest their presumed moral high ground turns into a slipway or swamp and drops them in it at a crucial moment.
6.4 Your terms of reference ask whether conflicts would be caused as diplomats’ tried to follow the Prime Minister’s injunction to promote trade. The cause of my disagreement with the FCO in 2006/7 concerned my public criticism of the then Prime Minister’s interference with the inquiries of the SFO into the business in Saudi Arabia of BAe Systems. I knew nothing of that company’s business, but I knew quite a lot about the lectures the British government had read over many years to the governments of countries like Kenya about the Rule of Law, due process and anti-corruption. Mr Blair’s instruction undermined all that.
6.5 I was retired by then, and felt free to speak my mind about this hypocrisy. Our bad example would do a great disservice not just to our own institutions but to the efforts of brave people in badly governed countries to get action against corruption. Whitehall did not agree, and DfID and No 10 demanded that the FCO act. They did. Corrupt governments took note. Kenya stopped its residual co-operation with the SFO and the latter accordingly closed down its assistance in looking into the scams known collectively as Anglo-Leasing and Finance.
6.6 One dilemma your terms of reference should highlight is the diplomats’ twin responsibilities for promoting British business and suppressing corruption. The new Bribery Act, whose enforcement has been delayed by six months to allow for further consideration, makes corrupt behaviour abroad a crime, if it is carried out by a British company or its representatives. British diplomats have to grass up such companies or individuals if there is evidence of misbehaviour. Perhaps there will be no evidence and the Act may prove otiose. Or, since Parliament saw fit to pass it, perhaps cases will arise. But companies operating in some venal environments may feel vulnerable, and diplomats may feel adrift when a foreign government decides fairly – or more likely, unfairly - to accuse a British company of misbehaving. Let’s hope both businessmen and diplomats will have clear guidance on how to behave and how their roles differ.
6.7 Among the worst things a British diplomat can expect is to take a high profile on human rights or governance issues, only to be undermined by her or his government breaching our own standards. It is a form of British myopia or arrogance that thinks that what we do in our own country has no bearing on how we are perceived abroad. Oddly, modern communications mean that people in very poor countries – who have more curiosity but can afford less ICT - often have a clearer idea about what makes our society tick than we – with more means but less curiosity - have about theirs.
6.8 Whatever the justification may be, such blundering is a sure sign that domestic policy-makers at home have ceased to think that the way we are seen
51 abroad should influence our conduct at home. So that adds another dimension to the question posed in your inquiry: how do we get the rest of Whitehall to empathise with the FCO in its task of projecting British values, protecting and promoting British security and prosperity and the welfare of our citizens? EU membership has immeasurably improved domestic departments’ awareness of the European dimension. But there is still the rest of the world to worry about. Throwing our weight around works less and less: our ability to engage with others – meaning being ready sometimes to concede things – and persuade, influence and negotiate depends on our example, our resolve and our adherence to the rules of international institutions we value, and to international law we domesticate as our own.
25 November 2010
52 Written evidence from Charles Crawford CMG
The Role of the FCO in UK Government
Restoring Technique
SUMMARY
1. Amidst a swirling confusion of ever-changing targets, objectives and strategic priorities the FCO (along with Whitehall generally) has lost sight of the primacy of basic diplomatic technique
2. The FCO needs to get back to two core value-adding principles:
a) Understanding foreign governments and cultures b) Being highly skilled in persuasion and negotiation
3. To do that it needs the right tools and training for the job – far too much money made available by Parliament for foreign policy work in the widest sense is being wasted, damaging these core functions
4. This submission to the Foreign Affairs Committee focuses on the under-analysed but central subject of Diplomatic Technique. Without technique it does not matter much how and where the UK diplomatic effort is organised within Whitehall – the practical results in terms of impact overseas will be disappointing if not damaging
CHARLES CRAWFORD CMG
5. There are two categories of diplomat:
a) Those whose careers centre on devising the rules of global order, based mainly in London and in a small number of key Embassies/Missions overseas (UKRep Brussels, UKMis New York, UKDel NATO, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing).
b) Those who work on the ground in the great mass of other countries trying to implement those rules – who have to rely on their wits and skill to make an impact, often in physically/morally challenging (or even dangerous) situations.
6. I served in HM Diplomatic Service from 1979-2007 working very much in the latter category, with most of my career spent overseas in difficult ‘transition’ countries. First in communist Yugoslavia, apartheid South Africa and Russia in the early Yeltsin years. Then three times as British Ambassador: in Sarajevo after the Dayton Accords; in Belgrade following the fall of Slobodan Milosevic; and finally in Warsaw as Poland joined the European Union. I have much experience in what works, and why.
7. In 2007 I left the FCO on early retirement to start a new private career as communications consultant and mediator. In 2010 I helped bring together a group of former British Ambassadors to set up a new strategic consultancy and mediation panel, ADRg Ambassadors.i
53 The Calamity of British Official Central Planning
8. The FCO and wider UK policies overseas are (like other areas of government) sinking in a Sea of Complexity.
9. The FCO for well over a decade has been the victim of post-modern deconstruction as the then Government grappled with the operational and philosophical implications of globalisation. The tragic-comic attempt by successive Foreign Secretaries to identify FCO ‘Strategic Priorities’ (see Annex: a posting from my own website www.charlescrawford.biz from January 2008) exemplifies this embarrassing philosophical disarray.
10. Above all, the very idea of diplomacy as a way to advance national interests has been gnawed at by different Whitehall departments and EU Working groups and attendant bureaucracy: most taxpayers’ money available for British discretionary spending overseas goes to the EU to spend slowly/badly and to a sprawling DFID operation.
11. At working level British diplomats no longer know what their main effort is. Should they be studying real-world powerful interests and working out what HMG should do about them? Or should they focus on getting the best available wording in a largely irrelevant text through a largely irrelevant EU Working Group?
12. Some of today’s excessive process was invented in the previous Thatcher/Major Conservative era, with the ostensibly laudable idea of making government policy processes more ‘businesslike’. But there was (and is) no consensus on what ‘business’ foreign policy actually is. In fact it is a complex mix:
a) part consultancy (top-level advice on what is happening and how to respond);
b) part agriculture – planting seeds of goodwill and influence, knowing that some will grow into strong plants in years to come but others will not;
c) part insurance – developing relations with senior foreign people patiently and deftly when there are no problems in sight, so that when problems occur there is a chance of having essential allies;
d) part fire-fighting (making an impact in difficult/dangerous situations far from home);
e) part service provider (consular/visa work).
13. This is a unique ‘business’ indeed. Because much solid background diplomatic work needed to get results is in the insurance sector and shows no ‘measurable’ outcome, it tends to be devalued in Treasury calculations. Two examples:
a) In 2006/07 the EU Section of the Warsaw Embassy helped muster Polish support for the UK position against the EU Working Time Directive. This helped save UK taxpayers and the wider economy hundreds of millions of pounds. HMG/Treasury methodology allows no way to calculate the benefit of that activity - and to develop the capacity in Embassies to create more results like it;
b) For all the focus on government targets, there is no obvious attempt to take a hard-nosed look at the billions(!) of pounds lost to HMG revenues through
54 European cigarette-smuggling and deploy staff in European Embassies to try to stop a good part of it;
14. All in all, the FCO is a small but important part of a civilisational drama of British and European governance ineffectiveness. Far too much incoherent ‘process’ (generated internally under Treasury and Cabinet Office rules, and externally via the EU) is producing both declining impact and growing sloppiness, in style and substance.
Worse Communication
15. The last decade or so has seen a startling loss of quality within the FCO, a phenomenon noted by many foreign diplomats. It shows itself most dramatically in what ought to be the centrepiece of FCO work – communication. The FCO no longer communicates well with itself, or with its own knowledge.
16. The standard of FCO written work – formerly among the most effective prose work ever achieved in the civilised world – has dropped. Even work for Ministers often is not being done properly: submissions are being sent back for reworking as they are so badly written. (Note: I submitted an FOI request about this and was told that there was no information on the subject.)
17. A number of factors have combined to create and accelerate this decline:
a) An idea from a few years ago that work needed to be only ‘fit for purpose’, to save time/resources ‘wasted’ in proof-reading and redrafting. (The point lost here was that creating high-quality work did involve commitment, but such good work had many positive demonstration and operational effects, no less real because they were impossible to ‘measure’.) This change encouraged less good presentation and so less good thought/analysis.
b) That in turn has led to a subliminal sense that correcting another officer’s work is not appropriate or somehow stuffily ‘judgemental’. This has come together with the rise of email culture to wreck on-the-job training. Years ago junior officers would be firmly taught by their superiors the fine art of accurate drafting. That has largely vanished.
c) No serious sanctions are imposed on people unable to write well, or unable to supervise good writing in their team.
d) The wider inability of the UK education system to produce people able to write accurate English is visible in the work of even the top graduates entering the FCO.
18. The FCO is glumly aware of this and is considering how best to deal with ‘poor performance’. One idea is to move away from ‘competences’ to ‘skills’ in measuring performance. Drafting exams could be set as a condition for getting promoted, perhaps in partnership with an outside academic body, and drafting standards might be raised for FCO entry.
19. That could make a positive difference over (say) ten years. But in the short run more drastic action is needed, most immediately in the form of severe sanctions on senior officials presiding over poor quality work.
55 Less Knowledge
20. One little-understood cause of quality-decline in the FCO (and perhaps more widely in government) is the way the introduction of IT systems has been handled.
21. In a nutshell, twenty years ago the FCO still ran paper files. This meant that the evolution of policy in recent years could be followed by someone unfamiliar with the issues: “read the file”.
22. The introduction of email has led to an explosion of communication. In some ways this has been beneficial – free-wheeling networks of officials in the FCO and across Whitehall pull together fast, sophisticated positions on EU issues in a way which startles other EU partners who have a much less flexible approach to information management.
23. But there is a huge downside too. The FCO is producing large amounts of analysis/information by email which is not easily ‘searchable’. Partly this is for security reasons – the need for e-firewalls to stop someone who gets illicit access to one part of the system then getting access to everything. But it also reflects an incoherent approach to information management itself, with no senior ownership of this central issue.
24. The overall result is that the FCO’s collective memory and collective knowledge has plummeted. The famous FCO Library has been sent to King’s College London. Research cadres have been downgraded and cut.
25. The results are ruinous. There is no ‘file’. An officer moved to a different position has no ready way to find out where the existing policy has come from, so must react in an improvised way to events as they happen. This feeds through into banal analysis and presentation.
26. Urgent changes in FCO data management are needed here to devise new ways to make saving and searching information a proper professional discipline.
Diminished Judgement
27. It is important to understand that all these tensions come together in the Annual Appraisal system – the basis upon which FCO people get rewarded/promoted or not. That system sets the key personal incentives which diplomats know they must follow, because it defines what sort of behaviour the FCO really values. It epitomises the way the FCO thinks of itself.
28. Right at the philosophical heart of diplomacy is the idea of ‘Judgement’. A sense of judiciously weighing conflicting interests, and balancing short-term gains and risks against long-term gains and risks, then combining all that in taut advice to Ministers and deft public and private policy presentation. That admittedly hard-to-define idea of judgement - combining in an efficient form principle and pragmatism and operational cleverness – used to be what gave British diplomacy its operational advantage.
29. In recent years the then Government dropped ‘Judgement’ as a ‘core competence’ in the annual appraisals of FCO staff. This was a serious mistake, revealing a disturbing
56 philosophical confusion coming from the very top about the way results in diplomacy are in fact achieved.
30. Contradictions in the FCO appraisal system are reflected in training. In my opinion far too little attention is given to core technique, and far too much to quasi-ideological training about diversity or ‘strategic priorities’ such as Climate Change (see recent changes to the way graduate new entrants are trained, including a move away from basic drafting and other supposedly old-fashioned technical skills).
31. In particular the FCO does too little systematic training in personal communication effectiveness – the ‘active listening’, negotiating/mediation and public speaking skills which are vital to help UK diplomats get alongside awkward people overseas and influence them effectively, both privately and in public statements.
Delivering foreign policy outcomes
32. It might seem remarkable that the FCO has no clear methodology of how to make a difference overseas.
33. Not too long ago it was inconceivable to our Ministers and senior officials that British diplomacy would not be taken seriously. The UK had in abundance the unambiguous prestige, the permanent UN Security Council seat, the historical experience, the wisdom and the efficiency to make a systematic difference around the world.
34. That still – mainly - pertains. But competition is getting sharper as assertive new powers emerge on the world stage, unimpressed with British and European/Western claims to better government and economic efficiency. This means that the British diplomatic effort (including the wider development effort, ie all resources allocated to getting policy results overseas) must be used to the best possible effect.
35. We can no longer assume that diplomatic impact ‘just happens’ on its own. The FCO/DFID and Whitehall must be clear about what works and what does not, in terms of two core tasks –
a) Understanding foreign governments and cultures b) Being highly skilled in persuasion and negotiation
36. The FCO has no clear vision of how Embassies and High Commissions in fact have local impact, including through top-level contact-making. This ignorance has been reinforced by a tendency in London to see policy success in terms not of real-world impact but rather of deals cut in Brussels.
37. The FCO also has done itself a disservice through facile ‘diversity’ initiatives, giving top diplomatic positions in London to officials who have either not worked in difficult bilateral posts or who have no experience of diplomacy at all.
38. Take Europe. More and more national policy-making competences have been ceded to EU ‘qualified majority voting’ (accelerating under the Lisbon Treaty), hence the chances of highly damaging and expensive (for UK interests) EU decisions being taken have sharply increased.
57 39. This means that the operational/political imperative of lobbying hard and well in capitals across Europe likewise has sharply increased: leaving it mainly to haggling on the day in Brussels is highly irresponsible, given the possible impact on the UK of the decisions at stake (see the Working Time Directive example above).
40. Yet the FCO has been scaling back the UK’s European diplomatic network, cutting political and commercial staff and reducing the seniority/weight/impact of those people still there.
41. If (say) the Germans or Japanese for historical reasons had their Ambassador’s residence in Downing Street, they would not think that as a problem – they would fight tooth and nail to keep it, as a symbol both of their power and of their close relations with the UK.
42. By contrast in Warsaw HMG for decades have had a purpose-built Residence on a prime site close to the Prime Minister’s Office and the President’s Palace. For cost- cutting reasons this is now being given up in favour of a smaller house much further from the centre – a dismal signal of how we see ourselves (and our relations with Poland.)
43. Further erosions in our diplomatic presence and profile overseas are expected as part of government cuts. Money allocated to DFID/development is rising. A tiny fraction of that extra development spending (too much of which anyway goes to consultants and inflated global development officials’ salaries) would be much better spent in enhancing the way we make diplomatic impact overseas.
44. An example. The 2008 UK National Security Strategy reported that HMG would be committing up to £243 million in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the coming three years.
45. This is a startling sum of money – have British taxpayers really been getting good value for it? Had the Occupied Palestinian Territories been allocated only a mere £223 million instead, the FCO might not now be under pressure to sell off key historical assets and to give ill-qualified (and cheaper) younger people senior positions, thereby reducing the practical operational impact of all our policy worked overseas.
46. At the policy level successive governments have tried to free up funds to support active policy work on the ground overseas, by creating a central pool of money run by the FCO, DFID and MOD. There is of course a key role for spending money on strategic cross-cutting issues, but in my experience the whole process became heavily bureaucratic and over-processed.
47. A simple devolution of funds to all Embassies/Missions round the world with minimum process and a willingness to take chances (subject to proper accounting procedures) would transform the impact of British diplomacy round the world. Not all spending will hit the best targets, but the fact that an Embassy has significant discretionary funds to spend gives the local British team a huge impact-boost in many places.
58 What is to be done?
48. To restore the primacy of technique and link technique to intelligent process and to move on to achieve powerful British impact overseas, some of the following ideas for reform (big and small) are worth considering:
a) If DFID and the FCO are not to be re-merged, a radical new look at achieving outcomes is needed.
b) Formally delink FCO/DFID from all Treasury target-setting, as it assumes a ‘cause and effect’ clarity in policy outcome which may or may not be credible for domestic policy-setting but is simply impossible overseas. Identify instead a few common sense principles, then tell staff to get on with pursuing them.
c) Legally redefine ‘development’ to include a much wider set of foreign policy outcomes (including honest/limited government, wider global institutional stability, work against organised crime, pro-active cooperation with the private sector to create jobs). Set aside a major slice of DFID money towards achieving British national foreign policy results via a new inter-departmental structure chaired by a non-DFID person and with non-DFID spending processes.
d) Make English language teaching a specific development goal, liberating DFID money to help spread English language skills and British values.
e) The just-do-it ethos of the Know How Fund set up when communism ended in the early 1990s should be re-invented. Launch an urgent, brutal review of FCO/DFID processes from top to bottom aimed at slashing junk ‘process’ and improving access to collective knowledge-bases. Scrap ‘risk-management matrices’.
f) Few world problems won’t be improved by a small fund plus clever nimble people (not necessarily all British) tasked with attacking them from all angles (see eg the £4m fund deployed overtly and covertly to help Serbian democrats overthrow Milosevic, Robin Cook’s top foreign policy success).
g) Focus on creating both ‘hard’ power and ‘soft’ power tools. On hard power create a senior task-force to identify a tool-box of sharp-end techniques which can be learned and applied systematically (positive and negative incentives, divide-and- rule, non-violent ‘tricks’). Diplomats faced with problems need to know how best to tackle them, drawing on what worked elsewhere.
h) On soft power, follow the example of the new European External Action Service and bring in specialised mediation training; launch a generously funded new UK- promoted International Mediation Initiative or somesuch to help bring skilled British-led problem-solving techniques and associated resources to problems big and small around the world.
i) Make a flat-out investment in the secure IT/technical and other operational spending overseas needed to make our external effort fit for purpose. Every FCO diplomat and DFID official overseas should be a mobile IT powerhouse.
j) To help make this work in practice, move to simplify most national security classifications to three basic categories: Unclassified, Confidential (not for foreign
59 governments or the media) and Secret (seriously sensitive and/or intelligence related).
k) Follow the clever Dutch example and give Embassies not the FCO in London the lead responsibility for managing information and policy about the countries they cover.
l) Devolve much more money to Embassy levels to spend according to local discretion (including awarding performance bonuses) – abolish wasteful micro priority-setting in London.
m) Think harder about how best to use EU structures and the new EEAS. Both senior and good budding diplomats alike need to be seconded to get a strong British ethos built into the EEAS from the start, to help define a sensible balance between EU-level and national level diplomacy and so keep our national foreign policy effective.
n) Use the current crisis in the Eurozone to start thinking about pushing to restore most/all EU development funding to member states, some of it pooled informally in a nimble ‘coalition of the European competent’ where this makes practical sense.
o) Restore coherence to HMG’s diplomatic operations overseas. All Whitehall personnel posted to an Embassy/mission should answer to the British Ambassador/High Commissioner and operate under a single Whitehall-wide ‘external contract’ setting pay and conditions, with similarly unified pay and conditions for ‘their’ local staff too.
p) Think again about how the FCO presents itself to the public. End Ambassadorial blogging, Twittering and other weedy gimmicks. Make sure that senior guests at the FCO and at Embassies abroad are welcomed speedily and courteously. Reboot the FCO website to have a much sharper focus on policy issues.
q) Abolish all internal diversity processes in favour of Good Manners. Announce that all employees will be treated fairly and with respect and are expected to work hard and loyally. Then enforce it.
r) Sharpen up personal standards of appearance and presentation (handling of senior guests etc).
CONCLUSION
49. In my view the British taxpayers are getting a poor return for their investment in political and development work overseas. As the global situation gets quickly more fluid and uncertain, this is a dangerous luxury we can no longer afford. We need to be determined – even as necessary ruthless – in identifying and pursuing national policy goals.
50. We need to set aside once and for all the weary cliché of ‘punching above our weight’. We should use to maximum effect the considerable weight the UK has by any international standards: to do what can be done by persuasion and influence, but be ready to deliver hard, frequent, guileful policy punches when necessary. Because that is what other countries are trying to do to us.
60 51. The first step to achieving that is to grasp that when necessary we are in the punching business. Not the hand-wringing business.
52. The second is to make sure that UK diplomats have the flexible training and tools they need to be effective in understanding and influencing foreign elites.
53. Above all, without looking hard at first principles of Diplomatic Technique the FCO is not going to do the job which No 10 and Whitehall need doing: understanding and influencing foreigners, thereby giving Whitehall authoritative advice on how to get the best policy results beyond our own borders.
54. If we continue as we are the UK’s policy impact overseas will diminish, just when our strong convincing voice for democratic standards and values is just what the world needs to hear.
26 November 2010
ANNEX
ANNEX: FCO STRATEGIC PRIORITIES - WHERE’S THE BEEF?
The text of a piece posted on 20 January 2008 at http://charlescrawford.biz/blog.php?single=32 The blog of Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the FCO website is an interesting attempt to make Ministers and the foreign policy process more accessible to the public. The tricky thing with such initiatives aimed at reflecting what busy senior people think is that busy people are busy. So keeping a blog fresh (and plausibly looking like the busy people themselves have written it) is not easy. One entry says the following: And the foreign policy priorities we pursue define key issues in our foreign relations. From April there will be four of these priorities (replacing the combination of ten policy and service priorities until now - no organisation can have ten priorities). This thought was expanded in his article in The Times on 6 January. The FCO is going on a Diplomatic Surge. Instead of the previous ten Strategic Priorities the FCO now will have four 'key policy goals'. Do I detect a wisp of 'thank goodness the grown-ups are in charge now and getting a grip on this collection of twerps who overloaded themselves with far too many priorities'? The blog formulation is carefully worded. It was not the Government which erred in having too many foreign priorities - it was the organisation! Yet don't I dimly recall that it was Ministers in this Government who made us draw up Strategic Priorities in the first place? Yes, it's all coming back ... First we had seven. Then we had eight. Then we had nine. Then, gloriously, we reached ten! Now we are reduced to a measly four Key Policy Goals, albeit with free added Surge. All in some 260 weeks.
61 Each strategic change ordered, endorsed and indeed proudly announced by FCO Ministers themselves and supported unambiguously by Cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister. Each with laborious consultation processes around Whitehall to get 'buy-in' and then all sorts of attempts to rejig FCO internal structures and spending to fit everything neatly into one or other of these seven/eight/nine/ten/four boxes. Each with diplomats at all levels fretting over forms allocating the time of every member of the FCO in microscopic percentages to each of the seven/eight/nine/ten/four Priorities/Goals, rather than just getting out there hard to promote British interests. Crawford's First Law of Bureaucracy: The capacity of a Ministry to do anything useful strategically is in indirect proportion to the amount of time it spends preparing its strategies. A Yugoslav joke about the endless and pointless rearrangements of the communist self-management system by chief ideologue Kardelj. Kardelj was asked how to cure a sick cow. He advised cooling it right down with ice-packs. The cow got worse. He recommended heating it right up with blankets and electric fires. The cow got worse. He recommended feeding it masses of extra food. The cow got worse. He recommended starving it. The cow died. "Boze boze, what a tragedy! I am a skilled vet and I had so many more cures to propose...! i www.adrgambassadors.com
62 Written evidence from The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Summary
• The FCO has a crucial role to play as lead department on the UK Overseas Territories, in particular with regard to their highly threatened environments. • The very limited capacity of these small communities means that FCO support is essential if their unique biodiversity is to be conserved and the UK’s international obligations met. • Current levels of environmental funding for the Overseas Territories remain grossly inadequate. The FCO must strengthen the Overseas Territories Environment Programme and obtain increased financial support from Defra, DfID and DCMS. • The FCO has a vital role to play in representing the interests of the Overseas Territories across Whitehall, where they are frequently overlooked. • The upcoming cross‐government strategy on the Overseas Territories is warmly welcomed and could provide an excellent example of the FCO fulfilling the much‐ needed leadership role. • The new Overseas Territory strategy must include a section on the environment and a strategic assessment of urgent environmental funding priorities. • Governors’ offices have a critical role to play in improving the environmental governance of the Overseas Territories and building the capacity of both their governmental and non‐governmental environmental institutions.
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to this consultation. Our response centres on the FCO’s role as the Government department with overall responsibility for the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs), with a particular focus on their highly threatened environments.
1. The RSPB is the UK partner of BirdLife International, a network of over 100 grass‐roots conservation organisations around the world. As part of our commitment to the conservation of biodiversity worldwide, we have for over 14 years provided financial, technical and advisory support to emerging NGO partners and local governments in the UK Overseas Territories.
2. The RSPB works on the Overseas Territories because of their outstanding global importance for biodiversity. These remote jurisdictions are home to well over 500 species found nowhere else on earth, including more endangered bird species than the entire European continent. Their unique habitats are also internationally recognised, containing the world’s largest and most pristine coral atoll (the Great Chagos Bank) and, arguably, the most important seabird island on the planet (Gough Island). This remarkable richness places a very high level of responsibility on the UK Government to protect the biodiversity of these Territories.
The UK Overseas Territories
3. Whilst rich in unique wildlife, the human populations of the Overseas Territories are small. For example, the Pitcairn Islands support more endemic species than their total human population.1 The Territories are highly dependent upon the natural environment for their
1 There are only 47 Pitcairn Islanders and over 70 endemic species in the Pitcairn Island group.
63 livelihoods‐ the economies of many of the islands rely heavily on the revenue raised from fisheries and nature tourism. However, much of their unique biodiversity is under severe threat. Over 90 UKOT species are now classified as critically endangered (compared to just 14 critically endangered species in the UK), and the last global extinction in the UKOTs occurred as recently as 2003 (the St. Helena Olive).
4. The Territories’ capacity to respond to environmental crises and conserve their threatened wildlife is strongly constrained by limited human and financial resources. Environment departments and local conservation organisations, if they exist, only have small numbers of staff that are stretched very thinly. In some Territories, for example Tristan da Cunha or Pitcairn, the population is so small that no significant capacity or finance is available to deal with pressing environmental issues. On yet other Territories, for example, BIOT or South Georgia, there is no local population and the FCO has direct responsibility.
5. Although the Overseas Territories are locally self‐governed, the UK Government retains responsibility for external affairs, including the implementation of international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention, the Cartagena Convention, the World Heritage Convention, CITES, the Convention on Migratory Species and the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. The UK Government has also signed up to the 2020 target to halt the loss of biodiversity, which makes the Territories a very high priority for action as over 87% of the threatened species for which the UK is responsible are found there. Finally, the UK Government has signed an Environment Charter with most of the Territories, which is a formal agreement that lists the commitments of the respective parties to support environmental management.
6. The current lack of capacity and finance in many Territories means that UK Government support is essential if species extinctions are to be prevented, the economic benefits derived from the natural environment maintained, and international obligations met. The FCO, as the Government department with overall responsibility for the Overseas Territories, therefore has a clear role to play in ensuring that the urgently required conservation action is supported and delivered.
7. In July 2008, the Foreign Affairs Committee produced a Report on the Overseas Territories. In its Report, the Committee argued that the current levels of environmental funding provided by the UK are ‘grossly inadequate’ and recommended that it should be increased.2 The RSPB has calculated that a minimum of £16 million/year is required for the Territories to meet their biodiversity priorities.3 If increased funding is not identified, endemic species for which the UK Government is responsible will certainly become extinct and the UK Government will fail to meet a number of its international obligations. It will also increase the risk of the UK being seen as hypocritical in urging other nations, such as those with rainforests, to take conservation action whilst we do not conserve threatened biodiversity within our own jurisdiction.
The FCO’s role in UK Government
8. The tiny communities of the 14 Overseas Territories have very limited representation in the apparatus of the UK Government. Unlike France, they have neither a ‘Ministry of the
2 Report is available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmfaff/147/147i.pdf. 3 The Costing Biodiversity Conservation Priorities in the UK Overseas Territories report is available on the RSPB website at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/ukotfinancingcons_tcm9-158352.pdf.
64 Overseas Territories’ to advocate their interests, nor any representation or official observers within the Houses of Parliament. Although they have very specific needs, communities such as Pitcairn (47 inhabitants) do not have the capacity to staff permanent UK delegations to represent their interests. Consequently, the Overseas Territories have very little voice in Westminster and have been frequently overlooked. The FCO thus has a crucial role to play in representing their interests to other Departments across the entire breadth of Government activity.
9. The RSPB warmly welcomes the commitment in the FCO’s new Business Plan to develop a new cross‐government strategy on the Overseas Territories by July 2011. Such a joined‐up strategy is urgently needed. At present, FCO, Defra, DfID, DCMS and MoD all cover issues affecting the UKOTs, though the lack of a joined‐up strategy means that the Territories have frequently fallen through gaps in clear Departmental responsibility. A strategic approach is desperately required, with one department, the FCO, taking a clear responsibility for overall delivery.
10. The new Overseas Territories strategy must include a section on the environment. The Foreign Affairs Committee in its 2008 report highlighted the fact that the Government has not ‘carried out any kind of strategic assessment of Overseas Territories’ funding requirements for conservation and ecosystem management’, and described this lack of action as ‘highly negligent’. Such a strategic assessment of urgent funding priorities is yet to be carried out, let alone funded appropriately. A comprehensive assessment of the state of biodiversity in the UKOTs, with prioritised actions and concomitant funding, is required.
11. At present, the FCO contributes approximately £500,000 per year to the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP), a fund run jointly with DfID to support biodiversity conservation in the UKOTs. The fund clearly represents some of the most cost‐ effective conservation spending possible, but it can only meet a fraction of the demands required of it and, crucially, has not been able to provide the long‐term institutional capacity which small agencies on the Territories need. There is also no long‐term guarantee for the fund which means it cannot be used strategically. The continuation of a strengthened OTEP is required, as is the provision of adequate financial and human resources to support and strengthen the UKOTs’ limited capacity. This must be achieved either by obtaining increased funding from other Government departments such as Defra, DfID and DCMS, or by focusing further FCO spending on the Territories.
12. The FCO, as overall lead department on the UK Overseas Territories, has to ensure that other departments do not overlook their UKOT responsibilities. It is simply not enough for the FCO to point to other Government departments as being responsible for particular issues. As overall lead department, the FCO has to work to ensure that other departments actually deliver their responsibilities. At present, the Territories are frequently overlooked. For instance, Defra took lead department responsibility for UKOT biodiversity in 2009. However, the Department still has no full‐time staff working on Overseas Territories issues and made no mention of the UKOTs in its recent Business Plan, despite the Territories being home to over 87% of the threatened species for which the UK is responsible. DCMS provides a further example. The department is the lead on the World Heritage Convention, yet has provided no funding towards the restoration of threatened UKOT World Heritage Sites, as urgently required by the UN.4 DCMS sets the policy directions for the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), one of the key sources of funding for World Heritage Sites in the metropolitan UK, but the
4 August 2010: Henderson Island World Heritage Site (Pitcairn), Decision 34COM 7B.27. June 2009: Gough & Inaccessible Islands World Heritage Site (Tristan da Cunha), Decision 33COM 7B.32.
65 UK focus of these directions effectively renders UKOT World Heritage Sites ineligible due to their location. In this instance, the Minister for the Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham, has announced that he will approach DCMS to make the case for including the UKOTs in HLF funding. We believe this is an excellent example of the FCO fulfilling its role of representing the Overseas Territories within Whitehall, and would welcome similar action with other departments.
13. Even if Defra and DCMS do step up to the mark, the FCO still has an important role to play as it has direct contact with the Territories and so is often in a position to represent or support their biodiversity interests. The in‐Territory knowledge and relationships of FCO staff are crucial for the delivery of effective and strategic UK Government action. Moreover, the FCO has direct responsibility for some of the most biodiverse and ecologically important Territories of all— BIOT and South Georgia—so must be able to work on environmental issues itself.
14. The RSPB would suggest that one indicator for assessing the Foreign Secretary’s claim to be putting the FCO ‘at the centre of Government’ is by monitoring whether the department is effective at mainstreaming one of its core responsibilities ‐ the Overseas Territories – into the other relevant Government departments.
15. The FCO must also work to ensure that the interests of the UKOTs are better represented at an EU level. For instance, the EU’s main funding tool for biodiversity (LIFE +) is currently closed to the UK Overseas Territories, though open to the French Outermost Regions. Such a major funding source would have a highly significant impact on UKOT conservation, and the FCO needs to work with Defra to ensure that strong representations are made to the European Commission in order to open up LIFE + and develop new funding streams like the BEST initiative.5
The role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts
16. The RSPB appreciates the support given by Governor’s offices on Territories to biodiversity conservation projects, as well as efforts made by the FCO to brief Governors and other office‐holders before they take up office on Territories. However, considering the fundamental importance of the natural environment to the economies of the Territories, we are concerned that some posts do not give it sufficient priority. As Governors are involved in the highest levels of decision‐making in the Territories, they could play a much greater role in ensuring:
a) better provision of information to Territory governments on the importance of the natural environment to the economy and quality of life b) the UK Government’s responsibilities for international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity are implemented c) the establishment and implementation of effective environmental governance systems on the territories (e.g. land planning, strategic environment assessment, environmental impact assessment etc.) d) the promotion of UK conservation expertise in the Territories and support to UK funded environmental projects
5 The voluntary scheme for Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services in the European Overseas Territories (BEST) is a follow-up to the ‘Message from Reunion’. It aims to establish a voluntary scheme for the protection of species and habitats, inspired by the Natura 2000 approach. It is currently under discussion at the European Commission.
66
e) the provision of support to assist capacity‐building in civil society within the environment sector f) the encouragement of all Territories to ratify and strengthen existing multilateral environmental agreements by helping to implement them through the provision of financial and technical support g) all development programmes, particularly those funded by the UK Government, undergo appropriate environmental assessment before they are considered for approval h) greater support from the FCO and UK Government in responding rapidly to urgent environmental threats6
The FCO’s role in explaining UK foreign policy to the British public
17. The FCO has a key role to explain to the British public the UK’s responsibilities with regard to the Overseas Territories. Greater awareness of the Overseas Territories would help solve many of the problems that arise from being out‐of‐sight and thus out‐of‐mind. For instance, the French Government has declared 2011 to be the Year of its Overseas Territories. A similar action in the UK would be of great benefit in showcasing to the British public the unique communities and biodiversity for which the UK is responsible.
The FCO’s role in relation to non‐governmental organisations
18. Non‐governmental organisations such as the RSPB have a long history of working effectively in partnership with emerging NGO partners and local governments in the Overseas Territories. This has lead to a detailed understanding of the particular environmental challenges faced by the individual Territories, as well as long‐term relationships with key partners. NGOs such as the RSPB are thus well placed to work with and advise the FCO on the development of relevant policy. NGOs can also deliver desired conservation outcomes. A pertinent example is the RSPB’s Henderson Island Restoration Project, to which the FCO has contributed £188,000 via the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP). The RSPB has raised over £900,000 from non‐governmental sources and will soon lead the operation to save this threatened World Heritage Site.
19. The FCO also needs to work to build up effective and sustainable non‐governmental organisations in the Overseas Territories. Civil society has a very valuable role to play in improving governance and delivering successful, community‐supported conservation outcomes. Many Territory‐based NGOs rely to a significant extent on funding from Territory governments however, so are not able to respond objectively when consulted on issues such as development proposals because they may be threatened with budget cuts if they raise objections. Staff at these very small organisations may also not have the skills and/or sufficient time to engage effectively in policy or planning processes. The FCO and the Governors’ offices need to work to support civil society in the Overseas Territories, consulting with local organisations early and often, and helping them to build capacity.
6 For instance the 2006 stranding of an oilrig off the coast of Tristan da Cunha, or the introduction of new invasive alien species.
67 Written evidence from Professor Tony Chafer
Professor at University of Portsmouth specialising on UK/French/EU Africa policy.
The perception I have gained from my research on Africa policy in London, Paris and Brussels is that policy relating to Africa is often short-termist and preoccupied with meeting, often annual, targets, with the result that a long-term view of the strategic importance of Africa is not taken and that the resources deployed in support of UK Africa policy by the FCO/MoD/DfID are not deployed in a strategic way (eg initiatives launched one year and then abandoned a year or two years later, leading to waste of effort and resources).
On Africa policy, both London and Paris are confronted by what one might describe as the ‘ends vs. means’ dilemma: in other words, both the UK and France wish to remain key players in Africa but increasingly do not have the means (financial and personnel) of their ambitions. In order to retain their position and influence in Africa, and against the background of expensive commitments in other parts of the world, they are therefore obliged both to cooperate with other external powers and build partnerships within Africa (eg with regional organisations such as ECOWAS) in order to achieve their policy goals within Africa. The former is especially important in terms of mobilising support (and, at EU level, resources) for the pursuit of such goals.
The question that therefore seems to arise in the context of a research project I recently undertook with Dr Gordon Cumming (Cardiff University) is the following:
- do the FCO (together with the DfID) and the Quai d’Orsay (together with the Elysée) have an institutional framework for the pursuit of common goals in Africa? While we have found examples of France and Britain working together on certain issues, notably in the security field, this often seems to be on an ad hoc basis, depending on personalities on the ground or on good personal relationships between politicians or officials in London and Paris, rather than on any systematic commitment to cooperation at Ministry level;
- to what extent do the FCO and the Quai d’Orsay have a shared understanding of key issues confronting Africa and of the most effective ways of addressing these? Again, we have found examples of such understanding, again notably in the security field, but this often appears to be at ‘operational level’ and born of circumstances – eg the need to address immediate problems – rather than any systematic commitment to cooperation.
- how systematically is the ‘ends vs. means’ dilemma being addressed by the UK government with respect to African policy? The French government seems both more committed to, and more successful at, mobilising the support and resources of other countries, at EU level in particular, in pursuit of its policy objectives in Africa, than the UK has been to date.
68 - following on from this, what are the opportunities for policy coordination and cooperation between London and Paris on African policy and how might they best be pursued? The UK and France, by their history, have an exceptional depth and breadth of both knowledge and experience of the African continent. Yet, Anglo- French cooperation has so far been limited and restricted largely to the security field. Are there not other policy areas where France and the UK have common policy interests and where there might be benefits to be derived from working together?
- The UK needs to move beyond a policy of focusing its engagement on its traditional interlocutors (eg Nigeria in West Africa, Kenya in East Africa) and on the AU, and should look also to increasing its engagement with regional organisations in Africa (eg ECOWAS).
- in the context of new external powers (China, Brazil, India, Japan, Turkey) becoming increasingly active in Africa, the UK risks losing out in terms of its influence in Africa if it does not adopt a more strategic approach to cooperation with other key partners (eg France) with an interest in Africa and if it does not work more closely with its partners to mobilise resources at EU Level (European Council, Commission) in pursuit of HMG’s goals on the continent.
29 November 2010
69 Written evidence from Professor Ritchie Robertson, Taylor Chair of German, University of Oxford, Professor Sarah Colvin, Director, Institute for German Studies, University of Birmingham and Dr Peter Thompson, Senior Lecturer in German, University of Sheffield
We would like to submit the following points for consideration to this Inquiry.
We work in Modern European Languages (MEL—in our case specifically German) at Oxford, Birmingham and Sheffield Universities and are submitting this in response to recent concern in our field about the direction in which government thinking about MEL has taken over the past few years. Language departments around the country are under extreme pressure to cut or even close due to budgetary considerations but this comes at a point in the economic cycle in which export and globalised trade relations are said to be taking on a new significance. Apart from the obvious cultural and intellectual benefits of having a multi-lingual nation, we feel that we can make a good case for MEL degrees in purely utilitarian terms. We would therefore wish to submit the following points for consideration:
1. In response to the question posed by the Foreign Affairs Committee: “Especially given the spending constraints set out in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), how—if at all—could the FCO better organise and utilise its financial and human resources so as to fulfil its role?”:
The CSR mentioned 'strategically important languages'. European languages require support, particularly German, the language of the EU's largest and most successful economy. Our universities need to produce a regular supply of graduates fluent in German (and other languages). We therefore recommend that the FCO should institute language bursaries at appropriate universities for promising students who might otherwise have difficulty in paying tuition fees. In addition we feel that there should be no cut in the level of HEFCE teaching grant going to Modern Languages on the grounds that they should be considered ‘strategically important’.
2. In response to the Committee's request for “submissions which address, in particular, ... the FCO's role in the management and implementation of EU business for the UK Government.”
Given a worrying decline in the number of UK nationals active in the European Institutions (less than 5%), the FCO must support the interests and influence of the UK Government by actively supporting HE teaching in European languages and cultures, thereby ensuring continued entry into the European Fast Stream by talented British graduates.
More broadly, “Language skills are crucial for growth and jobs. Each year, thousands of European companies lose business and miss out on contracts as a result of their lack of language skills and intercultural competence.”
(European Commission website: ‘Multilingualism’). We would like to draw the FCO’s attention to Michael Worton’s report into HE modern languages teaching of 2009, which concludes that “the study of and research into languages are just as important as STEMM.”
70 Worton notes that the current decline in modern language learning will lead to the UK becoming one of the most monolingual countries in the world, and that this has implications
* For the economy and our ability to do business competitively * For the development of generations of young people as global citizens * For the maintenance of the UK as a global hub for research.
The EU in its “Speaking for Europe” paper suggests that short-term savings made in the provision of modern European languages provision is a false economy in the most straightforward sense: “The EU is convinced that the cost of promoting the use of a second and third language by EU citizens is modest compared with the professional and personal opportunities lost – and the negative effects of the EU economy [...] – due to inadequate language skills.” This means that a key element in the FCO's management and implementation of EU business for the UK Government must be the championing of modern European languages.
3. The most recent report by HECSU (http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/research_reports_what_do_graduates_do_november_2010.ht m) shows that MEL graduates continue to be highly sought after by employers. On all counts, from employability to initial income levels, Modern Languages graduates come just behind the most practical degrees in Medicine and Law. One of the reasons for this is that an essential part of a Modern Languages degree is the compulsory Year Abroad, which gives students an edge in language skills, life experience and maturity. Given that the European Parliament is reportedly having to cancel debates due to the shortage of native English- speaking interpreters and businesses are losing contracts because of a shortage of good translators and interpreters, we see the defence of MEL degrees in our Universities as a central challenge for the Foreign Office.
29 November 2010
71 Written evidence from LSE IDEAS, the Centre for Diplomacy and Strategy at the London School of Economics
This evidence draws on The Future of UK Foreign Policy, an IDEAS Special Report, available at http://www2.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/SR006.aspx
The traditional view of the FCO as a global diplomatic network using its local assets and specialised expertise to drive British foreign policy from the heart of government has been undermined in recent years by four developments:
1) The shift towards Prime-ministerial control of foreign policy decision-making; 2) The loss of regional expertise due in part to budget cuts, but also deriving from… 3) …the shift towards functional structuring of the bureaucracy around particular issues as opposed to maintaining a regional focus; 4) The demotion of the role of the UK’s embassy network in the policy decision- making process.
The current government has sought to reaffirm the traditional model, and this is to be welcomed. However, the Foreign Secretary’s ‘prosperity agenda’ threatens to cast diplomats as salesmen for UK Plc, rather than as the guardians of the national interest, which can. This is particularly worrying given that priorities of commerce, security and values may clash. Policy making and policy implementation are not inherently separate undertakings, and diplomatic expertise should be reinstated to a central position in formulating foreign policy; the FCO should be more than simply a coordinating body for HMG interests abroad. It is worrying therefore that the FCO’s research analysts may be decentralised and placed under the control of individual directorates, depriving them of central coordination and the ability to engage comprehensively with the expertise of academia and think tanks.
The relationship between the FCO and DFID is central to formulating coherent strategy. In certain areas of the world, and in particular in failed and failing states, it may be appropriate for DFID, with its expertise in development, to take the lead role in diplomatic engagement. However, in these areas, FCO and DFID priorities need to be brought into line with each other on the basis of the national interest. Development aid and effort, whilst laudable in its own right, should be predicated on the long term security interests of the UK.
The cumulative impact of the recent NSS, SDSR and CSR undermined the capacities available to the FCO in formulating and implementing UK foreign policy. Whilst the Government’s attempt to review British strategy was laudable, and the new processes surrounding the National Security Council are to be welcomed, the financial outcomes have been determined more by political and bureaucratic drivers than by sustained and coherent strategic thought, with the result that the ends and means of UK foreign policy will remain inappropriately matched. In particular, the continued funding of capital- intensive military systems, predicated on the unlikely possibility of major military confrontation, is hard to square with a world where the core threats terrorism and cyber
72 threats require intelligence and technical capacities far more than hardware. A more comprehensive strategy review would have diverted more funds towards the diplomatic assets of the FCO.
Substantive diplomatic engagement is what underpins both Britain’s hard and soft power, and investment in the UK’s diplomatic capacity is crucial to the success of strategy in a world that increasingly depends on specific local knowledge born of strong and sustained relationships. Traditional British diplomatic strengths of flexibility, pragmatism and egalitarianism are uniquely suited to the complex world we face; cuts to what is a relatively inexpensive area of government spending, particularly when compared directly to defence and international development, threaten that legacy and Britain’s ability to play a truly effective international role.
29 November 2010
73 Written evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
INTRODUCTION The Government’s vision for foreign policy
On 1 July 2010, in the first of a series of speeches in which he set out the Government’s vision of foreign affairs, the Foreign Secretary spoke of:
“…a distinctive British foreign policy that is active in Europe and across the world; that builds up British engagement in parts of the globe where opportunities as well as threats increasingly lie; that is at ease within a networked world and harnesses the full potential of our cultural links, and that promotes our national interest while recognising that this cannot be narrowly or selfishly defined.”
Achieving this will involve the FCO playing a strong role across Government from the National Security Council down. HMG’s foreign policy will be shaped and delivered according to a strategic concept which takes into account national security, prosperity, and British values, and which is designed to make the most of the opportunities of the 21st Century.
The Government has also made clear that its first task is to return the economy to sustained growth and to tackle the budget deficit. The restoration of our economic fortune is essential to our foreign policy, because the economic standing of a nation is a fundamental foundation of its foreign policy success. The Government rejects the thesis of Britain’s decline in the world. It believes that the UK should become even more active overseas and that it should make the most, systematically and strategically, of our great national assets.
Implementing this vision The FCO and its worldwide network of embassies is well placed to support this vision. British diplomats have world-class skills in understanding and influencing what is happening abroad, supporting our citizens who are travelling and living overseas, helping to manage migration into Britain, promoting British trade and other interests abroad and encouraging foreign investment in the UK.
The Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister agreed in July that the FCO will pursue an active and activist foreign policy, working with other countries and
74 strengthening the rules-based international system in support of British values to:
• Safeguard Britain’s national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, and working to reduce conflict.
• Build Britain’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth.
• Support British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services.
In common with other government departments, the FCO has now published its Business Plan setting out the most important objectives for the FCO in the Coalition Agreement, together with its structural reform plan, expenditure and its commitment to transparency.
The FCO will publish monthly progress reports on how it is meeting the commitments set out in its structural reform plan. The Business Plan also contains a section describing the transparency indicators by which taxpayers can assess the efficiency and productivity of the FCO effort.
The FCO Business Plan sets out five structural reform priorities:
• Protect and promote the UK’s national interest. Shape a distinctive British foreign policy geared to the national interest, retain and build up Britain’s international influence in specific areas, and build stronger bilateral relations across the board with key selected countries to enhance our security and prosperity.
• Contribute to the success of Britain’s effort in Afghanistan. Support our military forces abroad, protect British national security from threats emanating from the region, create the conditions to shift to non-military strategy in Afghanistan and withdrawal of UK combat troops by 2015, and support the stability of Pakistan.
• Reform the machinery of government in foreign policy. Establish a National Security Council (NSC) as the centre of decision-making on all international and national security issues, and help to implement the foreign policy elements of the National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
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• Pursue an active and activist British policy in Europe. Advance the British national interest through an effective EU policy in priority areas, engaging constructively while protecting our national sovereignty.
• Use ‘soft power’ to promote British values, advance development and prevent conflict. Use ‘soft power’ as a tool of UK foreign policy; expand the UK Government’s contribution to conflict prevention; promote British values, including human rights; and contribute to the welfare of developing countries. Since May, the FCO is focussing in particular on the following immediate tasks:
• To get to grips with the war in Afghanistan and to improve the coordination and delivery of the strategy here in Whitehall and internationally. The FCO is investing a huge amount of time and resource on Afghanistan, and it is featuring regularly in the deliberations of the NSC. Previous FCO Memoranda to the FAC set out the detail of the UK contribution to the international effort on Afghanistan.
• To demonstrate FCO leadership in the NSC through strong FCO representation and input into all its decisions. The NSC has established a regular and intensive schedule of meetings in which the FCO is fully and actively engaged. The FCO has written around half of all papers that have come before the NSC to date, and has provided foreign policy advice in the preparation of papers that are written by other departments.
• To assume a leadership role in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) which goes wider than defence issues and covers all aspects of national security. The Foreign Secretary has secured the Whitehall lead on three out of the ten priority areas mentioned in the SDSR – Building Stability Overseas (Foreign Policy), State Threats and Counter- Proliferation, Security Impacts of Climate Change and Resource Competition. No other Minister holds the lead on more areas. The SDSR has tasked the FCO to lead a process to producing integrated strategies for key countries and regions. The highest priority strategies will be agreed by the National Security Council in order to ensure that they are supported by all relevant government departments, reflect agreed priorities, and are appropriately resourced.
• To put in motion the elevation of key bilateral relationships with major emerging powers, including major partners such as India and China, but
76 also in other areas of the world such as the Gulf, in North Africa, in Latin America where the FCO can start to give new momentum to those relationships. A NSC (Emerging Powers) Sub-Committee chaired by the Foreign Secretary has now been established to give strategic oversight to this work. Together with UKTI, the FCO has also established a new Commercial Diplomacy Task Force to give a renewed determination to embed a commercial culture across the FCO.
• To show as a new Government that the UK is highly active and activist in the European Union, playing a positive and energetic role, working closely with European partners to ensure that the European Union can use its collective weight in the world as effectively as it can. Examples include showing ambition in tackling carbon emissions in international climate negotiations, building on the EU-Korea trade agreement as a model for agreements with others, and pressing for respect for human rights around the world, for example in Burma.
Budgetary Issues The 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review will allow the FCO to take forward work on these priorities, and to maintain its global network of posts. But the settlement will require hard choices of the FCO, as it will of other government departments. The FCO is determined to meet these challenges through driving efficiency from every aspect of its expenditure and clearly prioritising its activities to support the delivery of HMG’s objectives overseas. The decision to establish a new Foreign Currency Mechanism will provide the FCO with stability in budgeting and managing exchange rate fluctuations. At the same time, the Foreign Secretary is determined that the FCO can show a very disciplined and efficient record of using its resources, and to do it in an exemplary fashion. The FCO is determined to work with other government departments to ensure that it has a truly whole of government approach to achieving these international priorities.
The FCO is pleased that the FAC has chosen to launch this inquiry into its role in the UK Government. This memorandum is intended to set out in greater detail what the FCO is currently doing and intends to do to put this vision and framework into practice. QUESTIONS POSED BY THE INQUIRY
FAC QUESTION: Given the policy framework established by the new National Security Strategy (NSS), the creation of the NSC and the 2010 SDSR, what should the FCO’s role now be, and how should the Department relate to other parts of Government?
77 The Government rapidly moved to establish the NSC in May 2010 in order to give coherence to the increasing international activity of many domestic departments of Government so that it can take a firm and urgent grip on the wider strategic needs of the country. In October, the NSC agreed a new National Security Strategy (NSS) and SDSR in October 2010 to determine in a systematic fashion how the UK should secure its international influence and prosperity in a world that is rapidly changing. This work has identified key trends and ensured that the UK has the right capabilities to minimise risks to British citizens and remain adaptable in its security posture.
The SDSR recognised that to adapt and respond to national security threats and opportunities, the UK needs an active foreign policy and strong representation abroad. It agreed that the UK needs to maintain its global diplomatic network, which is sharply focussed on promoting Britain’s national security and prosperity. It sets out a clear direction for the FCO which:
• Confirms the FCO’s core priorities of pursuing an active and activist foreign policy, working with other countries and strengthening the rules- based international system in support of our values to safeguard the UK’s national security, build UK prosperity and support UK nationals around the world.
• Places a new emphasis on commercial diplomacy.
• Provides a mandate to improve coordination of all UK work overseas under the leadership of the Ambassador or High Commissioner representing UK government as a whole.
• Suggests refocussing resources on those countries most important to UK security and prosperity, whether major economic players or fragile states in need of UK support.
• Advocates greater use of new, flexible forms of diplomacy to allow us to develop more regional approaches where relevant, or rapid responses to serious consular incidents, or crises.
• Promotes the continued relevance of the BBC and the British Council to achieving foreign policy objectives.
More specifically, the SDSR names the FCO as lead Department for three out of the ten priority areas it identifies – Building Stability Overseas (Foreign Policy Aspects); State Threats and Counter-Proliferation; and the Security Impacts of
78 Climate Change and Resource Competition. Work within this framework will be an active response to the challenges posed by a changing world including:
• The shift of economic power and opportunity to the countries of the East and South; to the emerging powers of Brazil, India, China and other parts of Asia and to increasingly significant economies such as Turkey and Indonesia. By 2050 emerging economies could be up to 50% larger than those of the current G7.
• The widening circle of international decision-making. Decisions made previously in the G8 are now negotiated within the G20, and this Government will be at the forefront of those arguing for the expansion of the United Nations Security Council. The views of emerging powers are critical to tackling the big foreign policy and global economic issues, but they do not always agree with the UK approach, making energetic and effective diplomacy even more necessary.
• The increasing complexity of protecting UK security in the face of new threats. The immense benefits of trade and the movement of people can mask the activity of those who use the tools of globalisation to destructive or criminal ends and are able to use almost any part of the world as a platform to do so. No more striking example of this has been seen in recent history than in Afghanistan, but the UK needs to look ahead to other parts of the world which are at risk of similar exploitation.
• The changing nature of conflict. UK Armed Forces are currently involved in fighting insurgencies or wars-amongst-the-people rather than state to state conflict. They are involved in counter-piracy operations rather than sea battles, the projection of force overseas rather than homeland-based defence. The security threats themselves are more widely dispersed in parts of the world which are often difficult to access, lawless and in some cases failing, where the absence of governance feeds into a cycle of conflict and danger that is difficult to arrest but which seems likely to grow in the future.
• The increasing importance of non-state actors in a networked world. New non-state actors, both individuals and groups have increased the circle of players the UK needs to influence. The FCO plays a leading role in the NSC and its Sub-Committees, including the Emerging Powers Sub-Committee which is chaired by the Foreign Secretary. In the NSC the FCO brings together its deep understanding of international affairs, and provides analysis and advice which draws on that understanding. As a
79 result NSC decisions are anchored in a clear understanding of the foreign policy imperatives and their implications.
The FCO leads on drafting NSC papers on international policy and contributes to a range of papers where other government departments lead the drafting. Similarly the FCO leads on implementing NSC decisions on international policy and works closely with other government departments to deliver cross- Whitehall strategies for building political and economic relations with key partners and ensured a joined-up approach to the conduct of foreign policy: elevating entire relationships with individual countries in a systematic fashion – not just in diplomacy but in education, health, civil society, commerce and where appropriate in defence.
FAC Question: How should the Foreign Secretary’s claim to be putting the FCO “back where it belongs at the centre of Government” be assessed?
This Government will provide a distinctive British foreign policy that focuses squarely on the national interest, and will shape the FCO to achieve this. The FCO is giving a confident lead to foreign policy thinking across government, strengthening Britain’s bilateral relationships, building up British influence in the world and successfully promoting the UK economy. The first fruits of this new approach are already being seen in a number of ways including successful Prime Ministerial visits to China and India which strengthened our bilateral relationship with these key partners and delivered £1.25 billion of contracts.
Action to further British interests overseas is being co-ordinated by the FCO. When any Minister travels overseas they are working with the FCO to advance common economic and foreign policy goals as well as their own departmental objectives. This is a planned process to secure the UK’s economic recovery and to address international challenges even more effectively, using the FCO’s diplomatic resources to the full to project our influence and deliver services to British citizens in a networked world.
Over the last six months, the FCO has been giving an energetic lead to this new foreign policy. Examples include:
• In two major speeches in London, the Foreign Secretary set out the strategic direction of the Coalition’s foreign policy, and on how the UK’s foreign policy will stand up for British values internationally.
• The Foreign Secretary has established a solid and substantive relationship with US Secretary of State Clinton through a number of contacts
80 including two visits to Washington (May and November). He gave a major speech on international security in a networked world in Georgetown University during his November visit.
• The Foreign Secretary visited Japan in July to highlight the importance of the UK-Japan bilateral relationship to the UK economy, including addressing the issue of non-tariff barriers. During the visit he gave a major speech on Britain’s prosperity in a networked world. The Foreign Secretary underlined HMG support for BAE Systems, as part of the Eurofighter consortium, in bidding to supply Japan’s future fighter aircraft. The Foreign Secretary also underlined the UK's strong support for the approach of both the Republic of Korea and Japan towards North Korea.
• The Foreign Secretary and the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister launched the UK-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Declaration in September elevating cooperation in key areas such as global and regional issues, trade and investment, sustainable development, education and training, science and technology, security and defence and people to people links.
• The Foreign Secretary launched the Gulf initiative in June 2010 to strengthen regional security and to improve commercial, economic, cultural and educational ties. The first ministerial meeting, chaired by FCO Minister Alistair Burt, took place in July bringing together Ministers from eight government departments. This period has seen an intense series of visits and exchanges with the Gulf including an inward State Visit by the Emir of Qatar and a State Visit of HM The Queen to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
• The Foreign Secretary visited Russia in October and launched a Knowledge Partnership between Britain and Russia. This will promote UK business, science and education as key partners in Russia’s modernisation, identify and tackle barriers to trade, promote opportunities for new investment, and stimulate contacts between UK and Russian educational and research establishments.
• As a result of a firm UK lead, backed up by FCO lobbying, the September European Council issued a Declaration concerning support for Pakistan following the floods, which included an ambitious new trade package.
81 • The FCO led in achievement of a new package of EU sanctions on Iran in June and worked across Government to ensure the effective implementation of these sanctions.
• The Foreign Secretary co-chaired a Friends of Yemen meeting in New York in September, which was also attended by FCO Minister Alistair Burt and Alan Duncan, Minister of State for International Development.
• The Foreign Secretary visited Serbia with the German Foreign Minister in August to underline our resolve that the map of the Balkans is now final. The Foreign Secretary urged the Serbian Government to support a UN General Assembly Resolution on Kosovo which was subsequently adopted by consensus in September.
• The Foreign Secretary chaired a ministerial meeting of the United Nations Security Council in November to create a sense of urgency and to focus international attention on the importance of a peaceful and credible referendum on the future of Southern Sudan, and on the situation in Darfur.
The FCO’s monthly progress reports on how it is meeting the commitments will also provide indicators for assessment. The Business Plan also contains a section describing the transparency indicators by which taxpayers can assess the efficiency and productivity of the FCO effort.
The Business Plan clearly identifies Afghanistan as a priority area for the FCO, working closely with other government departments, in particular the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and DFID. The Government has committed to keeping Parliament regularly informed about progress in Afghanistan through monthly written updates and quarterly oral updates. These updates are prepared by the FCO, MOD and DFID and presented alternately by the three Secretaries of State.
FAC QUESTION: Especially given the spending constraints set out in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), how – if at all – could the FCO better organise and utilise its financial and human resources so as to fulfil its role?
Resource Allocation
The Foreign Secretary is clear that the FCO must use the Spending Review to maintain a modern, effective network, with global reach, which must remain at
82 the heart of a successful UK foreign policy. The FCO will allocate the settlement in accordance with the foreign policy priorities set out by the Foreign Secretary: an active and activist foreign policy, working with other countries and strengthening the rules-based international system to safeguard security, build prosperity, and support British nationals abroad, and our determination to sustain a strong global network. The FCO is committed to making the investment needed to keep staff safe and develop the skills they need to do their jobs, wherever they are located. The Spending Review settlement will require the FCO to change how it operates, to make real choices, to cut spending on administration, to continue to reduce its workforce, and to get maximum value from every pound spent. The FCO Board is in the process of making recommendations to Ministers on allocating resources for FY 2011/12 and making indicative allocations for the rest of the Spending Review period. Directors General will then make allocations to the Directors who report to them, and the Directors will allocate resources to the posts they are responsible for. This process will be complete by the end of FY 2010/11. In allocating resources the FCO will seek to maximise efficiency and effectiveness in areas in which it will work jointly with other government departments, for example the promotion of British trade and investment. It will also take into account the contribution the FCO will make to events such as the 2012 Olympics during the Spending Review period.
Human Resources
Within the constraints of the Spending Review settlement, the FCO intends to invest to build a strong institution for the future. The FCO’s people strategy is designed to build a dynamic, flexible and professional workforce to meet the FCO’s objectives; to be a good employer; and to provide a professional and efficient HR service to staff and managers. It should continue to attract the most talented entrants from diverse backgrounds. The FCO will maintain a rigorous approach to promotion through assessment and development centres while driving down costs to ensure that it can develop and retain the talent it already has. It will further drive up performance management standards, and continue to professionalise financial management under the Five Star Finance Programme.
The FCO will build on the talent within the organisation and develop greater diplomatic, language and geographic expertise, expertise in counter terrorism and counter proliferation and build our management and leadership ability. It will aim to provide increased resources for additional language training and other core diplomatic skills, including commercial diplomacy.
83 The FCO will continue to review overseas allowances in response to changing circumstances. The latest review, carried out in 2009, will yield annual savings of around £10m (10% of the allowances budget), £6.5m is from cash allowances, and £3.5 million from travel and education. Since 2009, the FCO has run three schemes for voluntary early departure in accordance with strict affordability criteria. A total of 280 staff have departed on these terms, resulting in salary savings of £11 million per year. The total resource costs of these exercises to the FCO was £31.3m (the immediate payments made to staff on departure, plus for staff leaving on early retirement the ongoing annual compensation payments up to their 60th birthday). So the schemes have offered an average payback of under three years. The recruitment freeze imposed by the new government brought immediate challenges around the numbers of staff that could be promoted from Band A to B. The FCO is reviewing policies on promotion to compensate for the effects that the freeze will have, especially on lower grades.
Corporate Services Programme
In 2009/10 the Corporate Services programme delivered £5m of savings, impacting over 240 slots. In 2010/11 the savings forecast is £13m and over 450 slots. In 2011/12 the savings forecast is £27m and almost 500 slots. On completion of the planned projects, the annual cost of delivering corporate services will be £30m less than the 2008/09 baseline and require 1,200 fewer staff.
As part of the CSR settlement, the FCO, like all other government departments, is committed to 33% savings in administration spend as part of the overall drive to increase efficiency. The FCO intends to use this as an opportunity to free up resources for frontline operations through its Corporate Services Programme. The aim of the Programme is to save time and money for the FCO by standardising and streamlining corporate policies, processes and tools. The FCO is on track to deliver £45m by March 2012 and reduce corporate spend by £30m each year, including releasing 1000 (local) staff slots. There are five main streams of activity to this:
• Localising positions overseas. Replacing 140 UK-based staff with local staff in corporate services and support positions overseas.
• Sharing services and consolidating processes on a cross-border basis. Overseas, the FCO is consolidating transactional corporate services work either nationally or within a region to reduce duplication of effort, generate economies of scale at lead posts, and professionalise the delivery
84 of corporate services functions through the recruitment of specialists. Shared service networks are being developed in Central Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, Southern Africa, North East Asia, and South East Asia and Oceania.
• Outsourcing facilities management contracts. Facilities management services were outsourced in the UK/North West Europe in 2009. A contract to outsource facilities management services for 28 posts across Asia Pacific and India has also recently been signed.
• Streamlining transaction processing resources in the UK Corporate Service Centre (CSC). The FCO has continued to move HR and Finance process work to the Corporate Services Centre (CSC) in Milton Keynes, whilst retaining policy formulation in London. The CSC brings together human resources, finance and procurement processes, and is making staff savings through a number of efficiency projects. These will achieve a headcount saving of 46 slots (saving £2m per annum) by March 2012. In addition, the FCO is continuing to consolidate transactional processing from overseas posts into the CSC which will allow more efficient use of resources and further economies of scale, avoid unnecessary duplication and make better use of specialist staff. The expected savings are up to £1.4m per annum.
• The FCO has been active in process simplification and standardisation and introducing self service. 50,000 staff days have been saved by removing outdated processes, simplifying procurement and finance, streamlining guidance and making better use of technology. All local staff data has been loaded onto our Oracle system, greatly improving management information. The FCO has implemented a new global expenses policy based on actual expenditure. It has introduced online payslips, email notifications, self service management of annual and sick leave, and improved its i-Expenses system. FAC QUESTION: How does the FCO work across Whitehall? Are the FCO and its resources organised so as to facilitate cross-Government cooperation?
The FCO is active across a broad range of government policy and has day-to- day interaction with every major part of Whitehall. The sections following give a flavour of the breadth of that activity, and some sense of how it is organised and structured.
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Defence and Security Issues
The FCO and MOD work closely from the NSC down to agree and implement the UK’s overall strategy and approach to protecting national security. The FCO and MOD work jointly to implement the priorities established in the SDSR and to support the effective engagement of international organisations in crisis management, including the UN, NATO, the European Union and the OSCE. The latter includes both crisis management strategy as well as the delivery of appropriate capabilities to ensure effective international response, including equitable burden sharing.
The FCO participates actively in military planning exercises and training programmes to promote an integrated approach to the planning and conduct of crisis management. This activity provides a platform for the FCO to help UK military forces to develop their understanding of political, diplomatic and development perspectives, as well as provide critical training for FCO staff in preparation for deployment in conflict zones. Major exercises such as the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps exercise ARRCade Fusion 2009 and the UK’s Joint Force Headquarters exercise Joint Focus 2010 form a key part of the comprehensive effort across the FCO, DFID and the MOD to test the shared framework for conflict stabilisation. Lessons drawn from such exercises feed back into both civilian policy planning for post-conflict reconstruction and the development of military doctrine.
The British Government has been at the forefront of the development and use of integrated civilian-military planning, and the FCO has played a significant role in this. The Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province is a prime example of the work already being carried out. Due to excellent FCO and MOD cooperation, the UK was the first country to set up a joint civilian- military headquarters in Afghanistan to lead on stabilisation, and this model has informed the development of similar structures by other countries.
There is close synergy between the FCO and MOD in pursuing defence diplomacy and the projection of defence soft power. In a globalised and uncertain world, the UK is increasingly vulnerable to events and shocks elsewhere. Both departments invest in bilateral defence relationships to enhance the UK’s understanding of complex issues, identify and plan for emerging threats, and exploit opportunities to influence in the national interest. To achieve this in the defence sphere, FCO and MOD cooperate at posts overseas and in Whitehall. It takes time to build credibility and develop worthwhile relationships and networks: a long-term view and consistent engagement with in-country presence are fundamental to achieving success.
86 Therefore Defence Attachés, whilst MOD assets, are integrated into FCO posts, are managed by Ambassadors, undergo FCO training and pursue joint objectives from boosting trade to increasing military cooperation. The FCO participates fully in a number of key MOD engagement planning committees, and inputs into decisions concerning the extent and location of the Defence Attaché Network.
European conventional arms control is an area of long-standing interaction between the FCO and MOD. The FCO is responsible for the strategic policy and diplomatic parts of this agenda, whilst the MOD provides military advice, and funds and executes the UK’s operational requirements. The two departments share planning and ensure strategic coherence and consistent UK messages. This contributes to the UK’s ability to influence this agenda compared to other states that are less joined up. For instance, the UK is often able to work faster and more effectively than other nations when dealing with political-military affairs in the OSCE. This ability was crucial earlier this year in achieving the adoption of a UK decision to update the military transparency and regional security building measures contained within the Vienna Document 1999, which had previously been closed for over a decade.
The FCO coordinates closely with the MOD and DFID in pursuing the UK’s conventional weapons disarmament policy. All three departments share HMG’s obligations under a range of treaties that seek to end the use of weapons that can have a disproportionate humanitarian impact.[1] MOD military advisors and DFID technical experts accompany FCO-led delegations to negotiations and meetings of States Parties. The FCO led Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill 2010, which banned UK use of cluster munitions, saw a virtual FCO-MOD Bill team prepare for and advise on the legislation, with occasional policy support also provided by BIS, UKTI, Home Office and DFID.
The FCO engages actively in cross-Government work on maritime security, taking part in the new cross-Whitehall Maritime Security Oversight Group (MSOG) - designed to integrate more effectively the UK’s approach to maritime security - and will also contribute to the National Maritime Information Centre agreed by the SDSR. The FCO, MOD, Department for Transport and the Home Office/UK Border Agency all play key roles in both, with the FCO leading on international maritime engagement policy, including international legal aspects.
[1] The main disarmament treaties are: the Mine Ban Treaty; the Convention on Certain Convention Weapons; and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
87 The international counter-piracy effort is co-ordinated primarily by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, which includes more than 50 organisations and countries. The FCO, on behalf of HMG, chairs the key working group on operational/military co-ordination and regional capability development, working closely with the MOD to identify key maritime risks and design potential international responses for discussion with partners.
The UK’s delegation to NATO is staffed jointly by the FCO and MOD. This enables the FCO to incorporate military information and advice into UK defence diplomacy in NATO and to take a holistic view toward NATO security strategy. The delegation works closely with FCO and MOD teams in London who provide day to day guidance and instructions on policy as well as strategic direction and objectives, as agreed by both sets of Ministers. This shared policy perspective covers both strategic issues such as Europe’s security engagement with Russia and NATO enlargement (particularly in the Balkans), as well as operational issues, including Afghanistan and Kosovo.
The FCO works closely with the MOD and the Office of Cyber Security (OCS) on NATO cyber defence, consulting on briefing and policy. Working with the MOD, who provide the defence requirements, and the OCS, who provide the cross-Whitehall structure, the FCO promotes the UK cyber agenda in international organisations including the UN, NATO and the EU, and feeds information and perspectives from international partners into Whitehall.
The FCO works closely with the MOD on policy regarding the UK’s nuclear deterrent, multilateral disarmament, ballistic missile defence and space issues. In the run-up to publication of the SDSR, the FCO led on the review of the UK’s nuclear declaratory policy, whilst the MOD led on the Trident Value for Money review; they worked as a virtual team on the outcomes of both reviews.
Counter Proliferation Work
As the SDSR sets out, the Foreign Secretary is lead minister for counter proliferation work across Government. At official level, the FCO (Counter Proliferation Department) chairs the monthly Counter Proliferation Implementation Committee to plan, co-ordinate and monitor HMG’s counter proliferation activity. The Cabinet Office, MOD, Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), HM Treasury (HMT) and Intelligence Agencies all take part. The FCO is also the interface between the cross-Governmental Counter Proliferation community and the FCO posts overseas.
88 The FCO has been part of the governing board of the Global Threat Reduction Programme, a £36m pa fund dedicated to tackling nuclear security vulnerabilities. The FCO’s Counter Proliferation Department chairs regular cross-Whitehall meetings to agree long-term policy and shorter term negotiating tactics on key international non-proliferation instruments including:
• the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, working with the MOD and DECC;
• the Chemical Weapons Convention, working with the MOD, DECC, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL); and
• the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, working with the MOD, DECC, BIS, DSTL, Home Office, Department of Health, Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Go-Science, Health Protection Agency, Metropolitan Police, Health & Safety Executive, National Counter Terrorism Security Office, Food Standards Agency, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Food and Environmental Research Agency).
The FCO co-ordinates the UK position in the three EU Working Groups on counter proliferation. The FCO also takes part in the Restricted Enforcement Unit, a group chaired by BIS agrees actions to prevent proliferation.
During the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010, the UK’s negotiating teams in London and New York comprised officials from the FCO, the MOD, and DECC. On the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), MOD and FCO experts work with the CTBT Organisation in Vienna on the international monitoring system and preparing the Treaty for entry into force. Similarly, joint FCO and MOD teams work on UK policy regarding a future Material Cut Off Treaty, ballistic missile defence (including the recent announcement at the NATO Summit of a territorial missile defence system with the US), and space security issues.
BIS owns the UK’s export licensing process and requires advice from the FCO, MOD and DFID. To ensure that arms exports do not contribute to conflicts around the world or infringe human rights, the FCO makes assessments using all the latest available information. The information we receive from our posts overseas and desks in the UK is vital in making the right decision in approving or refusing an export.
89 Counter Terrorism Work
The FCO leads the cross-Whitehall effort on international delivery of the Government’s strategy for countering international terrorism CONTEST. The Overseas CONTEST Group, chaired by the FCO’s Director General for Defence and Intelligence, sets the strategic direction for overseas counter terrorism work, and guides priority setting and resource allocation across Government.
The Overseas CONTEST Group links closely to:
a) the Joint Intelligence Committee, in order that strategic priorities flow from the authoritative, cross-Government assessment of the threat; b) the CONTEST board and sub-boards, to ensure coherence between domestic and overseas activity; and c) the NSC, in order to situate our overseas counter terrorism efforts within the wider National Security Strategy.
Through its leadership of the Overseas CONTEST Group and through its overseas network, the FCO has a pivotal role in determining, coordinating and delivering the Government’s approach to terrorism (classified by the NSC as a tier one risk), through upstream intervention overseas. The Overseas CONTEST Group is considering how the UK can use its overseas counter terrorism resource to best effect in the light of the SDSR and the CSR.
Overseas delivery is led by the counter terrorism teams in the FCO network of posts, working with relevant government departments, including the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (the Home Office unit who has the overall lead on terrorism in Whitehall), the MOD, the Intelligence Agencies, the Metropolitan Police, the Cabinet Office, DFID, the UK Border Agency (UKBA), and the Research, Information and Communications Unit. All departments draw on their own resources to achieve the objectives set out by the Overseas CONTEST Group, as well as on the cross-Whitehall counter terrorism programme fund which is managed by the FCO.
Additional FCO responsibilities for counter terrorism include outreach in the UK and overseas to explain British foreign policy, informing British citizens about terrorist threats overseas, crisis management overseas in the event of a terrorist attack or kidnap, and working with other departments and agencies to ensure the successful implementation of the detainee measures announced by the Prime Minister in July, and managing the difficult litigation and detainee cases with which HMG has been confronted.
90 All projects funded by the cross-Whitehall counter terrorism programme fund are now subject to a human rights assessment. The assessment occurs before the point of project approval, irrespective of whether the project could yield commercial opportunity for UK industry.
The Prosperity Agenda and Trade Policy
A key function of British foreign policy is to support the UK economic recovery. And this in turn depends upon global stability and growth. The FCO is injecting a new commercialism into its work and into the definition of the UK’s international objectives, ensuring that the UK can develop the strong political relationships which will help British business to thrive overseas.
The FCO has moved to make economic objectives a central aspect of UK international bilateral engagement, working in a targeted and systematic fashion to secure Britain’s economic recovery, promote open markets and improved financial regulation and to open the way to greater access for British companies in new markets worldwide. The FCO is championing Britain as a partner of choice for any country seeking to invest and do business in Europe; and using an energetic diplomacy to help secure a strong, sustainable and open global economy.
The FCO and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) work closely to deliver the UK national interests on prosperity and growth issues, including trade and investment policy, corporate governance and anti-corruption issues.
The joint FCO/BIS Trade Policy Unit represents one of the closest connections between the two departments. The FCO works with the Trade Policy Unit, the UK Representation in Brussels, and the UK Mission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at Geneva to influence European trade policy to adopt a strategic posture to key trading relationships and to press for an early and ambitious outcome to the Doha Development Agenda. The UK Representation in Brussels works to provide coherent HMG contact with the European Commission and the European Parliament on trade issues, and to foster close links with trade officials in other EU Member States on resisting protectionism and promoting open markets.
The UK Mission in Geneva (UKMIS Geneva) represents the UK at the WTO and also at the other international organisations in Geneva that deal with trade and development related issues1.The mission is staffed by FCO and BIS
1 These include UNCTAD, WIPO, ILO, ITC, EIF, UNECE, the Human Rights Council.
91 personnel, though the positions are primarily funded by the FCO with some support from the DFID. The EU’s common commercial policy is an exclusive Commission competence. UKMIS Geneva monitors activity and report widely across HMG on WTO negotiations, disputes, accessions and the operation of existing agreements. UKMIS Geneva liaises with other resident Missions and the WTO Secretariat in order to carry out lobbying and inform policy making in London. It also looks to ensure that the international organisations it deals with are accountable, transparent and effective, and provide value for money.
The FCO and BIS also work to influence trade policy outside of Europe. The FCO, and specifically the UK’s network of Trade Policy Attachés, plays an important role in lobbying on matters of concern to HMG and gathering information and analysis to aid the development of UK trade policy. Advice from the FCO on key trade and investment relationships feeds into the work of the NSC Emerging Powers Sub-Committee.
The FCO are working closely with BIS as part of a core cross-HMG team in the development of the HMG Trade White Paper due for publication in January. The FCO are also working with BIS and HM Treasury (HMT) colleagues on the HMG Growth Review. This work will set out a whole of Government approach to delivering on trade and investment priorities for the UK and contributing to the sustainable growth of the UK economy.
Trade Promotion
The FCO and BIS are the parent departments of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the Government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies in bringing high quality investment to the UK. The FCO works closely both at home and overseas with UKTI.
The Minister for Trade and Investment is responsible for UKTI's operations. UKTI is headed up by a Chief Executive, Sir Andrew Kahn, who sits on the Executive Boards of both the FCO and BIS.
UKTI staff are present in 96 FCO posts across the world. Of these, 17 are in high growth markets, which are in many cases the same markets identified by the Government as priorities for elevating relations. The FCO and UKTI are working together to ensure consistency in broader UK Government activity in these markets.
Commercial successes in the last six months include:
92 • The Prime Minister led the largest ever British delegation to China on his way to the G20 Summit in Seoul in November. Over 40 specific agreements were signed dealing with trade, low carbon growth, and cultural and education initiatives. Commercial deals were announced including £750 million for Rolls Royce to supply and service jet engines for China Eastern Airlines; the construction of 50 new English language schools by Pearson; and the launch of a £317 million UK-China investment fund. The visit highlighted recent and ongoing inward investment from China worth in excess of £300 million, creating or safeguarding over 1200 jobs across the UK.
• The Prime Minister visited Turkey in July to agree a Strategic Partnership on trade and investment, energy, defence and security. He also addressed business leaders to discuss trade opportunities.
• The Prime Minister took the largest British trade delegation ever to India in July. He witnessed the signing of a Hawk aircraft contract worth £500 million. During this visit he established a CEO Forum to make recommendations to both Governments on how to increase levels of trade, and committed to an ambitious programme of co-operation on education, science and research.
FCO work with HM Treasury on global economic issues
FCO and HMT work very closely on global economic issues. Whilst HMT leads on international macroeconomic issues such as monetary policy, exchange rate and fiscal policy coordination, the FCO provides much of the reporting on these issues including on the political context and lobbies other governments as appropriate (e.g. in preparation for G20 summits).
The FCO and HMT coordinate on UK policy towards country-specific international issues such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes. As an IMF shareholder, HMG contributes to Board decisions on individual programmes. HMT leads on the UK’s contribution to the decisions, but with input from relevant FCO posts. The UK’s shareholder interest in the IMF is handled on a daily basis by the UK Delegation (UKDEL) to the IMF and World Bank in Washington.
HMT has staff seconded to key Embassies including Washington, Beijing, Berlin, Paris and Tokyo. They work as an integrated part of the Embassy teams, reporting to Ambassadors. More broadly the FCO works to promote the UK’s economic reputation and explain UK economic policy overseas, based on HMT briefings.
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FCO work with the Cabinet Office on the G8/G20 agenda
The FCO, HMT and the Cabinet Office work together to deliver the UK’s objectives within the G8 and G20, in consultation with a wide range of other government departments such as DFID, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and BIS. The FCO Director General for Global and Economic Issues acts as the UK's G8 Foreign Affairs Sous-Sherpa, providing the UK lead in negotiations on the work streams, initiatives and commitments that will be considered by G8 Leaders at the Summit. This negotiation process feeds into G8 Sherpa meetings, in which the Cabinet Office support the UK’s G8 and G20 Sherpa, the Head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat and International Economic and EU Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office.
On international peace and security issues in the G8, the FCO Political Director leads UK engagement with counterparts at G8 Political Directors' meetings. The FCO and the Cabinet Office collaborate closely to provide policy advice to Ministers covering the role and future of the G8, which topics should feature on its agenda, and how the G8 relates to wider global governance.
The FCO works closely with HMT and the Cabinet Office, jointly contributing to HMG's objectives and priorities for the G20 and specifically providing policy advice on handling of G20 issues within the UK's wider bilateral relations and foreign policy objectives. The Cabinet Office provides the cross-Whitehall coordination on G20 and leads on supporting the UK's G8 and G20 Sherpa in the preparations for the G20 Leaders Summit.
The FCO’s role in the management and implementation of EU business for the UK Government
This Government is committed to advancing Britain’s interest in Europe and the FCO plays a central role in the formulation and implementation of HMG’s EU business. The key Cabinet Committees are the European Affairs Committee, chaired by the Foreign Secretary himself and the European Affairs Sub- Committee, chaired by the Minister for Europe. The FCO’s central role in these Committees places it at the heart of formulation of Government policy on the EU. The FCO engages in daily contact across Whitehall, at both ministerial and official level, on the full range of EU policy questions.
The Minister for Europe is responsible for the relationship between Government and Parliament on EU issues through the Parliamentary Scrutiny process. The FCO works with the Cabinet Office to ensure that the Government’s
94 commitments to the Scrutiny Committees are met across Whitehall, improving training and guidance for officials. The FCO leads on the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution and the Terms of Reference for the European Scrutiny Committee in the House of Commons and the EU Select Committee in the House of Lords, to ensure parliamentary engagement in, and Government accountability on, EU policy.
The purpose of the European Affairs Committee is to agree collectively the UK position towards EU policy issues and negotiations on issues that affect more than one department or have implications for the Government’s strategic approach to the EU. The Committee conducts its work through correspondence to seek Members’ views and the Chair’s clearance on cross-cutting policy questions. The Committee meets regularly to discuss and agree matters of wider strategic importance.
The European Affairs Sub-Committee supplements and assists the work of the main Committee, for example, taking forward more detailed pieces of work, undertaking preparatory work on issues for future discussion at the main Committee, and considering in greater depth the UK’s strategic relationships within the EU.
Within the UK Government, the FCO leads on the following EU questions:
• The relationship with the EU’s Institutions – the European Council and the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The competences and powers of these institutions are set out in the EU Treaties, and therefore the FCO also leads on the policy towards those treaties and negotiation of any changes to them.
• The strategic overview of EU enlargement policy and accession negotiations. The FCO hosts quarterly meetings for senior officials across Whitehall on EU enlargement. At these meetings the FCO provides updates on the progress of accession negotiations. All elements of the Government’s EU enlargement policy are discussed and departments have the opportunity to feed in comments or raise any concerns. The FCO consults government departments closely on the detail of accession negotiations. The lead Whitehall department on any given “chapter” of the negotiations must consent for the UK to agree to it being closed. By consulting with policy experts in this way, the Government as a whole is able to maintain effective conditionality on accession negotiations.
95 • The European Neighbourhood Policy is the EU’s policy framework for its relations with the countries neighbouring the EU to the east and the south. The Neighbourhood Policy falls outside the scope of enlargement and pre-accession policy. The FCO consults other Whitehall departments closely on Neighbourhood Policy issues as they arise – for example in preparing the UK’s response to the European Commission’s annual reports.
• EU external policy, working in particular with the Cabinet Office. This includes both the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (such as policy on major international issues such as Iran, Burma or Sudan) and Common Security and Defence Policy. It also leads on the question of the EU’s relations with other global actors, and lobbies the EU institutions on how best to use Europe’s various tools of external action (such as the External Action Service, EU budget spend, and Summits with third countries). Additionally, the FCO provides centralised advice and guidance for Whitehall departments on external representation, sharing best-practice and legal recommendations. The FCO also drives UK policy on the development of the European External Action Service, ensuring the Service complements UK foreign and development policy objectives.
The UK's Permanent Representation to the EU is the Government's interface in Brussels with the EU Institutions. Its job is to present the UK's interests to these Institutions, and to advocate these interests, both bilaterally, and in multilateral discussions in the Council of Ministers, and supporting Committees of Ambassadors and working groups. The Permanent Representation follows the full range of issues in which the EU enjoys competence. It is headed by three officials of Ambassadorial rank. The Permanent Representative supervises the work of Political, Communication and Visits, Economic and Finance, Justice and Home Affairs and Legal Sections. The Deputy Permanent Representative supervises the work of Competitiveness and Markets, Regions and Agriculture, and Social and Environment Sections. The Ambassador to the Political and Security Committee supervises the work of the two External Relations Sections (the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the near abroad; trade, wider world and development), and the Military Section. The staff of the UK Permanent Representation are drawn from 16 government departments, with the FCO providing the overall platform, and acting as parent department to the mission. Individual sections receive instructions from a variety of lead Ministries, according to the matter at hand.
The FCO’s network of posts in Europe also has an important role in supporting the development and promotion of the Government’s EU business. This can
96 take a number of forms. For example, alerting other Member States to the Government’s position on specific issues and seeking to influence a host Government’s position, to helping inform HMG’s policy formulation processes by providing analysis on developments in other Member States and their likely positions and reactions to EU-related proposals and developments.
International Development
As set out in the FCO Business Plan, we will work with other government departments to agree a joint approach to enhance British “soft power” that uses all our national instruments, including the UK’s world-class programme of aid. In his appearance in front of the Liaison Committee in November 2010, the Prime Minister said that “we should be clear that the development budget gives Britain clout and influence in the world. Six months into the job, I really feel that. When you sit round the table at the G8 or G20 discussing Haiti, Pakistan or Yemen, often the modern equivalent of a battleship is the C17 loaded with aid and the brilliant Oxfam team that is going to go in and help deliver water or whatever. They are real tools of foreign policy and influence and heft in the world. We should be quite frank about that, and not be embarrassed about it”.
DFID is responsible for the UK’s efforts on global poverty reduction, and for setting development policy. Along with the FCO, it is represented on the NSC, the NSC Emerging Powers Sub-Committee, the Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingencies NSC Sub-Committee and the European Affairs Committee, to ensure that development policy is appropriately factored in to all cross- Government decision-making.
FCO and DFID work closely together at all levels and FCO and DFID staff are co-located in 29 posts overseas. The Foreign Secretary has travelled to Afghanistan with the International Development Secretary (and the Defence Secretary), and FCO and DFID Ministers have travelled together to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The two Departments’ joint efforts led the way in supporting the victims of the floods in Pakistan.
The FCO works closely with DFID ahead of major international meetings, such as G8, G20 or UN summits, to ensure proactive engagement on development issues with our major partners. For example, ahead of the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the United Nations in September, FCO and DFID staff in British Embassies and High Commissions worked together to highlight the importance of achieving the Goals by 2015 and UK efforts on combating malaria and infant and maternal health.
97 The Government has committed to spending 0.7% of the UK’s gross national income in overseas development assistance (ODA) from 2013. The recent Spending Review provided for an increase in the FCO's own spending on ODA to help meet this commitment. HMG want to ensure that wherever and however we spend our aid, it has the greatest impact on global poverty and that it assists the economic growth and independent development that are the bedrock for more stable and democratic societies. The FCO and DFID are working closely together to ensure that they use the same methodology consistent with the OECD's guidelines to measure the UK’s ODA.
Education and Health
The FCO provides Grant in Aid funding for the British Council. The FCO’s network works closely with the British Council overseas. In some cases the British Council is located in Embassies. The FCO also manages the Chevening scholarship programme and in 2010-11 the FCO will spend £12m to fund 600 overseas scholars to study in the UK at approximately 70 different educational institutions.
Education is a key element in the FCO’s objective of building prosperity, and many opportunities for the UK educational institutions to building long-term links with future key opinion formers in many countries. In particular, the Foreign Secretary has highlighted education as a priority in his initiative to elevate the UK’s relations with emerging powers. Realising our potential requires a whole-of-Government approach on education overseas. The FCO is working with the Joint International Unit (Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)/Department for Education (DfE), The British Council, UKBA and UKTI to ensure this. From December 2010, FCO Minister of State, Jeremy Browne will represent the FCO on the International Education Research Forum.
UK overseas posts also have a remit to spot opportunities to encourage partnerships between UK and foreign universities, the opening of British schools and colleges overseas, and promotion of UK expertise in curriculum development.
The UK has a major stake in ensuring that as global health outcomes improve, it can work in effective partnership with the broad array of global health actors to ensure limited resources are focussed on key priorities such as the threat of spread of disease. Accordingly, the FCO works closely with the Department for Health and DFID on global health issues and threats.
FCO bilateral posts facilitate strong links and information exchange between the UK’s health sector and major international partners, and seek to build political
98 support behind key international initiatives such as the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, launched this year. The UK’s permanent missions in New York and Geneva work on global health priorities with the United Nations, World Health Organisation, UNAIDS, the Global Fund and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.
Science
The FCO and BIS co-fund and work in partnership to develop the strategy and direction of the Science and Innovation Network (SIN) of some 90 science attaché officers at 40 posts in 25 countries. The SIN works to build international science and innovation partnerships and collaborations for the benefit of UK policy, research and business interests and investments.
The FCO’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof. David Clary FRS, is the senior FCO focal point for the SIN, representing the FCO on the BIS management board for the network. Prof. Clary also represents the FCO on the cross-Whitehall Chief Scientific Advisers' Committee (CSAC) and key thematic sub-committees (e.g. on climate change, food security and nuclear energy issues). These groups are all chaired by and report to the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof. John Beddington.
Outside of the CSAC framework, Prof. Clary is on senior Whitehall advisory boards for space, marine, and nuclear science policy issues as well as relevant horizon scanning projects such as on environmental migration and international climate change.
Climate and Energy
An effective response to climate change underpins both UK security and prosperity. The National Security Council held its first meeting on the security implications of climate change in November. It recognised that food, water and energy security cannot be achieved without climate security.
DECC lead in the negotiations on an international agreement. The FCO plays a supporting role by working to create the necessary international political conditions to make such an agreement possible. In so doing, we hope to build the policy confidence required to drive a successful transition to a low carbon economy. The Foreign Secretary has appointed a Special Representative on Climate Change as his personal representative in contacts with key interlocutors overseas. The global network of British climate attachés is widely recognised as a valuable source of ideas on the politics and economics of climate change.
99 This strong commitment by the FCO has been acknowledged by others to have created a distinctive and innovative approach to climate diplomacy. The FCO has become engaged in building coalitions of interest to support ambitious outcomes among business, science, NGOs, faith groups and the media within key nations. This activity not only provides support for UK climate negotiators, but also gives us influence over others’ economic and political choices. This was acknowledged, for example, by the Chinese Government who have attributed the concept of low carbon economy they are now pursuing with vigour to the UK. The British diplomacy that helped establish the EU2020 commitments on climate has also been recognised by our EU Partners. The FCO effort to support the emergence of a strong and coherent voice from climate vulnerable countries in the United Nations – has been acknowledged by countries in Africa, Latin America to South East Asia. The FCO, working with the MOD, has also been seen to pioneer the effort to mobilise security elites on climate change.
The FCO leads on physical security and strategic relationships with major energy producers and consumers in support of DECC’s lead on international energy policy. The International Energy Strategy developed jointly by the FCO and DECC, led to new clarity in our international energy policy priorities, as captured in the SDSR. Areas of energy security work on which the FCO will be playing an active part include:
• Reprioritising bilateral diplomatic relationships to increase the focus on key supplier states. • Working with states and groupings of countries that use the most energy – for example, US, China, India, Russia and the EU – in support of actions that reduce their oil and gas demand, including work both on energy efficiency and on low carbon growth. • Prioritising the support of commercial opportunities for British businesses with key energy consumers and producers. • Working with the EU, the International Energy Agency and other international institutions to take forward UK priorities, such as improving energy infrastructure, promoting effective energy market mechanisms, encouraging energy efficiency and the deployment of low carbon technologies. • Work overseas to mitigate disruption to the transit of energy supplies.
Managing Migration
The FCO works closely with UKBA. On policy, both organisations are committed to controlling migration to secure the UK’s borders and to promote the country’s economic prosperity. In helping the UK to maximise the benefits
100 of legal migration, the FCO helps UKBA to maintain a visa regime which strikes the right balance between protecting the UK border and deterring illegal entry, whilst encouraging the brightest and best economic migrants with the skills the economy needs to come to the UK.
The FCO has worked alongside UKBA in recent months on the first phase of a consultation to address the Government’s commitment to “impose an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants coming to the UK to live and work”.
The FCO and UKBA are working together to tackle the problem of illegal immigration. The FCO are helping facilitate the return of foreign national prisoners and failed asylum seekers, including through the negotiation of return agreements and the use of a cross-departmental Returns and Reintegration Fund. In recent years, such collaboration has yielded a significant increase in the volume of foreign national prisoners being returned to their country of origin.
The aim of securing optimal alignment between visa and foreign policies is mirrored by a commitment to ensuring a productive working relationship between the FCO and UKBA. Both share a commitment to fill up to 40% of the posts in UKBA’s International Group with FCO staff. UKBA operations occupy a significant proportion of the FCO estate footprint overseas. The FCO’s Director for Migration attends UKBA Board meetings, and contributes to policy discussions. The FCO’s Migration Directorate, which is funded by the UKBA, comprises staff from across government, including from UKBA. The mix of professional immigration expertise coupled with the language skills and diplomatic experience of FCO staff has enabled the Directorate to make a significant contribution to the Agency’s work on tackling illegal immigration.
The FCO and the Intelligence Agencies The FCO is, of course, a major customer for the work of the Intelligence and Security Agencies, which makes an important contribution to all FCO objectives. The FCO works very closely with Agency colleagues to determine requirements and priorities and advise the Foreign Secretary in his role as Secretary of State responsible for SIS and GCHQ.
FAC QUESTION: What should be the role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts?
The SDSR sets out some specific parameters for the FCO overseas network including:
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• that the Diplomatic Service should support the UK’s key multilateral and bilateral relationships and the obligations arising from its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and a leading member of NATO, the EU and other international organisations;
• that the UK’s global overseas network should be FCO-led and should focus on safeguarding the UK’s national security, building UK prosperity, and support UK nationals around the world;
• that the UK needs co-ordinated cross-Government effort overseas that brings together diplomatic, development, military and other national security tools;
• that HMG as a whole should seek to improve co-ordination of all UK work overseas under the leadership of the Ambassador or High Commissioner representing the UK Government as a whole.
This Government is clear that successful delivery of foreign policy in a networked world requires diplomacy which is agile, innovative and global in reach. The FCO network of overseas posts is essential to delivering this. Posts are increasingly using collaborative working to deliver HMG’s objectives in an effective and efficient way and to add value to decision making within Government. For example: co-ordinated action by G20 posts in preparation for the G20 summit in Seoul in November and action between posts in NATO countries and the British Embassy in Kabul to help shape the NATO/Afghanistan Partnership Agreement in advance of the NATO Lisbon summit in November.
One longstanding global network which the FCO will engage with in a much more coherent way is the Commonwealth, which contains six of the world’s fastest growing economies and is underpinned by an agreed framework of common values. The FCO’s network of posts in Commonwealth partners will work to strengthen the Commonwealth as a focus for promoting democratic values, human rights, climate resilient development, conflict prevention and trade.
FCO posts play a key role in informing the cross-Whitehall policy making process. Posts send some formal reports – eGrams – with the authority of the Head of Mission that provide timely and authoritative information on developments in their host countries, analysis and advice on the formulation of policy. eGrams are shared across Whitehall. The FCO is undertaking a review
102 of the eGram system to ensure that the system responds to the needs of Ministers and policy makers across all of Government.
Relations between states are not conducted solely by Ministers. They are partly driven by connections between individuals, business, pressure groups and civil society organisations. The UK thus not only has more governments to influence, but needs also to take account of the wide range of networks it needs to win over to its arguments.
Given the significant number of staff from other government departments posted in UK Diplomatic Missions abroad, the FCO is committed to delivering an efficient and effective platform for co-location at its posts overseas. The major activities of other government departments will be integrated into the Country Business Plans which each Sovereign Post will draw up for the remainder of the Spending Review period, and which will be reviewed annually. These Plans will give greater focus to the delivery of wider HMG objectives overseas and will support greater co-location and collaborative working. The Plans will be drawn up at post, involving all government departments with an interest in the country and will be cleared with all relevant Departments in London.
Effective influencing of foreign governments, institutions and international organisations to deliver the objectives of UK policy will continue to require personal contact. The FCO is determined to deliver a global and flexible diplomatic network with an excellent range of contacts and access to key decision makers. We are reviewing our work-force plan to ensure that we have the right human resource policies and systems in place to deliver this, including more training on commercial diplomacy to better deliver HMG’s prosperity agenda.
As a comparison with other foreign services, the following table shows total numbers of all diplomatic missions (including consulates) and sovereign posts (Embassies and High Commissions only).
Country Total Diplomatic Sovereign Posts Missions
France 279 149 United Kingdom 261 140
103 United States 260 162 Italy 236 123 Germany 230 149 Spain 217 118 Japan 199 127 Sweden 104 104 Australia 91 73
FAC QUESTION: What is the FCO’s role in explaining UK foreign policy to the British public?
UK foreign policy is entrenched in the national interest and serves the British people. The Foreign Secretary has set out our foreign policy in a series of four high-profile speeches since May. He and his Ministerial team take an active role in explaining the FCO’s priorities to all those who have an interest. In the past month, for example, the Foreign Secretary gave a speech to the UN about foreign policy, FCO Minister of State David Lidington has briefed the press about the EU Bill, and FCO Minister Henry Bellingham has spoken to the press about the Commonwealth.
The FCO is increasingly proactive in working to explain UK foreign policy through the UK and international media, including through briefings and placing articles, letters and staff profile pieces in a variety of publications. The full range of broadcast and print UK and international media regularly carry statements from FCO Ministers and details from FCO public background briefings. The FCO also seeks to target the non news media, and examples of such material placed in the last year include stories on the FCO Forced Marriage Unit and on the Consul General in Basra in publications such as Grazia and Marie Claire.
But we do not only rely on speeches, press briefings and traditional media. The FCO leads the world in using digital diplomacy to explain its priorities to both the British public and the wider international audience. It uses a range of digital publishing channels including its website and social media. This includes blogs written by Ambassadors and experts to explain complex policy, and video and audio to ensure the UK’s foreign policy priorities are clearly explained to as wide an audience as possible in the most engaging way. The FCO digital tools
104 provide the public with the opportunity to question and comment on foreign policy online. The public has been able to put questions to the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers on issues such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, Europe, the Middle East and Human Rights. The FCO website is available not just in English, but also in Arabic and Urdu.
We also recognise that good communication is two-way. The Foreign Secretary and his Ministers are keen to continue to support an ongoing programme of work to make sure that FCO has a broad and meaningful dialogue on foreign policy, including Parliamentarians, NGOs, diaspora communities, faith groups, academics and other influential groups. In the next few months, the Foreign Secretary and his team will chair small meetings with key thinkers about the prosperity agenda, the EU, human rights and conflict and security before key global events and conferences. They will then chair follow-up meetings to talk about how the FCO has moved towards meeting its priorities.
In this effort, the Foreign Secretary has made plain the importance that he attaches to the BBC World Service. In his speech of 1 July he praised the “essential importance of the work of the British Council and the BBC World Service, which give Britain an unrivalled platform for the projection of the appeal of our culture and the sharing of our values”.
The FCO respects the rights of the individual to access information and is fully compliant with its legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 1998, as well as the Government’s Transparency Agenda. However, the FCO does have certain responsibility for national security issues, which in some cases prevents some information being made available to the public. Its information strategy and commitment to transparency are outlined in the FCO Business Plan.
FAC QUESTION: What should be the FCO’s role in relation to non- governmental organisations (NGOs)?
The FCO seeks a partnership role with NGOs. Whilst recognising their independence, the FCO believes that their in-depth knowledge and contribution on major foreign policy issues is often central to the work of the FCO, and they can often add real value on both formulation and implementation of foreign policy.
One recent example of this partnership working in practice is the Human Rights Advisory Group established by the Foreign Secretary in October.
105 Another example is the FCO’s partnership with NGOs on the Arms Trade Treaty. The FCO has worked with the NGO Control Arms coalition (this includes Oxfam, Amnesty International and Saferworld) on trying to secure such an international treaty.
Shortly after taking up the role, Jeremy Browne, the FCO Minister of State responsible for Human Rights visited the offices of Amnesty International UK to meet with a group of NGOs to inform his initial thinking. Ministers have held round-table events with NGOs to listen to their concerns ahead of visits or events, including on China, Burma and Sudan. NGO representatives have also been included at times in internal FCO meetings to discuss both policy and technical issues related to an international arms trade treaty.
The FCO has also worked with wider civil society on key issues. On 23 November, the FCO hosted prize-winners of a competition organised by the British Red Cross and law firm Allen and Overy LLP. The competition invited school children to produce projects on the issue of justice and fairness.
FAC QUESTION: Given the new Government’s emphasis on using the FCO to promote UK trade and economic recovery, how can the Department best avoid potential conflicts between this task, support for human rights, and the pursuit of other Government objectives?
Promoting UK trade and the economic recovery does not imply any reduction in the FCO’s strong commitment to human rights. As the Foreign Secretary set out in his speech in September 2010 on “Britain’s values in a networked world”, human rights are indivisible from the UK’s foreign policy objectives and will be woven deeply into the decision processes of our foreign policy at every stage.
The Government and the FCO have taken a number of steps to put this policy on standing up for British values in the world into practice:
• Finalising and publishing for the first consolidated guidance to intelligence and service personnel on the interviewing of detainees which makes public the longstanding policy that British personnel are never authorised to proceed with action where they know or believe that torture will occur, and to report any abuses which they uncover. This establishes the clear line of ministerial authority over such matters.
• Following the publication of consolidated guidance, the FCO itself is reissuing guidance to its own staff on reporting any alleged incidents of
106 torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that they encounter in their work. This guidance will also be published.
• The Foreign Secretary’s Human Rights Advisory Group will help him ensure he has the best possible information about human rights challenges, and to benefit from outside advice on the conduct of UK foreign policy where there is a human rights angle. This Group’s members include eminent experts and individuals from a range of fields and organisations, including NGOs. It will meet regularly and will have access to FCO Ministers.
• FCO Minister Jeremy Browne has been consulting British MPs and NGOs about where the UK can and should have most impact in this area.
• British diplomats and Ministers continue to be active in raising human rights cases. Examples over the last months include pressing for free and fair elections in Burma, access for humanitarian aid to Gaza, and women’s rights, religious freedom and the death penalty in Iran, notably the case of Sakineh Ashtiani.
• Human rights considerations are included in all relevant policy work including HMG country strategies, and covered fully in policy advice to Ministers.
British business tell the FCO that they want to work in business environments overseas which operate according to the rule of law and where there is a respect for human rights. The FCO’s work to encourage all countries to sign, ratify and implement human rights treaties, to comply with international standards on the rule of law, and to participate in various voluntary standards frameworks is also relevant to our prosperity agenda as it helps to improve the environment for investment, including British investment.
The FCO looks to British business to show that it is among the best governed in the world, with strict adherence to high ethical standards. Where they fall short of such standards, there are internationally recognised mechanisms to address these, such as the OECD Guidelines on Multi-National Enterprises, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the UN Convention against Corruption, and the UN Global Compact, an initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with universally accepted priorities in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
107 Against this background, bilateral visits, including those with a trade focus will give UK Ministers opportunities to raise human rights issues. Indeed, the UK can seek to use strong economic and trading relationships to influence its partners to make progress on human rights where there are grounds for concern.
For example, on their recent visit to China, the Prime Minister and other Ministers established constructive relationships with China's current and future leaders, building the foundation for UK/China relations for the next five years. The visit delivered over 40 agreements across the whole range of the bilateral relationship, from trade to low carbon growth, to cultural and education initiatives. The Chinese publicly endorsed Partners for Growth, a proposal to deliver an enhanced bilateral relationship aimed at maintaining the benefits of globalisation for both our countries.
Hand in hand with these agreements, the Prime Minister had full discussions with Chinese leaders reflecting the multi-faceted dialogues HMG has with the Chinese Government. These discussions included human rights as well as economic and trade issues, and no subjects were off-limits. Britain will continue to be open with China on subjects where we take a different view. For example in his speech at Peking University, the Prime Minister noted that the best guarantor of prosperity was for economic and political progress to advance in step with each other. He discussed freedom of expression and the importance of people being able to hear different views directly through the media. The Prime Minister also talked about the value to effective government of the opposition exercising its constitutional duty to hold the government publicly to account. During this visit, dates were agreed (13-15 January 2011) for the next round of the UK’s Human Rights Dialogue with the Chinese.
The FCO is also working actively within the EU to make it a more effective advocate for human rights around the world. This includes leveraging the combined power of all EU members as the largest single market in the world, and its common commitment to the highest standards of human rights, to seek improvements on human rights issues and access to justice globally. The FCO will continue to ensure that the EU uses its existing tools and mechanisms as effectively as possible.
The FCO supports the work of the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, Prof. John Ruggie, to elaborate an international framework covering the obligations of States under international human rights treaties to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, the responsibilities of businesses to respect human rights and the need for greater access for victims to effective remedy.
108 1 December 2010
109 ANNEX 1
A HISTORY OF THE FCO
Historical Background
It is only since 1968, when the present “Foreign and Commonwealth Office” was formed, that one integrated government department has been charged with conducting British foreign policy as a whole and handling Britain’s diplomatic relations with all independent Commonwealth and foreign countries, including the administration of the UK’s remaining Dependent Territories. Since 1964, aid policy has been handled sometimes as a separate Department as now, and sometimes as an administration under the authority of the Foreign Secretary.
Prior to this, Britain’s overseas representation involved a number of different government departments and separate diplomatic, consular and commercial services. Up to 1968, the history is one of merger and amalgamation, coupled with attempts to balance changing international challenges to the United Kingdom against ever declining resources. More recently, the focus has been on defining the FCO’s role within HM Government.
During the nineteenth century, the senior partner in the execution of foreign affairs was the Diplomatic Service, which served as the primary means of contact with foreign governments and rulers. The Foreign Office functioned largely as administrative support to the Foreign Secretary. The role changed to reflect constant improvement in communications (the first Foreign Office telegram was sent in 1852) making it easier for negotiations to be conducted in London.
Reforms of 1905-06 and further reforms in 1919 and 1943 moved towards the creation of a unified and modern foreign service. Reviews by the Plowden Committee (1964), the Duncan Committee (1969) and the Central Policy Review Staff (1977) set out to modernise the foreign service in view of Britain's rapidly changing position in the world. A White Paper in 2003 UK International Priorities – A Strategy for the FCO attempted for the first time to identify the UK’s international priorities over the next ten years and the FCO’s role in achieving them.
Over the twentieth century, reform and change in the FCO came about against the background of a decline in British power and the changing nature of international relations. The First World War saw a desire for “new” diplomacy whose practitioners had to become increasingly aware of a full range of
110 economic, industrial, technical, social and financial factors, as well as the power of ideology and propaganda, in shaping policy.
After 1945, the process of decolonisation saw a rapid increase in the number of independent nations, a growing trend towards complex bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, a proliferation of international organisations and non-government actors and an exponential growth in world trade, and migration.
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism further expanded the number of independent states, gave fresh impetus to the forces of globalisation and interdependency between nations, and has brought new challenges in the form of international terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change. The last decade has seen the FCO focus its efforts increasingly towards handling these new challenges and opportunities.
111 ANNEX 2
LIST OF ACRONYMS
BIS Department for Business Innovation and Skills CSR Comprehensive Spending Review CTBT Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty CSAC Chief Scientific Advisers’ Committee DECC Department for Energy and Climate Change DEFRA Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs DfE Department for Education DFID Department for International Development DSTL Defence Science and Technology Laboratory DWP Department for Work and Pensions FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office HMRC HM Revenue and Customs HMT HM Treasury IMF International Monetary Fund MOD Ministry of Defence MSOG Whitehall Maritime Security Oversight Group NGO Non Governmental Organisation NSC National Security Council NSS National Security Strategy OCS Office of Cyber Security ODA Overseas Development Assistance OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OSCE Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe SDSR Strategic Defence and Security Review SIN Science and Innovation Network UKBA UK Border Agency UKMis UK Mission WTO World Trade Organization
112 ANNEX 2
LIST OF ACRONYMS
BIS Department for Business Innovation and Skills CSR Comprehensive Spending Review CTBT Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty CSAC Chief Scientific Advisers’ Committee DECC Department for Energy and Climate Change DEFRA Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs DfE Department for Education DFID Department for International Development DSTL Defence Science and Technology Laboratory DWP Department for Work and Pensions FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office HMRC HM Revenue and Customs HMT HM Treasury IMF International Monetary Fund MOD Ministry of Defence MSOG Whitehall Maritime Security Oversight Group NGO Non Governmental Organisation NSC National Security Council NSS National Security Strategy OCS Office of Cyber Security ODA Overseas Development Assistance OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OSCE Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe SDSR Strategic Defence and Security Review SIN Science and Innovation Network UKBA UK Border Agency UKMis UK Mission WTO World Trade Organization
39
113 Written evidence from the City of London Corporation
Introduction
1. This memorandum is submitted on behalf of the City of London Corporation in the context of its role in promoting and reinforcing the competitiveness of the UK-based financial services sector, for which ‘the City’ is now commonly used as shorthand. The City engages closely with professional services and other businesses in carrying out its overseas visits and works to represent businesses across the UK. The City Corporation’s promotion of London and the UK as a centre for business and finance is spear-headed by the Lord Mayor who, in collaboration with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and UK Trade and Investment, leads business delegations to financial markets around the world. In this capacity the City engages with emerging as well as established financial centres. The City Corporation also supports TheCityUK – an independent body recently created, with Government and industry support, to promote the UK’s financial and professional services sector.
2. The “Square Mile” is internationally-owned, internationally-managed and internationally-staffed. Much of the business done could be undertaken in other centres where the two key factors, capital and expertise, are present. Nevertheless the fact that it is done in London and elsewhere in the UK has positive benefits for the UK in terms of corporate profits, tax receipts, employment and export earnings.
Consultation
3. Especially given the spending constraints set out in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review, how - if at all - could the FCO better organise and utilise its financial and human resources so as to fulfil its role:
• The City Corporation accepts the need for the spending constraints in the CSR and the consequent requirement to rationalise resources deployed in overseas Posts. It is however suggested that this should not be seen as a one–way process: the world economy is changing shape and focus rapidly and it is likely that new centres of political and commercial importance will emerge, requiring new or additional resource to promote and protect British interests. This evidently applies today to Asia. The Lord Mayor’s and City Corporation’s programme of visits is well places to help UKTI and FCO maximise their impact in overseas markets.
4. How does the FCO work across Whitehall; Are the FCO and its resources organised so as to facilitate cross-Government cooperation;
• The City Corporation welcomes the FCO’s new focus on trade and investment issues. It is however important that UKTI’s existing role in supporting and engaging with business should not be overshadowed by its larger parent department, and that the complementary roles of BIS and HM Treasury (with its particular focus on financial services and the encouragement of capital flows) should also be recognised.From the City's perspective it would be particularly valuable if the FCO's stepped-up
114 engagement in this area could focus on building on the intelligence it generates, the opportunities it opens up and ensuring that commercial issues are more fully integrated with the political agenda. The distinction between departments is not significant to overseas stakeholders dealing with staff at Post, and City businesses and stakeholders look for a similarly joined up approach in the UK – ideally UKTI as the lead body dealing directly with them, and engaging the wider scope of FCO, BIS and HMT capacity on a more strategic level.
5. What should be the role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts:
• The City Corporation works closely with the FCO’s overseas posts in support of a number of objectives:
- The promotion of the UK based financial and professional services industry and work to break down barriers to market entry for international firms. The Lord Mayor as de facto ambassador for the UK based F&PS industry will travel to around 25 overseas markets and 36 cities promoting the industry. On each visit the Lord Mayor heads a relevant and targeted delegation chosen to reflect issues relevant to the host country. The business group invariably comprises CEO and senior practitioner level members – by way of example, the London Stock Exchange chairman, alongside a small high-powered team, accompanied the Lord Mayor on a recent trip to India. FCO and UKTI staff in overseas Posts own, manage and deliver these programmes in market, and further support the accompanying business delegations that join these visits. Each visit seeks to advance FCO/HMG policy objectives as well as those of the business community;
- The promotion of opportunities to influence senior visitors to the UK, in support of UK objectives. The City of London host a large throughput of senior decision makers (both Government and business) to promote the strengths of the City and facilitate introductions to UK-based financial and professional services firms;
- The overseas post network provides valuable intelligence on changes in regulation, legislation and economic developments throughout the globe – the City Corporation on behalf of professional services, and with a view to maximising efficiency of resources, would welcome the ability to tap more easily into this flow of relevant information.
- The City Corporation believes that overseas posts need to retain a strong focus on promoting British business in terms of both attracting enhanced levels of foreign direct investment and identifying and supporting trade development opportunities. Overseas posts need to be staffed and resourced with a high calibre of staff, with the ability to break down market access issues and set them in the wider politico-economic context as the UK seeks to stimulate a trade driven recovery.
- There is considerable value added to business promotion by high quality economic reporting. It is desirable that economic and trade intelligence amassed by Posts should have a wider distribution than it currently receives.
115 - High level engagement at post on business issues by Political and Economic staff – including Heads of Mission – adds huge value to the UK’s trade promotion. The City Corporation is greatly encouraged by signs of such engagement among many of those currently occupying Head of Mission and other senior roles, and hopes that the "new commercial diplomacy" will reinforce this focus.
- It is essential that FCO Posts retain a sense of ownership over the issue of business visas for short-term business visitors to the UK. While it is accepted that the management of this system has been “contracted out” and the responsible home department is UKBA, the prompt and efficient issuing of visas to legitimate business visitors is essential to our commercial interests, and reinforces the perception that the UK is indeed “open for business”. Delayed, inefficient or unnecessarily prescriptive treatment of applicants can in contrast leave a lasting bad impression. Better co-ordination on visa issues, and recognition of the importance of commercial priorities (for example, staff of an inward investment target or major investor), could make a large difference - but the responses of UKBA and UKTI often seem to be at odds. HMG should also be aware that in other countries, there is significant discretion over the granting of visas – treating this simply as a processing issue is detrimental to wider trade and business engagement efforts.
2 December 2010
116 Written evidence from the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum
Summary
An important part of the FCO's role is to ensure that the distinctive interests of the overseas territories are taken into account right across government. As lead department for the UK overseas territories, the FCO needs to act as their guardians and ensure that all government departments play their role in safeguarding those interests. Parliament needs to be able to rely on the FCO to support the effectiveness of appropriate institutions of good governance in the territories (e.g. freedom of information acts, an Ombudsman or equivalent, provision for independent review of major planning and fiscal decisions). Where non-governmental organisations in the territories and in the UK have relevant experience – as is the case on many environmental issues – the FCO (and other government departments) should make sure that their contributions are welcomed, and early, towards policy development and implementation.
Detail
1 The UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF or the Forum) promotes the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and their contribution, together with other aspects of natural and human heritage, to the well-being and sustainability of the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs). Member organisations include leading environmental bodies in the UK, the UKOTs, and the Crown Dependencies (CDs). The last (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) share many conservation challenges and aspects of governance with the UKOTs, including reliance on HMG to represent their interests internationally, under international conventions, including Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), and in related negotiations. UKOTCF and associated organisations have given evidence to earlier inquiries by the FAC and other select committees in relation to the fulfilment of the UK's responsibilities in respect of the UKOTs.
2 This submission relates primarily to the UK's overseas territories for two reasons. First, that is in line with our priorities. Secondly, the FCO leads within government on policy concerning the overseas territories. The forthcoming White Paper on the overseas territories will be drafted by FCO officials and approved by FCO ministers, as was the 1999 White Paper - with, of course, contributions from and agreement by other government departments. We would hope that the Committee would accept that their should be no dilution of policy within the 1999 White Paper, nor from the specific commitments on the UKOTs made in the 2006 White Paper on the UK’s foreign policy. A case can perhaps be made for a different institutional structure. The overseas territories are not foreign and – as with other sub-national jurisdictions (the devolved administrations and the Crown Dependencies) – voters at these sub-national levels of government remain British citizens. However, this inquiry concerns the current responsibilities of the FCO. Precisely because they are not foreign countries, the overseas territories are sometimes not given the attention they deserve. That said, we are greatly encouraged by the importance which current FCO ministers attach to the territories – evident in that two territories have already been visited by Mr Bellingham; through recent speeches; and by the fact that the territories are listed as one of the FAC's priority issues. We hope this will be reflected in your report.
117 What is the FCO’s role in UK Government?
3 The FCO has three inter-related roles. The first is making policy in areas where it has the lead role. The second is its coordinating role, where other departments often have the primary input on policy, but where there are overseas bilateral, regional or international dimensions that need to be taken into account. Third, the FCO has a managerial role in staffing and managing our network of overseas posts (including in the UKOTs) and in using them to communicate with other governments and overseas or international governments and other organisations.
4 Under present arrangements, the FCO is the lead department in Whitehall for the UKOTs. That means that, in relation to the UK Parliament and to the international community, the FCO is responsible for the good governance of the territories. However, most territories have their own locally elected governments, so a delicate balance has to be struck between respecting the autonomy of the territories and making sure that appropriate standards are observed in such areas as public security, the integrity of public administration and justice. The responsibilities of governors of overseas territories are not easy because they need to communicate to the people and government of the territory the policies and concerns of UK ministers and officials where these affect the territory; but they also have to make sure that ministers and officials in Whitehall are aware of local concerns.
5 Policy areas where the FCO has the lead include such fundamental issues as constitutional reform, and the appointment of governors and their staff. However, many areas can impact on overseas territories where the lead and the expertise lie elsewhere: offshore finance, international transport, international trade, climate change, defence, physical planning, education in the UK, nationality. Here the crucial role of the FCO is a coordinating one, to make sure that the interests of the UKOTs are taken into account. That means making sure that other government departments are aware, for example, that international agreements may affect the UKOTs as well as the metropolitan UK. One area of direct interest to UKOTCF is multilateral environmental agreements. Here the lead department is usually Defra but, even here, there is not one single division with responsibility as, for example, marine and fisheries are dealt with by different officials than those that deal in general with the MEAs. Because of the rich biodiversity of the UKOTs (comparatively much richer than in metropolitan UK), there is often much directly relevant experience in NGOs, both in the territories and in the UK. However, there is also a crucial issue of resources, both human and financial, for good environmental governance in the territories. The territories are often small in population and remote. Many of the areas richest in biodiversity are islands that have no permanent resident population but where the threats to biodiversity stem from historic damage to the environment, often through invasive alien species: goats, rats, even reindeer in South Georgia, and several plants species. Support from the UK is essential, and the FCO thus has a dual role both in providing support and in making sure that appropriate support is provided by other government departments and by collaboration with NGOs.
6 A historic example of the complexity of the FCO's role in respect of the overseas territories in working with other government departments and with NGOs is provided by the proposal made in 1998 by a US company, Beal Aerospace, to construct a satellite launch station on Sombrero, an uninhabited island in the Caribbean overseas territory of Anguilla.
7 First, the Governor needed to advise FCO of the proposal, which had been made directly to the Government of Anguilla (GOA); and to ask that the FCO make expert advice available.
118 Much of that went beyond the competence of FCO officials. Other departments had to be consulted on international agreements on space, on international transport, on trade, on biodiversity and on planning. The government of Anguilla asked the FCO to arrange for the UK Planning Inspectorate to help it organize a public consultation on the proposal and on the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by consultants for Beal Aerospace. There was a major NGO contribution involving several UKOTCF members, as independent evidence was needed about the island's unique ecosystem. The FCO also had to handle lobbying from the company and from the US government.
8 The main lesson from this example is that the FCO can best support the overseas territories when it uses its power of convocation to draw in outside expertise as early as possible, including other departments and civil society.
How should the Foreign Secretary’s claim to be putting the FCO “back where it belongs at the centre of Government” be assessed?
9 In relation to the Overseas Territories, the FCO should be assessed in terms of its active engagement with other government departments and with civil society. The existence of the overseas territories and their distinctive contributions to the extended British family is not well understood, either by officials or by civil society throughout the UK. The FCO needs to develop a more active role in explaining that part of Britain's human and constitutional diversity lies in these territories beyond our shores, but within the extended British family.
Could the FCO better organise and utilise its financial and human resources so as to fulfil its role?
10 In relation to the Overseas Territories, one way government as a whole could better organise resources, with the FCO taking a leading role, would be by encouraging secondments between departments and the governments of overseas territories (especially, but not only, governors' offices). That would give territories the benefit of wider Whitehall expertise than just that developed in the FCO; and over time it might help to build up a greater appreciation in other Whitehall departments of the distinctive features of life for fellow British citizens in the overseas territories.
11 The most important task, however, is for the FCO and other departments to work with the overseas territories to make sure that there are local structural checks and balances to support good governance - and that these work effectively, with adequate resources. Small territories are often like towns or villages: all the political players know each other and many are inter- related by family or business relationships. This can mean undue personal influence in such areas of life as access to information, planning permission and the operation of an independent judicial system.
12 In part, the position of the Governor’s whole role is very different from that of an Ambassador by providing a constitutional guarantee of the UK's ability to intervene when that is necessary to ensure good governance. Nevertheless – as has been seen in the current example of the Turks and Caicos Islands – needing to invoke the constitutional authority of the governor to intervene is likely to be a sign that things have gone badly wrong at much earlier stages. It is not for the UKOTCF to offer views here on any specific territory. But in such areas as freedom of information, access to an Ombudsman (or comparable independent authorities guards against maladministration) and provision for independent review of major
119 planning and financial decisions, it is far better for the citizens of the overseas territories that there are appropriate structures in place to enable them to hold elected and unelected officials to account. To rely too far on governors, who are, after all, generally “birds of passage”, to guarantee good governance of the overseas territories is unrealistic. Governors should be seen primarily as helping the FCO to ensure that the interests of the territories are appreciated throughout HMG and civil society in the UK; and to protect the territories' interests internationally. Good governance should generally be assured for the citizens of the overseas territories through local democratic institutions working within adequate local checks and balances, with the FCO monitoring actively.
How does the FCO work across Whitehall? Are the FCO and its resources organised so as to facilitate cross-Government cooperation?
13 How the FCO works across Whitehall is partly for it to explain in ways which encourage clarity in how its ministers and officials understand their own role. One way to do this (which relates also to the first two headings) would be to identify areas where effective cooperation with overseas countries, bilaterally, regionally and within international organizations, is important for securing HMG's policy objectives; and identifying the ways in which ministers, senior officials and desk-officers (including in overseas posts) coordinate their work. At the simplest level, this may simply mean making sure that relevant officials in other government departments are kept in the picture. However, the civil service, and indeed coordination in general, needs leadership, so effective joined-up government is only likely when there is meaningful contact between ministers, not just officials, when policy implications cross departmental boundaries. Any interdepartmental working groups established, whether at ministerial or official level, should actually meet and function on a regular basis.
What should be the role of the FCO’s network of overseas posts?
14 Their role should be to support and serve all UK citizens, their governments, their civil institutions and commercial companies. They should do this, of course, for those who have good reason to call on their services. Governments is plural because while it will often be the FCO and other central government departments that inform posts of personal and institutional interests that may need their support, these interests may often best be defined by other levels of government, including those in the overseas territories as well as the devolved administrations and the Crown Dependencies.
What is the FCO’s role in explaining UK foreign policy to the British public?
15 The role is not just to explain foreign policy, but to relate it to other policy areas and to show how they are interrelated. Classic examples are defence, trade, international development, global environmental issues, conflict prevention and resolution. As far as environmental issues are concerned, the FCO has sensibly retained a key role in climate change but now takes a far less direct interest in the loss of global diversity and environmental degradation, especially of the marine environment, with the single exception of polar regions (because of the UK's territorial stake in Antarctica and in the Antarctic treaty system). While it is right that the lead on specific international issues such as policy within the Convention on Biological Diversity should lie with Defra, the FCO needs to retain an active interest and engagement. The greatest stake that Britain has in both global biodiversity and in the marine environment is one where the overall lead lies with the FCO: the overseas territories.
120
What should be the FCO’s role in relation to non-governmental organisations?
16 The FCO has generally shown an awareness of the importance of NGOs in public life in Britain. UKOTCF has experienced a good spirit of cooperation in the past with the FCO, which had waned a little in recent times, but is now building once more, and we very much hope it continues to do so – and certainly the Forum will play its part. What matters above all is that consultation is part of a natural working pattern, rather than just when governments feel the need to demonstrate that consultation has taken place. There can be a tendency, when an issue has any degree of sensitivity, for different government departments to get together to decide what their position will be, before engaging with NGOs. That is not the best way to benefit from the different perspective which NGOs can often provide; and which can help governments to avoid mistakes. A classic illustration of this has been the derivation of the UK Government’s rather deficient “UK Overseas Territories’ Biodiversity Strategy”. This document was agreed by Defra, DFID, FCO and JNCC, but received no input from NGOs, private sector or scientific institutions – all of which are listed, rather ironically, in the Minister’s foreword as a prerequisite for success.
Given the new Government’s emphasis on using the FCO to promote UK trade and economic recovery, how can the Department best avoid potential conflicts between this task, support for human rights, and the pursuit of other Government objectives?
17 This question has perhaps limited application to environmental issues in the overseas territories. However, respect for the human rights of those who are UK citizens by virtue of their being associated with a UK overseas territory is fundamental to the credibility of the FCO in promoting good governance internationally and human rights, as well as good fiscal and environmental governance.
UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (www.ukotcf.org)
3 December 2010
121 Written evidence from the Society for Italian Studies
1. On behalf of the Society for Italian Studies (SIS), we would like to submit the following considerations to the Inquiry on the Role of the FCO in UK Government.
2. The Society for Italian Studies is the UK’s national subject association for Italian studies, bringing together colleagues working in universities across the country.
3. In response to the Committee's request for "submissions which address, in particular, ... the FCO's role in the management and implementation of EU business for the UK Government", we would like to point out the urgency of ensuring that a sustainable stream of graduates in European languages continues to flow from our universities. The SIS would like to highlight the danger to a number of modern languages departments in the UK, and to suggest that the FCO helps ensure that the strategic importance of modern languages – for national economic and political success – become a key consideration for government policy.
4. The SIS would like to point out that recent speeches and comments by the Foreign Secretary on the importance of UK citizens gaining positions of influence within EU institutions does not yet appear to have influenced government higher education policy; there is little evidence of the strategic importance of European languages being reflected in government plans for HE.
3 December 2010
122 1
Written evidence from Anthony Aust
General point: it would be a mistake to appoint businessmen as British ambassadors My experience 1. I was for 25 years a Legal Adviser in the Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO), retiring in 2002 as Deputy Legal Adviser. I read law at the London School of Economics (LSE), became a solicitor and then joined the FCO. Throughout my career, I gave legal advice to FCO departments. Before and since I retired, I have taught international law as a visiting professor at University College London, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), LSE, Westminster University and Notre Dame (London). I have also taught and given seminars at other universities and other places in the United Kingdom and abroad: see the attached (and rather short) CV.
2. During my time in the FCO, I got to know well those who I advised and their particular concerns and how they operate. Like any lawyer, one has to know all the relevant facts of any case and appreciate the pressures on the client, which in this case was principally the department and the Foreign Secretary or a junior FCO minister. This was exemplified by the Lockerbie affair. By this I mean not only the criminal case, but also the case brought by Libya against the United Kingdom and the United States at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the need to get the backing of the UN Security Council for what we wished to do in both with the criminal case and at the ICJ.
3. I was posted abroad twice for three years each time: West Berlin 1976-1979 and as a Legal Adviser to the UK Mission (i. e. British Embassy) to the United Nations in New York in 1988-1991.
4. Each FCO department has one or more legal advisers, and usually one has at least four departments to advise at any one time. Each year one may drop one department and be assigned another to advise. Sometimes, one may advise a department for much longer, so providing much needed continuity. Nevertheless, during one’s career, one will advise most departments. This gives one an understanding of each department’s concerns. Although one is not responsible for the policy adopted by a department you advise, one is a full member of the FCO and soon learns of the problems facing the department.
5. As an FCO Legal Adviser, I worked closely with the members of the departments that I advised. Usually, they were not legally qualified persons although they were generally well aware of the problem facing them and usually understood very well my legal advice. In this, like most of my colleagues, I was at pains to make the advice understandable to a layperson. There is no point in writing as one would to another lawyer if the layperson would not understand the advice. I therefore experienced few problems, and was glad that I did not have to advise ministers on difficult policy problems, merely on the legal aspects of the problem. However, given my experience, from time to time I was able to suggest a practical way out of a policy quandary.
6. Knowing the diplomatic and political pressures (both on the UK Government and other relevant governments) is especially important for matters coming before the
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United Nations. When I was Legal Adviser to the UK Mission to the United Nations, the time was particularly important since I saw at first hand the effect of the end of the Cold War on the policy of East European Governments. When I left the post in August 1991, I became, inter alia, Legal Adviser to the FCO’s UN Department, where I saw from the perspective of the FCO the break-up of Yugoslavia, and continued to monitor the doings of the UN Security Council.
Views
7. Working so closely with non-lawyers, I got to know well the subject they were concerned and was impressed by the way they tackled it. Despite the changes in nomenclature - borrowed chiefly from the City and large companies - the way the FCO operates has not essentially changed. It has to take into account the views of other governments and seek to find a way which protects British interests and, if necessary, those of our allies. That task is far from easy, but it is the essence of the task of any foreign ministry. Putting it more simply, it is (generally) being nice to foreigners in order to get our way. This is now more difficult since we are no longer a Great Power either military or economically, and our empire had shrivelled to a handful of generally poor and troublesome overseas territories. Yet, we are judged by the effectiveness of our diplomacy. In other words, are we to be taken seriously?
8. Based on my long experience of working with the FCO, I believe that nothing substantive needs to be changed in the way it works. Despite alterations in nomenclature (for example an Under-Secretary becoming a Director), which may be understandable, the challenges facing the FCO and its diplomats remain essentially the same. That is knowledge of the local language; the local ways of doing business; and the concerns of the foreign country.
Local language
9. It would be a big mistake to think that because English has now replaced French as the ‘international language,’ and so is widely understood and spoken, and that a British diplomat can get by speaking only or mainly English. Although his opposite numbers may understand and speak English apparently fluently, it is not usually their language. Thus, serious mistakes and misunderstandings can occur if one does not know the local language well. Therefore, to be truly influential with members of a foreign government and their officials (and to report back accurately), one must be able to speak and understand their language well. It would therefore be a mistake to recruit most businessmen as diplomats, even as ambassadors. They are unlikely to know well enough the country, its concerns or its people. Their skills (even if otherwise considerable) are different to that of diplomats.
10. The US practice of appointing as ambassadors many non-diplomats (such as businessmen) is not a path the United Kingdom should follow. What is done in the United States is very different. Each Presidential election is most expensive and if their candidate is successful, many large donors expect to be appointed as ambassadors. In fact, those so appointed usually only host meals and cocktail parties and give set speeches; most of the real work of the embassy being done by their deputy, who is a full and experienced member of the US Foreign Service.
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Ways of doing business
11. Even European businessmen do business in ways that are not ours; this applies even to what we regard as our closest neighbours. It would therefore be a mistake to appoint businessmen as ambassadors unless they are very aware what really matters to the businessmen they have to deal with, as well as speaking and understanding their language very well. Today, their concerns are often related to foreign policy.
Concerns of the foreign country
12. Political concerns will also influence foreign businessmen when dealing with the United Kingdom. These will be truly understood only by UK diplomats who live among them and speak their language. The British ambassador may be given false encouragement, though he should understand this. A businessman ambassador may not be so lucky.
CV
13. I advised FCO ministers, officials and other government departments on public international law, constitutional law and UK law. I acquired an in-depth knowledge of most areas of international law, including the law of treaties, international civil aviation, diplomatic privileges and immunities, counter-terrorism, dispute settlement, Antarctica and defence. I had over 10 years close involvement in UN legal affairs in New York and London. I am experienced in drafting treaties, constitutions and legislation.
14. Now I am consultant on public international law and constitutional law to British ministries (e.g. FCO, DfID and Defra), other Commonwealth and foreign governments, international organisations and law firms in London and abroad. I have been the Deputy Director and a Visiting Fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. I have been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics (LSE), University College, London (UCL) and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). I have also taught elsewhere.
15. Cambridge University Press published my Modern Treaty Law and Practice, in (2nd edn 2007; Chinese edn, 2004); and my Handbook of International Law (2nd edn 2010). I also write on international law for chapters in edited books and in articles for learned journals.
10 December 2010
125 Written submission from Oliver Miles CMG
1. For reasons of geography and history as well as because of our trading economy, international factors weigh larger in Britain than in other countries of comparable wealth and size (excepting France, which is comparable with Britain). This rather than any political will to punch above our weight accounts for the traditional political clout of the Foreign Office within government, and for the development of a Diplomatic Service which outclasses those of other European states and is a match for those of larger nations such as the USA, Russia and China.
2. These assets are needed to minimise the negative consequences of international events which by their nature are outside our control, such as the development of Soviet power in the 20th century or of Islamic extremist violence in the 21st, and also to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Most of the foreign policy disasters of the last hundred years - Munich, Suez, Iraq - are exceptions that prove the rule: the Prime Ministers of the day deliberately bypassed the Foreign Office, and in the Iraq case we had not had an embassy there since 1991. We were slow to grasp the opportunities created by the collapse of the Soviet Union, but that was mainly because the government, led by the Treasury, refused to accept that we could not do so without modest additional resources required to open posts in the “new” capitals. This was the background to the unhappy story of the Tashkent embassy seven or eight years ago.
3. The Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Service have therefore a vital national and indeed international role, since most big international problems require us to work with allies. If our institutions are strong they can exercise a powerful influence within the British government and within our alliances. “Strong” in this context means that they must have deep understanding of the issues, and ability to formulate policy and negotiate effectively. In most of the international crises in which I was personally involved, Aden, Cyprus, Arab/Israel and Libya, the Foreign Office commanded confidence because of its professional understanding of the issues and knowledge of the personalities and history behind the events of the day.
4. The exception was Yugoslavia. For the first time, taking part in policy discussions at prime ministerial level, I felt that we were
126 exposed by our lack of expertise. There were two reasons: first, the collapse of Yugoslavia was unexpected, and to understand it required knowledge of factors which had been largely invisible, though latent, for more than a generation. But this was made worse by our failure to mobilise such expertise as we did have. This can be attributed at least in part to concentration on process and management at the cost of neglect of our fundamental role.
5. By the time I retired from the service in 1996 I felt (and I said as much to the then head of the Diplomatic Service) that we had compromised our traditional position of strength by allowing deep understanding of the world outside Britain to be sacrificed in favour of peripheral objectives. A symbol and more than a symbol of this is the fact that in the region I know best, the Arab world, too many key positions at home and abroad are now occupied by non- Arabic speakers. This is sometimes unavoidable, but it is nonetheless deplorable. Nothing more clearly indicates the professionalism of our Diplomatic Service compared with others than our ability to work in “difficult” languages.
6. One problem is that performance measurement, which has been imported from the private sector into the civil service including the foreign service over the last 25 years, is not applicable to all the work of the FCO and the Diplomatic Service. Indeed the attempt to apply it can have a distorting effect. Money is measurable, passports, visas, prison visits, entertainment, trade are all measurable. But the value of an export promotion exercise cannot easily be measured, and much political work cannot be sensibly measured at all. How to count how many times diplomatic action has prevented or contributed to ending a war, perhaps the highest function of political diplomacy? Distortion arises because activities that can be measured come to be regarded as more important than those that cannot, often the reverse of the truth.
7. To me the most shocking piece of evidence given to the Iraq enquiry was the statement by Sir John Sawers that “Very few observers actually highlighted the scale of the violence that we could face. I think about the only person in my recollection who got it right was President Mubarak.” He described the level of violence that we encountered as “unprecedented”. These comments indicate a failure by the FCO in its most essential function: to convey to No. 10 and the Cabinet an appreciation of reality which was shared by pretty well everyone with knowledge of Iraq. As for
127 “unprecedented” one has only to think of the extreme violence associated with the forty years of the British period in Iraq from World War I to the1958 revolution from start to finish.
8. Radical reconsideration of objectives is required: less emphasis on presentation, image, process, diversity, management, more on the core strength of the FCO and the Diplomatic Service. Just one Alice in Wonderland example: the major functions of the consular and protocol departments are protection of British subjects and conduct of relations with foreign embassies in London, so why is the official who supervises them entitled “Director General of Change”? There should be more area and language studies, greater specialisation of some officers without detriment to careers, full use of research and analysis resources, continued or enhanced co- operation with outside bodies such as think tanks and universities. This is not to belittle the requirement, in the Diplomatic Service as in the Home Civil Service, for the experienced professional generalist.
9. The channel through which advice and information goes from the FCO and the Diplomatic Service to No. 10 and the Cabinet, and policy decisions and instructions come back, needs attention. Perhaps because of the Thatcher/Charles Powell phenomenon this function is now mainly performed by the private offices, which are essential and efficient but not robust enough to carry the weight. Papers for Cabinet may no longer be an adequate option, for reasons outside the remit of your committee; many with government service experience will regret the decline of collegiate government, with the Foreign Secretary and the FCO and Diplomatic Service playing a full part in policy making at the appropriate levels including Cabinet. Let us hope the National Security Council experiment will provide an answer.
10. Heads of mission are held strictly to account in some secondary areas, including in particular finance (where the formal requirements placed on them are unrealistic). More attention should be given to holding them to account on policy issues. For example, when WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered and I had to break off relations with Libya, apart from half an hour with the Prime Minister (when rather surprisingly she did most of the listening) I do not recall being asked difficult questions: did I foresee it? If not, why not? What did I do, or recommend London should do, to avoid it? What lessons could be learned? Dialogue
128 between the FCO and heads of mission should routinely include re- examination of opportunities and threats.
11. Some British ambassadors were advised during the Blair years that it was not worth making recommendations which were contrary to established policy. This is a betrayal of the professionalism of the Diplomatic Service, with grave dangers for the national interest. The American foreign service has been widely praised for the quality of reporting revealed by WikiLeaks, but not much independence of mind has been in evidence. It is essential that heads of mission should feel free to submit reports and recommendations which are out of line with current policy. Political advisers and political appointments have a proper role, but they must not tarnish the political impartiality of the Diplomatic Service. It is galling when the mistakes of political implants, often highly paid, are attributed to the Service. An example is the drafting of the “dodgy dossier” on going to war in Iraq.
12. Support for British business, which the Prime Minister has emphasised, is part of a broader picture. To quote the 1969 Duncan report on overseas representation “The commercial work of the Diplomatic Service cannot have absolute priority, since the preservation of peace and security must clearly be an overriding aim” but “in our present circumstances [economic crises are always with us, 1969 no exception] ...export promotion is bound to become an even more crucial part of overseas representational work” Probably the most useful thing an ambassador can do for business is to advise how decisions are made and who makes them. Good advice, both to ministers and to businessmen, depends on getting to know and if possible understand the culture and motivation of the country or institution in which you work, what makes the people as well as their government tick. Modern communications and the ease of travel enable ministers to meet and get to know their foreign colleagues, and that can be invaluable, but such acquaintances and flying visits only scratch the surface of the knowledge of foreign countries.
27 December 2010
129 WRITTEN EVIDENCE FROM SIR MICHAEL WOOD, KCMG1
Summary
i. This submission concerns the FCO’s role within Government in the legal field. That includes public international law (such as the law on the use of force, the law of armed conflict, international human rights law, and international criminal law), EU law, the law of British overseas territories, and UK law in so far as it concerns international relations.
ii. The role of law in international affairs has greatly expanded in recent times, with globalisation and emphasis on a rules-based international system, the enhanced role of international and domestic courts in the field of international relations, together with new developments such as the international criminal tribunals
iii. Upholding the rule of law in international affairs is an important policy objective of the UK Government. Doing so contributes both to stability in the world (and thus among other things to the Government’s defence and security policies), as well as to the Government’s influence internationally.
iv. The FCO has a key role within Government in ensuring both that the UK Government itself conforms to international law, and that the UK Government promotes the rule of law internationally, by encouraging States to respect international law and by contributing to its sound development.
v. In the achievement of these objectives, the FCO’s legal team plays a central role in ensuring that Government as a whole has the necessary specialist legal advice and experience.
vi. They do this by participating actively within the FCO, and more widely in Government, in the development and presentation of policy. They represent the UK internationally, in multilateral and bilateral negotiations involving legal questions, including within the UN and EU. And by acting as Agent and Counsel they ensure the proper conduct of international litigation in
1 Legal Adviser to the FCO 1999–2006.
130 which the UK is involved (for example, before the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights).
Detail
The importance of the rule of law in international affairs
1. Upholding the rule of law in international affairs is an important policy objective of the UK Government. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs addressed this in a speech at Lincoln’s Inn on 15 September 2010.2 He stressed the need ‘to strengthen a rules-based international system based on our values’, and explained that the Government saw human rights and upholding international law ‘as essential to and indivisible from our foreign policy objectives.’ He continued,
‘our interests depend on a world system based on law. We need states not to proliferate nuclear weapons, to respect the sovereignty of others, to abide by international treaties and to support legal sanctions by the international community.’
The Foreign Secretary added that ‘[o]ur standing is directly linked to the belief of others that we will do what we say and that we will not apply double standards.’
2. In short, upholding the rule of law internationally contributes both to stability in the world (and thus among other things to the Government’s defence and security policies), as well as to its influence internationally.
The FCO legal team and their work
3. The FCO legal advisory team comprises around 65 London-based staff, of whom around half are lawyers, plus a further 10 or so lawyers on secondment to other government departments or on postings abroad, including at the UK Missions in New York and Geneva, in Brussels, The Hague and elsewhere.
2‘Britain’s values in a networked world’, http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest- news/?view=News&id=22864405
131 As had been the case for many years, a senior FCO lawyer is seconded to the Attorney General’s Office.3
4. This pattern varies from time to time. For example, for some years after 2003, an FCO lawyer was posted in Baghdad, initially working with ORHA/CPA and the UK Representative in Baghdad, then at the British Embassy. Members of FCO Legal Advisers are from time to time seconded to other organizations, or to policy jobs within the Diplomatic Service, for example as External Relations (RELEX) Counsellor at UKRep Brussels.
5. The FCO Legal Advisers are members of HM Diplomatic Service, with the obligations (as to postings etc) that go with that position. They work on the whole range of legal matters relevant to the FCO. These include in particular questions of public international law, on which FCO lawyers assist other government departments, including on the law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law) and international human rights law. FCO legal work also covers a wide range of other areas that impacts on foreign policy, including European Union law; the constitutional and other law of the British overseas territories; and UK law in so far as it relates to international relations as well as to the FCO itself (such as employment law, data protection, freedom of information, the intelligence and security services).
6. The range and emphasis of the legal work within the FCO varies over time, in light of current problems. Since 9/11 there has naturally been an even greater emphasis than previously on legal aspects of counter-terrorism, within the UN, Council of Europe and EU, as well as in bilateral relations (diplomatic assurances etc), and on use of force issues (Afghanistan; Iraq).
7. Legal advice on matters of public international law is given within the FCO and to other government departments, and is fully integrated into the development of policy. Any policy submission within the FCO raising legal issues will be based on, and where necessary include, legal advice. Much
3 There is a considerable literature on the role of FCO Legal Advisers, including F.Berman, “The Role of the International Lawyer in the Making of Foreign Policy”, (in C. Wickremasinghe (ed.), The International Lawyer as Practitioner, BIICL 2000); A. Watts, “International Law and International Relations: UK Practice” (1991) 2 EJIL 157-164; I. Sinclair, “The Practice of International Law: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office” (in Bin Cheng (ed.) International Law Teaching and Practice, Stevens, 1982).
132 advice is given in the course of meetings with Ministers and officials. Most important papers within the FCO are copied to Legal Advisers, which enables them to volunteer advice where necessary, without waiting to be asked.
Comparison with other countries
8. States have different traditions in the organization and functions of their government legal advisers in the field of public international law, based on three principal models.4 Some combine elements of each.
9. First, there is the system, as in the UK and the USA, where the lawyers in the office of the legal adviser at the foreign ministry are all professionally qualified lawyers, whose foreign ministry career is wholly or largely spent within the legal office rather than on regular diplomatic assignments. They are continuously involved in policy formulation, and in some fields have direct responsibility for policy, such as in treaty matters and the law of the sea, and when on an overseas posting or as head or member of a delegation to an international meeting.
10. Second, there is the system, as in Germany, where the legal adviser's office consists of regular diplomats with some legal background or professional legal training.
11. Third, in some countries the foreign ministry receives legal advice mainly from outside sources, typically from an Attorney General's Office. This is the position, for example, in Cyprus, Malaysia, Malta and Singapore, and to some extent Australia.
The FCO and other parts of government
12. FCO Legal Advisers work closely with the lawyers, officials and sometimes Ministers in other government departments. They work closely, as necessary,
4 See the Council of Europe’s ‘Database on the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’: http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/legal_co‐ operation/public_international_law/Office_of_Legal_Affairs/default.asp#TopOfPage
133 with various parts of the Cabinet Office, as well as with the Treasury Solicitor. Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, and occasionally the Prime Minister, may sometime consult them directly where a matter is delicate or urgent (for example, in the preparation of PMQs).
13. This is so at the stage of policy formulation, the drafting of legislation, and in connection with domestic and international and litigation involving the FCO and its agencies or important questions of public international law.
14. The relationship with both the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office is particularly close, and across a wide range of issues. As regards the MOD, these include the right to use force abroad (self-defence, Security Council authorization, rescue of nationals, to avert an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe); the application of the Geneva Conventions and other laws of armed conflict; the application of human rights obligations to British armed forces overseas. As regards the Home Office, these include the full range of issues arising on the counter-terrorism agenda, as well as in respect of international human rights and refugee issues. The Attorney General will often be involved in such matters.
15. FCO Legal Advisers are heavily engaged in matters concerning the United Nations and other international organizations, which often have cross- departmental implications. An example is UN and EU sanctions matters, where they are involved both at the stage of the adoption of the Security Council resolution/EU common position, and at the stage of drafting the necessary implementing legislation. This is an area which has seen a great increase in cases before the English and European courts, cases involving a large number of government departments and agencies.
16. In respect of EU law, the FCO has a leading role when it come to drawing up new treaties (such as the Lisbon Treaty), on legislation (for example, the current European Union Bill) and on institutional matters generally.
17. FCO Legal Advisers act as Agent (HMG’s representative) in cases involving HMG before international courts and tribunals, regardless of which government department is most directly implicated. This includes cases before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (but not the
134 European Court of Justice in Luxembourg). Examples include the Lockerbie and Kosovo cases before the International Court of Justice in The Hague; the MOX Plant cases before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg and an international arbitral tribunal. The FCO itself is increasingly involved, directly or indirectly, in litigation, before the English courts as well as before European and international courts and tribunals.
The FCO and the Attorney General
18. The close relationship between FCO lawyers and the Attorney General and his Office is an important part of the machinery of government for ensuring that the United Kingdom complies with its legal obligations, including those under public international law. The Attorney General’s support for the FCO lawyers, and their assistance to him, are key parts of this relationship.
Recommendations
19. It is difficult to make specific recommendations without knowing the broad thrust of the Committee’s Inquiry, and the degree of detail to be included in the Committee’s report.
20. Subject to this caveat, it is suggested that the Committee may wish to acknowledge in its report the FCO’s central role within Government as regards the legal aspects of international relations. The Committee might also note in this connection the key importance of the relationship between the FCO (and its Legal Advisers) and the Attorney General, who is the Government’s principal legal adviser, including on questions of public international law.
4 January 2011
135 Written Evidence from Sir John Graham, GCMG
I have seen the submission to your Committee by Mr Oliver Miles. I write to support the case he makes. I served for 36 years from 1950 in the Foreign, later the Diplomatic, Service and my career included ambassador to Iraq 1974‐77, ambassador to Iran 1979‐80 and Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council 1982‐86. I am therefore no doubt biased.
The fundamental role of the F.C.O. is to contribute to the development and implementation of policy, so that, where it may affect other countries, the likely reactions of and impact on those countries are taken into account. This also gives the implementation of policy the best chance of success. Equally importantly, the role must include the formulation, in conjunction with other relevant departments and subject to ministerial guidance and approval, of an overall strategy embracing Britain’s national objectives and place in the world.
For these purposes it depends on the analysis and reports of staff serving in posts abroad whose primary task is to get to know and if possible understand the culture and motivation of the country, both the people and the government, or institution in which they work. Knowledge of the local language is obviously a considerable help in this. Some of our biggest disasters stem from the failure to take account of likely reactions – Suez in 1956 for example when the reaction of the US and in the Arab world to the Franco‐Israeli‐British operation, concocted without the participation of the normal apparatus of the Foreign Office or the embassies in the area, was so badly misread.
Commercial work, trade promotion and consular work are important but secondary to the primary tasks. In my experience senior business executives want advice on the nature of the country with which they are seeking to trade, including whether the government will survive and pay its bills. Such advice can only be based on understanding of the country concerned.
Linked to this is the importance of ambassadors and other staff being able to speak and write with candour, even if their views are out of line with established policy. The reported recent ban under the previous Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary on so‐called valedictory despatches, or whatever new form of formal communication might replace them, is a deplorable attempt to restrict such freedom of speech.
4 January 2011
136 Written evidence from Sir David Logan
The author
I was a member of the Diplomatic Service from 1965-2001. For most of my career I specialised in east-west relations and in defence policy. My postings in the FCO included appointments as Assistant Under Secretary of State for Central and Eastern European Affairs and Assistant Under Secretary of State for Defence Policy. Abroad, I was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassies in Moscow and Washington in the 1990s and Ambassador to Turkey from 1997-2001 (having previously served in the political section of the Embassy there in the 60s). I retired early and became Director of the Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy at Birmingham University between 2002-2007. I now chair the British Institute at Ankara and retain other interests in Russia and Turkey.
Summary of evidence
-This evidence is narrowly confined to two issues. What are the distinctive capabilities needed to give the Diplomatic Service (DS) comparative advantage for the promotion of UK interests? How should it sustain this advantage in an era of financial stringency?
-What distinguishes the DS both from its foreign peers and from other UK government departments is superior expertise in foreign countries and regions, and the resources to exploit this effectively on behalf of British interests. “Abroad” is the DS’s USP.1
-In an increasingly competitive world, the DS must more than match the capacity of its peers (the French and German diplomatic services for example) to operate on behalf of the national interest.
-For its staff, this means the acquisition and exploitation of regional and country expertise, high standard language skills, and the familiarity and contacts needed to give access and influence. The same standards are required for staffing missions to multilateral institutions (eg the EU and UN).
-Cuts must not result in a weakening of the FCO’s USP. Institutionally, this means maintaining the resources and structures which enable the DS to match its peers abroad, and to be the authoritative voice on issues at home within its remit in the policy framework established by the National Security Strategy. For its staff, it means postings in the FCO and abroad which generate real expertise, as well as language training. Career planning should be undertaken and systematically implemented with the same objective.
-Particularly in current economic circumstances, the DS should maintain this focus rather than devote large resources to generic expertise (the environment, human rights etc) where it needs to be an informed interlocutor rather than a policy-maker.
-Maintenance of the FCO’s capabilities also requires that its Research Analysts continue to operate as an effective but distinctive contributor to the FCO’s product, and are not reduced to becoming simply assistants to main-stream policy-makers.
1 USP = unique selling point.
137 -Budget cuts should not result in relentless salami slicing, with a comprehensive array of posts maintained but at wafer-thin level. Forced to choose, it is better to have effective posts in places of importance to HMG than to keep the flag flying everywhere.
Detail
1. The Committee’s enquiry is far-ranging. However, I focus on only two issues in this submission, namely the distinctive role of the FCO in British policy-making (in contemporary jargon, its USP) and how it should handle in its human resources in an era of financial retrenchment.
What the FCO is for…..
2. The exact role of the Diplomatic Service has long been an issue. The Berrill Report of 1977 effectively concluded that the diplomats provided no added value and that they should be replaced by officials drawn from the Whitehall departments who had relevant expertise on the range of international questions (defence, economics, energy etc) on which the UK needed to deal with foreign governments. This recommendation of the CPRS report was not implemented. However, its challenge to the notion of a distinctive role for diplomats focussed attention, and remains the key question which any enquiry into the role of the FCO has to answer.
4. The DS’s USP is its foreign policy professionalism. The promotion of the UK’s overseas interests require the government to have available to it the best possible expertise on international developments as well as on the interests and policies of other nations. We need the capacity to respond to the former and to influence the latter in an unpredictable and often threatening international environment. In a highly competitive world in which the UK enjoys few natural advantages, our diplomacy plays a key role for the protection and promotion of a wide range of our interests at extraordinarily modest cost.
5. The DS needs to make the most effective possible use of finite resources by (a) concentrating on areas where it can make a difference and where others cannot, and (b) ensuring that diplomatic effort does not lose focus through too much attention to non-core activity. On (a), globalisation has of course given increased importance to trans-boundary issues such as the environment, organised crime, human rights, weapons’ proliferation etc. The DS needs sufficient expertise to be able to give informed advice in these areas and to play a part in policy formation and implementation on them. But it must not tilt the balance of its effort towards generic issues, on which the FCO is not the lead department, at the expense of resources devoted to diplomacy sensu stricto.
6. On (b), Sir Edward Clay has rightly said in his written submission to the Committee that the essential expertise of the DS is to influence, argue, negotiate, and to report, interpret and advise upon how international developments bear on British interests, and vice-versa. These interests have always included trade. Resources diverted to non-core activities (eg unnecessarily burdensome and intrusive centrally-controlled management systems) are resources lost to the DS’s core role. A fund such as the Global Opportunity Fund or the old Know How Fund is needed, not as a cosmetic pot of money available to support a post’s local enthusiasms, but as a substantial tool to help achieve important policy objectives. Finally, to be effective with foreign interlocutors, the FCO must have, and be seen to have, the confidence of the government of the day.
…and what its staff needs to fulfil this role….
138
7. The DS’s USP requires its staff to acquire deep country and regional knowledge, and to establish useful relationships and effective access among policy-makers and other significant figures in foreign countries. These assets can only be gained through well-targeted postings at home and abroad, and through good training in often difficult foreign languages. Analogous specialised expertise is needed for staff at missions to international institutions such as the EU and the UN. These are the capabilities which give the DS the edge over its competitors.
8. Language capabilities are a core component of DS expertise. The abolition of the Diplomatic Language Centre some years ago was controversial. Many thought that the outsourcing of tuition would be less effective. An internal review about a year ago concluded that the current arrangements deliver DS requirements fully and effectively. Anecdotal evidence is less positive. For example, the four ambassadors to Turkey till the end of 2001 were Turkish language specialists. Their three successors, though very able officers, have not been.
9. Besides effective teaching, adequate allowances for language qualifications and for sustaining language expertise are important if there is to be a useful long-term dividend from the investment which adequate language training represents.
…including career planning.
10. There has been a steady degradation in the FCO’s capacity to deploy staff both in its own overall interests and the career interests of its staff themselves. This reached a point some years ago when the Administration invited staff “to make their own careers”. The FCO must not, of course, be an authoritarian employer. However, if it is to get a commensurate return on its investment in its staff, it must deploy them in ways which serve the UK’s interests and further develop and exploit their professionalism.
11. This entails career planning which ensures the generation of regional, country, and international institutional expertise. While career plans may inevitably be disrupted by unexpected requirements, they should be adhered to as far as possible so as to ensure that officers filling senior posts have developed a high level of relevant knowledge.
12. The careers of policy-capable officers will inevitably combine postings which relate to their specialist expertise with ones which do not. However, the pressure to short-post officers, in response to unforeseen requirements unrelated to their career plans, should be resisted as far as possible. A postings merry-go-round is undesirable for many reasons; its impact on the generation of specialist expertise is one of them.
13. Economic pressures have led to the "localisation" of some overseas jobs previously filled by DS officers, because locally engaged staff are cheaper to employ than home-based ones. There may be good reasons for employing locally-engaged staff. For example, she/he can fill a job for many years, and thus become the repository of a post's knowledge of some aspect of its work. However, too many localised jobs limit the number of openings at a post to which it is possible to deploy DS officers and enable them to develop local expertise.
Reductions in the Research Analysts have also impaired the FCO’s effectiveness
14. Another development which threatens the FCO’s expertise on foreign policy issues is the steady weakening of the Research Analysts’ cadre. Till the late twentieth century, there
139 existed a Research Department which provided high grade research and analysis for operational FCO departments. This central research institution no longer exists. The result has been the loss not only of a unique capability but also of the FCO’s institutional memory, lack of which is now a significant weakness in FCO policy-making. The remaining RAs are all integrated into operational directorates and there is a strong temptation, not always resisted, to use the RAs as an alternative to main stream DS officers in political directorates as cuts bear down on these.
15. There can be advantages in analysts being co-located with the directorates relevant to their work. But the temptation to use them as a back-up policy-making capability as a consequence of decreasing mainstream resources should be resisted. On the contrary, recruitment policies and a career structure for Analysts which attracts candidates of a sufficiently high calibre properly to fulfil the FCO's research requirements should be retained. Reductions in the RA resulting from budget cuts should not be bigger proportionately than those suffered by the policy-making stream.
In the face of budget cuts, resources should be sustained where UK interests are most significant, and lower priorities abandoned.
16. Cuts in the FCO budget require relentless focus on the FCO’s core tasks both thematically (a DS officer must be able to make a career by specialising in China or trade promotion, but not in climate change) and functionally (he needs to be an outstanding negotiator and lobbyist, not an expert service provider). This emphasis on focus contradicts submissions to this enquiry to the effect that, in a period of budget cuts, it remains essential to retain the existing network of overseas posts as far as possible. On the contrary, comprehensive but in some places wafer-thin representation gives little added value. It also risks the mis- deployment of qualified staff from where they are really needed to promote serious British interests simply in order to fly the flag. It is true that in the 21st century a crisis can erupt anywhere and unexpectedly and that we should if possible have posts ready to handle every contingency. But we cannot insure against every risk; focus requires us to place posts where we know they can further core UK interests, and to accept that in some unexpected circumstances this may leave us exposed. After all, the 21st century phenomenon of unexpected crises has been accompanied by a capacity to redeploy the resources needed to confront these far more quickly than ever before.
8 January 2011
140
Written Evidence from Sir Peter Ricketts
National Security Adviser position
Q1. Under what powers, by what process and on what terms was Sir Peter appointed as National Security Adviser? My understanding is that Sir Peter is seconded to the post from the FCO.
A1. Sir Peter Ricketts is on secondment from the FCO on a level transfer at Permanent Secretary level.
In terms of the appointment process, this was a managed move. The Cabinet Secretary discussed the appointment with the Prime Minister, having first consulted the Foreign Secretary and the First Civil Service Commissioner. The decision to appoint an experienced Permanent Secretary through a managed move process was taken due to the specialist nature of the role, the seniority of the post, and the need to have a National Security Adviser in place at the outset of the new Government.
Q2. Who deputises for Sir Peter at meetings of the NSC and its Permanent Secretaries Group when he is unable to be in London, for example because he is accompanying the Prime Minister on official travel?
A2. Oliver Robbins, Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence, Security and Resilience or Julian Miller, Deputy National Security Adviser for Foreign & Defence Policy deputise for Sir Peter Ricketts when he is unable to attend meetings of the National Security Council and the National Security Council (Officials).
Q3. Sir Peter is the accounting officer for the intelligence agencies. I would be grateful if you could clarify what change this represents compared to the situation prior to the creation of the National Security Adviser post.
Following the creation of the National Security Adviser role, Sir Peter Ricketts took on the role of Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) for the Security and Intelligence Agencies. As PAO, Sir Peter is responsible for ensuring propriety and the efficient and cost effective conduct of business across the three Intelligence and Security Agencies. Prior to the creation of the NSA role, this was undertaken by the Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary and Sir Peter agreed that, since Sir Peter’s role brought him into close and regular contact with the Agencies, it made sense for him to take over that PAO function.
NSC organisation
Q4. I would be grateful if you could supply updated information on the structure and size of the National Security Secretariat. In his evidence to PASC, Mr Letwin said that the NSC structure would be reviewed after completion of the SDSR.
A4. The team that was drawn together within the National Security Secretariat to develop the National Security Strategy (NSS) and Strategic Defence and Security (SDSR) Review has disbanded. The National Security Secretariat has therefore
141 returned to the pre-SDSR structure of five Directorates: Foreign and Defence Policy; Strategy and Counter-terrorism; Security and Intelligence; Cyber Security & Information Assurance; and Civil Contingencies. The Secretariat currently employees around 195 staff. An up to date organogram is attached. Further structural changes are underway as a result of a review, which will see a reduction in staff by around 25%, and a reduction in Directorates from five to four.
Q5. I would be grateful if you could confirm that minutes of NSC meetings are being taken; and that NSC minutes and other papers are being treated in the same way as other Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers i.e. deposited in the National Archives under the 30-year rule.
A5. National Security Council minutes are being taken and are treated in the same way as other Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers.
Q6. In his submission to FAC’s inquiry,1 Lord Owen has suggested that the NSC should be placed on a statutory footing, in order to ensure that it “represents a real and sustained innovation and not one subject to the whim of a particular Prime Minister”. Is any thought being given to this possibility?
A6. The National Security Council is a Cabinet Committee. It exists on the same basis as all other Cabinet Committees. There are no plans to place the Council on a statutory footing.
Q7. Does the National Security Secretariat have a dedicated contact unit in the FCO (and other relevant departments) through which it can request and develop papers for the NSC?
A7. The Policy Unit in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office coordinates the FCO contribution to the National Security Council. The National Security Secretariat works closely with the Policy Unit, and also with those in the FCO drafting individual papers.
NSC agenda
Q8. I would be grateful for any further information you could provide on the process by which the NSC’s agenda is determined. The Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee on 18 November that he determines the agenda, on the advice of Sir Peter; and that each meeting takes an update on key immediate priorities, plus a discussion of one longer-term issue. Specifically:
a) Of items being considered by the NSC, roughly what share – if any – have been placed on the Council’s agenda as the result of requests from departments?
b) Of items being considered by the NSC, roughly what share are scheduled recurring items (e.g. regular reports on implementation of particular strategies), what share are new or potentially one-off, longer-term, less time-sensitive items (e.g. consideration of particular countries or longer-term issues), and what share are more immediate issues, driven by events?
1 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmfaff/writev/fcogov/contents.htm
142
c) For the purposes of deciding the issues that should be considered by the NSC, where are the boundaries being drawn of ‘security’ as opposed to non-security issues? Is the National Security Secretariat working with a fairly firm set of criteria as to what counts as a ‘security’ issue for NSC purposes (for example, only issues that are mentioned in the National Security Strategy), or is this being handled on a more ad hoc, flexible basis?
A8. a) The NSC forward work programme is discussed in the Officials meeting of the National Security Council and agreed with Departments. The National Security Adviser then consults the Prime Minister on the forward agenda. Suggestions for future agenda items are often proposed by Departments and have been taken by the Council both in meetings and through correspondence. As a proportion, this is around a quarter of all NSC agenda items.
b) The Council was briefed on the situation in Afghanistan every fortnight in 2010. This was often accompanied by a policy paper. The Council also took regular updates on Pakistan and counter-terrorism developments. These regular items accounted for about a third of NSC meetings in 2010. This pattern is expected to continue in 2011.
The Council has also devoted significant time to discussion of longer-term strategic issues, for example the National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
c) The Council has considered a broad range of issues relevant to national security. The National Security Strategy provides a good guide to the risks which we would regard as falling within the scope of the NSC, although it will be important to retain the flexibility to consider other issues if necessary.
Q9. According to the SDSR, the NSC is to approve integrated, FCO-led cross- government strategies for particularly important bilateral relationships. Has the NSC yet approved any such strategies? If not, when do you expect the first such strategy/strategies to come before the Council, and which countries do you expect it/them to cover? Given that, as I understand it, the aim of such strategies is to include ‘domestic’, non-security departments such as health and education into the UK’s bilateral relationships, why would the NSC be the appropriate forum for such strategies to be approved, rather than the full Cabinet?
A9. The NSC sub-committee on Emerging Powers chaired by the Foreign Secretary has already approved strategies on China, Brazil and South-East Asia. Other strategies are scheduled to be submitted in 2011 including on the Gulf, Japan, Turkey and African emerging powers. The NSC is also scheduled to take a paper on Russia in early 2011.
Members of Cabinet who are not members of the NSC or its Emerging Powers sub- committee are invited to attend meetings covering policy decisions that will affect their departments.
Sub-NSC bodies
143 Q10. I would be grateful if you could provide any further information available at this stage on two new bodies mentioned in the SDSR, with particular reference to their implications for the FCO and its budget:
a) At p 46, in the section dealing with instability and conflict overseas, the SDSR says that the Government will “establish a single cross-government board to deal with conflict overseas”, replacing “three separate structures dealing with conflict, peacekeeping and stabilisation.” The SDSR goes on to say that “lead responsibility for delivering results” in this field will be given to overseas posts.
b) At p 55, in the section on counter-proliferation, the SDSR says that there is to be a new committee, chaired by the Cabinet Office and reporting to the NSC, to ensure that “UK counter-proliferation priorities are reflected in our wider relationships with international partners.” The Committee is to oversee a new common funding stream, the Critical Capabilities Pool.
A10.
a) The SDSR sets out the Government’s initiative on Building Stability Overseas, with an emphasis on effective upstream work to prevent conflict and tackle emerging threats to the UK. The Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for International Development are designated as Ministerial co-leads for this work, reporting to the NSC as necessary. The FCO’s Director-General for Political Affairs and the Department for International Development’s Director-General Programmes are designated as lead officials jointly responsible for supporting the two Secretaries of State and leading work across government and with partners.
As set out in the SDSR, the detailed work on conflict prevention (including Conflict Pool programme activity), peacekeeping and stabilisation will be overseen by a Director-level Whitehall Board bringing together FCO, DFID and MOD, with Cabinet Office and others in Whitehall as necessary.
One of the key work streams the Director-level Board will oversee is the drafting of a government strategy for Building Stability Overseas which will be published by Spring 2011. This strategy will provide a framework of practical guidance for staff in Whitehall and overseas to drive a more effective, coordinated approach in priority countries including the use of Conflict Pool programme funds. It will also ensure that we have methodology in place to measure success and the value for money of our integrated approach. The aim is that through a more rigorous focus on prioritisation and delivering results the Government will ensure optimum value for money. The FCO will need to report separately to the FAC on the implications for their budget.
b) The NSC Officials Committee on Counter Proliferation (NSC(O)CP) is chaired by Julian Miller, the Deputy National Security Adviser. Directors General are invited from those Government Departments and Agencies involved in counter-proliferation activity. The FCO is represented by the Director General for Defence and Intelligence and the FCO performs the secretariat function, helping prepare the agenda and papers for the Committee. FCO geographical Directors will be invited to attend on an ad hoc basis to ensure that counter-proliferation is considered in wider foreign policy objectives. The
144 Committee held its first meeting in January 2011, when it, among other things, agreed terms of reference.
The Critical Capabilities Pool (CCP) was created to protect, and improve central co- ordination of, a range of capabilities central to the UK’s counter-proliferation work, yet spread across Government. The CCP was agreed by the National Security Council as part of the SDSR. Since then, officials have worked to identify how the pool would be resourced. That work is nearing completion. The NSC(O)CP will make a decision on its composition and governance early in 2011. In the meantime the FCO is working with other Departments to ensure that critical national counter-proliferation capabilities are not eroded as individual departments make decisions about spending.
14 January 2011
145 National Security Secretariat
Peter Ricketts
Prime Minister’s National Security Advisor
Julian Miller Oliver Robbins
Deputy National Security Deputy National Security Advisor, Foreign Policy Advisor, Intelligence Security & Resilience
Philip Barton William Nye Christina Scott Neil Thompson Ciaran Martin
Director, Foreign Policy Director, Civil Director, Security and and Afghanistan/ Pakistan Director, Office of Cyber Director, Strategy and Contingencies Secretariat Intelligence Coordinator Counter-Terrorism Security and Information Assurance
146
Organisation as at January 2011 Written evidence from Daniel Korski
REVERSING DECLINE, REFORMING THE FCO
A HISTORY OF DECLINE
Though the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is full of high-calibre people who are recognised internationally for their skills, and the department runs a top-tier overseas network, the last fifteen years have not been kind to the FCO. Power over key issues has moved, probably permanently, to No 10. Resources have been siphoned off to the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ministry of Defence. Even the Secret Intelligence Service, which reports to the Foreign Secretary, is said to be an ever more important source of foreign policy advice to the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, every government department is engaged in diplomacy of some form or other often without keeping the FCO informed of their work.
Then there is the impact of summitry – from European Councils to NATO Summits and G20 meetings – which has grown in importance (with the FCO’s role not always clear) while the work of the UN Security Council – a traditional FCO forte -- has become increasingly less important.
To a degree, the FCO has always had to fight for its role. The first foreign secretary, Charles James Fox, was forced from office in 1783 because he disagreed with King George III over Britain’s India policy. More than 200 years later, Robin Cook resigned his position after falling out with Tony Blair over the Iraq War. Between these two ministerial resignations, fights between King Charles Street, the Palace and then Downing Street have been legion. Leaders as diverse as Disraeli, Gladstone, Lloyd George, Chamberlain, Churchill, Thatcher and Blair have shared an ‘impatience with and distaste for the detailed niceties of the Foreign Office’1, to quote former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd. Fights between Lloyd George and Lord Curzon, or between Neville Chamberlain and Anthony Eden, are famous. But even domestically-focused leaders have often challenged the FCO’s authority, as Clement Atlee did over Middle East policy in 1947.
Nor is inter-departmental competition a new phenomenon. Lord Hardinge, returning to the Foreign Office as Permanent Undersecretary in June 1916, after an interval of six years spent as Viceroy of India, was advised by the British Ambassador in Paris that the Foreign Office had become ‘in great part a “pass-on” department’, by which he meant it ‘issues instructions at the instance of other offices’, but had little idea of what it wanted. Lord Hardinge’s first years back in the FCO have been described by a historian as a time when the department ‘had little influence on the policy-making process.’2 The late 20th century was scarcely different, with Churchill, Thatcher and Blair allowing other departments a greater diplomatic role.
1 Douglas Hurd, Choose Your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary: Two Centuries of Conflict and Personalities, Orion Publishing Co (London: February 2010) 2 Roberta M. Warman, ‘The Erosion of Foreign Office Influence in the Making of Foreign Policy, 1916–1918’, The Historical Journal, 15: 133-159, 1972
147 NEW ISSUES, OLD OFFICE
But the kind of challenges the FCO faces today are different and harder to deal with. The interaction of technological, economic and social changes, the development of information and communication technologies, the increasing ability of citizens to access and use these technologies, and the rise of “new” issues such as pandemic diseases or resource depletion are changing the nature and scope of diplomacy. Very few of these issues can be dealt with by one country alone, however powerful and rich. At the same time, many “old” foreign policy challenges remain – like the rise of China, the risk of inter- state warfare in West Asia or the threat from Islamist terrorism. And it is not clear that the FCO has adapted to the ‘new’ challenges while maintaining (and upgrading) its ability to deal with ‘old’ or re-occurring issues.
For example, the department faced the late-2000s recession and the rise of the BRICs –- two processes that are fundamentally changing international relations -- with limited (geo)economic expertise. Though the FCO has recently taken steps to remedy the situation, as one FCO official put it, “the department has downgraded the very skill we now need most”.3 The FCO has in fact agonised in recent years over whether to invest in functional or geographical skills. But it has often flitted between the two and, in the end, probably undermined investment in both. To this day, for example, there are no more than a handful of Pastho speakers, despite the decade-long presence in Kabul. The emphasis on developing ‘rounded’ careers - where staff gain both policy-related and managerial expertise – coupled with the move to a laissez-faire HR system, where each official has to manage their own career have allowed the FCO to climb the Investor in People rankings, but it seems to have come at the expense of geographical knowledge.
Nor does the department have in-depth expertise in many other functional areas, like geo-economics or health. This might not be a problem if the FCO had an affiliated think-tank/university (like its counterparts in the United States, Russia and the European Union), which can inject subject-matter expertise into the department; or even if it has a dedicated research fund, such as in DFiD, for policy-relevant research. But it does not. And unlike the US State Department – where various forms of fellowships exist – there are few ways in which academics and experts can be brought into the FCO except as permanent staff, Special Advisers (SPaDs) or on temporary contracts as consultants. When outside experts are brought into the FCO, as was the case at times under foreign secretaries Cook, Straw and Miliband, the department proved wary of integrating them into the policy process; most left after a short period.4
The investment in functional and geographical skills is not, as some would claim, a zero-sum choice. Knowing China helps advance Britain's climate change agenda, which requires negotiation with Beijing. Similarly, Britain's influence in NATO is strengthened if its diplomats bring first-hand and deep- seated knowledge about the theatres of operation, like Afghanistan and the Balkans, to the organisation's myriad of committee meetings. The functional
3 Interview with author, 17 December, 2011. 4 The exception seems to be press work, which somehow is accepted as being an area where the FCO has fewer skills and needs to recruit externally.
148 and geographical skills, in other words, reinforce each other. But a balanced investment in both is required, which does not seem to have been the case.
The FCO should, of course, not aim to maintain in-house expertise in all policy areas. But it should be able to lead HMG’s international engagement - - fashioning an over-all strategy, grounding it in local realities and helping other departments deploy their expertise. To undertake campaigns, in other words. For a range of reasons, however, the FCO has still not been able to assume such a role in the National Security Council process. It remains one of, rather than the most important, member of the NSC.
The reasons the FCO has not asserted itself in the NSC process are manifold. In part, questions still remain about the respective roles of the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and the Foreign Office in the NSC process. Only when these have been resolved, can the FCO play a key role. Second, other departments -- having asserted themselves overseas -- are now reluctant to follow an FCO lead; they will follow an NSC direction, where they have ministerial representation, but are uncomfortable following the FCO alone. The creation of the Coalition Government, with its need to agree policies among the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in sub-NSC committees – or a de facto “Upper Cabinet” of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister -- may have weakened rather than strengthened the FCO’s claim to departmental leadership, much as the post-World War II expansion of the Cabinet committee system undermined the FCO’s role half a century ago.5
Finally, the FCO has failed to take on the role that was envisaged for it in the NSC because, after years of marginalisation, its staff do not necessarily posses the skills, training and incentives to lead cross-departmental efforts – or at least give other department the confidence they have the requisite skills. Unsurprisingly, a senior Home Office official noted: “We would follow an FCO lead if we knew they would look after HMG interests and not just FCO concerns.” This view was echoed in the findings of research undertaken by Richard Teuten and I, which was published as a RUSI Whitehall Paper. 6 Based on fifty interviews with civil servants from across the government and military officers the issue of the FCO’s difficulties with representing all departments, as opposed to itself, was highlighted several times. One explanation may lie in the degradation of the FCO’s strategy functions, which are key if the department is to play a lead policy role. The other reason may lie in cultural and administrative boundaries that still exist between the Diplomatic Service and the Home Civil Service.
REFORMS: CONSTANT BUT INADEQUATE
In response to its predicament, the FCO has undergone a steady stream of reforms, trying to implement a Cabinet Office review, which urged the department to think “think “radically about its place in a changing world.” Often, however, the reforms have been skin-deep. As ex-ambassador Charles Crawford noted: “The FCO absurdly went from seven to eight to nine to
5 Zara Steiner, ‘The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Resistance and Adaptation to Changing Times’ in Gaynor Johnson (ed) , The Foreign Office and British diplomacy in the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 2005) 6 Richard Teuten and Daniel Korski, Preparing For Peace: Britain's Contribution and Capabilities, Whitehall Papers, No. 74, 2010
149 (phew) ten Strategic Priorities. It then gave up on Strategic Priorities in favour of . . . four new Key Policy Goals.”7 To this list can now be added a return, under the Coalition Government, to three Priorities.
Changing priorities – from seven to nine then ten, four and now three – have not, however, lead to fundamental reform of the FCO’s structure. Oftentimes, existing work is retrofitted into a new set of priorities. In this period staff are also focused ever-more inwards, on targets and internal processes, rather than outwards. The average senior official, for example a director, spends more time inwards, managing processes than working on policy or building senior-level links with counterparts either bilaterally or multilaterally. Postings are now comparatively short, and so in-depth regional expertise is limited, while the centrally-decreed emphasis on having a rounded career – which takes in both management and policy experiences – has arguably undermined the FCO’s first-rate policy skills. It is perhaps unsurprising that the department has felt marginalised and begun to suffer from what William Hague described as “timidity.”
WAY AHEAD: A NEW-LOOK FCO
To deal with these problems -- some of which are structural, some policy- related -- the FCO will need to consider a number of reforms.
Strategy
The first step is for the FCO to decide how it will manage the balance between its priorities -- currently described as “Security”, “Prosperity” and “Consular Affairs” – and the department’s other areas of work. Re-drafting to-level priorities, but squeezing on-going activities into new headings – sometimes retroactively justifying their relevance in the light of the new priorities – needs to end. Instead, the FCO should set up an Future FCO Task Force, which can examine the department’s structure, look at other organisations, including other foreign ministries, and propose a new model. A key part of any reform must upgrade the department’s geo-economic expertise by creating a new post of Director-General Geo-Economics, a sort of second Political Director, who can oversee the Trade Team, Global Economy Group, Climate Change and the Energy Group. This would effectively split the Directorate-General for Globalisation and the EU.
Third, the FCO needs to find new ways to bring expertise into the department, and facilitate access to outside assistance. On the State Department model, the FCO should re-invigorate the Strategy and Policy Unit, increasing its staff with at least half its personnel recruited externally or from other government departments. Tied to this, the FCO should establish a Visiting Fellows programme to allow academics, businesspeople and subject-matter experts into the Civil Service. It will also be necessary to create a better-funded research programme, so the FCO to purchase research and analysis externally. Finally, thought needs to be given to re- shaping the Royal College of Defence Studies, part of the Defence Academy, into a FCO-owned, civilian-led, Royal Academy of Diplomacy and Security
7 Charles Crawford, ‘How Labour dumbed down the Foreign Office’, 17 May 2010, www.conservativehome.co.uk
150 to serve as the department’s academy/think-tank.
These reforms will help re-build the FCO’s brainpower – a prerequisite for a lead role in the NSC process. But one additional step should be considered. The Foreign Secretary should establish a bi-annual Chevening Retreat, which would aim to bring top-flight thinkers, and practitioners together to discuss Britain’s foreign policy. A sort of British version of the Munich Security Conference, but smaller and more exclusive, perhaps themed not on security, but on geo-economics.
People
Improving the FCO’s policy capacity will, in addition, require the development of security-related and geo-economic expertise. The easiest way would be for the FCO needs to lead the creation of a cross-departmental National Security Cadre (like the European ‘Fast Stream’) of officials who specialise in security-related work. Similarly, the FCO, Treasury and DfiD should jointly create a cross-departmental Geo-Economics Cadre, different than the Economic Service (or a sub-grouping thereof) for economists, political analysts, and businesspeople.
In addition, to improve the quality of staff not only should the FCO begin to look outside the department (and even outside the civil service) for ambassadorial appointments, but will need to formalise a career-long learning programme, so that its personnel constantly renew their skills and improve their competencies. Like for military officers, such a programme should not be optional, but contain clear trajectory, including an obligatory mid-career period in graduate-level education for example at a university. Looking at how senior FCO staff, including ambassadors, are chosen, trained, evaluated and given incentives is also needed. Key must be involving other departments in the selection and evaluation process of ambassadors.
Finally, the FCO needs to look anew at its greatest asset – the overseas network – and, most importantly, whether the department is maintaining (and, in future, developing) the necessary in-country expertise. Here a number of reforms should be considered. Postings could be divided into short, medium and long-term categories – depending on a number of criteria, such the nature of the society, the difficulty of the language, and the importance of the country to the UK. In most countries, the usual postings system – three years with an option of a fourth -- can continue. But in other countries, this should be five-seven years, while in a few, high-priority countries, postings should be 7 years or longer or, alternatively, careers should be structured around several postings in the same country.
The FCO then needs to overhaul its personnel system and culture to embrace the reality that inter-departmental teamwork. One way would be for the Diplomatic Service and the externally-focused parts of the Home Civil Service to be merged into an “HM External Relations Service”, which will provide FCO, DFID, MoD and parts of the Home Office and DECC on the same terms – thus facilitating inter-change and cooperation. All this would require a change to the laissez-faire way in which the FCO now manages the careers of its personnel – both diplomats and other officials -- with a more “managed” system (and a greater role for the HR department) needed.
151 Resources
A key priority should be to re-examine the use of programme funds. The inability of Posts to spend even small amounts of funds, without a cross- departmental, and lengthy process hampers their reach and influence. Thought needs to go into creating a Strategic Investment Fund for use by Posts. Under this heading also comes the issue of commercial diplomacy. The state of Britain’s finances demands that the FCO scale-up its commercial activities. After having been at the margins of the FCO’s work, the Coalition Government has already done much to prioritise trade and commercial advancement while in the Cabinet Office reviewers singled out UKTI as an effective delivery agent. But more can probably still be done. This could be an area the Foreign Affairs Committee might want to look in future.
Future Practices
The final set of reforms the FCO needs to consider concern the changing nature of international relations, the role of the BRICs and the gradual diminution of the Britain’s traditional strengths – bilateral relationships, military power, concomitant membership in many international organisations and a permanent UNSC seat.
Developing a detailed plan should be left to the above-mentioned Future FCO Task Force, but consideration should be given to number of new initiatives, including the creating three British Institutes in China, Brazil and Nigeria. These would aim to improve societal links, and the FCO’s cultural diplomacy, replacing the role of the British Council in these countries. In a similar vein, the Task Force should examine the creation of a joint Gulf/Britain School of Diplomacy and explore the possibility of hybrid Posts e.g. in Liberia with Turkey. Similarly, thought need to be given to having more secondments from BRIC and sub-BRIC nations including at embassies/posts, as it is now the case with European and US diplomats.
Daniel Korski
London, 17 January, 2011
A former Civil Servant and an adviser to the International Development Secretary, Daniel Korski has worked in the FCO in Washington, Basra and Kabul and now works for the European Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Policy Fellow.
152 Written evidence from Catarina Tully
Response to request for responses to the FASC inquiry 'The role of the FCO'
1. I have structured my responses to your questions around the following headings: the challenge facing foreign ministries globally; choices about the FCO's role; and implications for capabilities and resources. In summary:
• The changing nature of our world means many Foreign Ministries are wrestling with the issues and questions raised in the FASC inquiry. The widely-claimed weakness of the FCO's position within HMG in the past few years is mainly a result of this changing environment.
• Despite efforts over previous years, the FCO's strategic purpose has become blurred and requires some refocus. More importantly, it needs the structures, capabilities and resources to fulfill a refocused role.
• The FCO successfully acts as the international implementation arm of HMG through its network of embassies. The key choice on the role of the FCO is the extent to which the FCO takes the cross-Whitehall lead on setting the strategic context for HMG's international policy and on new international policy challenges, like global resource constraints. A maximalist interpretation of its role is necessary for the FCO to be at the centre of government.
• In order to fulfill its role effectively, there needs to be more specialisation in the FCO, higher levels of programmatic funding, strengthened analytical skills and greater cross-Whitehall clarity on what FCO strategic leadership looks like.
2. Biography: Cat Tully is an independent consultant working on foreign and development policy issues. She was formerly Strategy Project Director at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until August 2010. She has worked on strategy development across the private, government and civil society sectors, including for HMG Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Procter and Gamble, Christian Aid, World Bank and the UN. Cat's research areas include: horizon scanning and strategic risk management; machinery of government in national strategy- making; technology, public engagement and governance; and global public goods and resources.
153 Context: the challenges facing Foreign Ministries across the world
3. As highlighted by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the changing nature of our world means many Foreign Ministries are wrestling with the issues and questions raised in the FASC inquiry. The US's QDDR, released last month, looks at the capabilities needed by 21st century diplomatic and development services. The German government has conducted various conferences on what a 21st century foreign service should look like. The French 2008 White Papers on Foreign Affairs and Defence and National Security examine the division of labour between Departments, and the structures and capabilities needed in a Foreign Ministry. Together with innovations introduced by Canada, Australia and Singapore, among others, these experiences provide an evidence-base that is worthwhile mining more systematically.1
4. The impact of technological, economic and demographic drivers, and the resulting blurring of lines between foreign and domestic policy are well documented elsewhere. I will nevertheless briefly explicitly summarise here the challenges and opportunities that commentators agree that the 21st century multipolar world will bring. HMG and the FCO have made strong progress in addressing all of these areas and are considered to be ahead of the curve by other governments in some areas like public diplomacy and thought-leadership on new complex global challenges. However, we need to run just to keep still in this situation - continual change requires continual adaptation by HMG.
a) New sets of policy challenges, often uncertain, diffuse and interlinked: these include complex, non-linear systems of global and regional public goods (e.g. water, labour, food, energy and carbon security), new security challenges (in particular around radicalisation, early intervention and conflict prevention), and the interlinkages between economic and national security.
b) A growth in the impact of different actors and evolving means of engagement and influence: not just the growth of BRIC and other countries, but also regional and local actors (e.g. cities), high-net worth individuals, diaspora groups, state-owned and multinational businesses, civil society, etc.
c) Changing and multiplying forms of governance within which to promote the UK's national interest: including the different 'G' groupings, ad hoc alliances, UN, revitalised regional bodies and the European Union, counting the External Action Service.
5. This changing environment poses three challenges to the process of conducting HMG
1 This is a piece of analysis I am embarking on, conducting a cross-country comparison of the UK with various other OECD and BRIC countries.
154 international policy:
a) greater need for coherence and joining-up as increasing numbers of Departmental and non- government actors become involved in the international sphere;
b) the functions and structure of the diplomatic service need some recalibration to the new strategic context; and
c) the nature of running operations abroad is different, with the changing nature and cost of security, use of different technologies, etc.
6. The FCO is an excellent organisation, with enviable assets including staff, analytical power, and the network. Its strategic context however, as for other Foreign Ministries, is increasingly challenging. The widely-claimed weakness of the FCO's position within HMG in the past few years is mainly a result of this changing environment. The purpose of the FCO has become less clear as its traditional role and key asset - as gatekeeper and conduit of international interactions - has disappeared. The increased complexity of the environment, the increase in the number of its partners, the participation of domestic Departments in international networks, the different potential entry points or ways it can make a difference, combined with a sharp reduction in resources, has meant that the FCO has had many focal points and spread its skills thinly. As a result, and despite various attempts to strategically sharpen it, the FCO's strategic purpose has become blurred and requires a gentle refocus. The FASC's inquiry is an excellent opportunity to address what the FCO is for, namely refine the purpose it fulfills for HMG and for the UK, describe clearly the problems it can help address, and ensure that it has the structures, resources and capabilities to support its purpose.
Key choices about the FCO's role: maximalist or minimalist vision
7. For the purpose of this paper, I have distinguished two functions that the FCO owns in HMG. One is about acting on behalf of HMG internationally - effectively being the international implementation arm of HMG. These roles include running the network of embassies internationally, including at international organisations, providing consular support and crisis response, being a platform for UK policy delivery in-country, and sending expertise and knowledge about the country back to HMG.
8. This role is conducted well. These roles need logistical support and guidance from the centre (like the central crisis response team or UKTI) but more of the decisions should be decentralised so that strategy-making at the country level can be made by front line staff. There is also a need to continue to stay abreast of technological developments that provide the potential to drive value for money, like laptop diplomats.
155 9. Recommendation: decentralise more decision-making powers to embassies so they have a stronger lead on developing cross-HMG country strategies. Continue to develop innovative solutions to provide network coverage that drives value for money.
10. The other function is leading policy. Some narrow policy areas are squarely within the FCO's remit, e.g. non-proliferation. But to fulfill the Foreign Secretary's vision of the FCO being at the centre of government, the FCO also needs to take the lead on setting the strategic vision for HMG's international policy. This means two things. First, to hold the overview and collaboratively set the framework within which all of Whitehall Departments' international policy interventions can sit coherently (this overview needs to be strategically aligned with the SDSR and DFID's plans and agreed by the National Security Council). Second, the response to the challenges and opportunities identified in paragraph 4 need to be led somewhere within government - and they should be led by the FCO. I have highlighted the gaps that remain in addressing these new issues:
• New complex policy issues: The gap here is around upping analytical (and economic) skills on complex systems, enhancing creativity and innovation in policy responses and initiatives, leading horizon-scanning and identifying discontinuities. There is excellent work done across different government Departments, but there is not one place where it is fully pulled together.
• Growth in different actors: The gap here is around thinking innovatively on engaging with new actors; enhancing the UK's influencing strategy, especially on the sub-multilateral forms of governance (regions and cities) and the use of soft power; and coordinating a joined-up and innovative government approach to engaging with international non- traditional actors e.g. private-public partnerships with businesses to achieve common goals.
• Changing governance: The gap here is around promoting greater creative thinking on promoting UK's national interest within different forms of international governance and fora.
11. Recommendation: that the FCO takes the strategic lead for setting the context for UK international policy (with the SDSR and reporting to/agreed by the NSC); takes the policy lead on global public goods issues; takes the overview on international horizon-scanning across government; and leads coordination on engaging with different international actors.
Implications for capabilities and resources
12. None of my commentary is new analysis: indeed the FCO is engaging already with many of these issues and has embarked on various initiatives to improve its capability. Notable examples include excellent analysis and innovative policy/approaches led by Research
156 Analysts, Communications Directorate, the Global Economy Group, Middle East and North Africa Directorate, among many. The question remains therefore why there is a certain fuzziness to the traction of the FCO centre. And how to address it without committing significantly more resources. There are five areas that can be addressed:
• FCO staff are currently required to have a very broad set of skills. The FCO's two distinct functions (running the international implementation arm of HMG and leading policy) arguably increasingly require two different skill sets, with a lot of overlap in between. Skills required in Posts include managing the post, detailed analysis and reporting, influencing skills, consensual negotiations, crisis response, and a practical ability to respond to the plethora of different challenges thrown up daily in often difficult environments. Skills at the policy centre require deep knowledge and networks in Whitehall, systems thinking, horizon scanning, and analytical skills around prioritising options, exposing policy tradeoffs, identifying synergies and developing innovative responses. Recommendation: There is a case to be made for FCO staff to specialise within two separate career streams. A diplomatic embassy staff run the embassies, possibly with longer posting duration, themselves led by ambassadors from across different Whitehall Departments where appropriate. And policy staff at the centre would focus on policy expertise and analysis, developing the skills to lead strategic thinking across government, and horizon scanning. There would be secondments between these two cadres, but in particular the policy staff should be open to cross-Whitehall and external secondments. This would permit staff to focus on specialising their skills and expertise, where at the moment they are asked to be generalists.
• The FCO faces financial resource constraints that limit its ability to promote its policy agenda both with other government departments and international partners. Relatively small amounts of additional programmatic funding could get value for money in terms of traction. Recommendation: that FCO programmatic funding is increased.
• The FCO's analytical capability has been reduced in recent years in various economic and geographic policy areas, thankfully now being addressed. Recommendation: to maintain and develop the FCO's analytical, policy and language expertise; create an external think tank with DFID and MOD that can introduce innovative ideas; use both government and external intellectual resources (e.g. the Royal College of Defence Studies, National School of Government, Institute of Government, Chatham House and RUSI); and systematically engage with senior international foreign policy thinkers and leaders via high-profile conferences.
157 • Other government Departments can be resistant for the FCO to take the role in setting the strategic context because they feel that the FCO does not always reflect their interests, perspective and analysis. Recommendation: At a macro-level, an agreed regular FCO-led process for setting the strategic vision should occur, similar to the US' new QDDR process. This could be arranged to coincide with a new government term and the Defence Review. On a micro-level, the FCO and other Departments should develop a clearly defined process and methodology for developing thematic and country strategies and coordinating Departmental business planning processes. Organisational innovations (like bringing together the Strategy Units or Policy Units across MOD, DFID, FCO and Cabinet Office NSS) could also be explored. Joint training and secondments would also be valuable as would a forum for FDNS Department senior leaders/policy DGs to meet and discuss common issues and align strategic vision.
23 January 2011
158 Email from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
Stating the “role of the FCO” in a mission statement or its equivalent is very straightforward. It is words to the effect that the FCO is there to represent the United Kingdom, its people, government, businesses and other institutions - and its values - in dealing with nations and peoples overseas. As Foreign Secretary I put my name to a number of such statements.
Much more difficult in my experience is setting out the priority which should be accorded the separate parts of the activities which make up this role, agreeing on metrics (if any) to measure activity and its outcomes (as well as outputs), and determining with the Treasury whether and how this should all be paid for.
As I sure members of the Committee are well aware there has been a long-standing suspicion of the FCO in the Treasury. (This goes back well beyond the last Labour administration). It is partly cultural. The Treasury at official level like to compare the difference to that between "gentlemen, and players" (with the Treasury the latter) - though there was never any evidence that I saw that the social background of Treasury officials was very different from that of FCO officials.
Part of the work of the FCO is difficult directly to measure, but this should not obscure its value. Building successful networks, gaining the confidence of those in key positions of power or influence, is a key role for all our diplomats abroad. If relations with a particular country are in any event on an even keel, the breadth and depth of the diplomatic relationships will not make much difference to Britain's interests in that country. But if there is, for example, a political or consular crisis involving the UK and that country, then the success - or otherwise - of our relationships will become all to clear. I'd be happy to offer some examples.
The consequence of the Bali bombing, and criticisms of our response, in October 2002 led me to oversee an upgrading of the standing arrangements for dealing with consular crises, with a separately staffed 24 hour Response Centre in London, and "rapid response teams" on standby around the world. On the whole these arrangements have worked well. But in the world of 24 hour news, and the internet, handling consular crises has become more difficult, as expectations from British citizens, and demands on the FCO are raised, and the FCO's work has to be undertaken in full public scrutiny.
One aspect of the inquiry is relations with other Government departments. The then Permanent Secretary (now Lord Jay), and I greatly encouraged secondments both ways. (My Principal Private Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, 2008-10 came from the FCO (since returned), and did an excellent job for me). I am however unclear how extensive is the two-way traffic, and whether there have been any studies of the effects of secondments both for the individuals' careers, and in the interests of better governance.
These are just a few thoughts which the Committee may find helpful.
Let me know if you would like any further details.
25 January 2011
159
Written submission by Peter W Marshall and other former members of the FCO
THE ROLE OF THE FCO IN UK GOVERNMENT
Once not so long ago the Foreign & Commonwealth Office was admired across the World, and its diplomats were held in high regard and their views were always respected. It was famous for its influential skills, its style and its insight.
Lets go back to the basics and give the matter some deeper thought, perhaps visionary as we did when Britain was a proud nation and brimming with confidence. We had a role to play then, and the FCO was at the forefront of this. The role of the FCO is as important today as it was then, let us not forget that.
What has gone wrong? Today the picture is one of mediocrity. Clearly something has gone wrong, and it is now a golden opportunity for us to get this right, no matter the cost. All views need to be critically considered and a strategic process needs to be undertaken so that the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office can once again aspire to becoming admired the world over. A Diplomatic Service reflects the health and the wealth of a country. The downward spiral can be stopped, and the former prestige of the FCO can be restored.
If we wish to maintain a leading presence in this fast changing world, then we need to take risks and be bold. We need to prepare and spend for the long term, and not cut, as we have been doing for the short term, as this clearly has had a detrimental effect on the working of government departments. A unique delivery, one that is not just about budget! The FCO outlasts a Government.
We are still capable of running and producing a Rolls Royce renowned for its reliability, we should not settle for lesser ambitions!
LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE The FCO has lost a lot of its independence, and Foreign Secretaries of the recent past have given in too easily to No. 10. The PM should be in overall charge of Govt Depts but each Secretary of State should be allowed to make the running and decide policy. Foreign Secretaries of substance and experience are required, in what is and always was a key Government Department. For example Lord Carrington and Lord Howe.
TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE, OUTSIDE EXAMINATION AND BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS The emasculation of the FCO began in the Thatcher years. The arrival of PM Blair who followed a Presidential style of politics (USA style) made things even more difficult for the FCO. Gordon Brown in his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer was effectively the second PM and the power the Treasury wielded resulted in its pre-eminence in Whitehall. The FCO had become even more marginalised! The Treasury was the final arbiter of policy, if it didn't like something it would be revised or abandoned. Objectives and business plans had to be clear and achievable in no more than 3 years and often within one year! For the FCO this was no easy task as it is no easy matter to define Foreign Policy within 3 years or for that matter one year, a lot of the important work carried out by the FCO is unquantifiable. Sir C. Meyer, in his recent publication makes this point most strongly! Too much examination and scrutiny can sometimes have the wrong outcome.
THE MEDIA AND PUBLIC SCRUTINY This detailed scrutiny of the machinery of government and corporate governance, the disappearance of the culture of deference, the increasing sophistication and interference by the media, the greater use of select committees, have made it more difficult for government departments to explain their work to outsiders and to justify their existence.
WHY? The complexity of what they do is sometimes difficult to explain. To convince of its necessity and its
160 worth. Government officials need to do this in front of the media and TV cameras. What can be done to get this right? To put this right more deft handling by the FCO News Dept will be required. Better training will be needed so that staff are able to handle a more aggressive media in a sophisticated and effective manner. This must be paid for, and funds should be made available to improve upon this area of FCO work.
THE FCO IS A UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT SERVICE It requires an elitist role, with independent ways as distinct from a very different Home Civil service. This leads to another question that should be addressed. What is a good diplomat. A good diplomat should be someone who is culturally versed, proud to be British in the full meaning of the word and someone who is familiar and comfortable with being abroad. They are surrounded by a different value system and one where they can feel comfortable. In a period of crisis they are the first point of contact in a foreign country and with its government officials at the highest level. They should be of the highest calibre, recruited as the brightest and the best, and where necessary language competent.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND VALEDICTORY DESPATCHES The business of writing first impressions and valedictory despatches was a good business and one that should be reinstated by the FCO. The contribution made by Heads of Post in this regard has been extraordinary and engaging. It is this colour and this know how that gives value to the FCO and the government, along with some healthy and confidential criticism from time to time. These despatches have been written by highly capable people with essential input from colleagues who know about abroad. Why do away with them? This freedom of expression and opportunity should be encouraged and not dismissed.
POSITION OF ORIENTAL SECRETARY Once we had a position in the FCO called "Oriental Secretary" the old rank of 3rd secretary. Young graduate entrants who were language competent filled this vital post. One of the last to serve in this position was Mr C. Stitt, who was sent to Kabul, Afghanistan. It is a vital part of the reporting process of any mission, a listening post that can provide some excellent information of matters on the ground, in key areas of political reporting.
STAFF RECRUITMENT Staff recruitment should be decided purely on merit and not on tokenism, to fulfil the urge to reflect the wider/broader society! A key strength that we should look for in our diplomats aside from the ability for independent thought and integrity, is a mature sense of perspective and balance in the carrying out of their duties and in making their judgments. This could be promoted by enlisting a number of retired diplomats to assist the FCO in this crucially important area.
MORE STAFF AND NOT LESS In Sweden the DS service has been expanded and given a larger budget. The view taken that the business of the Foreign Office is more important today to Sweden than it was before. Perhaps we should look more carefully at what our neighbours are doing to meet the challenges of the new world order? Have we done this in any serious way?
SELF INTEREST Bilateral relations are still fed by self interest. This aspect of our work needs to be maintained, and carried out by our diplomats. This requires special skills, that perhaps only the best can perform. It would then be essential to have our diplomats involved with these essential core areas, rather like the two tier system that was present before with an A stream entrant and an E stream entrant. The A stream entrant was recruited to do the work of diplomacy and the E streamer was essentially an administrator. An Ambassador/ High Commissioner should not be saddled with administrative work and form filling, this should be left to the Deputy Head of Post to do.
161 In conclusion, we take the view that the FCO should take charge of what it is good at! Namely Diplomacy. That is what it was always good at.
This requires expertise at the highest level, and recruiters should be looking for the brightest and the best. The FCO is a key Government Department and more independence is certainly required for it to be an effective and lead government department. There are many ways that a more meaningful and well directed FCO can operate, one where its integrity and independence are fundamental to its well being.
Too much interference has crippled this ability!
What made the FCO run so well in the past was its ability to win friends and influence. We need to refocus on this core skill. We need to work closely with the British Council and the BBC on information work, matters of culture and education and English a universal main language.
The FCO is in a state of confusion and there is no doubt that its role needs to be more clearly defined. We cannot afford to get this wrong.
We hope that some of the comments and suggestions in the above submission are of value to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
26 January 2011
Lead: Bio Details of the contributors to this submission:
Peter W Marshall, Lead contributor. FCO Last post Beijing, China 1984, retired. Bernard Marshall, last post Iraq conflict resolution desk, FCO retired. Mike Hall, last post Strasbourg, Deputy Head of Mission, FCO retired. Alan Smith, last post Majorca, HM Consul, FCO retired. Eric Mattey, last post Deputy Head of Mission, Doha, Qatar, FCO retired. Alp Mehmet, last post UK Ambassador Iceland, FCO retired
162 Letter from Sir Peter Marshall, KCMG CVO
I have followed with close attention the timely and searching inquiry which the Committee have launched into the role of the FCO in UK Government. In the light of the evidence, both oral and written, which the Committee have so far received, I venture to offer a complementary line of approach to the question, namely a study of the rise of the advisory role in diplomacy.
The familiar proposition that “foreign policy is about what to do, and diplomacy is about how to do it” has its uses as a reminder that it is one thing to devise a foreign policy and that it may be quite another successfully to implement it. But the proposition is seriously misleading in as far as it is taken to mean that the national diplomatic apparatus at home and abroad has no significant part in the formulation of policy, as distinct from its execution. The truth rather is that while the Diplomatic Service is and must remain primarily an executive body, and while there have been profound changes in its executive role during the past hundred years, the changes have been of even more significance in its advisory role. The latter could be said scarcely to have existed even a century ago. The history of the Diplomatic Service in the last hundred years has in consequence turned largely on the evolution of its advisory function.
At the risk of some oversimplification, the evolution of the advisory role of the Diplomatic Service can be traced by reference to six administrative landmarks:
(1) the Foreign Office reforms of 1905-06; (2) the 1943 White Paper Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service; (3) the Report of the Plowden Committee, 1964; (4) the 1978 White Paper The United Kingdom’s Overseas Representation; (5) Mr Jack Straw’s 2003 White Paper UK International Priorities, and (6) HMG’s series of statements in October, 2010, on National Security, the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the Comprehensive Spending Review, and the ensuing FCO Business Plan
These landmarks are examined individually in what follows.
I The “Inverted Sieve”: the 1905-06 Foreign Office Reforms
In the nineteenth century and earlier, diplomats served only abroad. The Foreign Office was staffed by a separate breed of Clerks. They did not necessarily consider it was their duty to offer advice to the Ministers on whose behalf they shuffled the papers. The volume and complexity of business was inexorably rendering untenable any such laid back approach to diplomacy. In the first decade of the twentieth century a new system was introduced into the Foreign Office whereby papers were filtered upward through the hierarchy, rather than passed downward from the top. It was inherent in this process of upward filtering, aptly described as the “inverted sieve”, that the upward filtering would be accompanied by comment and recommendation on the papers so filtered. At a stroke the Foreign Office Clerks became advisers rather than scribes. The effect on the conduct
163 of business was profound. The Foreign Office started to assume the general character with which we are familiar today, albeit on a far smaller scale, in which the advisory and executive elements in its work became ever more closely related.
II “Diplomacy in Fetters”: the 1943 Proposals for Reform of the Foreign Service
The multiple convulsions of the Great War infused the reform process with an urgency which it might otherwise have lacked. But events were moving faster still. There had been a vast increase in the responsibilities of government, especially in the fields of economic and social management; in the volume and speed of communications; in public concern with international affairs; and in the overlap between internal and external affairs.
Sir Victor Wellesley, Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1925 to 1936, contended that democratic diplomacy and foreign policy—“for all practical purposes they are one and inseparable”—no longer functioned effectively because their background had changed while the machinery and the mindset of diplomacy had remained static. Diplomacy was “in fetters”.
This sombre analysis lay behind the presentation to Parliament in January, 1943, by the wartime Coalition Government of the White Paper Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service. Its mainspring was the conviction that the process of amalgamation of hitherto separate services engaged in diplomatic work which was started at the end of the Great War needed to be completed. Specifically this involved the combining of the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Service with the Consular Service and the Commercial Diplomatic Service to form a single Foreign Service. This would require the creation of a comprehensively-trained body of generalists capable of serving all over the world, drawn from a wider social background than previously, administered on a basis adequate to modern requirements, and able to provide career opportunities to all the members of the Service. The White Paper warned that this would require a considerable increase in numbers and a significant rise in expenditure.
III Ends, Ways and Means: the Plowden Report, February, 1964
The radical and imaginative proposals for reform set forth in 1943 were of necessity outlined only briefly in the White Paper itself. It was natural that putting them into effect after the war would encounter a number of problems. The latter fell into two broad categories. In the first was improvement in the terms and conditions of the members of the new combined Foreign Service, so as to ensure the achievement of the objective of creating a service drawn from a wider social background and fully open to, those without private financial resources. In the second was the nature of the task which the service was expected to fulfil, which in the event proved to be much more onerous than was envisaged in 1943, both as regards prevailing international conditions and by virtue of our chronic post-war relative economic weakness.
164 Beyond these two categories there loomed the vexed question of the machinery of government for the management of international affairs, including the viability of the increasingly anomalous separate Commonwealth Relations Office (itself an uneasy amalgam of the former Dominions and India Offices) and the related question of whether the Foreign Service could realistically aspire to provide the corps of omni-competent generalists required to implement world wide government policies.
By virtue of my responsibilities at the time, I was principally responsible for urging on HMG the case of a review of the 1943 Reforms in operation. The case was eventually accepted, but with a significant widening of the mandate. In July, 1962, the Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan appointed a high level Committee on Representational Services Overseas, under the chairmanship of Lord Plowden, an eminent business man and public servant. The Committee’s Report, presented to Parliament in February, 1964, is a superb analytical and prescriptive achievement. Its simultaneous mastery of the big picture and of operational and administrative detail gives it an authority which attaches to no other document on the subject.
Strategically, the Report insisted that it was in Britain’s interest and in the general interest that Britain’s voice should continue to be heard, despite the clear decline in our relative military and economic strength. Functionally, the Committee put “advising HMG” at the top of the list of tasks, and specified that economic and commercial work had now assumed a position of fundamental importance and “must be regarded as a first charge on the resources of the overseas services”.
Administratively, the Committee recommended the amalgamation of the Foreign Service, the Commonwealth Service, and the Trade Commissioner Service to form “HM Diplomatic Service”. For fear of jeopardising the achievement of the substantial improvements they sought in the terms and conditions of members of the Service, the Committee steered clear of controversial questions of the machinery of government. They likewise stopped short of recommending the amalgamation of the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, suggesting instead that the two Departments should be administered jointly by a Diplomatic Service Administration Office. (The full merger took place in 1968.)
Diminished national Self-Confidence: the Duncan and Think Tank Reports
Politically and economically, the 1960s were a discouraging decade. Dean Acheson reflected the situation waspishly in a speech in 1962 with his observation that “Britain had lost an Empire and not yet found a role”. In 1963 de Gaulle vetoed our first bid to join the EEC. The incoming Labour Government of 1964 was assailed with problems from the outset. A further devaluation of sterling appeared inevitable, and eventually occurred in November, 1967. The UK launched a second bid that year to join the EEC which was similarly rebuffed by de Gaulle. In January, 1968, the Government announced Britain’s military withdrawal for East of Suez. There was a general sentiment that it was time to be more modest about our international pretensions. The Plowden Report could seem to be a counsel of perfection.
165
Such was the background to the appointment in August, 1968, by the Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, of a further Committee of inquiry under the prominent industrialist Sir Val Duncan. Its avowed purpose was to save money. In its report, published in July, 1969, the Committee declared that Britain was now “a major power of the second rank” and recommended that our representational effort should be focussed on what it called “the Area of Concentration”—“a dozen or so countries of Western Europe plus the United States”—and that other countries should be regarded as belonging to the “Outer Area”, where our interests were largely commercial. Even at the time the Committee’s proposal seemed bizarre. The tide of world wide interdependence was already rising strongly. It soon swept the notion away.
The case for cutting our foreign policy coat according to our diminished national cloth did not disappear. Our efforts to join the EEC finally bore fruit on January 1, 1973. Yet our economic difficulties persisted. The UK borrowed heavily from the IMF in1976. Worse still, there seemed to be in Whitehall, and perhaps also in Westminster, an air of lassitude, if not of defeatism. It was suggested that “in the 1950s we managed decline; in the 1960s we mismanaged decline; and in the 1970s we declined to manage”.
It was in this sombre atmosphere that in January, 1976, James Callaghan, at that time Foreign Secretary, asked the Central Policy Review Staff (the “Think Tank”) to undertake yet another review, extending to all aspects of overseas representation. S in the case of the Cuncan Committee, the quest was for savings. The CPRS produced a massive Report in August, 1977. Its message in essence was that the Diplomatic Service should do less and, on a selective basis, do it less thoroughly. The CPRS recommended that there should be more interchange, and even a merger in some areas, with the Home Civil Service, and that a special export promotion service and a special aid administration should be created. The CPRS went on to canvass the abolition of the British Council, with a redistribution of its functions between the Ministry of Overseas Development and the Department of Education and Science. As regards the BBC and the notion of a universal broadcasting service, the time had come for a radical look at existing broadcasting patterns.
IV The 1978 White Paper on UK Overseas Representation: flawed in Parts
The bravado of the CPRS Report, combined with criticisms and queries from a number of reports from various House of Commons Committees, seemed to call for an ex cathedra statement of the Government’s views. In August, 1978, in the closing months of his administration, James Callaghan, now Prime Minister, and the Foreign Secretary, Dr (now Lord) Owen presented to Parliament a White Paper The United Kingdom’s Overseas Representation. It is something of an oddity.
On the one hand, it is a clear and up-to-date expose of the role of the Diplomatic Service in the difficult international conditions in which we found ourselves as a country. It showed how much common ground existed in the various detailed analyses contained in the recent reports, and indeed how much was owed to the hard work which went into
166 their compilation. It emphasised how much reform was already afoot. And it testified to the reality that at the end of the day foreign policy was not about what you can afford to do so much as about what you cannot afford not to do. Interdepartmentally it was regarded at the time as game, set and match to the FCO.
On the other hand, the White Paper was unduly orthodox and defensive. There was considerable feeling among the younger members of the Diplomatic Service that there had been insufficient dispassionate examination of the thornier issues raised by the Think Tank.
On the analytical plane, the White Paper contained weaknesses which proved to be the source of substantial subsequent difficulty. These may be seen specifically to stem from two phrases: first, the surprising inclusion of the outmoded proposition that “foreign policy is about what has to be done and diplomacy is about how to do it”. Second, the assertion that “responsibility for the overall conduct of overseas in the broadest sense of the term will continue to be vested in a single Cabinet Minister, namely the Secretary of State from Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, so that the right level of political co- ordination and input is maintained (italics mine)”.
The scope for misunderstanding in that remarkable sentence is plentiful. If responsibility “in the broadest sense” is to rest with a single Minister, it cannot be other than the Prime Minister. Below that level, the italicised words suggest that the distribution of labour between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and his or her Cabinet colleagues consists of the application of a presumably superior political judgment by the former on the presumably non-political activities of other departments. A much more sophisticated rationale for interdepartmental co-operation and co-ordination in the field of international affairs is required and has in fact long been in place. It is also worth noting the use of the word “input”, rather than “output”. This implies that the prescription applies to the formulation of policy, as well as to its execution, and that diplomacy is about what to do as well as how to do it.
FCO Vulnerabilities in fulfilling a demanding Role
The role envisaged for the Diplomatic Service in the 1978 White Paper is nothing if not demanding. It requires of the members of the Service collectively, and to some extent individually, a simultaneous grasp of both substance and process in the management of our international involvement as a whole. This has to manifest itself as a capacity both to accumulate a vast store of information, analysis, experience and reflection, and to deploy that accumulation usefully and quickly howsoever circumstances may dictate. This cannot be done satisfactorily on the cheap.
It also requires that the FCO is beyond reproach as regards the comprehensiveness and objectivity of its own perceptions. There is a balance to be struck in this regard. On the one hand a professional diplomatic cadre can be expected in general to eschew bias. On the other hand it would also be expected that great Departments of State, including the Foreign Office, would develop by dint of long years of experience a certain ethos or
167 tradition in handling our overseas business. While this is generally beneficial, it may lead to of priorities out of tune with the times or the national temperament. Three examples may be given.
(1) The Commonwealth Lacuna
On its creation in 1968, the FCO was at pains to insist that there would be “no detraction from Britain’s partnership with her fellow members of the Commonwealth and her capacity to contribute to that partnership”. That is not how events transpired. The Commonwealth tended to slip below the radar screen. Expertise in Commonwealth affairs all but vanished. Interest in them dwindled. The priority of securing membership of the EEC, pervasive economic difficulties, and sharp intra-Commonwealth disagreements all played their part. So did Ministerial disenchantment. But even in combination these factors do not provide an adequate justification for overall institutional neglect. In one halcyon year the only context in which the word “Commonwealth” appeared in the FCO Annual Departmental Report was in the term “Foreign and Commonwealth Office”.
The Commonwealth is no sovereign remedy for all our ills. Yet it is a modest boon to its members and, in the UK case a distinct national asset, complementing, rather than competing with, other features of our international involvement. The Coalition Government have already given strong evidence of their declared intention to “put the ‘C’ back into FCO”.
(2) At odds with “The Third World Coalition”
One of the most prominent characteristics of the post-war world has been the vast expansion of the international community, consequent upon the achievement of a large number of previously dependent countries. Membership of the United Nations effectively quadrupled between 1945 and the end of the century. It was natural that these new members should find common cause and joint organisation in their commitment to the imperatives of decolonisation, and development. This powerful trend, aptly described as ”the Third World Coalition”, found its chief expression successively in UNCTAD, the “New International Economic Order”, the “North/South Dialogue” and “Global Negotiations”.
For reasons which are hard to fathom, the FCO appeared ill at ease with all these manifestations of Third World Solidarity. Perhaps the difficulties stemmed from the misleading distinction, all too easily drawn in classical diplomacy, between “political” and “economic”, and from an inadequate grasp of the intensely political character of the approach of the developing countries to negotiations with the developed world on matters which the latter generally regarded as “economic” or “social”. The crunch came in 1980 when the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee asked the Government’s views on the recently published Brandt Commission Report. The Commission was an imaginative effort to find common ground in a dialogue between developed and developing countries which was becoming increasingly unfruitful. It was a challenge
168 which the FCO proved unable to meet. The FCO Memorandum of July, 1980, published in reply to the request of the Foreign Affairs Committee, was roundly condemned on all sides.
The world has moved on. Not least under the influence of the Commonwealth, the emphasis has changed from inter-governmental negotiations between developed and developing countries to agreed international priorities for improving the lot at the grass roots of the least fortunate of humankind, notably enshrined in the Millennium Goals and the concept of “good governance”. But the episode has had lasting effects on the interdepartmental handling of development matters in Whitehall. As the Foreign Affairs Committee recently noted, of the 30 members of the OECD, only one other country than Britain—Germany—has a fully-fledged ministry of international development, with all the others maintaining agencies or departments that in one way or another fall under the authority of the foreign ministry”.
(3) Excessive Preoccupation with the European Union?
The FCO has long manifested what can be described as an institutional bias in favour of involvement in the European Union. In general this is not difficult to understand. There is no doubt as to the importance of gaining entry into the EEC, notwithstanding the high price exacted from us by the French in particular for standing aloof at the outset. Les absents ont toujours tort. But even when we were inside rather than outside, and when there had been a marked improvement in both our economic fortunes and our national self-confidence, we seemed inhibited from fighting our corner as fully as the defence and promotion of our interests required. The emphasis instead was tempering assertiveness or reluctance in the interest of “being at the heart of Europe” and of “full membership of the club”.
It was the persistent general advice from officials that Ministers should go along with what was being proposed rather than seek to play for time and hope for something better. The upshot was acceptance of collective measures and rulings which went increasingly against the national grain. The culmination was the foisting on the country by dubious means of the obviously flawed Lisbon Treaty. The backlash against the latter, combined with the hardships of the severe recession which began in 2007, and of its aftermath, have effectively put a damper on any further EU integration, except, perhaps, in the context of the crisis gripping the Eurozone.
Neglect of the Advisory Function
When discussing the nature or the extent of the ethos or the tradition of a great Department of State, it is important not to lose sight of the cardinal principle that it is Ministers, not officials, who make policy. Departments are often criticised for their actions when in fact they are quite properly carrying out instructions from Ministers with which they may be out of sympathy. The criticism levelled at the Foreign Office over the appeasement of pre-war Nazi Germany is a case in point.
169 In the context of the Committee’s present inquiry, these examples of FCO vulnerability are less significant in themselves than as illustrations of the vital importance of discharging to the full the extensive advisory responsibilities of the Diplomatic Service. The vulnerabilities do not arise from any executive deficiency. They are about what to do rather than how to do it.
V Mr Straw’s White Paper of 2003: the Apotheosis of the Advisory Function
Much has happened since the publication of the 1978 White Paper. Internationally, the ending of the Cold War has been a major benefit, even if it has brought problems as well as opportunities in its wake. The events of September 11, 2001, signalled the advent of a new phase of world wide interdependence, in which international terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction emerged as potentially the greatest threats to security.
The change of mindset required of the Diplomatic Service in order to manage this extraordinary transition can be compared to that which inspired the seminal Foreign Office reform of the first decade of the twentieth s century. It is encapsulated in the ground-breaking White Paper UK International Priorities - A Strategy for the FCO, launched in December, 2003, by the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw. “For the first time”, Mr Straw explained, “the Foreign and Commonwealth is publishing a comprehensive Strategy describing the UK’s international priorities and the FCO’s role in achieving them”. The White Paper noted that the FCO needed to work more closely with other Departments whose responsibilities covered important areas of international action. “Our diplomacy will also increasingly involve people outside Government: Parliamentarians, business, the media, NGOs and interest groups”
The formulation of the priorities is an object lesson in clarity, succinctness and comprehensiveness. The emphasis was on flexibility and the capacity to adjust to changes in circumstances. The White Paper represented in truth the apotheosis of the advisory function, a perfect fusion between the executive and the advisory components of diplomacy. The two are as inextricably mixed as are substance and process.
Modern Discontents: (i) “sofa diplomacy”
Misgivings nonetheless persisted, but of a somewhat different character from those discussed in the Duncan and CPRS Reports. Chief among them were those related to the extent to which under the Blair and Brown administrations the FCO was elbowed aside by a small group of advisers in No 10, and “sofa” or “bunker” diplomacy replaced the orthodox variety. The situation indeed bordered at times on the grotesque. The Coalition Government has made good its promise to put an end to it.
But this does not imply that the Prime Minister will be less deeply involved in foreign affairs. The realities of interdependence mean that it could not be otherwise. There is an inevitable element of the presidential about modern government, extending to external, as well as to internal, affairs. The Prime Minister is ex officio First Lord of the Treasury,
170 which is a useful reminder of his or her locus standi with that great Department of State. It might be helpful if some equivalent formulation could be found to reflect the Prime Minister’s position in the case of the FCO.
(ii) “Managerialism”
A second clutch of criticisms relate to the perceived trend in the FCO, as in other Government Departments towards excessive emphasis on the management of business. There is a good deal of evidence to support these criticisms. Yet the point is not a simple one. In these days of near-ubiquitous “delivery deficit”, taxpayers are more entitled than ever to look for value for money. This implies examination of outputs as well as inputs, and the adoption in some form of general criteria for measuring the results achieved against those which were expected.
But this does not justify the adoption by the FCO, in undiscriminating common with other Government Departments, of management tools and practices in conditions which can be so utterly different. Still less does it apply if those tools and practices are imported from the private sector, in the belief that they are universally applicable in the public sector as well. In their Report on the FCO Annual Report 2008-09, the Foreign Affairs Committee were forthright on the matter: “we have consistently questioned whether the it is appropriate to have a set of performance indicators assessed in terms of detailed and sometimes quantified indicators”.
“Hollowing out of the FCO”
Third, and possibly the most serious, group of criticisms relates to the quality of advice offered by the FCO. It has the authority of Lord Hurd, the former Foreign Secretary. Before turning to politics he was a member of the Diplomatic Service and is almost uniquely qualified to express an opinion on the subject. He spoke of a feeling that the FCO was “hollowed” out on the advisory side, and was no longer characterised to the same extent by the solid expertise for which it had previously been known.
There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence to support Lord Hurd’s view. While there may be no easy explanation of how such a situation had arisen, it is a legitimate conjecture that it is the joint product of the “managerialism” already referred to and the chronic lack of resources allocated to the Diplomatic Service to discharge its great and growing tasks. When finances are stretched the advisory function is in the nature of things more likely to suffer than the executive.
VI The Stance of the Coalition Government: a most encouraging Prospect
In a speech on January 28 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Prime Minister described the inheritance of the Coalition Government on taking office: “an economy built on the worst deficit, the most leveraged banks, the most indebted households, the biggest housing boom and unsustainable levels of public spending and immigration”. The Coalition Government’s response has been Herculean. The series of statements made in
171 October on National Security; The Strategic Defence and Security Review and The Comprehensive Spending Review, and the ensuing FCO Business Plan are an awe-inspiring and highly encouraging road-map for extricating ourselves from a parlous situation.
Analytically, these texts represent, in a wider and more advanced form, a significant characteristic of Mr Straw’s 2003 White Paper: namely thinking joined-up both “horizontally”—as between different aspects of policy—and “vertically”—in the sense of grounding the individual aspects of policy in a general assessment of national interest, disposition and cohesion. In spite of the painful choices they inevitably contain, the panoply of measures announced inspire great confidence.
VII Conclusion
Three conclusions emerge from this historical survey of the rise of the advisory role of the Diplomatic Service:
(1) the changes in the conduct, direction, priorities and resourcing of Diplomatic Service business necessary to respond to the transformation in world conditions have been so extensive and so profound that they cannot as yet be said to be fully reflected in current practice. Nor is this likely to be achieved in any near future. It is a matter of patient evolution, and the cultivation of a mindset very different from that which is traditionally associated with the word “diplomacy”;
(2) it is beyond doubt that the Diplomatic Service is currently under-resourced. It is not to be expected, however, that this deficiency can be remedied while government expenditure is under the present severe restraints;
(3) as soon as conditions permit, however, the situation described in (1) and (2) should be addressed by a further comprehensive review on the lines followed by the Plowden Committee. 2014, the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the Plowden Report, might be a suitable date for the commencement of such a review.
I am conscious that in submitting this historical survey, even though it does not err on the side of brevity, it has been necessary to compress the relevant material to the point where there is a danger of over simplification. I am therefore attaching as background a memorandum of greater length which amplifies the analysis and contains appropriate references to the relevant sources. It was prepared primarily in response to the recommendation by the previous Foreign Affairs Committee, in their Report on the FCO Annual Report 2008-09, that “the new Government should carry out a comprehensive foreign policy-led review of the structures, functions and priorities of the FCO, MOD and DFID”. I have already made this memorandum available to your highly competent and dedicated Committee staff.
Finally, as someone who is proud to have served in the Diplomatic Service for thirty-four years, I would observe that the story of the growth of the advisory role of the Diplomatic
172 Service is not one of grudging response to outside criticism. Most of the impulse for reform has come from within. At the same time there is no claim to a monopoly of wisdom in the matter. Insights from outside are welcome. The motivation is not aggrandisement of the Service, but a concern to provide the nation in rapidly changing conditions with the best possible service in its extensive international involvement. The objective, as aptly described by the 1978 White Paper, is to “establish a pattern capable of adapting to the future on the basis of a realistic yet confident assessment of Britain’s role in the world”. The Committee’s present inquiry will assuredly make a significant contribution in this regard.
Written submission by Sir Peter Marshall, KCMG CVO
What to do as well as how to do it: the Rise of the Advisory Function in British Diplomacy
Introduction
The concluding recommendation of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, in their Report on the FCO Annual Report 2008–09, published on March 21, 2010, was that the new Government should “carry out a comprehensive foreign policy-led review of the structures, functions and priorities of the FCO, MOD and DFID”.1 At the conclusion of five years of intense and fruitful involvement in both the substance and the process of British foreign policy, the members of the Committee were exceptionally well placed to make such a recommendation.
It remains to be seen how HMG react to the recommendation. The foreground is in any case dominated by the necessity of sharp cuts in government expenditure, from which the national diplomatic apparatus cannot expect wholly to escape. What is clear is that the considerations and the issues underlying the recommendation will not go away. They will need to be addressed in some manner. They extend to areas and questions which might seem remote to those unfamiliar with recent trends in the management of international relations. They will certainly engage the attention of the new House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. Analytically speaking, the crux of the matter is that, although there have been profound changes in the executive role of the Diplomatic Service, the changes have been of even greater importance in its advisory role. The latter could be said scarcely to have existed even a century ago. The history of the Diplomatic Service in the last hundred years has in consequence turned to a great extent on the evolution of its advisory function.
The present memorandum begins by summarising the principal changes in diplomatic conditions since the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, and especially since the adoption of the United Nations Charter at the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. It then
173 surveys the developments in British diplomatic priorities and practice which have occurred over the years in response to them, and to changes in the national situation and disposition which prompted those developments. The memorandum turns next to the problems judged to be currently confronting the Diplomatic Service, especially in the form in which they were outlined in the Report of the out-going House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. Finally it comments briefly on the initial stance of the Coalition Government on coming into power in May, 2010, to whom it will fall to address the Foreign Affairs Committee recommendation.
I Vectors in the Transformation of Diplomatic Conditions
Six inter-related factors or vectors—forces having both magnitude and direction - can be regarded as the chief agents of the transformation of “classical” diplomacy, which largely prevailed between the peace of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1618 until the outbreak of the Great War, into the diplomatic conditions of the 21st century:
(i) an enormous increase world wide in the volume, complexity and intensity of diplomatic business, a reflection of the all-embracing qualitative change in cross-border activity from the market-based interdependence indicated by the use of the phrase “the world economy” to the omni-disciplinary realities of the “global village”;
(ii) a presumption of a general community of interest between states rather than a fatalistic acceptance of the inevitability of potential, if not actual, clash of interest between them;
(iii) the prominence of “values”, as well as interests, as conventionally and astringently understood in the use of such terms as Realpolitik and raison d’etat. This is the concomitant of the shift of emphasis in priorities in diplomatic business from national security against external threat on the one hand, to preoccupation with the security and welfare of the individual world wide on the other. Values apply not only between countries but also at every level within them;
(iv) a great rise in the number of diplomatic “actors”, non-governmental as well as governmental, and the accompanying wide dispersal from national central authority of relevant decision-making. This dispersal has been both upward and downward, intranational and international, and de facto as well as de jure. It is notably expressed in the concept of governance, as distinct from government, and in the imperfectly understood concept of supranationality, as distinct from state sovereignty and prerogative;
(v) intense public, and interactive, involvement in diplomatic business, to an extent made possible—and ultimately inevitable—by the revolutions in information processing and dissemination, and by the associated vast increase in the speed of worldwide communications; and
174 (vi) the vanishing distinction between internal and external affairs, and of the hitherto clear accepted difference between the two, above all in sovereignty and jurisdictional terms. This distinction was the bedrock of the nation-state system which “classical” diplomacy was designed to serve.
Each of the vectors clearly merits intensive study on its own. Each is both a causal factor and a derivative of its fellows. The whole is not so much the sum, as the product, of its wide-ranging parts. The total impact on the conduct of diplomatic business could not but be profound.2
II The Rise of the Advisory Function in the Framing of Foreign Policy
The proposition “foreign policy is about what to do; diplomacy is about how to do it” has long been familiar. It is growing increasingly misleading. It is of course a valuable reminder that, while it is one thing to devise foreign policy, it is likely to be quite another to implement it. However the proposition can easily be taken to mean that diplomacy is in effect an executive business only. A hundred years ago this could perhaps have been regarded as an essentially accurate depiction of the British way of doing things. Diplomats of Sir Ernest Satow’s generation served abroad only. While they could, and did, make recommendations at what should be done, their emphasis was naturally on how they should do it.
This explains the structure and character of Satow’s magisterial Guide to Diplomatic Practice.3 The underlying assumption was that any necessary advice to the Secretary of State would be tendered from other sources. But the need for such advice was not regarded as self-evident. Foreign Office clerks, a separate breed from the diplomats, did not consider themselves obliged to offer advice on the papers which they shuffled on behalf of the Secretary of State
Nonetheless there was at least an implicit advisory element in the reports and recommendations from diplomats serving overseas. In a world of slow-moving feudal agricultural societies, this could perhaps have been regarded as broadly sufficient. The Industrial Revolution, the advent of democracy, ever more rapid communications, the emergence of a world economy, and surging intra-European rivalries and tensions, all combined to make any laid-back approach untenable.
(a) The “Inverted Sieve”
In the first decade of the twentieth century a new system was introduced in the Foreign Office, whereby papers were filtered upwards through the hierarchy, rather than passed downward from the top. The process was aptly described as “the inverted sieve”. It was inherent that the upward filtering would be accompanied comment and recommendation on the papers so filtered. At a stroke, the Foreign Office clerks became advisers in the policy-making process. “The days of the Foreign Office as a Department of scribes was past”.4
175 The principal moving spirit in this metamorphosis was Eyre Crowe, famous for his authorship in 1906 of the Memorandum on the Present State of British Relations with France and Germany.5 Originally labelled ‘secret’, it was published the following year. It has stood ever since as a classical expose of the fundamentals of British foreign policy, against which the particularities of individual aspects of policy needed to be measured and judged. The practical worth of the reforms then being initiated could not have been more graphically or more effectively illustrated.
176 (b) “Diplomacy in Fetters” (1944)
The multiple convulsions of the Great War infused the reform process with an urgency, which it might otherwise have lacked, across the British machinery of government as a whole. As described in The Foreign Office,6 the first official history, written by a former Chief Clerk and the Librarian, the post-war Foreign Office emerges as an advice-oriented structure along lines familiar to those of a later generation.
But events were moving faster still. There had been a great expansion of the responsibilities of government in the field of economic management and social conditions; a vast increase in the volume and speed of communications; a strident growth in the public content of foreign affairs and the extent to which public opinion had to be wooed and shaped. Above all, and beneath all, the surge of interdependence, called increasingly in question both the realism of the classical concept of national sovereignty and the continued relevance of national boundaries.
Perhaps the most profound British analysis of the diplomatic implications of all these developments is that contained in Diplomacy in Fetters, by Sir Victor Wellesley, Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1925 to 1936, published in 1944.7 Wellesley’s thesis in essence was that democratic diplomacy and foreign policy—“for all practical purposes they are one and inseparable”—in general no longer functioned effectively because their background had changed while the machinery of diplomacy had remained static. Foreign policy could no longer be dealt with in a vacuum, and on a hand- to-mouth basis.
Wellesley contended that, so long as diplomatic practitioners thought in traditional terms, rather than taking into account the full range of relevant factors—economic, industrial, technical, social, financial—as well as the power of ideology and propaganda in shaping policy, diplomacy was in fetters. His book dealt in detail with the way in which all these considerations needed to be reflected, not only in the experience, training and organisation of diplomats, but also in the machinery of government as a whole and in the conduct of parliamentary business.
III Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service, 1943: a Hint of mea culpa
The detail of Wellesley’s prescriptions cannot but seem somewhat over-elaborate. This, combined with his rather discursive style, may explain why his pioneering work was not better known, even among the professionals of his day, let alone subsequently. But much of his thesis, at least as far as diplomatic organisation was concerned, was contained in Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service, a White Paper submitted to Parliament by the wartime Coalition Government in January, 1943.8 The mainspring of the proposals was the conviction that the process of amalgamation of hitherto separate services engaged in diplomatic work which was started at the end of the Great War needed to be completed. Specifically this involved the combining of the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Service with the Consular Service and the Commercial Diplomatic Service to form a single Foreign Service.
177
“Among the criticisms which have been brought against the Diplomatic Service”, the White Paper states at the outset, “the view has been expressed that it is recruited from too small a circle, that it tends to represent the interests of certain sections of the nation rather than those of the country as a whole, that its members lead too sheltered a life, that they have insufficient understanding of economic and social questions, that the extent of their experience is too small to enable them properly to understand many of the problems with which they ought to deal, and that the range of their contacts is too limited to allow them to acquire more than a relatively narrow acquaintance with the foreign peoples amongst whom they live”.9
That the message in this wide-ranging critique was received and understood in substance within the Foreign Office is reflected in the proposals outlined later in the White Paper. In brief, these aim at the creation of a comprehensively-trained body of generalists, capable of serving all over the world, drawn from a wider social background than previously, administered on a basis adequate to modern requirements, and able to provide appropriate opportunities to individual members of the Service. The proposed reforms involved both a considerable increase in numbers and a significant rise in expenditure.
The White Paper naturally does not accept the critique wholly without demur. It claims that it arises in part from a misunderstanding of the role of the Diplomatic Service. “The diplomat must be able to keep HMG informed of developments which may affect their foreign policy, submitting his observations and advice, which may or may not be accepted. While a diplomat may therefore be able to influence foreign policy by his reports, he does not finally determine it. That is the task of the Cabinet”.10 The inwardness of this proposition at the time was that the Foreign Office was widely, and to a great extent unjustly, held to be the principal source of the policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany, which was popular enough at the outset, but was denounced violently as its failure became apparent. Neither for the first time, nor for the last time, the Foreign Office was taking the blame for a distasteful government policy which it was doing its best loyally to discharge.
The Foreign Office (1955): locus classicus
While the 1943 White Paper observes the constitutional niceties in setting out the distribution of labour in the shaping of foreign policy between the Cabinet and diplomats abroad, it does not deal with the input of the officials working in the Foreign Office, without which coverage of the diplomat’s advisory role could scarcely be said to be complete.
As explained earlier, the act of submitting papers for the attention of the Secretary of State, even on a minimalist interpretation of the duties of the staff of the Foreign Office, contains an element of the advisory. Substantive comment on the papers submitted obviously enhances that element. It is no less clear that whether the recommendations of diplomats serving abroad are accepted or not may turn largely on the comment offered by officials in the Foreign Office. The latter naturally draw on a wider range of relevant
178 considerations and factors than those to which a diplomat in a post abroad could normally be expected to have access. Foreign Office comment would also be based on a closer awareness of the situation, both domestic and international, in which the Secretary of State finds himself. It is obviously counterproductive to urge upon him lines of action which, however advantageous in terms of foreign policy objectives, are politically impossible for him to pursue.
Indeed the advisory boot is on the other foot, in the sense that policy recommendations may come more readily and acceptably from those responsible for offering comment in the Foreign Office than from those abroad, because of the greater familiarity of the former with the picture as a whole. Especially is this the case if the policy recommended is autonomous or “active”, rather than reactive to developments elsewhere.
All this emerged with crystal clarity in The Foreign Office (1955) by Lord Strang and “other members of the Foreign Service”, a volume in the New Whitehall Series, prepared under the auspices of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, as the successor to the earlier Whitehall Series which included The Foreign Office (1933). Written both from the inside and from the top, this invaluable work is not only a mine of information and insight; it is also an object lesson in the how to explain clearly, cogently and with a vein of restrained humour, altogether typical of Strang himself, matters which are both arcane and complex. To add to its great service, it reproduces in full the text of the 1943 White Paper. It is prudently dedicated “to Sir Anthony Eden who launched the reforms of 1943 and to the late Ernest Bevin who put them to effect”.11
Strang, assuredly one of the most scholarly occupants of the Permanent Under- Secretary’s chair, emphasises at the outset that “it is much easier to describe what the Foreign Office is than to state what it does”. He was at pains to explain why the Foreign Service had grown so greatly in recent years. It is highly instructive to compare the respective organograms in 1933 and 1955. In the case of the former, there were fourteen Departments, and the Secretary of State was assisted by one Ministerial colleague. In 1955 there were forty Departments, and the Secretary of State had four Ministerial colleagues. An Appendix on the Departmental Allocation of Work in the 1955 volume briefly describes the functions of each of the forty Departments. In twenty-eight cases the description begins with the words “advise the Secretary of State on …” As Strang put it in a later work, “essentially [members of the Foreign Service] help their Foreign Secretary to reach his decisions and then help him to carry them out”.12
IV The Plowden Report, 1964: diplomatic Apogee and Witness to fundamental Change
The “Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service” contained in the 1943 White Paper were both radical and imaginative. They were also of necessity outlined only briefly in the White Paper itself. They carried with them the specific warning that the cost of their implementation would be substantial. It was natural therefore that putting them into effect would encounter a number of problems. The latter fell into two broad categories. In the first was improvement of the conditions of service of the members of
179 the Foreign Service, including recruitment, training, career management and development and the provision for early retirement, where this was deemed to be in the public interest. Dispositions in this regard had not proved to be wholly commensurate with the objective of creating a service drawn from a wider background and fully open to those without private financial resources.
In the second category was the nature of the task which members of the Foreign Service were expected to fulfil. It proved in the event to be greatly different from that envisaged in 1943, both as regards the prevailing international circumstances and by virtue of our chronic post-war relative economic weakness. Beyond these two categories there loomed the vexed questions of interdepartmental division of labour in Whitehall and the machinery of government for the management of international affairs. There was a growing question mark over the realism of the 1943 assumption that the Foreign Service should be trained and equipped so as to be able to implement government policies generally, even where these might be largely in the bailiwick of other Departments.
A particular point of criticism, not least in the Commonwealth, was the existence of an increasingly anomalous separate Commonwealth Relations Office, the uneasy post-war amalgam of the former Dominions Office and India Office.
The Foreign Office case for a review was eventually accepted, but with significant widening of the mandate. In July, 1962, the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, appointed a high level Committee on Representational Services Overseas, under the chairmanship of Lord Plowden, an eminent business man and public servant. The Committee’s terms of reference were “to review the purpose, structure and operation of the services responsible for representing the interests of the UK government overseas, both in Commonwealth and foreign countries, and to make recommendations, having regard to changes in political social and economic circumstances in this country and overseas”. The Treasury insisted on the appointment of one of their officials as a joint Secretary of the Committee.
The Committee’s Report was presented to Parliament in February, 1964.13 It is a superb analytical and prescriptive achievement. Its simultaneous mastery of the big picture and of operational and administrative detail gives it an authority that attaches to no other document on the subject. It at once endorsed the case for review: “the world in which the overseas Services now have to operate is no longer the world of 1943 or even a world which could be foreseen in 1943….We therefore begin our report with an attempt to assess the consequences for our overseas services of the changes in the national and international scene which have occurred in the last twenty years or so and those further changes which can reasonably be expected”.
The Committee drew three main conclusions from this survey. First, while there had been a clear decline in Britain’s relative military and economic strength, “it was in our interest and in the general interest that Britain’s voice should continue to be heard”. For this to be achieved “we shall require to make the best possible use of ‘diplomacy’ and ‘persuasion’. What we can no longer ensure by power alone, we must secure by other means”. Secondly, in this task “our ‘diplomatic’ Services have an indispensable part to play. The
180 strength and quality of their performance must be fully maintained”. The present scale of their activities, however, “ought not, in the aggregate, to be greatly exceeded”. Thirdly, “while economic and political motives intertwine throughout our foreign policy and have always done so, economic and commercial work has now assumed a position of fundamental importance. It must be regarded as a first charge on the resources of the overseas services”.14
The Committee described the main tasks on which the overseas Services were engaged as:
(a) advising HMG on every aspect of foreign policy; (b) negotiation; (c) cultivation of friendly relations; (d) trade promotion; (e) information—explaining and getting acceptance of British policies; (f) protection of British persons and interests, and (g) aid and technical assistance.
This list broke new ground as regards the public explanation of the work of the overseas services. It was a convincing demonstration of the way in which conditions had changed since 1943. It underlined Strang’s observation that it is easier to describe what we are than to state what we do. Most significant of all, perhaps, it put “advising HMG” at the top of the list of functions. That is a far cry indeed from nineteenth century diplomacy.
In pursuit of this profound analysis of the tasks, the Committee made a large number of detailed recommendations for improvement both in the conditions of service of members of the overseas services and in their management. In the general administrative field, the Committee’s principal proposal was that a unified Service should be created out of the hitherto separate Foreign Service, Commonwealth Service and Trade Commission Service, to be known as “HM Diplomatic Service”. The Committee stopped short of recommending the immediate amalgamation of the Foreign Office and Commonwealth Relations Office, but suggested instead that the two Departments should be administered jointly by a Diplomatic Service Administration Office.
Apogee or Counsel of Perfection?
The Plowden Report represents the apogee of review of the “purpose, structure and operation” of British diplomacy. Forty years on, does it retain its practical validity, or should it be thought of as a counsel of perfection? The diplomatic answer to the question is “both”. On the one hand, the Committee were undoubtedly right in basing their Report on the assumption that we wish as a people to continue to be actively involved internationally. A substantial diplomatic apparatus is essential to such involvement. The Report does a job second to none in elaborating that requirement. On the other hand, the fundamental change in international conditions described in the first section of this memorandum would seem to demand a greater flexibility in assessing both what we
181 should be seeking to do and the means by which we should aim to get things done - including by non-official or non-governmental means.15
In the nature of politics, this is not a matter likely to be settled solely on its objective merits. Events are apt to take control. The Plowden Report appeared in the closing days of a long period of Conservative Government. Its aftermath coincided with a growing awareness of the unpleasant realities of continuing British economic weakness, as well as de Gaulle’s imperious veto of our first, already belated, bid to join the European Economic Community. The issue thus was not so much the failure of the Diplomatic Service to adapt to meet its tasks, about which Wellesley had agonised twenty years previously, and which had prompted the 1943 Reforms. Rather there was an uneasy feeling that the apparatus was altogether too big and ambitious for a country whose political and economic influence had declined. The reaction to the Plowden Report was not long in coming.
V Diminished national Self-Confidence: Duncan and the Think Tank
In a speech at West Point on December 5, 1962, Dean Acheson, a former US Secretary of State, delivered what is probably the best-known verdict on British foreign policy since the end of the Second World War: “Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role”.16 This waspish observation was ill-received at the time, not least because it was uncomfortably near the truth. There seemed to be no let up in our post-war adversities. The in-coming Labour Government n 1964 was beset with problems from the outset. A further devaluation of sterling seemed inevitable, and eventually occurred in November, 1967. The UK launched its second bid to join the EEC in the autumn of that year. It was similarly rebuffed by de Gaulle. In January, 1968, the Government announced its military withdrawal from East of Suez.
The Duncan Committee
Such was the background to the appointment in August, 1968, by the Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, “with the agreement of the Prime Minister (Harold Wilson), and other Ministers concerned”, of a further committee of enquiry under the chairmanship of Sir Val Duncan, a leading industrialist. It was entitled “The Review Committee on Overseas Representation”, the difference in terminology, as compared to the Plowden Committee, betokening an emphasis on the situation at home as well as abroad.
The terms of reference were at once more elaborate and more urgent than those of the Plowden Committee. The avowed purpose was to save money. It is also relevant that a few months earlier the Report of the Fulton Committee on the Home Civil Service had been published.17 This contained some very sharp criticisms, particularly in relation to alleged failure to adapt sufficiently to the requirements of the twentieth century and to excessive allegiance to the “philosophy of the amateur (or ‘generalist’ or ‘all rounder’)”. While not directed at the Diplomatic Service, which was outside the Committee’s terms of reference, these strictures were nonetheless held to apply in some measure to it.
182 Wide though they were, the Duncan Committee interpreted their terms of reference even more widely, to include all activities financed out of public funds which were concerned with the conduct of British external relations, including the British Council and the External Services of the BBC. The Duncan Committee classified the main types of work “involved in overseas representation” as
(a) the handling of intergovernmental relations; (b) advice on foreign policy; (c) advising and helping British subjects, overseas or in an overseas context; (d) reporting; (e) influencing overseas opinion; (f) processing potential travellers to Britain, and (g) self-administration.
The Report of the Committee was published in July, 1969.18 Its focus was the relative decline in Britain’s position. While much of it covers detailed ground already well trodden by the Plowden Committee, what the Report had to say on the big picture was nothing if not novel. We were now “a major power of the second rank”. It accordingly suggested that our representational effort should be focussed on what it called “the Area of Concentration”—“a dozen or so countries of Western Europe plus the United States”—and that other countries should be regarded as belonging to the “Outer Area”, where our interests were largely commercial. The Soviet Union, China, Japan, India and all the major developing countries, to speak nothing of the world’s neuralgic trouble spots, were thus relegated to relative darkness. Even at the time, the Committee’s proposal seemed bizarre. The tide of world wide interdependence was already rising strongly. It soon swept the notion away.
The CPRS Review
On receipt of the Duncan Report, the Labour Government indicated that it expected to be guided by the main body of its recommendations. In the event the aftermath of the Report was dominated by sustained, intense and ultimately successful British diplomatic efforts to join the European Economic Community. The momentum of these efforts was increased with the return of a Conservative Government in 1970. Enlargement of the EEC formally took effect on January 1, 1973. The European dimension, combined with the Labour’s return to power in 1974, and renewed economic difficulties (the UK borrowed heavily from the IMF in 1976), prompted a further inquiry into overseas representation.
In January, 1976, James Callaghan, then Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary asked the Sir Kenneth Berrill, the Head of the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), to undertake a review with the following terms of reference:
“to review the nature and extent of our overseas interests and requirements and in the light of that review to make recommendations on the most suitable, effective and economic means of representing and promoting those interests both at home and
183 overseas. The review will embrace all aspects of the work of overseas representation, including political, economic, commercial, consular and immigration work, defence matters, overseas aid and cultural and information activities, whether these tasks are performed by members of HM Diplomatic Service, by members of the Home Civil Service, by members of the Armed Forces or by other agencies supported financially by HMG”.
The mandate of the “Think Tank” was thus wider even than that of the Duncan Committee. The CPRS pursued it with exemplary thoroughness, as is illustrated by their massive Report, published in August, 1977.19Although the pressure to save money was primarily short term, their perspective was long term. They were acutely conscious of the way in which British economic performance had fallen behind that of broadly comparable European countries. They considered how far the experience of those countries could be taken as a guide. They took note of the scope for improvement in our fortunes once North Sea oil started to come on stream.
The CPRS identified four main objectives for the UK overseas: to ensure its external security; to promote economic and social wellbeing; to honour certain commitments and obligations ( eg to the dependent territories or to individual citizens of its own or other countries); and to work for a peaceful and just world. Against this background, they identified and analysed in turn fourteen “separate functions which together make up overseas representation”:
- economic, social and environmental work; - export services; - foreign policy work (UK involvement in international political concerns and activities) - defence work; - consular services; - control of entry into the UK; - administration of overseas aid; - educational and cultural work; - external broadcasting - information work; - political work (ie bilateral political relations and analysis) - communications; - entertainment, and - accommodation and other administration overseas.
All these functions were, in the view of the CPRS, valid objects of public expenditure. Yet in most of them the CPRS thought that less work should be done, or that it should be done more selectively. The reasons for this judgment were various: the effectiveness of the function was overestimated; insufficient account was taken of the changed position of the UK in the world; or the functions could be left to others, eg the private sector. In many cases work was “being done to an unjustifiably high standard”. In others it could be done by staff at home rather than resident overseas.
184
The CPRS reserved their most radical recommendations for matters of organisation and staffing. There should be a general downgrading of jobs in the Diplomatic Service, “which in our view tends to err on the side of perfectionism”. They noted that a total of 30 posts had been closed since the publication of the Duncan Report. They thought that a further 20 diplomatic posts and at least 35 subordinate posts should follow. They put forward as options (i) there should much more interchange between the Home Civil Service and the Diplomatic Service; (ii) a specialist export promotion service and a specialist aid administration should be created within the former; (iii) there should be a merger of the Home Civil Service and the Diplomatic Service and the creation within the combined service of a Foreign Service Group to handle the bulk of the fourteen functions identified.
The CPRS went on to canvass the abolition of the British Council, with a redistribution of its business between the Ministry of Overseas Development and the Department of Education and Science. As regards the BBC, the main objective of external broadcasting was “to provide an unbiased service of world news and information. Conveying information about Britain and its culture should have a lower priority as an objective”. Hence the time had come for a radical look at present broadcasting patterns. The provision of a universal service, covering areas well supplied with their own unbiased sources of news and information, was unnecessary.
VI The Value, and the Limitations, of Expert Scrutiny: what you cannot afford not to do
Rereading these three Reports inspires a number of reactions: admiration and gratitude for the hard work and the expertise, not only of those conducting the inquiries, but also of the numerous and wide-ranging authorities whom the Plowden and Duncan Committees and the CPRS consulted during the course of their respective labours; consciousness of the extent of the common ground between the three Reports; a healthy respect for the conciseness of the texts and for the consequent difficulty of summarising them, rather than quoting them in extenso; and a certain sympathy for the Duncan Committee and the CPRS for the pressures on them caused by their “loaded” term of reference, namely to save money, rather than to look primarily at the merits of the case.
The differences between the three reports are perhaps less those of analysis than of stance. At the end of the day the scale of national diplomatic effort is a matter not of what you can afford to do so much as of what you cannot afford not to do. The overwhelming impression is that events, shaped by the vectors described at the outset of this memorandum, have robbed the distinction between the advisory and the executive functions in diplomacy of any real practical, as opposed to analytical, significance. The two are inextricably interwoven, as are substance and process, in the business of a diplomatic service in an interdependent world.20
185 The dangers of concentrating on “how to do it” rather than “what to do”
The growth in complexity and volume of that business is likewise depriving of any practical value the proposition that foreign affairs is about what to do and diplomacy is how to do it. Adherence to the proposition could constitute a growing threat to diplomatic competence. It can encourage the fatal assumption that the nature of the duties of the Diplomatic Service obviates the need to acquire mastery of the substance of the business to be discharged, as distinct from a grasp of the executive techniques involved in the conduct of business.21
VII The 1978 White Paper: Champion of the Status Quo or Harbinger of Decline?
Had they not launched great salvoes at the British Council and the BBC, the Think Tank might have achieved greater success in securing the adoption not only of their specific recommendations, but also of the general tenor of their Report. But the sum total of their prescriptions went beyond what the market would bear. In August, 1978, in the closing months of his administration, James Callaghan, by now Prime Minister, and the Foreign Secretary, Dr David (now Lord) Owen, presented to Parliament a White Paper The United Kingdom’s Overseas Representation.22
While it was primarily a riposte to the more radical Think Tank recommendations, the White Paper also addressed a number of reports from various House of Commons Committees. Many of the less controversial CPRS proposals were accepted or noted as already representing current practice. The general survey at the outset showed how much common ground existed on assessment of the United Kingdom’s international position and interests, and on the role of the Diplomatic Service. The White Paper concluded (in paragraph 68) with the oft-quoted statement that “responsibility for the overall conduct of overseas relations in the broadest sense of the term will continue to be vested in a single Cabinet Minister, namely the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs”.
Analytical Aspects of the 1978 White Paper
At the time the White Paper was regarded as game, set and match to the FCO, a fair observation in the political or interdepartmental circumstances then prevailing. But the victory was also perceived as pyrrhic. There was considerable feeling among younger members of the Diplomatic Service that there had been insufficient dispassionate examination of the thornier issues raised by the Think Tank.
On an analytical plane, the White Paper contained weaknesses which proved to be the source of considerable subsequent difficulties. These may be seen specifically to originate in two phrases: first, the reiteration in paragraph 8 of the White Paper of the familiar and misleading proposition that “foreign policy is about what has to be done; diplomacy is about how to do it”; and secondly, the virtually unknown concluding words of the formulation, already referred to, on responsibility for the conduct of foreign
186 relations resting with the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, namely “so that the right level of political co-operation and input is maintained”(my italics).23
As regards the first phrase, it is a matter of surprise, after all the detailed discussion of the functions of the Diplomatic Service in the three Reports described above, to find in the Government’s response a reiteration of a proposition so obviously out of line with current realities. Even when full allowance is made for observing the constitutional proprieties of the division of responsibilities between Ministers and officials, it makes little sense to suggest that foreign policy is one thing and diplomacy another. The two are inextricably mixed, as are the advisory and executive functions, a point which Strang emphasised in his description of the work of the Diplomatic Service quoted above.
Diplomacy is about what to do, as well as how to do it
Diplomacy is about what to do, and about the reasons for doing it, as well as about how to do it. If it were the latter only, if it were an executive and not an advisory business, what would be the rationale for insisting that “responsibility for the conduct of overseas relations in the broadest sense” must rest with a single Minister? Would that responsibility not have to be defined as something separate from diplomacy? Only if what to do, as well as how to do it, is an integral part of the equation, does the White Paper’s contention hold good.
“Maintaining the right Level of political Co-operation and Input”
The contention is in any case directly contradicted by the second phrase, as found in paragraph 68 of the White Paper. It is noteworthy that the phrase ends with the word “input”, rather than “output”. This implies participation in the conduct of foreign policy at an earlier stage than implementation. It is an advisory rather than an executive concept. This anomaly apart, it is the phrase as a whole which needs deconstruction.
The concept of maintaining “the right level of political co-operation and input” is a ripe source of confusion: (i) can the “right” level of any component of our international involvement be determined by a single minister? Is it not at the end of the day a collective matter, in which the Prime Minister must have a decisive say? (ii) using the adjective “political” in this context encourages the outdated assumption that the external business of other departments is somehow “non-political”, over which “political” considerations, of which the FCO is custodian, should have priority. The complexities of worldwide interdependence require a more sophisticated approach to interdepartmental co-ordination: (iii) what does the term “co-operation” mean in this context? Does it apply internally, ie within the national administration, to interdepartmental relations and co- ordination, or externally, ie to our relations with other countries bilaterally or multilaterally, not least as regards our contractual obligations to them? Or to both?
187 The “Foreignness” and “Affairishness” of Foreign Affairs
If the FCO is to have the sort of role envisaged in the 1978 White Paper, it cannot be by virtue of the application of a simple international “political” corrective to the “non- political” desiderata of other departments. It must be grounded in greater analytical rigour.
Foreign affairs by definition have two characteristics: on the one hand they are affairs, matters of substance and often highly complex, and will as such often lie within the sphere of responsibility of government entities other than the FCO; on the other, they are foreign, and thus have a dimension which differentiates them from internal affairs, and links them with other international concerns. In consequence they require different handling. Those who are responsible for content or “affairishness” may not be familiar with the foreign milieu in which the issues need to be pursued. Responsibility for their “foreignness” can best lie where there is greater familiar with the milieu, ie with the Diplomatic Service.
The two characteristics, between which, in the nature of things, there can be no clear-cut dividing line, need to be studied in relation to one another and kept synoptically in view from the earliest stage in the policy-making process and continuously thereafter. In today’s conditions, where almost anything can affect almost everything, it is clear that the task of harmonisation is one of considerable complexity. It is not so much a matter of interdepartmental co-ordination as of interdepartmental dialogue, or even of interdepartmental dialectic.
What the 1978 White Paper demands of the Diplomatic Service
The role envisaged for the FCO in the 1978 White Paper is a further illustration of Strang’s observation that it is easier to describe what we are than to state what we do. It is clear that fulfilling the role adequately demands of the Diplomatic Service collectively the capacity both to accumulate a vast assembly of information, analysis and experience and reflection, and to be able to deploy that accumulation usefully and quickly when circumstances require. The deployment, moreover, has to be a la carte rather than table d’ hote: There is no set of rules to be applied regardless of circumstances.
Relations with the Cabinet Office, the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office each have a particular complexity, be it for reasons of general co-ordination, development co-operation, national security and human rights—those both of UK nationals and of foreign nationals—respectively. No interdepartmental relations are more important than those with the Treasury, with their central and vital responsibility in matters of financial and economic policy. They are moreover the paymasters of the Diplomatic Service.
The demanding role envisaged for the Diplomatic Service also requires that the FCO itself is beyond reproach as regards both the comprehensiveness and the objectivity of its own perceptions. In general the record is regarded, with good reason, as satisfactory on
188 this score. But there are three curious faults at differing points the scale of priority of national interest.
FCO Vulnerabilities: (a) The Commonwealth Lacuna
The first of these is chronic neglect of the Commonwealth as a factor in our international involvement as a whole. During its relatively short existence, the Commonwealth Relations Office was widely regarded as the cause of excessive preoccupation, amid all our other problems, with Commonwealth issues at the expense of the priorities of building our post-imperial future It was inevitable, therefore, that the absorption in 1968 of the Commonwealth Office (itself a 1966 amalgam of the CRO with the Colonial Office) within the Foreign Office would result in a lessening of official attention directed to Commonwealth matters.
Concern to dispel misgivings on this score underlay the publication on October 17, 1968, of The Merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office, 1968.24 Describing itself as a “Background Paper”, this relatively brief, but highly informative and thoughtful, note combines a rationale for the merger, on the basis of the history of the previously separate Departments, with details of how to ensure that “there should be no detraction from Britain’s partnership with her fellow members of the Commonwealth and her capacity to contribute to that partnership”.
It is difficult to reconcile the good intentions expressed in the Background Paper with the course of events in the ensuing forty years. The Commonwealth has tended to slip below the FCO radar screen. Expertise in Commonwealth affairs has all but vanished. Interest in them has dwindled. The priority of securing membership of the EEC, pervasive UK economic difficulties, and sharp intra-Commonwealth disagreements over the situation in Southern Africa all played their part So did Ministerial disenchantment. But such factors do not provide an adequate justification for overall institutional neglect. In one halcyon year, the only context in which the word “Commonwealth” appeared in the FCO Annual Departmental Report was in the term ”Foreign and Commonwealth Office”.
The Commonwealth is no sovereign remedy for all our ills. Yet it is a modest boon to its members generally and, in the UK case, a distinctive national asset, complementing, rather than competing with, other features of our international involvement. It is an under-performing asset. The present government have expressed their intention to “put the ‘C’ back into FCO”.
(b) “The Third World Coalition”
One of the most prominent characteristics of the post war world has been the enormous expansion of the international community, consequent upon the achievement of independence by a number of previously dependent countries Membership of the United Nations effectively quadrupled between 1945 and the end of the century. It was entirely natural that these new members should find common cause and joint organisation in their loyalty to the imperatives of decolonisation and development.
189
The first of a number of overlapping manifestations of this “Third World Coalition”, as it has been aptly described,25 was the Non-aligned Movement, in which Jawaharlal Nehru played a leading part. As its name implied, its principal concern was to avoid involvement in the Cold War. UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) was primarily concerned with rectifying the perceived inequities in the conditions of participation in world trade.26 This was followed by the quest in the UN General Assembly for a New International Economic Order, in the wake of the oil and convertibility crises of the early 1970s, with a combined economic and political agenda.27
For reasons which still seem hard to fathom, the FCO appeared ill at ease with these manifestations of third world solidarity. Perhaps the difficulties stemmed from the misleading distinction, all too easily drawn in classical diplomacy, between “political” and “economic”, and from an inadequate grasp of the intensely political character of the approach of the developing countries to negotiations with the developed world on matters which the latter regarded as “economic” or “social”. This was reinforced by a feeling that responsibility for the substance of such “economic” or “social” issues, however political the context in which they were raised, lay with other departments, mainly the Treasury, the Board of Trade or the particular organ of government, whether independent or not, in charge of overseas development.
The crunch came in 1980 when the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons asked for the government’s views on the recently published Brandt Commission Report.28 The Commission and its Report were an imaginative effort to find common ground in a dialogue between the developed and the developing countries which seemed to become increasingly unfruitful. It was a challenge to conventional thinking in the developed countries, and to the capacity harmoniously and beneficially to accommodate burgeoning interdependence. It was also a challenge which the FCO proved incapable of meeting satisfactorily. The FCO memorandum of July, 1980, published in reply to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s request, was devastatingly criticised in all sections of the British press. The Sunday Times, not generally known for a bleeding heart, described the memorandum as “one if the shoddiest documents ever produced by a British Government”.29
The episode could scarcely qualify as a validation of the FCO’s claim to ensure that “the right level of political co-ordination and input is maintained”. It had lasting effects on the interdepartmental handling of development matters. As the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recently noted, “among the 30 Member States of the OECD only one other - Germany—has a fully-fledged ministry of international development, with all the others maintaining agencies or departments that in one way or another fall under the authority of the foreign ministry”.30 The ever-widening concept of “development” in twenty-first century interdependence, and a similar growth in the notion of “security”, to the point where the two in practice tend to overlap, strengthen the case for a re- examination of the current interdepartmental distribution of responsibilities.
190 (c) An EU Fixation?
At the top end of the UK scale of international priorities, the FCO has long manifested what could be regarded as an institutional bias in favour of involvement in the European Union. There can be no doubt as to the importance of securing entry into the EEC, notwithstanding the high price which was exacted from us by the French in particular for standing aloof at the outset. Les absents ont toujours tort. But even when we were inside rather than outside, we were seemingly still inhibited from fighting our corner as fully as the defence and promotion of our national interest required. The emphasis instead was on “being at the heart of Europe” and on “full membership of the club”. There also seemed to be some failure to grasp and exploit both the great improvement in our relative economic situation, and the revival of national self-confidence, which began with Mrs Thatcher’s tenure of the Prime Ministership from 1979.
It was the persistent general advice of the officials responsible EU policy that Ministers should go along with what was proposed, rather than “adopting the posture of an ostrich, and hoping we will not have to make difficult choices”, with the result that “we end up with having to make the said choices but in less favourable conditions”.31 Hence the firm public advocacy by retired members of the Diplomatic Service, and others, successively of the Euro, the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty.32
Although it obviously went against the national grain, an argument could be advanced for submitting the Constitutional Treaty for approval of the electorate by means of a referendum. There was however no such justification for pressing the Lisbon Treaty on the voters without a referendum, on the pretence that it was materially different from its rejected predecessor.
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Nowhere does the writ of the Law of Unintended Consequences run more freely than in the field of foreign affairs. The Lisbon Treaty, by virtue both of its flawed content and of the unworthy means to which EU member governments resorted in order to secure its adoption, has proved exquisitely counterproductive. Disillusion has been widespread, not only with the outcome of the Treaty itself, but also with the process of EU treaty-making as a whole, and hence with the “community method” of doing business which is at its heart. As a result, the chosen pathway to political union, far from being kept open by the Treaty, has been effectively blocked. The tide of centralisation is receding. Never have the Union’s institutions been more remote from the voters. A yawning democratic gap has opened up. Closing it is essential to the meaningful development of the European Union.
At the executive level, the Lisbon Treaty has similarly failed to yield the advantages claimed for it. The post of President of the European Council has been variously represented as that of an internal fixer and that of a high profile international figure able to stop the traffic in major world capitals, a ”President of Europe”, in fact. rather than a President if the European Council. To date the principal outcome has been wholly
191 predictable rivalry with the responsibilities of the President of the Commission. The new combined post of High Representative for foreign affairs has likewise got off to a slow start, and is harassed by a similar variety of expectations.
The Commission, following on the understanding reached by the European Council with the Irish Government to enable the latter to secure a positive result in a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, is now to be composed indefinitely of one Commissioner per member state. It has thus become a mini-assembly instead of the compact executive which the authors of the original Treaty of Rome intended.33 The raison d’etre of the Commission, as a body vested with much greater powers than those of a standard secretariat of an intergovernmental organisation, has been called seriously in question. The element of turf war, actual and potential, between the Union’s institutions has been increased by the enhanced powers conferred by the Treaty on the European Parliament.
The European Union is not a zero-sum game, either among the institutions themselves or as between the institutions and the governments and peoples of the member states. When the EU underperforms, we all the losers. The remedy does not lie in further institution- mongering, but in reducing the delivery deficit by concentrating on the substantive tasks - on which there is a wide measure of agreement—and in reconnecting with the disillusioned electorates.
VIII The FCO White Paper of 2003 : the Apotheosis of the Advisory Function
To pause for a moment in recapitulation, study of the evolution of diplomacy in the last hundred years has manifested a transition from the quasi-technical proposition that foreign policy is about what to do and diplomacy is about how to do it, to the realisation that diplomacy is irrevocably about what to do as well as about how to do it. The advisory and the executive functions coalesce. That coalescence reaches inevitably into the very wide-ranging question of the rationale of our international involvement as a whole, governmental and non-governmental, official and non-official. This in turn puts in a new and more complicated context the question of what is demanded of the British Diplomatic Service collectively and organisationally, and what is required in consequence as regards the acquisition of the necessary skills and experience of its members individually.
What faces the Diplomatic Service today is largely the product of the forces - or vectors - described in the first section of this memorandum: the enormous increase in the volume, complexity and intensity of diplomatic business; the perception of a common interest among nations rather than an assumption of inevitable rivalry, with the possibilities for co-operation opened up thereby; the advent centre-stage of values along side interests as the stuff of diplomatic business; a great rise in the number of diplomatic “actors”, both state and non-state; sustained and interactive public involvement; and the vanishing distinction between external and internal affairs.
192 The End of the Cold War and Nine Eleven
Certain major international events have played their part. Chief among them has been the end of the Cold War, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Highly beneficial though this development has been, it has brought problems as well as opportunities world wide in its wake, and especially in the Balkans and on the periphery of the former Soviet empire. The Cold War, it was said, gave place to a Hot Peace.
The events of September 11, 2001, signalled the advent of a new phase of international interdependence, in which international terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction emerged as potentially the greatest threat to national security. Those events also underlined the urgency of a wide range of economic, social, environmental and human issues which were already on the international agenda, and had been brought authoritatively together in the Declarations issued by the world’s leaders meeting as the United Nations General Assembly on the occasion of the UN’s fiftieth birthday in 1995, and for the Millennium in 2000.34
A Deus ex Machina
The change of mindset required in the Diplomatic Service in order to manage this extraordinary transition is as great as that which inspired the seminal Foreign Office reforms of the first decade of the twentieth century. It is encapsulated in the ground- breaking White Paper UK International Priorities—A Strategy for the FCO,35 presented to Parliament in December, 2003, by the then Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw.
“For the first time”, Mr Straw explained, “the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is publishing a comprehensive Strategy describing the UK’s international priorities over the next ten years and the FCO’s role in achieving them”. In successive chapters the White Paper examines the role of the FCO; looks at the world in the next ten years, analysing trends which will affect the UK; considers the UK’s future role in the international system and our key relationships; draws on this analysis to see new UK strategic international policy priorities for the next decade; describes in more detail how the FCO will pursue these in the short term; and the countries and regions on which they will focus; and does the same for the FCO’s service delivery priorities.
The White Paper sets out eight strategic international priorities over the next five to ten years:
- a world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; - protection of the UK from illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other international crime; - an international system based on the rule of law, which is better able to resolve disputes and prevent conflicts; - an effective EU in a secure neighbourhood; - promotion of UK economic interests in an open and expanding global economy
193 - sustainable development, underpinned by democracy, good government and human rights; - security of UK and global energy supplies, and - security and good governance of the UK’s Overseas Territories.
These formulations are an object lesson in clarity, succinctness and comprehensiveness. They immediately inspire confidence. They reflect both the changes which the twenty- first century has already witnessed, and a readiness to take account of further changes which may occur in the future. As the Permanent Under-Secretary at the time, Sir Michael Jay, put it at a gathering in the FCO to launch the White Paper, “we now have for the first time a coherent framework for adapting and modernising the Foreign Office to meet the challenges of the 21st century”.36 It could be said to be the apotheosis of the advisory function.
Subsequent Developments
Mr Straw said he would welcome Parliamentary and public debate on the White Paper. The FCO would review it every two years, inviting external contributions. In the event there was no Parliamentary debate to speak of, and little academic or media comment. This was disappointing, but not perhaps surprising. The White Paper incorporated new ways of thinking not readily assimilable by those of a more conventional mindset.37
A second version was published in March, 2006,38 under the title Active Diplomacy for a Changing World—The UK’s International Priorities. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons announced that it intended to ensure that this revised version was considered as part of its work as a whole.39
The 2006 White Paper contained a Foreword by the Prime Minister (Mr Tony Blair) thereby emphasising its interdepartmental character. Its approach and methodology, naturally, were broadly the same as those of its 2003 predecessor. The number of priorities rose from eight to nine, by virtue of the promotion of managing migration and combating illegal immigration to independent status. Mr Straw’s successor, Mrs Margaret Beckett, raised the number to ten by the similar elevation of climate change.
A new Strategic Framework, January, 2008
Her successor, Mr David Miliband, thought that ten priorities was too many. He reported to the House of Commons on January 23, 2008, the creation of a new Strategic Framework, to replace the ten priorities, concentrating on four policy goals: to counter terrorism, weapons proliferation and their causes; to present and resolve conflict; to promote a low carbon, high growth, global economy; and to deliver effective international institutions, above all the UN and the EU.
The Foreign Affairs Committee commented on the brevity of the Strategic Framework.40 There were grounds for concern in a number of respects. First, although ten priorities may be too many to receive sustained personal attention from the Foreign Secretary
194 himself or herself, it is certainly not too many for a competent FCO ministerial team, provided that they are allowed to remain in their respective jobs for the requisite amount of time. Secondly, the four policy goals, when compared with the priorities originally listed by Mr Straw, can be seen to leave out a number of issues of vital national concern, to which priority FCO attention is essential. Thirdly, the Framework seems to imply a relatively greater emphasis on the executive function of the Diplomatic Service, as compared with its advisory function, in marked contrast to the 2003 and 2006 White Papers, with the possible loss in consequence of FCO departmental clout.41
Apotheosis of the Advisory Function: is there a Downside?
In the perspective of the evolution of the advisory function of the Diplomatic Service, the 2003 White Paper, as already suggested, can surely be regarded as the apotheosis. Is this an undiluted benefit? Or do subsequent developments imply that there is a downside? The broad answer is that the greater precision with which one seeks to articulate the issues facing the country in its international dealings, and the more one attempts to define the priorities to be adopted, the greater the temptation to establish objectives and specific measures to achieve them. Up to a point this is no more than tax-payers are entitled to expect. But the process is quickly subject to the Law of Diminishing Returns. In a field as unpredictable as world affairs, foreign policy priorities are indicators or markers rather than targets. An essential element of the advisory function is stewardship of international realities and uncertainties of world as they impinge on the national concerns of whatever sort. This stewardship, like Talleyrand, cannot but counsel against the overzealous. Forethought is the handmaid of flexibility, not its gaoler.
IX The Cross-stitch of Managerialism
Administration is said to be about keeping things going, while management is about making things go. The distinction between the two, less often drawn today than in the past, has some resonance among those who are conscious of the limits of the scope of management in a field as subject to the unexpected and the uncontrollable as the conduct of foreign policy. They see diplomacy as essentially an art rather than a science.
While it may have had a good deal of validity in the more static days of classical diplomacy, this approach is clearly inadequate in the dynamic international conditions described in the first section of this memorandum. The latter, combined with modern facilities in the field of data-processing, have made a more “positive” attitude both necessary and - within limits - feasible.
But what, more precisely, do we mean by “management” in the context of the work of the Diplomatic Service? The short answer is “a great deal”, including all the ground covered in the Plowden, Duncan and CPRS Reports. The whole is magisterially summed up in the 2003 White Paper on UK International Priorities:
“To meet our strategic priorities, build our key relationships and provide high quality services, the FCO will need a flexible and targeted diplomatic network
195 that gives the UK global influence. The Strategy explains how we intend to achieve this at a time of growing demands and finite resources.
The Strategy also describes how we are adapting the organisation and working practices of the FCO to focus resources more clearly on high priority issues, to become more flexible and responsive, to make better use of diverse skills and experience, and to be better able to meet our customers’ needs”.42
The Picture as a Whole: the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee There is no expectation that the FCO could or should be left to itself to pursue this comprehensive and absorbing programme on its own. In national managerial terms, the least that can be expected is scrutiny on the basis of strictly financial criteria by those responsible for authorising or monitoring public expenditure. Such scrutiny naturally leads to examination of the substance of the activities being financed, as well as to the allocation of resources to them, ie inputs.
In these days of near-ubiquitous “delivery deficit”, there is a further natural progression from concern with inputs to the examination of the results achieved from the application of the resources allocated, ie outputs. It is a short step thereafter to holistic survey of the “structures, functions and priorities” of the Diplomatic Service.
It is the responsibility of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee “to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated agencies”. The Committee discharges its responsibilities with admirable application, precision and breadth of perspective. Its work is a first class illustration of the merits of the Select Committee system.
Managerialism rather than Management?
Management consultancy is a relatively recent phenomenon. Its introduction into the sphere of public administration is prompted by, and has encouraged, the belief that managerial techniques developed in the private sector can be of more or less general applicability in the public sector as well. While there is clearly a measure of justification for this belief in the case of Departments and agencies concerned with the delivery of services at home, it is more open to doubt in the case of the FCO, where so much of what is at issue is non-specific and lies beyond UK national control.
Matters are made worse if there is a trend towards the introduction public service-wide of practices, the relevance or usefulness of which differ from department to department. Yet this has been the recent experience. Mr Miliband’s new Strategic Framework comprises three elements, from which emerge eight Departmental Strategic Objectives (DSOs) agreed with the Treasury. The FCO is now run by a Board, whose terms of reference are worded in managerial rather than substantive terms. It has spawned no less than six Sub- Committees, whose terms of reference are similarly cast. The whole would seem to smack of managerialism rather than of effective management. Managerialism is by definition excessive - or bad - management.
196
The Foreign Affairs Committee were forthright in their views on the matter. “We have consistently questioned whether it is appropriate to have a set of performance targets assessed in terms of detailed and sometimes quantified indicators”. Their conclusion was that “at least as regards policy objectives, the current elaborate reporting system absorbs large amounts of FCO staff time that might be better spent on other matters, without necessarily generating significant new information”.43
X Present Discontents
Thirty years later, the realities on the ground look rather different from the picture painted in the 1978 White Paper. In the book to accompany Getting Our Way, his recent television series on five hundred years of British Diplomacy, Sir Christopher Meyer, a former Ambassador to the United States, observes that the FCO, “according to numerous witnesses, has fallen again on hard times, surrendering swathes of responsibility for foreign policy to other players in the Whitehall community and continuing to live a crisis of confidence and identity”. This was marked by the “activism abroad of the Prime Minister’s office, and the autonomy and funding given to the DFID”.44
In an article in the Financial Times on January 14, 2010. Lord Malloch Brown, who was a Minister of State the FCO from 2007 to 2009, asserted that “ the real crisis for the Foreign Office is whether it will be allowed to lead in its embassies and Whitehall, or will it be reduced to landlord and events organiser for other parts of government…… In Whitehall impatient Prime Ministers often elbow the Foreign Office aside to run foreign policy “whether from sofa or bunker”.45
As part of the series by Michael Cockerell on the “Three Great Departments of State” (the other two being the Treasury and the Home Office), BBC television carried a programme on the FCO on February 18, 2010. In it Lord Hurd, a former member of the Diplomatic Service, as well as a former Foreign Secretary, echoing a speech which he made in the House of Lords on February 26, 2009,46 spoke of a feeling that the FCO was “hollowed out” on the advisory side, and was no longer characterised to the same extent by the solid expertise for which it had been known. In the same programme Professor Peter Hennessy reported the distress of his contacts in the SIS that they could no longer count on turning to the FCO Research Analysts to try out their ideas.
The Verdict of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
These concerns were reflected in the wide-ranging report of the Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign and Commonwealth Annual Report 2008-2009, to which reference was made in the introduction to this Memorandum.47
The Committee’s general diagnosis was that the FCO’s traditional pre-eminence in foreign policy-making was seen as under challenge from three developments: new forms of global communication which make other departments and agencies less dependent on the FCO network; an increasing tendency, related to this development, for other parts of
197 the Government to establish their own direct links with other states; and greater emphasis in the FCO on the provision of services to the public and the introduction, largely at the behest of the Treasury, of management practices which divert time and resources from traditional political reporting, analysis and policy-making.
The Committee concluded that:
(i) with regard to funding arrangements and performance management, the Treasury has too often treated the FCO as “just another Department”, when it is clear from international experience that foreign ministries are not like other departments;
(ii) it is incongruous that the position of the only government department with a global reach is threatened with erosion at a time when globalisation is acknowledged as the key phenomenon of our times; and
(iii) there continues to be a vital need for the FCO to have sufficient resources to enable it to carry out its traditional functions, of the interpretation of developments overseas and the formulation of policy.
The Committee’s recommendation that the new Government should “carry out a comprehensive foreign policy-led review of the structures, functions and priorities of the FCO, MOD and DFID” follows naturally from these conclusions.48
XI The Stance of the Coalition Government
It is too early to expect the adoption of any definitive position on all these issues by the Coalition Government, which came into power in May, 2010. But there are already a number of significant pointers to record. In speeches before the election, Mr William Hague, in his capacity as Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary, made it clear that the FCO’s leading position in the field of international affairs would be restored. Promise has become reality. We have seen the back of sofa or bunker diplomacy.
At the same time there is no suggestion that Mr Cameron will be less involved in international affairs than his predecessors. The realities of interdependence mean that it could not be otherwise. There is an inevitable element of the presidential about modern government, extending to external, as well as to internal, affairs. The Prime Minister is ex officio the First Lord of the Treasury, which is a useful reminder of his or her locus standi with that great Department of State. It might be helpful if some similar formulation could be found to reflect the Prime Minister’s position in the case of the FCO.
The Status of the FCO
The status of the FCO is not so much a matter of departmental prestige as of the personal relations between the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister and, perhaps one should add in present circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister. Much also depends on the calibre of the Foreign Secretary’s ministerial team. The Minister for Europe must be
198 given adequate time in the job if he or she is to carry the necessary weight in EU deliberations, be it in Brussels or at home. Regrettably there was a revolving-door character about the post in the case of the previous administration.
One cannot imagine that the more pronounced features of managerialism we have witnessed in the previous administration will last long with the Coalition Government.
The Substance of British Foreign Policy
As regards the substance of British foreign policy, we can be guided in particular by the terms of the Coalition Agreement, amplified by a series, not yet complete, of speeches by Mr Hague “setting out how we will protect British security, prosperity and people, working with other countries to strengthen the rules-based system in support of our values”.49
The objectives, as set out by the FCO are:
(i) Safeguard Britain’s national security by countering terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and working to reduce conflict. (ii) Build Britain’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth. (iii) Support British citizens around the world through modern and efficient consular services.
As regards (i) and (ii), the promotion of the safety and the prosperity of the realm has long been a classic formulation of the essence of foreign policy. But it can mean very different things in differing world conditions. There is a chapeau to Mr Hague’s formulation which places it firmly in the context of the twenty-first century: “our aim is to promote Britain’s enlightened interest in a networked world. We will pursue an active and activist foreign policy, working with other countries and strengthening the rules- based international system in support of the following three objectives”.
The wording of objective (iii) is of interest in the sense that it could be taken, for example to mean solicitude and assistance for those of our compatriots whose ebullience while on holiday abroad gets them into a pickle of some sort. A more weighty interpretation would reflect recognition of the contribution of British citizens living or travelling abroad to the achievement of objectives (i) and (ii). In an interdependent age, where there are so many non-governmental “actors” in the field of international affairs, and where internal and external concerns so extensively overlap, this contribution is substantial indeed.
Overall there is much in the stance of the Coalition Government which recalls the 2003 White Paper UK International Priorities. Diplomats are happiest when foreign policy is bipartisan or non-partisan. That implies acceptance across the domestic political spectrum of international realities. The ineluctable facts of the world in which we live impose limits on our freedom of manoeuvre. The difference between foreign secretaries, of
199 whatever stripe, may well be more matters of style or presentation than of content, methodology or structures.
The enduring Requirement for a Cadre of Competent Diplomats
In the long run the interdepartmental distribution of labour will depend on the quality of the Diplomatic Service. Turf wars may be an ineradicable part of bureaucracies, each component of which has in any case a duty to fight its corner. But at the end of the day, doing the job properly matters more than who does it. The emphasis is on the word “service”. As long as the members of the Diplomatic Service are masters of their business, they will not be left out in the cold. They are indispensable to the sound conduct of foreign policy.
Sir Leslie Fielding, a prominent former member of the Diplomatic Service, recalls the reception he was accorded on his first day in the Foreign Office. After conducting him through the necessary formalities for new entrants, the world-weary clerk responsible offered him the following reflection: “no matter how rigorous and searching and exigent we make the selection process for Branch A (the “administrative class”) we still find that the percentage of idiots in the intake remains constant”.50 One is tempted to apply, mutatis mutandis, this hard-bitten proposition to the role diplomats. No matter what arrangements the government may properly contrive, in response to changes in circumstances, to ensure the efficient conduct of foreign policy., there will always be a requirement for a cadre of diplomatic professionals to help deliver what the nation desires.
XII Conclusion
(1) The recommendation that the “new Government should carry out a comprehensive policy-led review of the structures, functions and priorities of the FCO, MOD and DFID” comes from a body which, by virtue both of its constitutional responsibilities and of its outstanding work during the last Parliament, is better placed than any other external entity to reach such a conclusion.
(2) Study of the evolution of the Diplomatic Service over the past one hundred years lends firm support to the recommendation. In particular, the report, published in 1964, of the Plowden Committee on Representational Services Overseas bears close re- examination.
(3) In weighing the Foreign Affairs Committee recommendation, HMG will clearly have many factors to take into account, not least the acute financial and fiscal problems which the country now faces, and the imminent belt-tightening measures necessary to counter them.
(4) The conjuncture in which such a review took place would be all-important. Coalition government has its advantages in this respect. The terms of any review should not be
200 controversial. There would be little point in a review if it were established primarily to save money. We do not need a repetition of the Duncan and CPRS inquiries.
(5) It is to be expected that the new Foreign Affairs Committee will direct their attention to these pressing issues. The recommendation of their predecessors may thus in effect be subsumed in a continuing dialogue between the Committee and HMG. But this would be unlikely of itself to ensure the securing of wide public understanding and support for the work of the Diplomatic Service which is an indispensable long term national requirement, and which could not but be an essential aim of any thorough-going review.
1 October 2010
Notes
1 HC 145, March, 2010.
2 These issues have of course been extensively explored, both individually and in their numerous interrelationships, notably in a series of Symposia organised by the Diplomatic Academy of London, University of Westminster. See in particular Strategic Public Diplomacy—Shaping the Future of International Relations”- proceedings of the Symposium of 2008. (edited by Nabil Ayad and Daryl Copeland, University of Westminster, 2009) We have coined the term “Geodiplomatics” to denote the management of world wide interdependence.
A particularly lively account of the role of the modern diplomat is given in Daryl Copeland Guerilla Diplomacy (Lynne Rienner, 2009). On his reckoning, the diplomat is “part archivist, part analyst, part lobbyist and part street-smart policy entrepreneur”.
3 Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) was a scholar and historian as well as one of the outstanding diplomats of his day. Thanks in large measure to his formidable linguistic powers, he became the foremost British expert on China, Japan and the Far East as a whole. His Guide to Diplomatic Practice first appeared in 1917. The fifth edition, edited by Sir Ivor Roberts, was published in 2009 (OUP). While the vast changes which have occurred since then are reflected in the various editions, the work inevitably, and justifiably, retains its original emphasis on the executive side of the business of diplomacy, as distinct from its advisory role.
4 See Zara Steiner: The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy, 1898 -1914 (CUP,1969), p 82. An entertaining, as well as highly informative, account of these crucial formative years in Foreign Office history. The definitive account of the development of the Foreign Office during the nineteenth century is contained in Chapter VIII of Volume III of The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783-1919 (CUP, 1923). The amalgamation of the Diplomatic Service with the Foreign Office is delightfully examined in Christine Larner’s article of that title in Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 7, pp 107-126.
5 The Crowe memorandum was published in G P Gooch and Harold Temperley (eds) British Documents on the Origins of the War Vol 3, Appendix A, pp 397-420.
6 Tilley and Gaselee: The Foreign Office (Putnam, 1933). Sir John Tilley was chief Clerk from 1913 to 1918, and Stephen Gaselee was Librarian and Keeper of the Papers at the time of publication. It was Gaselee who invented the concept of the “inverted sieve”. He regarded it as a “bad simile” but used it “because I could find no better” (p.265)
201
7 Sir Victor Wellesley: Diplomacy in Fetters (Hutchinson, 1944). Wellesley records that the book was practically complete when the Second World War broke out. This both delayed publication and necessitated a number of changes. At the same time it underlined the necessity of the reforms he was recommending.
8 Proposals for the Reform of the Foreign Service (Cmd 6420, January, 1943). The White Paper was the subject of lively discussion in both Houses of Parliament.
9 Cmd 6420, para 2.
10 ibid, para 3.
11 Lord Strang and other Members of the Foreign Service: The Foreign Office (Allen and Unwin, 1955).
12 Strang: The Diplomatic Career (Deutsch, 1962) p 14,. In addition to his autobiography Home and Abroad (Deutsch, 1956), Strang wrote Britain in World Affairs” (Faber and Faber and Deutsch, 1961) a magisterial “Survey of the Fluctuations in British Power and Influence, Henry VIII to Elizabeth II”.
13 Report of the Committee on Representational Services Overseas appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Plowden, Cmnd 2276, February, 1964.
14 ibid, para 10.
15 The Plowden Report affords detailed evidence, as early as the 1960s, both of the transformation of diplomatic circumstances under the growing pressure of the Vectors summarised in the first section of this memorandum, and of the responses required by an active diplomatic service.
Lord Beloff, at that time Gladstone Professor of Government and Administration at Oxford, described the Report as “an inside job”. This does not deprive it of all validity. It is the wearer of the shoe who is best able to judge where it pinches. As the chief instigator of the Review, I stand ready to plead guilty as charged. After much preliminary discussion, the idea was first formally broached in a submission dated January 28, 1960, by the Permanent Under-Secretary to the Foreign Secretary.
16 Ray Seitz, the first career diplomat to be appointed US Ambassador to the Court of St James (1991-1994) put the matter in elegant perspective: “in a statement equal in renown to Acheson’s, Harold Macmillan observed that Britain would henceforth play Athens to America’s Rome. Macmillan outdid Acheson in both condescension and insight”.
17 The Civil Service Report of the Committee 1966-68, Chairman: Lord Fulton, Cmnd 3638, June 1968. A Times leader on June 27 summarised the message of the Report as “thumbs down for the amateur”.
18 Report of the Review Committee on Overseas Representation, 1968-1969, Chairman: Sir Val Duncan, Cmnd 4107, July, 1969. In an article in International Affairs in April, 1970, “The Duncan Report and its Critics” (Vol 46, pp 247 et seq), Andrew Shonfield, Director of Studies at Chatham House and a prominent member of the Committee, admitted that the use of the term “Outer Area” was unfortunate. But he claimed that those who took exception to it on the grounds that they relegated India and other developing countries to reduced attention, tended to overlook the point that the Soviet Union and China were also in the category.
All in all, Shonfield thought that the Report had “disturbed a set of emotions”. He commented ruefully that “if there is one thing worse than being a bringer of bad tidings, it is to be the drawer of unwelcome inferences from familiar propositions”.
19 Review of Overseas Representation: Report by the Central Policy Review Staff. HMSO, 1977) The Report was not presented formally to Parliament, and has no Command number.
202
20 A number of analogies have been suggested for the policy-making process. For example it is likened to the four-stroke cycle of the internal combustion process: for “induction /compression/power/exhaust” substitute: “analysis/recommendation/implementation/ assessment”.
21 Underlying this assumption is what may be a characteristic of British thought structures in general: namely a tendency to believe that if, as it must be, the primary object of public administration is to get things done, then the acquisition of executive skills is something which can to a great extent be pursued independently of the subject matter. At all events the distinction between “what to do” and “how to do it” is clearly reluctant to leave the scene.
22 Cmnd 7308. The text, while admirably concise, deals somewhat blandly with the awesome difficulties, both economic and political, which we were then facing abroad and at home.
23 ibid, para 68.
24 HMSO, 1980. Despite its origins, the paper was not presented formally to Parliament, and has no Command number.
25 See Robert A Mortimer: The Third World Coalition in International Politics (2nd edition, Westview, 1984).
26 The United Nation Conference on Trade and Development. Originally convened in 1964 as a one-off Conference, it became an organ of the General Assembly and begat substantial subordinate machinery.
27 The Declaration of a New International Economic Order was the outcome of the Sixth Special Session of the UN General Assembly in 1974, at the combined initiative of the non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 developing countries. For a detailed discussion of these and related issues, see Marshall: The North- South Dialogue: Britain at Odds, in Jensen and Fisher(eds) The United Kingdom - The United Nations (Macmillan, 1990).
28 North—South: a Programme for Survival The Report of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues under the Chairmanship of Willy Brandt (Pan Books, 1980).
29 Sunday Times, July 20, 1980.
30 HC 145, para 330.
31 Personal letter from a former UK Representative to the EU.
32 The most striking case in point was a letter published on January 28, 2008, in the Financial Times, from all seven retired former UK Representatives in Brussels, commending the Lisbon Treaty as it started its way through Parliament. This totality renders it a document unique in British diplomatic annals. In the light of subsequent events, its line of argument cannot but seem even more misguided now than it did at the time of publication.
33 See Articles 155 -163 of the Treaty of Rome, 1957
34 These texts take the form of UN General Assembly Resolutions, numbered respectively A/Res//50/6 and A/Res/55/1. The similar Declaration issued on the occasion of the UN 60th anniversary is numbered A/Res/60/1.
35 Cm 6052, December, 2003.
203
36 Remarks by the Permanent Under-Secretary, Sir Michael Jay, at the launching of the White Paper, on December 2, 2003, at the FCO.
37 When the Foreign Affairs Committee invited comments on the FCO Annual Departmental Report covering the year 2003-2004, I inquired whether this invitation extended to Mr Straw’s White Paper, and was told that it did. I therefore submitted a memorandum which the Committee were good enough both to publish and to notice favourably in a separate section of their Report (HC 745, paras 35-42, and Ev 70-76). Mine was the only substantive general comment on the White Paper which the Committee received from non-governmental sources.
38 Cm 6762, March, 2006.
39 Press Notice no 28 of may 2, 2007, recorded the Committee’s intention of ensuring that the White Paper was considered as part of the Committee’s work as a whole.
40 HC 145, Ev 127.
41 ibid, para 331, and Ev 127.
42 See the concluding paragraphs of the Highlights summary accompanying the main text
43 HC 145, para 294.
44 ibid, para 331
45 ibid, para 332.
46 Before turning to politics, Lord Hurd was a member of the Diplomatic Service, and is thus well positioned to make this judgment.
47 HC 145
48 ibid, para 338
49 The first of the speeches was delivered at the FCO on July 1; the second in Tokyo on July 15; and the third at Lincoln’s Inn on September 15. The fourth is due to be delivered in the autumn.
50 Sir Leslie Fielding, Kindly Call me God, (Boermans Books, 2009) p 9.
204
Written evidence from the CBI
Executive Summary 1. The CBI is the UK’s leading business organisation, speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce. With offices across the UK as well as representation in Brussels, Washington DC, Beijing and New Delhi, the CBI communicates the British business voice around the world.
2. This submission responds to those questions in the inquiry terms of reference that are of direct concern to business; namely, the FCO’s role in promoting UK trade and economic recovery, the role of the FCO’s network overseas and cross‐government cooperation.
3. As the UK continues to emerge from recession, future economic prosperity will be greatly determined by the UK’s success in overseas markets – in exports and ability to attract and supply foreign direct investment (FDI) in ways that will let UK companies succeed in multiple markets.
4. The UK government must continue its efforts to set the right trade policy framework at an international level. The CBI strongly advocates a timely conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations in the WTO, and urges the UK government to do all it can, e.g. within the EU and in groupings such as the G20, to secure political support for this. The CBI also strongly supports bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), as building blocks towards a multilateral agreement.
5. UK official support in Brussels is vital. The European Union is key to the UK’s economic recovery process – both as the negotiator of international trade and investment rules, but also because it is effectively both ‘home market’ and the number one export destination for the UK. When considering ways in which to improve the UK’s trade and investment performance, therefore, the Single Market should not be overlooked.
6. In terms of direct UK government support for companies, the CBI believes there is a vital ongoing role for the FCO and UKTI, in particular the expertise and intelligence provided by overseas posts. We accept that the FCO must bear its share of cuts in funding at this particular time, and believe that the spending levels announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review of October 2010 were tough but acceptable. They do, of course, increase the pressure on the FCO/UKTI to deliver as efficiently as possible. We suggest half a dozen ways in which FCO/UKTI might increase its performance, e.g. by putting a particular focus on a more limited number of priority markets.
Introduction: Trade and investment are essential to our growth prospects 7. The UK is still in the early stages of a modest and gradual recovery. The CBI expects growth of only 2% in 2011, and 2.4% in 2012. We expect net trade to be an important component of that limited growth.
8. Support to the recovery must therefore come from business investment, and from net trade. Net trade actually detracted marginally from growth in Q3, but we forecast that it will add to growth in the quarters ahead, as relatively weak gains in domestic demand restrict import
205 growth and exports continue to be boosted by the past depreciation in sterling.
9. As many commentators have noted, to date this fall in the value of sterling has not delivered the boost to trade that might have been expected. On a trade‐weighted basis, the pound has fallen more in the recent years than in the period after it exited the ERM. An assessment of whether the benefits are only now kicking in, or whether there are other reasons holding back the UK’s export performance, will be important in the next months.
10. Promisingly, the CBI’s manufacturing survey data has shown quite strong export demand at the end of 2010. But prospects for export growth will also depend crucially on the pace of recovery in the UK's key trading partners. Ongoing fiscal concerns in peripheral European states, and the effect that this may have on activity and confidence in the Eurozone as a whole, therefore poses a key downside risk to our export prospects.
11. Against this background, the CBI strongly supports this government’s emphasis on trade and investment. We welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to free trade and open markets and to step up the commercial focus of the UK’s foreign policy. We welcome the efforts by the Foreign Secretary, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills and their departmental ministers to reinvigorate the UK’s overarching trade and investment strategy. We particularly support the strengthening of bilateral relationships with countries including India, China, Brazil, Turkey and the Gulf States. Enhanced partnerships such as that envisaged between the UK and India give a clear signal that joint business development is high up the agenda.
12. We recognise the key role of the FCO in contributing to deficit reduction by helping to facilitate improved export and investment performance and by supporting UK business presence in high growth markets such as those mentioned above.
13. FCO Heads of Mission play an important role in delivering trade and investment objectives, especially where there is only a small UKTI or local commercial team. The political insights they can offer as well as contact networks they can instigate are invaluable in briefing businesses.
14. The CBI welcomes the creation of the FCO’s Commercial Task Force in August 2010, in particular the emphasis on upgrading and embedding commercial awareness amongst staff and working towards a whole‐of‐government approach to progress the prosperity agenda.
15. We are pleased to see all Ambassadors and UK government representatives overseas putting support for business as their key priority.
Getting trade policy ‘right’: the DDA, FTAs and resisting protectionism 16. In addition to getting the basics of international competitiveness right, the government and FCO can help British companies overseas by working to get the right trade and investment policy in place. Both of these areas are now within the competence of the European Union, so above all, this means focusing on getting the right policy decisions taken in Brussels.
17. The CBI strongly advocates timely conclusion of the WTO Doha Round (DDA). We believe that an effective multilateral trade agreement is by far the best way to create a level playing field, increase market access and improve global rules. We acknowledge that it is increasingly difficult to rouse much enthusiasm for the DDA, as the negotiations have now dragged on for a decade. Nevertheless, CBI member companies clearly expect that the British government should continue to push for an ambitious outcome to the negotiations.
206 18. We fully support bilateral free‐trade agreements as they are a key to increasing market access for European companies in fast‐growing markets such as South Korea, India, Mercosur and South East Asian countries. While the multilateral route will always provide the optimal route for trade liberalisation, well framed free trade agreements (FTAs) can also bring important benefits for all parties, including businesses.
19. FCO work to shape and reform key international institutions and organizations such as the EU, G20 and UN Security Council lead to enhanced stability and co‐operation and is therefore good for business.
20. In all negotiations – both multilateral and bilateral ‐ the CBI believes the EU must give priority to economic objectives, strongly promoting the export and investment interests of European business. The British government with support of the FCO should make this point strongly in Brussels.
21. Across the board, UK government officials should play an instrumental role in shaping the EU’s negotiating FTA mandate, taking into account the potential benefits and costs to all UK sectors through comprehensive impact assessments and seeking to balance offensive and defensive interests.
22. One major area for potential growth is trade in services. At the European level, services make up 70% of European GDP, but represent only 28% of European external trade. This disparity presents a major opportunity for a future EU trade policy to make a substantial contribution to European competiveness and prosperity – and the UK, in particular, would benefit from this.
23. Achieving market opening for services requires a more complicated and difficult process involving a range of government departments and regulators. This makes ongoing discussions both at the European‐level and Member State‐level important in facilitating information exchange and legislative adjustments where necessary to open up services.
24. Trade can only be a driver for business opportunities when there is strong and effective enforcement of governing rules. A firm line should therefore be taken on countries which do not adhere to international trade commitments.
The FCO supporting business in the EU 25. British business is a strong supporter of the Single Market and the many advantages and opportunities it provides. Internally, it has enabled the EU’s 20 million business to provide goods and services to almost 500 million citizens. Externally, the 30‐country European Economic Area is the world’s largest trading bloc and gives Europe its global strength.
26. The Single Market is the foundation of the EU’s recent economic success. It is estimated that 52% percent of UK trade, half of inward investment and nearly 3 million jobs are linked to the EU. Similarly, some 300,000 British businesses operate in non‐domestic markets across Europe, generating prosperity and growth at home and on the global stage.
27. Open markets and free trade, internally and externally, are integral to business interest in the EU. The economic downturn has, however, highlighted the Single Market’s vulnerability to protectionism and barriers to completion remain. British business therefore supports policymakers’ renewed focus on delivery of the Single Market and the five freedoms it represents.
207 28. FCO work to focus the EU agenda on issues such as climate change, energy security, better regulation, the effective enforcement of EU rules and the possible implications of further enlargement all enhance prospects for UK and European growth and competiveness.
FCO global support for British business 29. Beyond setting the right policy frameworks, government has a key role to play in providing direct support for companies looking to expand their presence overseas. At a time of extremely constrained public finances, it is understandable that funding for these efforts will have to be somewhat restricted. Nevertheless, the CBI believes that government support for FCO/UKTI is extremely valuable; delivers a significant return on investment for the economy, and should be preserved as far as possible. We believe that the spending levels announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review of October 2010 were tough but acceptable.
30. Reduced resources do, of course, increase the pressure on the FCO to deliver as efficiently as possible – the classic ‘do more with less’. The CBI supports the direction that the FCO and UKTI have been moving in over the last eighteen months. We are hopeful that the FCO will continue to recognise the need for a tailored offering that precisely identifies priority markets and sectors, and particular business needs.
31. Business is looking for consistency of strategy and therefore supports the FCO four year Business Plan and implementation strategy to ensure cohesion across all government activities overseas, and the sharing of best practice across Whitehall.
32. In the short term, the CBI supports a greater focus on a smaller number of high growth export markets, alongside work to build on success in more developed markets especially in innovation. UKTI has identified seventeen high growth markets; amongst these it should prioritise markets such as China, India and Brazil to ensure the greatest return possible on taxpayer investment.
33. When measuring success of services provided, more sophisticated metrics are needed than headline ‘new entrant to market’ numbers. Quantitative targets are useful – and necessary when dealing with public funds – but should not become a sole end in themselves. They should be complemented with qualitative targets in terms of work provided and outcomes in terms of business won.
34. Similarly, a focus on meeting numerical quotas for chargeable services should be qualified by other metrics. An over‐focus on the targets, we believe, detracts from the imperative of identifying additional opportunities for existing proactive exporters and investors.
35. The Passport to Export and Gateway to Global Growth (G3) programmes are valued by new and established exporters respectively. The OMIS (Overseas Market Introduction Service) is also broadly supported by business. However, as with economic and political briefs, it vitally important that there are effective quality and consistency controls in place.
36. FCO posts must ensure that commercial objectives are thoroughly integrated into their other policy objectives e.g. commercial opportunities arising from policy areas such as climate change. Excellent communication between UKTI and ‘pure’ Foreign Office staff on the ground could deliver a really valuable intelligence product for UKTI clients. (Another example of best practice here would be the US network’s work on business opportunities from the US Stimulus package, which involved staff from the Embassy in Washington, DC, as well as the Science & Technology network and all UKTI posts in the US.)
208 37. FCO/UKTI should also move to a more account management style of interaction with its largest client companies. This would enable it to have a much better understanding of companies’ needs and market strategies and thereby tailor the UKTI/FCO offering more precisely. It is also important that there is close liaison between UKTI and BIS sector teams, who perform similar account management roles.
38. An area of particular opportunity that has already been identified is large‐scale projects requiring multiple company involvement. UKTI has estimated that there is currently a potential of around £700bn of non‐defence contracts and projects that could be secured in this way, with UKTI helping to pull together consortia. It should be noted that this is also a very good way of helping SMEs into new markets, by plugging them into supply chain relationships.
39. Major infrastructure developments in the high growth economies and international sports events such as the World Cup and Olympic Games in Brazil will provide interesting test cases for these project and consortia approaches.
40. UKTI has been shifting towards a more sectoral based approach, both at a national level and via sectoral dimensions to all regional and overseas staff. The CBI believes this can be an effective approach. We would urge UKTI to build better relationships with key trade associations in the relevant areas in support of this. We also believe there could be an improvement in the relationship between business sector advisory groups and staff covering priority markets, to ensure there is no duplication of effort between regional/national or sectoral/market levels.
Visa policy: international businesspeople need to travel 41. Companies looking to do business internationally are highly likely to want to move their staff around the globe – bringing locally‐based sales staff back to a UK headquarters for training, for example, or sending senior management overseas to establish new business partnerships. It is therefore crucial to the UK’s prospects that it is as easy as possible to move staff from country to country. 42. It is vital overseas posts maintain adequate consular resources in order to facilitate visa services for inward business visitors and prospective investors. Awareness among senior consular staff of FCO/UKTI trade promotion objectives would be helpful in terms of avoiding unnecessary delays for significant business partners.
Financial Management 43. We welcome the new Foreign Currency Mechanism to restore protection to FCO purchasing power overseas and thereby secure best value for money in delivery services to UK businesses in market.
High‐level involvement: ministerial delegations and the British Business Ambassadors Programme 44. The involvement of key ministers in supporting UK business in overseas markets – e.g. by leading delegations on foreign trips, attending JETCOs, welcoming incoming delegations – is very helpful, and we commend the Government for the priority it has given to these.
45. The CBI believes that there is potential for prioritising this commitment further. Greater partnership working between the FCO and UK business in briefing ministers as well as direct ministerial briefings by companies on the ground can further increase the effectiveness of ministerial interventions. Learning from the approach of other European countries could also be helpful.
209 46. While we understand the difficulties in scheduling overseas visits especially for ministers with parliamentary commitments, more advance warning of dates and visit plans would facilitate greater senior‐level input and involvement by companies.
47. It would also help in securing senior‐level commitment if visit programmes can be made available as early as possible, and demonstrate that business leaders involved in ministerial delegations will get real value for their time input. Delegations where the minister has significant bilateral meetings, and the business ‘input’ is restricted to little more than providing an audience at a speaking opportunity or attending a networking reception, will not secure the right level of business involvement.
48. We would also suggest that UKTI and the FCO review the coverage and content of the UK’s high‐ level dialogues. It is not clear to us why some countries have a JETCO or similar dialogue and others do not – what is the guiding strategy? The existing JETCO vary in substance. They can be very valuable forums for focusing political attention on key business issues and should strive to avoid becoming formulaic. Bi‐lateral business development should be higher up the agenda.
49. The CBI has always supported the British Business Ambassadors scheme, and we welcomed its re‐launch in November 2010. We also commend the government for securing the involvement of some very significant figures in the UK business community. However, in the past it has been difficult to identify exactly what the impact of the scheme has been. The Secretariat will need to be extremely proactive in terms of co‐ordinating with the Ambassadors about their travel schedules and possible opportunities. The Ambassadors will also require first class briefings to fulfil this role to their best ability.
Conclusion 50. Countries all around the world are seeking to increase their exports as a way of generating growth and jobs. Everyone recognises the same fundamental realities: the rise of the emerging and expanding middle classes in countries such as India and China, and across Africa and the Americas, are the next generation of consumers. The UK will have to work hard to position itself in this race – UK business will need strong FCO/UKTI support to get international policy frameworks for trade and investment right; and tailored support services to companies to enable them to enter and thrive in rising economies.
CBI January 2011
210 Written evidence from Professor Hussein Kassim, School of Politics, Social and International Studies,University of East Anglia
The Role of the FCO in the UK Co‐ordination of EU Policy The role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the coordination of the UK’s EU business has changed significantly over the past thirteen years in ways that raise important questions about the division of labour in European affairs between King Charles Street, Number 10 and the Cabinet Office, as well as the FCO’s responsibilities, and the available expertise and level of resource the FCO devotes to this important policy area. In a study recently conducted by a team led by the author (Kassim et al 2010), based on interviews with officials in several Whitehall departments,1 uncertainty was expressed about the sustainability of the FCO’s role since May 2010 and more broadly a model of national EU policy coordination centred on a ministry for foreign affairs.
The FCO in historical perspective In 1998–1999, officials across Whitehall invariably identified the FCO as a central actor in the UK’s system for coordinating EU policy playing a co‐equal role alongside the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office and the UK Permanent Representation (UKREP) (Kassim 2000). It is useful to recall the FCO’s responsibilities, functions and organization during this period as a point of reference.
The FCO had a close relationship with UKREP. Not only did UKREP report to the FCO, but the FCO supplied around fifty per cent of UKREP’s staff and the culture of the UK’s mission in Brussels was closer to the FCO than any other department. The Foreign Secretary was formally responsible for defining the UK’s European policy, accompanied the PM to meetings of the European Council, attended the General Affairs Council, and, assisted by a Minister of State for European Affairs, took the lead in diplomacy with the UK’s European partners. The Foreign Secretary presided over, E(DOP), the cabinet committee charged with responsibility for European policy, to which the official level committee, EQ(O), reported, while the Europe Minister chaired a committee of junior ministers intended to assure political coordination across Whitehall and a committee responsible for maintaining party‐ to‐party relations.
Within the FCO, two senior officials played a key role. The Economic and EU Director, one of five Deputy Under‐Secretaries in the FCO, was charged with developing the UK’s strategy towards Europe over the medium‐ and long‐term. The Director for Europe, meanwhile, had a ‘hands on’ role, which included managing the three divisions within the FCO dealing with European policy: European Union Division (Internal), which shadowed the progress of technical dossiers through EU processes, briefed the Foreign Secretary on EU business, took
1 As part of the research for the report, interviews were conducted with thirty officials in London and in Brussels between July and November 2010. All interviews were conducted on the basis of strict confidentiality and the anonymity of respondents was guaranteed. Quotations are therefore not attributed.
211 the lead on cross‐cutting issues, such as preparing for Inter‐Governmental Conferences, and operated the communications infrastructure connecting London to Brussels and other European capitals; European Union Division (External) took the lead in Whitehall for defining UK policy in regard to the EU’s external relations; and European Union Bilateral Relations (EUB). A fourth division was created whenever the UK held the Council Presidency, while a specialist division in a separate chain of command was responsible for the CFSP and related business.
Both Labour PMs from 1997 to 2010 were interventionist in EU policy and PM Blair sought to give 10 Downing Street a stronger role in steering the UK’s EU policy.2 This was symbolised by the appointment of Sir Stephen Wall as both Head of the European Secretariat and the PM’s adviser on Europe. However, though the PM was more effectively advised and brought closer to domestic coordination, Downing Street did not develop the capacity to take a permanent lead in European policy. After 1997, HM Treasury also became more assertive in EU policy, especially, though not exclusively, in regard to EMU and financial and budgetary issues. The FCO’s lead was thereby vulnerable to interventions from two major actors.
Although FCO contacts with embassies in EU member states remain an important FCO‐ centred resource that is mobilised in the pursuit national policy objectives in a way that distinguishes the UK from other member states, other developments have reduced the scope and presence of the FCO in EU policy. The strong position the FCO had enjoyed in the late 1990s was gradually undermined by the loss of the near‐monopoly over EU expertise it previously enjoyed as experience spread across Whitehall and the expansion of EU competencies extended to include areas where the technical expertise of the line ministries become more relevant to EU business.3 Moreover, as a result of internal restructuring and other changes, the FCO no longer shadowed all areas of EU policy, intervened in policy areas where there is no direct FCO interest, or, since every department established its own link to UKREP, controlled communications between Whitehall and Brussels.4 Not only did the FCO cut back its coverage of European matters in London, but it has ‘pulled back … from day‐to‐ day monitoring of the work at UKREP in which [it does not] have a strategic interest’. It is not as strongly represented among UKREP staff as in the past,5 nor does it formulate the
2 The greater involvement of the PM in European affairs was also a consequence of the expanding role of the European Council. 3 ‘The FCO has been in the shadows for the last five years, as it had taken the view that there was so much EU business, that it was impossible to handle, so it ended up with the line ministries with increasing frequency, with the FCO focusing on constitutional issues. This was based on a critical understanding of the role of the FCO in the world and concluding that there was now sufficient expertise within Whitehall to deal with European matters on a ministry‐by‐ministry basis.’ 4 ‘The FCO has decreasingly involved itself in non‐FCO business.[...] The FCO rarely gets involved in domestic EU business unless it has major implications for our overall [foreign] relations. But the FCO is still important for information gathering etc. UKREP, the Treasury and lead ministries will all be important to this as well.’ 5 UKREP officials working to COREPER I areas noted that there was not a single FCO official working on their floor.
212 instructions sent to UKREP. At the same time as it has become more independent of the FCO, UKREP retains its centrality in coordination, as symbolised by the weekly Cunliffe‐ Darroch meetings—the centrepiece of the UK system.
One of our respondents attributed the FCO’s diminishing role to a resource squeeze: ‘The Foreign Office has less of a role than they did on central policy questions—this is to do with resources’—a desire for an FCO that is ‘more foreign, less office’. Another saw a shift in priorities from Europe towards the Middle East and Asia,6 or toward an emphasis on trade promotion rather than the FCO’s traditional functions. A senior diplomat, now retired, reflecting on the FCO’s loss of status in European matters, wondered whether governments had lost sight of the need for expertise that supports strategic thinking in foreign policy.
A major reorganization was enacted in 2006, when FCO structures were overhauled to allow the FCO adapt to meet new strategic priorities. A single Directorate, Europe and Globalisation, now covers Global Issues, Africa and the Asia‐Pacific, as well as Europe more broadly, and bilateral and multilateral, and issues and areas, have been integrated at desk level. As a consequence, although the FCO runs a single European network, unlike foreign ministries elsewhere, it has no directorate concerned exclusively with Europe.
The FCO’s role since May 2010 Since the formation of the Conservative‐Liberal Democrat coalition, the decline of the FCO’s influence in UK European policy appears to have been partly reversed,7 even if the streamlining of units dealing with Europe continued. The Foreign Secretary has taken a strong lead in setting European policy and the PM is less interventionist than his immediate predecessors. The resurgence of the FCO featured significantly among interviewees. Although an overwhelming majority averred that the Cabinet Office was the de facto centre of the UK system, several commented on the FCO’s new assertiveness:
‘This is a much debated topic. Formally speaking it is the Cabinet Office, and broadly speaking this is true.’
‘There is an FCO/Cabinet Office axis—between the two they manage it’.
‘The FCO and Cabinet Office are the de facto centre and work closely together, with the Cabinet Office providing coordination and the FCO providing strategy.’
‘At the moment the power balance is quite balanced due to a strong Foreign Secretary and a strong European advisor to No. 10—the balance between the FCO and Cabinet Office is better.’
The Foreign Secretary’s role as chair of a revitalized cabinet committee, the European Affairs Committee, was regarded as especially significant. According to one official: ‘Under
6 The number of staff working on Europe fell from 200 to around 90 following the UK Presidency in 2005. 7 You saw at the same time, more and more people were being seconded to UKREP from line ministries, with particular skills that FCO officials did not possess.’
213 the new coalition [the de facto centre of coordination] is the new European Affairs Committee, chaired by William Hague’. Another observed that:
‘The FCO has seen a bit of a resurgence in its role, especially since the election. The new EU Minister and the Foreign Secretary are looking to reassert the FCO grip on the totality of EU negotiations.’
Others were somewhat more equivocal, however:
‘The FCO’s recent resurgence is partly based on which Cab Committee makes decisions. Moreover, as Chair of the European Affairs Committee (EAC), William Hague (Foreign Secretary) gets advice from the Cabinet Office as well as his own department.’
‘The Foreign Secretary is [ultimately] responsible for coordination. He is served by the Cabinet Office and to some extent the FCO on this. But it depends on who’s in power and who the ministers are as to where the balance of power lies between the two. The links between the Cabinet Office and FCO fluctuate according to personalities more than governments. Whoever is chairing a Cabinet Committee is served by officials from the Cabinet Office. [There is thus] a duality to it.’
There was some concern that the new division of responsibilities would not prove to be stable or enduring:8
‘The secretarial side is provided by the Cabinet Office. The centre is thus somewhere around here. The Foreign Office is trying to be resurgent in European affairs. William Hague sees the Foreign Office as a player in policies across the piece. This may be tempered over time by the reality of what is possible or feasible, which may change over time.’
Moreover, the idea that the FCO should occupy the central coordinating role was contested by one interviewee:
‘David Cameron is leaving foreign policy much more to the FCO. Hague thinks it’s silly to duplicate coordination at the Cabinet Office and the FCO—but then the logical place of a coordination mechanism would be in the Cabinet Office given the cross‐cutting nature of EU policy. [...] The FCO priority is diplomatic relations and future enlargement. [...] [The system] needs a neutral broker given the cross‐cutting nature of policy. Such a broker can’t sit at the FCO.’
This is an important view, which reflects the tensions inherent in a model centred on the ministry of foreign affairs adopted by some EU member states; that the FCO is a line ministry and therefore fundamentally ill‐suited to the role of central coordinator.
8 Looking back over the longer term, one official observed that: ‘There has always been tension between the Foreign Office and Cabinet Office as to where soul of European policy is. It is still developing under the new government.’
214 5
Conclusion The role and status of the FCO in UK coordination of EU policy has changed significantly since the late 1990s. However, the change in its responsibilities and organization raises important questions:
• Are the responsibilities of 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the FCO sufficiently well demarcated? • If the FCO no longer plays the traditional role of strategic thinking about the UK’s European policy, has this function been lost to the system or has it moved elsewhere within Whitehall? • Is Europe prominent enough within FCO priorities? • Does the FCO have sufficient resources to manage its European responsibilities? • Should the FCO’s functions be reduced to the promotion of trade or is traditional diplomacy still important? • Is the FCO’s more central role in coordination compatible with its interests as a ministry
1 February 2011
References
Kassim, H., Dittmer‐Odell, M. and Wright, N. (2010) EU Policy Coordination in the United Kingdom, Study commissioned for the Austrian Federal Chancellery, ‘Internal Coordination on EU Policy‐Making in Member States: Processes and Structures’, led by Prof. Dr. Sonja Puntscher Riekmann, Prof. Dr. Andreas Dür, and Dr. Helmut P. Gaisbauer, Centre of European Union Studies, University of Salzburg.
Kassim, H. (2000) ‘United Kingdom’ in Kassim, Peters and Wright (eds) (2000) The National Co‐ordination of EU Policy: the domestic level, Oxford University Press, pp. 22‐53
5
215 Supplementary Written Evidence from Alastair Newton
The Role of the FCO: Initial Statement
1. The FCO and the City
I should start by underlining that I shall be giving evidence in a purely personal capacity as a former member of HM Diplomatic Service; and that my views are not necessarily a reflection of those of my current employer and/or other organisations with which I am associated.
Members of the Committee may well be familiar with Christopher Meyer’s book Getting Our Way which offers a number of thoughts which are, I believe, relevant to this enquiry. Notably:
• Reference to Lord Palmerston’s famous comment that “Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow” (page 5) – cited by Christopher as the principal basis upon which the FCO’s priorities should be determined;
• Recognition at many points in Christopher’s text that trade remains central to our economic wellbeing; and,
• Christopher’s confession (at page 232) that; “For all its interests, trade was not my natural habitat”.
Drawing on those points in order, I would argue as follows:
• The continuing importance of our financial services industry to the UK economy is such that its promotion and well-being internationally can reasonably be counted among our “eternal and perpetual interests”;
• Consistent with that, the Diplomatic Service does indeed devote considerable resources to trade and investment promotion, including in financial services;
• But Christopher is far from an isolated example of a senior British diplomat for whom trade – and perhaps especially financial services – is not a “natural habitat”.
All these points – but perhaps particularly the third – are highlighted by the fact that, for the second time in a little over a decade, the FCO is currently looking to recruit from the City for arguably its most important financial services-related post, that of HM Consul General New York/Director General UKTI USA – a post for which I was invited to bid despite the fact that the Office encouraged me into early retirement in 2005 from the post of Director UKTI USA!
The effort in the late 1990s to recruit from the City ended in failure – significantly, I understand, because the package on offer was not sufficiently generous to attract a City high flyer. I wish the FCO better fortune this time – although I am sure any City candidate of similar general calibre to senior FCO (or BIS) staff who might be considered for this post would have to take a significant cut in salary.
It would therefore be sensible, in my view, for the FCO to equip itself adequately to staff posts where knowledge of financial services is a prerequisite. I believe the following five (low cost) measures would help enormously in this respect:
• Reinstate the programme of secondment to the City which lapsed a year after my own secondment to Lehman Brothers immediately prior to my New York posting; 216 • If this too has lapsed, reinstate regular senior FCO staff meetings with the Governor and senior staff of the Bank of England (initiated by the then PUS in 1998);
• The FCO’s Director-General Europe and Globalisation (presently Nick Baird) to host regular roundtable lunches with senior people from the City;
• The FCO actively to participate in the LOTIS Committee of TheCityUK; and,
• Perhaps most important – but most difficult – of all, effect a culture change so that FCO high flyers no longer consider that trade is not “real” diplomacy but see it as a priority national interest where the FCO can make a real difference.
2. The FCO and the EU
Overall, I believe that the FCO – indeed, Whitehall as a whole since the FCO is only a fraction of the team effort – does a pretty good job of representing UK interests in Europe. Certainly both Brussels bureaucrats and other EU MS diplomats respect our representation and representatives.
Indeed, it would be fair to say that the UK has and continues to play a particularly important role in trade policy (eg the FCO’s current PUS, Simon Fraser, was chef de cabinet to the Trade Commissioner for some years). And, as far as the City’s interests are concerned, HM Treasury is a genuine heavy-hitter in Ecofin and other relevant committees.
That said, our most important diplomatic front is and will remain Europe and there is always room for improvement, eg:
• Support more high flyers from across Whitehall to take secondments to the Commission and the European Council Secretariat;
• Support as strongly as some other EU MS do the careers of our nationals in Europe’s bureaucracies – from the very bottom of the ladder upwards;
• Remember that building a consensus – or at least a qualified majority – in Europe is not just about France and Germany but also about relations with smaller MS (something to which lip service has long been paid by the DS but…..);
• More effort with European parliamentarians would probably pay dividends post- Lisbon.
One further thought which some of my former colleagues may consider heretical. With the exception of the WTO where community competence rules, Europe – all too often speaking with many voices – punches significantly below its weight on the international stage. The EU now has an external service which is here to stay despite the fact that its role, especially relative to Member States’ diplomacy, appears ill-defined. Is it time for the UK to devolve more “high diplomacy” to Europe and to devote more of its resources to issues which clearly are of national rather than European interest, notably trade and investment promotion?
2 February 2010
217 Written evidence from Professor Dr Sonja Puntscher Riekmann
The Role of Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Domestic EU-Policy Co-ordination
A comparative perspective
EU-membership entails special arrangements for co-ordinating domestic positions to be presented and negotiated at the EU level. The EU being a political system in continuous evolution, such arrangements need to be adjusted to novel provisions either enshrined in primary law or in institutional agreements between EU organs. In that respect the Treaty of Lisbon has brought about a number of changes, in particular the growing importance of the European Council with its permanent president, the expanded role of the European Parliament in the ordinary legislation procedure and the new competencies of the High Representative of Common Foreign and Security Affairs. In all Member States Ministries of Foreign Affairs have played an important role in co-ordinating national positions before and after accession. Our comparative study however indicates that this role is in a process of change, albeit to different degrees.
Our study, commissioned and financed by the Austrian Federal Chancellery, has compared the situation in the following Member States: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The rationale guiding this choice was to compare by size, length of membership and last presidency of the EU Council. The study is empirically based on interviews that scholars working in the countries have carried out with high officials of national administrations between June and October 2010 and according to a common questionnaire. The question about the role of Ministries of Foreign Affairs was one among others relating to the overall question about how domestic EU-policy co-ordination is organised in the member states investigated. Thus, the results presented below are a summary of the answers given by the interviewees.
There is some interesting variation across the five countries in the degree of centralisation of the process of EU co-ordination. Centralisation is indicated by a shift of power from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs or other ministries to the Offices of Prime Ministers. This is first and foremost the case in the Czech Republic where EU-Policy co-ordination is managed by the Unit of the Minister for European Affairs in the Office of Government (Prime Minister’s Office) where the Prime Minister is directly responsible for the unit. Since 2010 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an influential player before and after accession, is now only in charge to co-ordinate the Czech position with respect to the EU’s external affairs.
Similarly, in Sweden the process of co-ordination is largely centralised in the prime minister’s office. However, owing to the Swedish political culture of consensus it is less a process of top-down steering than of generating common positions by reiterative processes of deliberation. Ministries enjoy less autonomy than in other member states and this holds true also for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
France and the UK appear to be intermediary cases as we can witness high degrees of centralisation, however they diverge in detail. Due to the semi-presidential political system, in France the cabinet of the president has since long played an important role and so has the prime minister’s office, the prime minister chairing the Inter-ministerial Committee on Europe. The strengthened role of the European Council appears to enhance this development, whereby the importance of the Prime Minister largely depends on the relationship with the
218 president. Moreover, the Secrétariat Général des Affaires Européenes (SGAE) as an administrative unit was created not only to co-ordinate EU-Policy but also to advise the Prime Minister. France though is peculiar in that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economics play special roles as well. They became especially prominent in the course of the financial and economic crisis, whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can hardly be considered as a key player in this respect. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as much as the two aforementioned ministries have strong links, even an “osmosis”, with the Permanent Representation in Brussels. These links give the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considerable advantages in terms of information and knowledge about EU decision-making processes.
In the United Kingdom the Cabinet Office that includes the Prime Minister’s Office plays a key role in EU policy co-ordination. However, due to the novelty of a coalition government EU policy co-ordination appears less centralised and opaque than in the past two governments. In particular the European Affairs Committee (EAC) is to guarantee better formalisation and transparency. The role of the FCO is ambivalent: While facing a serious decline in the Blair-Brown era, it shows sign of new life symbolized by the Foreign Secretary’s selection as chair of the EAC. However, it no longer co-ordinates the “write around” which it has ceded to the Cabinet’s Office, nor does it control communications between Whitehall and Brussels, since all departments have well-established relations with the Permanent Representation. It is therefore questionable whether the resurgence of the FCO is to last also because it is perceived as a line ministry rather than an honest broker. Other noteworthy changes are the decrease in FCO staff in the Permanent Representation and the growing confinement of the FCO to foreign policy and global matters.
Germany also offers an ambivalent picture: Whereas on the one hand there is considerable continuity with past structure of co-ordination, there is some evidence for a trend towards centralisation in the Chancellor’s Office. However, much of the co-ordination remains in the hands of the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latter chairing also the Committee of European Affairs. Indeed, thirteen respondents suggested that the de facto centre of policy co-ordination is the Foreign Ministry, whereas eleven mentioned the Chancellor’s Office. This may be interpreted as a division of power that, however, is not necessarily only a result of the systemic features of the German political system, but likely to stem from the fact that in recent German governments, the Chancellor and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have been from different political parties. Moreover, recent announcements made by the German Chancellor in terms of better European economic governance could lead towards centralised co-ordination in her cabinet.
By way of conclusion we may hold that there is variation between FMA-, PM-centred and shared domestic co-ordination of EU-Policy-making:
FMA-centred co-ordination appears to be in decline in all Member States under investigation. However, Germany and the United Kingdom show signs of deviation in that the FMA retains important formal powers of co-ordination and may thus resist complete centralisation in the PM-Cabinet.
PM-centred co-ordination is most pronounced in the Czech Republic and in Sweden, albeit the Swedish system is marked by consensus-building between the centre and other ministries.
219 France does hardly fit into clear-cut categories, due to shared powers by the president and the Prime Minister, the latter being supported by the SGAE, but also due to the role of the Ministries of Finance and Economics in particular in their relevant policy-fields.
2 February 2011
3 220 FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE ROLE OF THE FCO IN UK GOVERNMENT
REPLY TO INFORMAL REQUEST FROM THE FAC FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CERTAIN HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES AND AN UPDATE ON THE FCO STRATEGY UNIT/POLICY UNIT, THE POLICY PLANNING FUNCTION AND RESEARCH ANALYSTS
HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES
The Committee has asked for additional information on a series of human resources issues related to:
• Recruitment, appointment and promotion; • Induction of staff; • historical data since 1945 on staffing levels and the numbers of overseas posts; • length of postings; • secondments to other Government Departments; and • appointments from outside the FCO.
The Committee has suggested it would be happy to see internal staff information on such issues, if this was readily available.
In response to these points, the Committee may find the following attachments of interest:
a) a note explaining FCO competences and attachments setting out in detail specific competences on FCO Band C and Senior Management Structure Band 1 for illustrative purposes; b) a note on recruitment;
221 c) a note on promotion; d) a note on appointments and attachments of internal guidance to staff taken from the FCO internal website; e) a note on training and attachment showing the FCO induction programme for Band C officers as an illustration; f) a note on interchange and secondments; and g) a copy of the internal FCO rules on current length of postings for all posts.
Provision of full and accurate historical data for staffing from 1945 is more challenging. Data on this is not readily accessible, and may not be fully accurate.
STRATEGY UNITY/POLICY UNIT AND RESEARCH ANALYSTS
The Committee asked for an update on the Directorate of Strategy, Policy Planning and Analysis. The Committee is aware from the FCO’s 2008-9 Annual Report that the Directorate was previously made up of two parts: the Strategy Unit, whose staff were generalist policy advisers, and which prepared strategic and long term policy advice; and Research Analysts, whose members provided expert analysis of different countries and issues, and who worked alongside the relevant geographical or functional directorate of the FCO (although in organisational terms they formed a separate department within the Directorate of Strategy, Policy Planning and Analysis).
In July 2010, this structure was revised. The Strategy Unit became the Policy Unit, still made up of generalist policy advisers, working through the Director for Strategy to the Permanent Under-Secretary. Their work is to strengthen the FCO’s policy work by supporting and sometimes challenging other Directorates; to improve policy skills throughout the Office (working with the Human Resources Directorate); to engage with internal and external experts; and to coordinate the FCO’s contribution to the work of the National Security Council. The Unit is in the process of recruiting staff to a full strength of 18 officers.
222 Members of Research Analysts, who were already co-located with the Directorate or Department which covered their respective areas of specialism, were fully incorporated into them in July 2010. Each Directorate is therefore now responsible for the management and resourcing of its analysts. There are 46 analysts at the moment. The FCO is currently reviewing the level of analytical capacity which it needs.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
February 2011
223
RECRUITMENT, PROMOTION AND APPOINTMENTS WITHIN THE FCO
OVERALL CONTEXT: FCO CORE COMPETENCES
Attached to this note are stand‐alone notes with details on how the FCO recruits, promotes and appoints staff to and within the FCO. What is common to all three notes is the FCO Core Competence framework. At some point in the recruitment, promotion, and appointment processes, candidates will be measured against some or all of the core competences.
This framework sets out the standards the FCO expects of its staff at each grade to be effective within the FCO, both in London and overseas. These competences cover (with variations between the grades):
‐ Strategic Thinking ‐ Problem Solving and Judgement ‐ Leadership ‐ Communicating and Influencing ‐ Managing and Developing Staff ‐ Delivering Results ‐ Managing External Relationships ‐ Working with Others ‐ Learning and Development
These are the skills deemed essential for both Diplomatic Service and Home Civil Service staff in the FCO.
Attached are more detailed indications of what the FCO expects from its staff at C Band (ie Second Secretary) and SMS 1 (ie those at lower levels of Senior Management).
224 1. MANAGING AND DEVELOPING STAFF Line management of individuals or a team, encouraging high levels of motivation and performance. Able to flex management style to suit different situations. Coaches and supports staff, tackling performance issues effectively. Values diversity, treating staff with equity and fairness. Embraces different ways of thinking and acting. Encourages everyone to fulfil their potential.
At this level, management responsibility can range from one or two individuals to fairly large teams. The effective use of delegation becomes increasingly important at this level, as does the manager’s role in helping staff to develop. There is also more scope than at Band B for giving overall direction to the work of the team. Band C staff with no formal line management responsibilities should still be able to demonstrate some aspects of this competence eg by offering support, guidance or coaching to new or more junior members of staff.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
1.1 Meets with staff at the appropriate times to agree job descriptions and 1.10 Avoids addressing difficult issues, including poor performance. objectives, reviewing progress by providing regular, balanced feedback and 1.11 Does not make time for staff management. identifying /evaluating development. 1.12 Takes no responsibility for developing staff. 1.2 Keeps team members informed; provides reasoning underlying decisions; 1.13 Gives only negative feedback or none at all. gives clear instructions, checking they are understood. 1.14 Insensitive to aspirations, pressures and personal concerns of staff. 1.3 Adapts management approach to suit different people, cultures and 1.15 Treats people unfairly or allows others to be excluded. situations. 1.16 Unapproachable. 1.4 Motivates and develops staff; provides support and advice and more 1.17 Unable to flex management style to fit the situation. challenging work as appropriate. 1.18 Uncomfortable working with people from 1.5 Manages talent: identifies potential, builds on strengths and differences; culture/backgrounds different to their own. coaches team members in new skills or where they need development. 1.6 Praises good performance and encourages staff to build on their strengths. Tackles promptly and honestly under performance or inappropriate behaviour. 1.7 Creates an inclusive environment where all staff, including those from under‐ represented groups, are able to contribute to policy and/or service delivery. 1.8 Sets a positive example; inspires others by enthusiasm, energy and commitment. 1.9 Assesses and reviews results of training and its impact on performance of individuals.
225
2. DELIVERING RESULTS
Manages own and team’s time effectively, responding flexibly to changing priorities and meeting objectives. Demonstrates the financial and resource management expertise necessary to achieve results. Professional, focused on delivering quickly and effectively. Takes well judged risks within own delegated authority.
At this level, there is likely to be more requirement than at Band B for taking responsibility for the output of the team and more of a requirement to take the initiative to reorganise work to deal with changing priorities, risks and opportunities.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
2.1 Seizes opportunities, anticipates & deals with problems, making decisions & achieving 2.11 Uses rules and procedures as an invalid excuse for non‐ objectives. delivery. 2.2 Accepts responsibility for quality and accuracy of own and staff’s work; works with/through 2.12 Commits to delivery regardless of impact on self or team. staff to achieve results. 2.13 Fails to adjust ways of working in light of changed 2.3 Able to prioritise and plan best use of resources. circumstances. 2.4 Uses project management techniques: sets clear targets, standards and milestones; 2.14 Puts off difficult tasks to later. delegates appropriate tasks with sufficient guidance. 2.15 Exceeds limits of own authority. 2.5 Systematically monitors progress against plans; identifies risks and acts to deal with 2.16 Risk averse. obstacles or setbacks. 2.6 Complies with organisational procedures and legal requirements (including Equality Impact Assessments), ensuring systems are defined, documented and reviewed as appropriate. Information is properly recorded and referenced. 2.7 Manages budgets effectively, estimating, profiling, forecasting and monitoring spends and taking action to deal with any over/under‐spends. 2.8 Evaluates outcomes against planned objectives. 2.9 Resilient and flexible: maintains ‘can do’ attitude when pressure is on. 2.10 Knows when to harness the leverage of more senior staff or to seek advice of specialists to deliver results.
226 3. MANAGING EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS
This competence relates to the full range of (internal and external) stakeholders including customers and external contacts who impact on or are impacted by the work of your team. It is about how effectively relationships are managed and a systematic and innovative approach to improving the quality of service offered.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
3.1 Acts with honesty, integrity and professionalism. 3.10 Has a narrow definition of customer/stakeholder. 3.2 Identifies full range of internal and external customers/stakeholders, and 3.11 Deals with customers from perspective of own needs rather than the works with them to agree standards of service, offering alternatives when customers. appropriate. 3.12 Promises something they cannot deliver. 3.3 Manages expectations by explaining any valid operational limitations at an 3.13 Does not deliver to agreed deadline/quality/specification. early stage. 3.14 Does not seek or act on feedback from customers. 3.4 Identifies key stakeholders with an interest in particular activities, 3.15 Focuses on a narrow range of contacts or cultivates those who add little encourages their involvement and keeps them informed of progress. value. 3.5 Monitors standards of service provided. 3.6 Meets commitments or renegotiates. 3.7 Responds constructively to complaints. 3.8 Uses feedback and information on performance standards to review and improve continuously the quality of service provided. 3.9 Builds and maintains an effective network of relevant contacts and uses them to achieve objectives.
227 4. PROBLEM SOLVING & JUDGEMENT
Able to tackle difficult problems/tasks: evidence based approach, gathers information from a wide range of sources and viewpoints, analyses and evaluates it and reaches sound conclusions. Proposes constructive solutions.
This competence underpins most of what individuals do. It applies both to all kinds of analysis and judgement in every type of work.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
4.1 Deals proactively with problems, taking responsibility and acting decisively and 4.8 Indecisive, particularly under pressure. appropriately to resolve them. 4.9 Does not use an appropriate range of information sources. Evidence 4.2 Gathers information needed to tackle tasks and problems. light. 4.3 Recognises and picks out priority issues and potential risks and knows when to 4.10 Makes decisions without understanding or evaluating necessary refer upwards. information and evidence. 4.4 Presents managers with proposed solutions that include risk assessment and 4.11 Spends too much time analysing problems at the expense of finding management. solutions. 4.5 Evaluates diverse needs & perspectives, including views of stakeholders, before 4.12 Flawed judgement because too little time spent on analysis and detail. taking decisions. 4.13 Always recommends precedent without considering other options. 4.6 Seeks advice from experts where appropriate. 4.14 Refuses to consider or accept solutions which involve any element of 4.7 Makes objective, timely recommendations and decisions based on best risk. available evidence & sound analysis. 4.15 Lets problems fester.
228
5. STRATEGIC AWARENESS
Takes account of and understands relevant policy objectives of the FCO and wider Government and how their work fits in. Encourages and contributes new ideas, innovation, and experiment to improve delivery of policy and services.
At this level staff are expected to think more widely about their work and how it fits in to the broader aims of the organisation
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
5.1 Understands policy context of own work and how it fits into FCO and OGDs 5.9 Loses sight of business objectives. work and objectives. 5.10 Does not consider impact on wider policy agenda. 5.2 Keeps up to date with both internal and external changes that affect own 5.11 Oblivious to risk that an action could have a negative impact on the work. organisation. 5.3 Takes account of wider political, social, economic factors and the 5.12 Fails to take account of external changes which may impact on their implications of proposed action. work. 5.4 Integrates information from a wide range of sources; sees 5.13 Always approaches issues from the same perspective; finds it hard interrelationships, establishes links, patterns and conflicts. to consider new angles or fresh approaches. 5.5 Able to identify and assess potential threats. 5.14 Unable to see or assess risk. 5.6 Considers long and short term implications of proposed actions. 5.15 Rejects creative and innovative proposals without assessing 5.7 Creative: introducing opportunities to add value to own or other FCO/OGD viability. work. 5.8 Introduces new thinking to existing debates.
229 6. WORKING WITH OTHERS
Self‐aware: shows consideration for others' needs and motivations, values diversity and inclusion; works effectively and supportively on shared objectives with colleagues and contacts in both the immediate and wider teams to get things done.
This competence is about personal effectiveness and many of the required behaviours will be the same for staff at all levels. The difference lies in the context of these interactions, in the variety and status of contacts and in the degree of potential sensitivity. At this level, the range of relationships is likely to be more diverse than at Band B.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
6.1 Treats everyone with fairness and respect regardless of work pressure. 6.8 Places own priorities ahead of those of the team. Understands and anticipates others’ needs and motivation. 6.9 Does not listen to others viewpoints and contributions. 6.2 Self‐aware: recognises and manages impact of own behaviour, actions and 6.10 Does not recognise the benefits of other thinking or working styles. language on others, respecting different cultures, beliefs and needs. 6.11 Reacts negatively when challenged; prefers not to challenge others. 6.3 Builds co operative and productive working relationships with others 6.12 Does not acknowledge others’ ideas or innovations. regardless of status. 6.4 Capitalises on the benefits of working with a diverse range of people, thinking and working styles. 6.5 Notices when colleagues are under pressure or in difficulty and responds proactively. 6.6 Thinks about how to add value to the team & how others can contribute; contributes to setting and achieving team objectives. 6.7 Includes others in decision‐making, keeping interested parties informed.
230 7. COMMUNICATING & INFLUENCING
Presents a professional image of self, Department/Post and FCO. Conveys information clearly and concisely, adjusting style according to purpose and audience. Able to persuade and challenge.
As in the case of Working with Others, some of the effective behaviours will be common to staff at all levels, with the stepchange coming in the level of contacts and the range and complexity of the interaction.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
7.1 Structure and style of communication is appropriate for the situation and 7.9 Does not seek to clarify when uncertain about information or context and takes full acount of the needs/perspective of the audience. instruction. 7.2 Communication is concise, structured and focussed on key messages, and 7.10 Unfocused and no clear structure to communication. adds value. 7.11 Does not consider the recipients’ needs. 7.3 Complex issues are explained clearly, including under time pressure. 7.12 Unconvincing in argument and/or when challenged. 7.4 Listens carefully, checks out understanding and provides information wanted. 7.13 Dominates discussions and excludes others. Open to others’ views and being persuaded. 7.14 Does not contribute. 7.5 Prepared to give unpopular messages and defend own position in face of 7.15 Unable to vary presentation style to suit the situation, sticks to opposition, when required. traditional approach. 7.6 Well prepared for meetings/negotiations; anticipates problems but also able to respond to the unexpected. 7.7 Persuasive: combines logic and reason with interpersonal sensitivity to persuade others. 7.8 Seeks to create solutions which offer mutual benefits. Focuses attention on those aspects which can be influenced.
231 Band C
8. LEARNING & DEVELOPING
Open and curious approach to new ideas, drawing on them and on experience to improve performance. Enthusiastic about personal development. Contributes to and supports corporate policies.
At this level, staff should be taking more responsibility for their own long term development, seeking feedback from a wide range of staff and stakeholders and proactive in pursuit of opportunities to develop.
Indicators of Effective Behaviour Indicators of Ineffective Behaviour
8.1 Open to, seeks out and acts upon feedback 8.10 Rejects development opportunities offered by manager. 8.2 Acknowledges own mistakes, seeks to apply learning and experience to 8.11 Limited Personal Development Plan: attends courses without identifying new roles and situations. clear aims and purposes or without putting the learning into practice. 8.3 Demonstrates readiness to learn more and develop performance; takes 8.12 Lacks self‐awareness and curiosity. personal responsibility for own development. Has a Personal 8.13 Makes same mistake repeatedly. Development Plan. 8.14 Dismisses new ideas or different perspectives without evaluation. 8.4 Reviews work to learn from past experience or mistakes and shares lessons to be learned with the team. 8.5 Responds positively to change initiatives. 8.6 Open to new ways of thinking and working and helps others to adapt. 8.7 Positively challenges outdated conventions and actively contributes ideas and suggestions to improve the way things are done. 8.8 Contributes to corporate activities and the development of FCO good practice. 8.9 Reacts positively to FCO‐wide initiatives and encourages others to participate.
232
1. LEADERSHIP
Gives purpose and direction to own teams. Takes difficult decisions and well judged risks. Inclusive, empowering others to work together to achieve organisational goals. Inspires confidence and trust. Contributes to wider corporate management including change. Acts with honesty, integrity and professionalism.
Effective Behaviour Behaviour to Change
1.1 Communicates clear and compelling vision, direction and priorities. 1.11 Undermines corporate decisions. 1.2 Consistently adds value to corporate planning and decision making; champions corporate values. 1.12 Looks to others to provide direction. 1.3 Provides a clear rationale of the need for change; encourages staff to respond 1.13 Indecisive, takes the easiest option. openly and objectively; and rewards innovation. 1.14 Allows or exhibits behaviour which excludes or discriminates against 1.4 Takes difficult decisions and measured risks, including on the basis of incomplete staff or groups of staff. information, and is accountable for them. 1.5 Sets out the context for staff; shows how work is relevant and enables others to 1.15 Says one thing and does another. take decisions. 1.16 Ignores wider interests when fighting own corner. 1.6 Is a role model to team/s: behaves in ways which promotes inclusive behaviour 1.17 Blames staff when things go wrong. and professionalism, integrity and best practice. 1.18 Ignores impact of change on staff. 1.7 Is highly credible and visible, and has strong rapport with staff at all levels. 1.19 Avoids giving difficult messages; only says what people want to hear. 1.8 Resilient and flexible; manages setbacks or resistance. 1.20 Fails to communicate regularly with staff. 1.9 Promotes the service offered by own area or FCO showing how it can add value. 1.21 Creates unnecessary work or duplicates work best done by others. 1.10 Sets boundaries; balances accessibility with time to think, focus and 1.22 Lacks the self belief to lead through difficulty deliver
233 2. GETTING THE BEST FROM STAFF
Promotes high motivation and performance. Encourages team leaders to set objectives, define responsibility and accountability, review progress and provide feedback, support and coaching. At this level the emphasis is as much on setting the context in which team leaders manage their staff as on management of individuals and encouraging everyone to fulfil their potential.
Effective Behaviour and PSG Skills Behaviour to Change
2.1 Runs Department/Command/Post to IiP standards or better, working with HR 2.10 Does not delegate challenging or interesting work. experts to achieve organisational goals. 2.11 Uncomfortable working with people from backgrounds different to their 2.2 Agrees clear responsibilities and objectives, involving people in deciding what own. needs to be done. 2.12 Sits on papers. 2.3 Demonstrates concern for welfare and morale of all staff. 2.13 Appraisals are not evidence‐based, lack of objective feedback on 2.4 Adapts management style to different people, cultures and situations. development. 2.5 Gives frequent honest and constructive feedback and encourages managers to 2.14 Only gives negative feedback; or none at all. do the same; praises achievement and tackles poor performance or 2.15 Gives inappropriate levels of responsibility: too much or too little. inappropriate behaviour. 2.16 Is insensitive to the aspirations, pressures and personal concerns of 2.6 Offers managers the coaching, support and advice they need to produce high members of the team. performance, judging when to step in; promotes a coaching culture. 2.17 Demands long hours and rewards input rather than output. 2.7 Manages talent: identifies potential; values and makes use of people’s strengths and differences; creates an environment that supports the development of all staff. 2.8 Encourages experimentation and innovation including flexible ways of working and cross‐team working. 2.9 Able to deal with emotions and conflicts arising from diversity and inclusion issues.
234
3. DELIVERING RESULTS
At this level, the emphasis is on project management, delivering through others’ efforts, taking well judged risks and encouraging customer focus.
Decisive and accountable. Drives for high quality and high impact service delivery and effective policy outcomes. Delivers with speed and professionalism. Ensures operations are aligned with customer and stakeholder needs and anticipates future requirements. Consistently looks for new and innovative ways to use resources to maximise outcomes, deal with changing demands and achieve objectives.
Effective Behaviour and PSG Skills Behaviour to Change
3.8 Prioritises rigorously as requirements change, 3.13 Lacks understanding and capability in business Business Management reviewing distribution of resources across area of planning and financial management issues. responsibility and reallocating them as necessary, 3.14 Easily satisfied with poor project management 3.1 Can oversee the development and delivery of dropping less important tasks. systems and unreliable management viable business plans and takes responsibility for 3.9 Co‐ordinates work of several teams, ensuring information. defining and delivering measurable business efforts are complementary. 3.15 Focuses on the process at the expense of benefits. Influences DG/Post/Directorate results. Risk averse. Business Plan 3.16 Makes policy recommendations without 3.2 Able to interpret a wide range of financial realistic consideration of accessibility of information to make management decisions and Stakeholder Management resources. approve investment appraisals 3.10 Effectively communicates with internal and 3.17 Team consistently fails to deliver agreed 3.3 Ensures that processes and systems achieve the external customers and service providers. outcomes. highest standards of internal control and meet 3.11 Promotes excellence of customer service within 3.18 Policy and services fail on stakeholder public sector governance standards (including Post/Department/Command. management and customer care. equality impact assessment, security and fraud 3.12 Makes effective use of HMG/FCO machinery to 3.19 Fails to act when particular activities no longer issues). achieve objectives. Works in partnership with add value and resources could be better used finance, project management and communication elsewhere. Task Management experts to achieve organisational goals. 3.4 Develops team capability (people and resources) to deliver business plan and organisational strategy. 3.5 Sets stretching targets and standards of accuracy and quality, explains task clearly, focuses staff on delivery. Takes responsibility. 3.6 Ensures work is planned to deliver to
235 time, budget and agreed standards; assessing and managing project risk; monitors and reviews delivery. 3.7 Makes best use of diverse talents, ICT and resources to deliver results, allowing for contingencies and the need for flexibility.
236
4. STRATEGIC THINKING
Has a clear sense of direction, strategic priorities and wider political context and brings this perspective and judgement to bear in coordinating operations and resources and delivering on objectives. Rises above the detail and deploys strategic analysis tools appropriately. Understands how diversity can deliver the wider vision and cultural change. Encourages innovation and creativity.
Effective Behaviour and PSG Skills Behaviour to Change
4.1 Relates work to FCO/ HMG values, Strategic Objectives and wider 4.10 Sees elements of policy or service individually rather than as part of a political context. whole. 4.2 Scans environment to gather relevant information and diverse 4.11 Inward focus; unable to adapt policy or services to fit changes in perspectives; makes connections between the immediate and the big external environment. picture. Uses appropriate evidence as a basis for decisions. 4.12 Focuses on intellectual debate at the expense of action. 4.3 Sees linkages across organisational boundaries, and themes or patterns 4.13 Risk averse. emerging from data. Raises awareness and interest amongst others about 4.14 Narrow approach, closing down innovative options and ideas. issues which could be of importance in the future. 4.15 Concentrates on tactics at the expense of strategy. 4.4 Continuously evaluates policy delivery and service delivery against 4.16 Fails to take account of agreed FCO Strategic Objectives. changes in external environment. 4.17 Poor judgement, limited evidence base. 4.5 Anticipates longer-term changes, threats and opportunities, identifying, 4.18 Strategic plans lack factual substance and realism. evaluating and managing risk effectively. 4.6 Thinks laterally and/or creatively to identify opportunities to deliver.
4.7 Evaluates options for policy delivery and service delivery against criteria, testing for deliverability and preparing for evaluation. 4.8 Translates strategic analysis and decisions into realistic action plans which deliver concrete outcomes, taking full account of the wider political, social, commercial and economic drivers, customer stakeholder feedback. 4.9 Reviews actions and outcomes against performance criteria and learns lessons.
237 5. IMPACT
This is about interpersonal effectiveness and a strategic approach to communication and stakeholder engagement. Self confident and self aware; uses a range of approaches to build relationships and contact networks and to communicate with and influence others to get results. Negotiates creatively and effectively to achieve objectives. Projects a professional, inclusive and modern image.
Effective Behaviour and PSG skills Behaviour to Change
Personal Style 5.8 Influential with contacts at the highest 5.12 Dominates discussion; doesn’t listen, can’t see things level; seeks out tactical and strategic allies from others’ perspective. 5.1 Recognises impact of own behaviour and and judges how to work with them to 5.13 Regards information as a source of power even when personal style on others and appropriately achieve the best practical outcomes. working on shared objectives. adapts approach to different people, 5.9 Builds productive relationships with people 5.14 Obscures the message by giving inappropriate levels of environments, locations and cultures. detail; too little or too much. 5.2 Understands and anticipates the needs and inside (Press Office, Internal Comms, Team, 5.15 Diffident or unapproachable; fails to build rapport with motivations of others; values and incorporates other stakeholders) and outside the diverse and different perspectives, sharing organisation, (including foreign others. information and ideas. interlocutors, business contacts, the media, 5.16 Only engages or succeeds with a narrow range of 5.3 Challenges policy thinking and the opinions of OGDs and NGOs) maintains and develops contacts. others and responds positively to being these relationships over time. 5.17 Unconvincing; lack of depth. challenged. 5.18 Stakeholder engagement is sporadic and not focused on 5.4 Communicates openly, convincingly and with delivering outcomes. confidence in a range of situations, including Communication Process 5.19 Contacts drawn from a narrow range of interlocutors. negotiating, public speaking, press briefings, 5.20 Reluctant to be tough with contacts when appropriate. speaking off the cuff, explaining business plans and business benefits. 5.10 Includes strategic communications 5.5 Written communication is focussed and objectives when designing policies and persuasive, tailored to audience and purpose; services. Uses appropriate delivery tools and has impact. and defines management criteria. 5.11 Understands how to segment customer groups and uses the range of
238 Relationships communication channels available.
5.6 Establishes wide‐ranging and diverse contact networks which offer rapid access to information or leverage not readily available elsewhere. 5.7 Systematic engagement approach to stakeholder engagement.
239 SMS PB1
6. LEARNING & DEVELOPING
Drawing on own and others’ experience and new ideas to improve performance and results. Proactive approach to own self-development which can be measured by growth in competence and skills. Takes responsibility for own career development. Develops an open and flexible culture, in individuals and across teams, which values professionalism and encourages learning and development.
Behaviour to Change Effective Behaviour 6.1 Aware of own strengths and weaknesses and the underlying reasons for 6.11 Lacks curiosity and self awareness; unclear about own strengths them. and weaknesses. 6.2 Open to, seeks out, thinks about and acts on feedback. 6.12 Unable to change or address persistent development needs. 6.3 Reviews own performance, sees where further learning and development is 6.13 No personal development plan; does not encourage others to make appropriate and takes actions. time for development. 6.4 Responds in a positive manner when criticism or problems surface; 6.14 Engages in plenty of development activity but unable to translate into maintains self-confidence. competence/skills improvement. 6.5 Able to translate learning into improved competence and skills. 6.15 Closed to new or different perspectives and unable to objectively 6.6 Innovative: cultivates new ways of thinking and builds on the ideas and evaluate them. suggestions of others both inside and outside FCO. 6.16 Inflexible: seeks to maintain status quo; resists change. 6.7 Ready to challenge established practice and seek improvement. 6.17 Has no systems in place to enable learning to be identified. 6.8 Learns from own experience or mistakes and that of others both inside and 6.18 IT illiterate. outside the organisation: applies new learning to own work and shares the
lessons learnt with others. Mentors and encourages colleagues of all backgrounds. 6.9 Keeps up to date with available technology. 6.10 Develops and uses foreign language and professional skills as appropriate.
240
NOTE ON RECRUITMENT FOR FAC
How does the FCO recruit its staff?
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office aims to recruit a talented and diverse workforce that reflects British society. Our recruitment policies are designed to encourage applications from the widest possible range of backgrounds. All external recruitment into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is based on merit, and all campaigns must be fair and open.
The FCO recruits generalist, specialist and senior staff subject to workforce planning needs. All external recruitment is conducted by the FCO Recruitment Team, overseen by the Office of the Civil Service Commission. All applicants to the FCO must be British Nationals and are subject to Developed Vetting security clearance before taking up their appointment.
The Recruitment Freeze
The Government announced an immediate freeze on external Civil Service recruitment in May 2010. Cabinet Office released guidance on the freeze, recognising that some exceptions would be required in order to ensure Departments could continue to operate effectively, underlining that the purpose of the measure was to drive efficiencies in staff numbers and paybill and that it was essential that departments avoid false accounting through eg use of contractors.
The allowed exceptions to the freeze were: ‐ The Civil Service Fast Stream, which the FCO uses to recruit C4 policy entrants. ‐ Individual business critical appointments ‐ Key frontline posts ‐ Outreach/internship schemes to deliver diversity objectives.
In light of the recruitment freeze, downward pressures on budgets and to ensure workforce planning decisions can be monitored by the Board, the FCO have introduced a Cabinet Office‐endorsed system for approving (or not) requests for employing permanent, fixed term and temporary staff. Delegated authority from the Foreign Secretary and the PUS for most recruitment requests rests with the Chief Operating Officer. Senior appointments must go to the PUS and Foreign Secretary.
Directorates must submit business cases to DG C&D via HR Directorate. The business cases must outline why it is operationally essential to fill the position, and confirm that all relevant internal and cross‐Whitehall options have been tried, that the Directorate has the budget and headcount for this position and that there is a continuing/long term requirement for the role where appropriate. Any new recruitment (ie additional to headcount) must be balanced with cuts elsewhere.
241 Monthly reports summarising recruitment activity at the FCO and its NDPBs are submitted to Ministers.
Generalist Recruitment
When the FCO recruited in the recent past (ie 2009, pre‐freeze) at the delegated grades, we used ‘generalist’ external campaigns, designed to attract and select staff with the potential to operate across the range of policy and service delivery and corporate services jobs in the FCO and build successful careers.
We recruited staff at Band A, Band C and (sometimes) Band D, and ran campaigns in line with workforce planning needs. Workforce planning set our annual recruitment targets and the flexible nature of the campaigns allowed us to adapt to changing priorities, maintaining and refreshing staffing levels and introducing new skills and experience from outside the organisation.
All generalist campaigns assessed candidates across the full range of competences at the relevant Band. Generalist competitions do not require specialised skills or knowledge.
Band A
A recent Band A campaign required applicants to have a minimum number of GCSEs or equivalent to be eligible to apply. The assessment stages were based on the Band A competence framework and included psychometric testing, interviews, fact finding exercises, and written exercises.
Band C
Band C recruitment is conducted through the Cabinet Office Fast Stream programme. Applicants must achieve a 2‐2 degree qualification to be eligible to apply. The Fast stream process tests applicants via psychometric tests, an E‐tray exercise and assessment centre, measuring candidate potential against the range of Fast Stream Competences:
Drive for results Learning and improving Decision making Constructive thinking Building productive relationships Communicating with impact
The FCO supplement this with Final Selection Boards which test applicants’ ability to communicate and influence, work with others and manage and develop staff.
Band D
The FCO conducts campaigns at Band D subject to Workforce Planning requirements, the last of which was in 2008. That campaign encouraged applicants from diverse backgrounds outside of the public sector, with a focus on commercial skills and foreign languages.
242 Specialists
Specialists are recruited on the basis of operational need for roles which require specific skills and experience. Campaigns are tailored to the precise needs of the specialism and candidates are measured against the particular specialist skills and experience needed for the role along with relevant competences. Recent examples include recruitment campaigns for Economists, Legal Advisers and Overseas Security Managers.
Recruitment to Senior Appointments
Senior Appointments are classified as SMS 2 and above and are overseen by the Office of the Civil Service Commission, led by the FCO Head of Recruitment. Recent Senior Appointments include Chief Information Officer and Finance Director.
Further information
The FCO external website http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about‐us/working‐for‐us/careers provides further information for potential candidates.
243
NOTE ON PROMOTION FOR FAC
How does the FCO promote its staff?
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office uses Assessment & Development Centres (ADCs) as the mechanism to promote staff. They were introduced in 1999 for promotion to the Senior Management Structure (SMS). We now run them at the promotion points from Band B ‐ C, Band C ‐ D as well as Band D – SMS. Our global network means there is particular importance in having a uniform promotion system with clear benchmarks across the FCO, which is why promotion is not delegated to line managers in the way it is in some other organisations.
We use ADCs as a strategic tool to:
• Deliver better leaders across the range of competences that an effective FCO officer must have: eg analytical ability and judgement, networking skills, impact and influence (with foreign governments, external contacts and within Whitehall), management ability, delivering results • Develop talent at every level • Ensure fairness and equality • Encourage a culture of learning and self development
ADCs are effective at predicting potential at the next Band because they use the competence framework for the higher level as the benchmark, as opposed to appraisals, which only measure performance in the current Band. There is also no requirement to have undertaken a number of different job roles before applying to attend an ADC. The ADC assesses candidates irrespective of background and experience. For this reason an officer can apply with just two years’ experience in their current grade, provided they have support from a senior manager. This helps the FCO identify and bring on talented staff quickly. All officers with five years experience in their current grade are eligible to apply for an ADC.
As well as passing those candidates with the skills to operate effectively at the next level, ADCs also provide an intense and tailored development opportunity for all candidates. The investment in development helps those who are successful to know their strengths and development needs on take up of a new role. It also gives valuable feedback to those not successful that will enable them to do their current job better and develop their potential if applicable for later promotion.
Eligibility criteria All candidates must have served at least 2 years in their current grade to be eligible to apply for an ADC place. Those with 2‐5 years require a strong supporting letter from a senior manager giving clear evidence against the competences of their readiness to sit an ADC. Candidates also need a minimum performance rating of ‘Effective’ in their most recent appraisal. Access to the ADC tends to be prioritised by an officer’s end of tour date on the premise that all eligible officers should be able to apply for their next job on promotion.
244 Promotion for successful candidates becomes substantive upon taking up a job at the higher Band. Candidates who are unsuccessful can re‐sit the ADC, but there are minimum periods they must wait before doing so ranging from 1‐3 years following their previous attempt. This is to enable them to address the development areas highlighted at their previous ADC. Following a third successive unsuccessful attempt at a full ADC, candidates must complete a specialist programme of 3‐way coaching (involving their line manager and an experienced coach) of approximately 9 months duration, before re‐applying.
What happens at an ADC? At all levels, the ADC consists of a series of written exercises and interactive exercises (with role‐ players). As candidates perform the written exercises they may be interrupted to undertake their interactive exercises. The exercises are set within typical work related situations liable to be encountered by staff in London or overseas.
These exercises test candidates against core competences such as Problem Solving and Judgement (testing analytical ability and judgement of officers), Managing External Relationships (such as Whitehall partners or foreign governments) or Communicating and Influencing (persuasiveness on paper and in person) – all of which are vital skills for Diplomats.
The Role of Assessors
Throughout the ADC, assessors will mark candidates’ written work and observe and mark performances in the interactive exercises. Assessors mark candidates on their ability to deliver against certain performance indicators in those competences of the higher Band that relate to the exercise. These are tested several times. A quality controller benchmarks and checks everything assessors mark. The assessor teams are made up of trained FCO staff and external development professionals.
Each candidate has a lead FCO assessor who reviews the body of evidence acquired on their candidate at the end of the ADC. This assessor, in discussion with all other assessors, forges consensus on the overall performance of the candidate. This discussion also helps the development professionals to focus on candidates’ development needs and the feedback they will provide.
The assessors produce feedback reports containing a breakdown of performance by competence, plus developmental advice based on the key themes emerging from the ADC. The following day, candidates meet with their lead assessors and one of the external development professionals for feedback interviews.
The Feedback Interview
Having had their performances and behaviour scrutinised and analysed by five/six assessors, including two professional development professionals, the final report and feedback interview provide candidates with arguably the clearest insight into their strengths/weaknesses they have ever received. This coupled with targeted developmental advice, makes it an extremely valuable tool both to the candidate and the FCO at large, if the candidate heeds the advice given.
Ensuring Fair Treatment/Encouraging Diversity
All promotion decisions are taken purely on merit. If a candidate reaches the required standard they are promoted.
245 We make sure all candidates are treated fairly at ADCs and take steps to ensure we support diversity. ADC exercise designs are diversity‐proofed to minimise adverse impact against different groups. Disabled candidates have an opportunity prior to the ADC to agree reasonable adjustments with a disability adviser which we put in place. The disability adviser can also attend an ADC at which a disabled candidate is present in order to monitor progress and brief assessors where necessary. Our assessors are a mix of trained FCO staff, drawn from across the FCO, and external development professionals. We try to ensure we have as diverse a pool of FCO assessors as possible.
None of the ADCs show statistically significant differences in performance between candidates on grounds of gender, ethnicity or disability.
Are ADCs delivering the staff we need?
The ADCs are delivering the right staff in the right numbers to meet the FCO’s overall strategic workforce needs. Pass rates are monitored and ‐ whereas the standard that candidates need to meet in order to pass an ADC always remains the same ‐ we can reduce or increase the number of ADCs we run to ensure we achieve our workforce targets.
Over time ADCs have played a key role in improving the quality of leaders and managers throughout the FCO. Many of the FCO’s senior staff positions are Heads of Mission jobs in isolated, often dangerous places. ADCs are excellent at assessing candidates’ leadership abilities in a way that appraisals often miss. Without taking anything for granted, we believe the investment in development for both successful and unsuccessful candidates has paid dividends. While there is always room for improvement, the 2009 government‐wide staff survey showed the FCO scoring highly in leadership and management – higher than most other departments in Whitehall. For example, on questions such as ‘I feel the FCO/Post as a whole is well managed’ and ‘I feel that change is managed well in the FCO/Post’, the FCO outstripped the civil service by 18% and 21% respectively.
246
NOTE ON APPOINTMENTS FOR FAC
How does the FCO decide on appointments within the Department?
The overwhelming majority of FCO internal appointments at home and overseas are filled by competence based interview. A small number are decided by Boards eg jobs for SMS Payband 2/3 staff and first jobs for new entrants.
Filling jobs by interview gives both hiring managers and applicants the opportunity to make informed choices. It helps managers get the best candidate for the job and gives staff more responsibility for managing their careers.
Vacancies are advertised twice weekly on FCONet. The responsibility for advertising jobs and managing the interview and appointment process rests with the hiring manager for the job. Jobs must be advertised for a minimum of 10 working days before the bidding deadline; candidates must have five working days to prepare for an interview.
Central HR provide support and advice where necessary and are committed to ensuring that the process is being properly administered, including by carrying out spot checks. They apply strict eligibility criteria to ensure that applications are accepted only from those officers who are eligible to bid.
Officers apply direct to the hiring manager, submitting a bidding form, a CV and two years worth of appraisals. The hiring manager will convene an interview panel and if necessary carry out a pre‐sift of the applications.
The interview panel usually consists of three members, including one independent member. At least one of the panel should be a trained interviewer. The interview will focus on the skills, competences and experience the officer would bring to the job, and their motivation for applying.
Having an independent member helps ensure fair and objective decisions. HR and the trade unions may observe interviews and staff can appeal if they believe they have not been treated fairly. HR carries out spot checks of decisions.
Once the panel have made their decision, and the successful candidate has accepted the job, the hiring manager will give feedback to the unsuccessful candidates.
Most jobs in the delegated (ie not senior management) grades are filled internally. In some circumstances there is a strong business case for inviting external applicants for example if the job requires particular specialist skills and knowledge not readily available in the FCO; or if the initial recruitment process fails to produce a suitable internal candidate. Please see separate note on interchange and external recruitment.
As a rule, senior management jobs in the UK and at posts overseas are open to members of all government departments to apply on interchange terms. Jobs at SMS Paybands 2 and 3 are considered by the No 1 Board (senior appointments Board) and may be made by Board appointment or interview.
247
Heads of Mission jobs
Recommendations for Head of Mission jobs are made in the same way as other positions in the relevant grade. All Governorships of Overseas Territories are in addition put to the No 1 Board. Recommendations are then put to the Foreign Secretary and for the most senior jobs the Prime Minister for ratification.
Tour lengths and frequency of postings
Jobs at home usually last two or three years but may be extended to five. Overseas postings vary in length, depending on the individual Post; the majority are three or four years but the more difficult or dangerous postings will be less.
Frequency of postings varies according to the grade of the officer. Traditionally, Diplomatic Service staff might have expected two consecutive postings overseas followed by a tour at home. While the changing shape of the FCO has implications for postings patterns, particularly at more junior levels, the FCO will remain a strong global organisation and there will still be opportunities for staff to spend a significant part of their careers overseas.
248 FROM FCO INTRANET
Appointment System: Frequently Asked Questions
This document will be updated on a regular basis. If you have a question and it is not answered here, please send it to HRD – Interview System Enquiries .
Hiring manager FAQs Applicant FAQs
Hiring manager FAQs
What are my responsibilities as a Hiring Manager?
As hiring manager, you will be responsible for the following:
Deciding when vacancies are advertised on FCONet Sending job specs to the relevant team to be advertised on FCONet Deciding when the bidding deadline and interview window will be held (please note: to ensure we stay in line with our agreements with the TUS, certain restrictions apply. These are set out in Do I have to stick to any timetable? ) Convening an interview panel and make any necessary administrative arrangements Providing feedback to all candidates once the interviews are over Notifying ESD and HR when an appointment has been made so that the necessary clearances and paperwork can be issued
HR are committed to ensuring that the interview process, sifting candidate and providing feedback is being properly administered by Hiring Managers and will carry out spot checks to review decisions. Hiring Managers must therefore ensure that they follow the process rigorously and keep paperwork which may be required by the Appointments Team.
HR Appointments Managers may contact Hiring Managers asking them to forward the interview panel's notes, paperwork and the feedback sent to candidates. You should keep applicants’ paperwork securely for six months before you destroy it. When shredding paperwork you should also ensure that you delete any electronic copies of job applications and supporting paperwork. Paper copies of appraisals, assessments and ADC reports should be returned to any candidates who ask for them once the appointment process is complete.
How far in advance should I advertise a job?
Overseas jobs should ideally be advertised at least a year in advance but you also need to allow time for training. Speaker slots need to be advertised further in advance to allow sufficient time for the successful applicant to join a scheduled language course. At home, jobs should normally be advertised about three months in advance.
Do I have to stick to any timetable?
While no central timetable exists, certain timeframes, agreed with the TUS, must stay in place whenever a position is being advertised. Jobs must be advertised for a minimum of 10 working days before the bidding deadline. Candidates must have five working days to prepare for an interview, and managers must leave 24 hours for any interviewees to appeal against the conduct of an interview before announcing the results of the interview.
Are there any thresholds which apply beyond which a job would have to be advertised?
As a guide, major change will usually amount to a change of 50% or more of the job content. Line Managers may consider re-advertising the job.
249 If a decision is taken to upgrade an A1 position to A2 the current incumbent may continue in the role until their end of tour. This will be on Temporary Progression unless they hold a progressions ticket, when it will be substantive.
How/when will I know who has applied for my vacancy?
Applicants will send their applications directly to you, copied to HR. HR will send you a flysheet (list of applicants) for cross-reference purposes as soon as possible after your deadline. You may sift the applications before you receive the flysheet, but you should not invite anyone to interview until you have confirmation from HR that they are eligible.
Who decides eligibility?
Central HR will still be responsible for checking the eligibility of applicants and will do this before sending you the flysheet. HR’s decisions on eligibility are final and you must not interview anyone whose name does not appear on the flysheet.
What if the job goes unfilled/attracts no applications?
You will need to decide whether to re-advertise. The job spec may need to be reviewed and other ways of attracting applicants may need to be considered.
No-one is bidding for jobs in my team. What should I do?
Look closely at what you are saying in the job spec you have advertised. Some areas and roles have more instant appeal than others but all jobs have their positives. Is your job spec clear; does the job title make sense to someone who isn’t already in the team? Does the job spec spell out what the successful bidder can expect in terms of development? If the job is not a particularly “sexy” one, what are the other advantages? Are the hours regular? Are there opportunities for training and corporate activities?
Pay particular attention to whether the job can offer an opportunity for flexible working. Not everybody wants a high profile job with unpredictable demands - some staff want a much more routine job that they can fit to their own circumstances.
I have never interviewed before. Where can I find guidance?
FCONet gives comprehensive guidance on the selection process in general and on preparing for and conducting interviews. You should use the training available (either live training on the Selection Interview Skills for Managers course or the Selection Panel interview skills e-learning package).
How do I find independent panel members to help with interviews?
There is a list of trained interviewers who are able to assist with interview panels on FCONet.
I know one (or more) of the applicants. How do I ensure that I make a fair decision?
The FCO is not a large organisation and it is inevitable that panel members and candidates will be known to each other in a good number of instances. The panel you assemble for the sift and the interview will have an independent member and this helps to ensure fair and objective decisions. Any panel member who knows one or more of the applicants well should declare this to the other panel members so that there is no ambiguity. All selection decisions (at the sift stage and at interview) must be made on the basis of the evidence. Remember that it is in your own interests to have the best possible person for the job in your team; judge your candidates against the competences required for the job based on the evidence you have seen in their applications and at interview.
All the applicants for my job can demonstrate the key competences, but some have done similar jobs before and others have no experience. How do I decide between them?
Selection decisions should be based mainly on the competences, though other skills and experience may be factors, particularly at higher grades. Overall, you should weigh up each candidate’s potential to perform well in
250 the job once they have started – none of us should be expected to be instantly expert in any job. The flip-side to experience is development; where a candidate does not have experience of your particular area of work it may be better to offer them the job – not only will they learn another skill or area of expertise, but your field will gain another expert. Remember that you cannot turn someone down for a job because they do not have relevant experience if you have not listed this as essential in the job specification.
There are no trained interviewers at my post/ I am at a small post in a distant time zone. How do I assemble an interview panel?
Remember that the panel you assemble can be a virtual one – you can interview by phone or by videoconferencing, thereby allowing you to draw on panel members from London or from other posts. You might also time your interviews for a period when you or others will be in the UK or visiting a larger post (or an RTC) or to arrange for your home department to run the process on your behalf.
Who can be counted as an independent panel member?
A colleague who is outside the management chain of the position applied for is an independent panel member. This may be someone from a different section at post or in the department, or somebody from a completely different part of the FCO. There is a list on FCONet of staff who are trained interviewers and who have volunteered to act as independent panel members. Staff from PAGs who have been appropriately trained (including diversity training) can also be used as panel members. You should not use external panel members (i.e. non FCO/PAG such as members of the business community or representatives of other missions) without checking with HR whether this is acceptable.
An unsuccessful applicant has appealed against the decision of the interview panel. What should I do?
A full explanation of the panel’s decision and the reasons behind it usually helps. You should offer as much information as possible (without breaching other candidates’ confidentiality). If the applicant still wishes to appeal please ask him/her to contact the Appointments Team in HRD.
I have an unexpected vacancy in my team which needs to be filled urgently. What should I do?
You can advertise the vacancy as quickly as you choose. Look at the full guidance and begin the process, starting with consulting on the job spec as soon as you can. Remember that while you can choose your deadline and timeline to a large extent, you must allow certain set periods at different stages of the process (see above). The Corporate Pool and the TD system still exist to help with short term demands.
How much feedback should I give unsuccessful applicants?
The most important thing about feedback is that it explains why a candidate has not been successful at the sift or interview stage. Feedback should be based mostly on the key competences for the job, referring to other factors as necessary. At the sift stage this may be briefer than after interview, when you will be able to offer a fuller breakdown of how an interviewee performed. Remember that you are commenting on a candidate’s potential to do a particular job and their merits relative to the competition. You are not expected to offer developmental advice each time. Instead, you should make clear why you selected one candidate over another.
How do I treat applications where non-FCO appraisal evidence is submitted?
Staff on loan or secondment are encouraged where possible to be appraised using FCO forms. However, the applicant has only been able to submit non-FCO evidence as part of their application, you are obliged to give this the same consideration as you would an FCO form. In fact, it is in your own interest to do so. The FCO Board is clear that secondments add real value to the FCO; the additional and varied skills and experience which staff returning from outside organisations can offer should not be overlooked by hiring managers.
How do I treat applications from job share partners?
You should treat applications from job share partners as one job application. Both job sharers do need to be credible in their own right - not necessarily the best candidates individually, but with complementary strengths which make the best fit overall. If you decide to interview job share candidates, you should interview separately
251 initially, then together to establish how the job share partnership would work and to demonstrate how their strengths would complement one another.
Applicant FAQs
I am an A1 and my job has been re-graded to A2- what does this mean?
If your job is re-graded to A2 you may remain in the role, until your original end of tour. If you do not hold a progression ticket you will be on temporary progression and will revert to A1 grade at your end of tour, no extensions will be granted. If you hold a progression ticket you will be on substantive progression.
Who can I talk to about jobs I am interested in applying for?
Your current line manager is a good source of advice in general - what to look for and where you might want to go. Once you have seen a job that you think might interest you, you should contact the hiring manager and/or the current incumbent to find out more – for instance to see whether the job really is what you’re looking for and if you have what the hiring manager is looking for, or to clarify any details of the job spec.
Are all jobs advertised and decided by interview?
The only jobs not advertised are those which will be decided by Boards such as those for Overseas Security Managers, SMS Payband 2/3 staff and the first jobs for new entrants. All other jobs are advertised and decided by interview.
Can I apply for a number of jobs?
Yes. We would strongly advise officers approaching their end of tours to bid widely, frequently and realistically in order to secure their next job. This is particularly relevant for officers overseas who wish to remain overseas. If you fail to pick up another overseas job before your end of tour, your next tour will be at home.
Do I have to submit a ‘new’, separate application form for each job?
This is up to you. You can either submit one application form to cover a number of applications or complete new forms for each job. It is generally in your own interest to complete a new form for each job, tailoring your skills and competences to the job specification.
Do I need to copy my application to HR?
Yes. Central HR are responsible for conducting eligibility checks on applicants so all applications must be copied to them.
Are there any thresholds which apply beyond which my job would have to be advertised?
As a guide, major change will usually amount to a change of 50% or more of the job content. Line Managers may consider re-advertising the job.
What stops hiring managers from choosing someone they know for their jobs?
There’s a risk that managers will pick people they know or discriminate against certain candidates. The biggest protection against this is that under well-run interview systems almost all line managers go simply for the best candidate, irrespective of whether they know them or their age, gender, ethnicity etc. But we guard against cronyism and/or discrimination by having a clear set of rules for how the process must be run (including the need for an independent interviewer on any panel), by maintaining HR oversight of the process, and by giving HR and the unions the right to observe any interview they want.
HR are committed to ensuring that the interview process, is being properly administered by Line Managers and carry out spot checks to review decisions. HR Appointments Managers may contact Hiring Managers asking them to forward the interview panel's notes, paperwork and the feedback sent to candidates. Paperwork should normally be held securely by Hiring Managers for six months before being destroyed. If you would like your paperwork to be returned to you after the interview you should ask the Hiring Manager to send it. You can also
252 ask the Hiring Manager to delete any electronic copies of your paperwork.
Who makes sure that interviews are conducted properly?
HR have the right to observe any interview or supply a panel member or chair from HRD. The TUS also have the right to ask to observe an interview and you should accommodate them if possible. You have some responsibility too. You should raise with the interview panel Chair (or ultimately HR) anything that does not seem right. You should check guidance and know where you stand. If you have questions or doubts, ask. HR is available to answer queries and provide advice.
Can I appeal?
If you are not happy with the way in which the interview was conducted (e.g. you did not have enough preparation time) you should tell the Hiring Manager as soon as possible and certainly within 24 hours of the interview (before the decision is announced). If you are not happy with the panel’s decision you should take this up with the Chair (normally the Hiring Manager), who should be able to explain the decision in more detail. If you are still not satisfied you should contact the Appointments Team in HRD.
What if I do not have any FCO appraisal evidence?
Staff on loan or secondment are encouraged where possible to be appraised using FCO forms. However, if you do need to submit non-FCO evidence as part of your application, hiring managers are obliged to give this the same consideration as they would an FCO form. The FCO Board is clear that secondments add real value to the FCO; the additional and varied skills and experience which staff returning from outside organisations can offer should not be overlooked by hiring managers.
Why do I have to comply with eligibility criteria?
The eligibility criteria are there as a tool to help HR deliver robust recruitment processes. It ensures that everyone has a fair and equal chance to apply for overseas jobs, that we can meet the demand for filling jobs at home (which by far outstrips the demand to fill jobs overseas) and stops hiring managers being put under pressure to release staff from jobs early. Eligibility criteria are applied consistently across the board. We may very occasionally flex the eligibility criteria for a job that is particularly difficult to fill. Such jobs will be clearly identified on FCONet job pages.
How quickly do I have to accept or reject a job I have been offered?
A hiring manager has to allow you at least 24 hours to consider an offer. You can request longer than that – e.g. if you have another application in process or another interview in the following days – but the hiring manager does not have to agree. She/he may want to move quickly to approach their second choice candidate if you are not ready to commit to the job.
Whose responsibility is it to let the hiring manager know if I withdraw?
Yours. If you accept a job, you must contact the hiring managers of other jobs you’ve bid for and let them know that you are withdrawing. You should also let HR know.
What happens if I’m unsuccessful?
If you are unsuccessful, you should look to start applying for jobs again at the next available opportunity. All applicants should receive competence-based feedback on all their applications and interviews. If your end of tour date has passed and you have been replaced, you have not had an extension agreed, and you have no leave to take you must register for the Corporate Pool.
How do I apply for a joint posting?
The succession plans drawn up by posts will make it easier to see where and when joint posting opportunities are coming up, but if you are interested in particular places, it would be worth talking to posts early on about what you
253 are looking for. When jobs are advertised, talk to the hiring manager or the DHM about other opportunities and remember to state on your application form that you are applying for a joint posting.
How do I apply as a Job Share?
Make it clear on your application that you are applying as one part of a job share. You and your job share partner will need to be credible applicants in your own right - not necessarily the best candidates individually, but with complementary strengths which make both of you the best fit overall. If invited for interview, you should expect to be interviewed separately initially to establish your own competence and then together to demonstrate how the job share partnership would work and demonstrate how you would complement one anothers strengths.
How do I know that a hiring manager will take account of special factors (e.g. education, spouse employment) which impact on my bids?
It is your responsibility to make any special factors clear on the bidding form and the guidance makes it clear that it is every hiring manager’s responsibility to ensure they have considered this in their decision making if appropriate. It is important to remember that special factors are only taken into consideration where candidates are otherwise equally matched. They do not mean that a less qualified candidate should be appointed over someone who is clearly more suitable for the job.
What are the tour patterns for overseas postings?
The rules have not changed. The ideal career pattern should still be two overseas tours followed by a home tour (i.e. at least one job for three years or two jobs for two years), but there are no guarantees that staff will gain a second consecutive job overseas. Anyone who has not picked up another overseas job before the end of their first overseas tour must do a home tour before bidding overseas again.
I keep applying but can’t pick up a job. What should I do?
You should carefully consider the feedback you are getting and proactively look to address the reasons for your lack of success. For example, are you fully exploring the roles you are applying for and putting together a good application? Are you applying widely and realistically? Do you need some training to address a developmental issue? You might find a session with a coach is beneficial in helping you work through some of these points. We also recommend that all staff do the Interviewee Skills e-learning package. You should also take advantage of any opportunities that arise to practise your interview skills.
Can I apply for jobs on Temporary Promotion (TP)?
Where jobs are advertised on routine timing (i.e. jobs advertised for the first time) only staff who are already substantive in the grade or have a promotion ticket (for jobs at home) can apply. Where a job is trawled, staff in Band B (for jobs at Band C) can apply to take up the job on temporary promotion provided that they are not already on, or have been, on temporary promotion. The guidance for hiring managers makes clear that staff should only exceptionally be appointed on temporary promotion where there are also bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets. If hiring managers wish to appoint someone on TP where there are bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets, they must send all papers relating to the interview to Appointments Team for approval before they can appoint the candidate on TP. Temporary promotion is not possible into Bands B, D or the SMS. Please see TP guidance.
Why do I have to do a home tour on promotion?
We are making sure that all newly promoted staff have done at least one home tour in the grade before they can apply for an ADC by obliging them to do it as soon as they are promoted. We are doing this because firstly, we have an operational need to fill jobs in London and secondly, because work in London at each Band is a key part of each officer's development. Anyone who was overseas before 31 Jan 2010 or who had been appointed to jobs overseas before that point without having done a home tour would not be disadvantaged by the new policy.
Can I apply for jobs in a grade lower than my own?
Applications from staff in the delegated grades down bidding for jobs may be accepted with the express agreement of HRD. Cases will be considered on a case by case basis. Agreement will based on compelling
254 personal circumstances and the number of credible applicants at the grade. Staff will not be able apply for jobs more than one grade below their substantive grade. Staff considering applying for jobs in a lower grade are advised to discuss the financial implications of such a move with Home Allowances and Pay Services Unit before doing so.
I want to leave my job before my end of tour date. What should I do?
You can apply for a job which starts shortly before your end of tour date (or for which the training starts shortly before your end of tour date) if your line manager is prepared to release you. Some short tours incur financial penalties – you should consult the pre-postings team about the implications if you are considering leaving an overseas job early. HRD are unlikely to agree that you are eligible to apply for another job if you have not completed a substantial part of your current job.
I have accepted a job but I’ve changed my mind. What should I do?
Once you have accepted a job you owe an obligation to the hiring manager to follow this through. If there are exceptional circumstances (e.g. welfare considerations) which justify your withdrawal you should ask the hiring manager to consider them, in conjunction with HR. Staff who withdraw from an overseas job once they have accepted it will normally be ”grounded” for a full home tour (i.e. one job of at least three years or two of two years) before being eligible to apply overseas again.
I applied for a job but now I’ve seen another one advertised which I prefer. What should I do?
There are difficult choices to make. You need to consider the timings of when decisions will be made on the jobs you are interested in. If the newly advertised job is much more attractive to you, you might want to withdraw your existing application. Or you might want to apply for the newly advertised job as a fallback in case your current application is not successful. Your line manager can help you consider the options. You cannot withdraw from a job you have already accepted (or recently started) to apply for another one.
I have accepted a job but it has been cut/my visa has been refused. What should I do?
Posts and departments should always consider future staffing requirements before advertising jobs but in a flexible organisation we need to accept that changes will happen. And there are factors such as visas over which the FCO has no control. If your job is cut, or there is another reason why you can no longer go to an overseas posting, there is no way of guaranteeing you another position – you will need to apply again and all appointments are made against the competition. But you should use the special factors box on the application form to let future hiring managers know that your job has been cut or localised or that you have been refused a visa.
I’m on PIP/sick absence monitoring. Can I apply for jobs?
Staff on PIP are not allowed to apply for new positions; it is important that the PIP process is completed before a change of job and line management can be considered. If you are subject to sickness absence monitoring, you will not be allowed to apply for a move overseas until the monitoring period has been satisfactorily completed. You may still apply for jobs at home while on Stage 1 Sick Absence.
How do I know which jobs are coming up so that I can decide what to apply for?
Directorates now publish their home job forecasts on their FCONet pages. Long-term forecasts for overseas jobs at each band are on HR's Job Opportunities page on FCONet. These are based on information supplied by posts and are updated quarterly. If you are interested in a particular job/post which is not listed please consult the post/incumbent to find out when it will be advertised.
Who can I talk to about my career?
Your line manager is your first port of call, but there are other sources of advice, such as other managers in your department, FCONet (the section on Managing Your Career is particularly relevant), the mentoring scheme and coaching.
255
How often are jobs advertised?
Managers can choose when to advertise jobs so there are no set timetables. Jobs are published on FCONet by HR on Mondays and Thursdays. If publishing times are changed (e.g. because of public holidays) this will be announced in the weekly bulletin.
I have been out of the office on interchange/secondment/SUPL/ MATL. How do I get a job?
You will need to access to the job pages. Staff on SUPL etc will need to email the FCONet Accounts mailbox with details of why you, or the person you are sponsoring, need access to FCONet. Further information and advice can be found on FCONet. If you do not have a job to return to you must register for the Corporate Pool.
What happens if I am returning to the FCO from a career break?
Staff returning from a career break will have a period of six months after their reinstatement offer is made in which to apply for and secure a position.
Last Updated: 17 January 2011
256 FROM FCO INTRANET
FAQs for Hiring Managers
Advice for Hiring Managers
Who is the hiring manager? Advertising vacancies SMS Hiring Guidance Timetables Trawls Re-advertising vacancies Interchange Receiving applications Diversity Sift Interviews Special factors Confirming Ratifying Extension Requests Handling requests and application forms Encouraging people to bid for hard-to fill vacancies
Working in micromissions
FAQs
Checklist for Hiring Managers
Who is the hiring manager? This will usually be the line manager for the position being advertised. If the line manager will be absent when applications are to be received or considered, another suitably senior officer may be nominated as the hiring manager. Alternatively, Post/Department may choose to nominate another senior officer, such as the DHM, deputy or counter-signing officer, to undertake this role for individual jobs or for all positions in their Post/Department. Line managers overseas may consider appointing a hiring manager in the UK to make interviews easier.
Advertising Vacancies
Overseas jobs must be advertised a year in advance, longer if language training is required, and home jobs 3 months in advance.
Hiring managers are responsible for ensuring vacancies are advertised on FCONet on time and for deciding the exact timing for advertising and filling a job. The checklist for hiring managers will help with the timing for each stage of the process. Hiring managers should print a copy and keep it to hand during the appointment process. They should complete a job specification form, agreed with relevant stakeholders as necessary and cleared with DHM/Deputy. Remember to review and record the level of language needed for speaker slots. The job spec, which must include a position management code, should then be forwarded to the relevant Appointments Team address (HRD - BTA, HRD - BTB, HRD - BTC, HRD - BTD, HRD-BTSMS1), with an advertising jobs proforma.
The hiring manager must check whether the position to be advertised falls into the frequent traveller category. It is the responsibility of hiring managers to indicate this clearly in the job specification. The hiring manager should also make it clear, when he/she submits the job specification to HRD, if the position involves frequent travel. The Appointments Team can then ensure that this is reflected in the advertisement on FCONet.
257 Jobs with 50% or more commercial content are also advertised in UKTI. Hiring managers should consult UKTI when drawing up the job specs for UKTI positions and UKTI should be represented on the sift/interview panel. When submitting jobs spec for advertising, these should also be copied to Daren Hoadley.
For guidance on advertising multi-hatted positions with entry clearance content, please refer to guidance
RMUs are key stakeholders for management positions and must be consulted on management job specifications before they are advertised. Hiring managers should also consult the RMU on the level of involvement they would like in the selection process.
All management jobs overseas also need to be cleared by the Corporate Services Programme (CSP) before they can be advertised. The Appointments Team refers all overseas management job specifications to the CSP for clearance prior to publication. CSP will work to process all requests as quickly as possible. This may mean a slight delay in publication and your proposed recruitment timetable. If this causes you any difficulties please contact CSP at [email protected].
Hiring managers should note that a job which has been advertised can only be withdrawn in exceptional circumstances and only with agreement from HR.
Top ten tips for writing a job specification
Recommendation for encouraging people to bid for 'hard to fill' vacancies
SMS Hiring Guidance See SMS hiring guidance for advertising and filling SMS vacancies.
Timetables When submitting a job for advertising, hiring managers must provide the timetable for the process. The overall timetable is for the hiring manager to decide, leaving enough time to complete all the stages and in line with other commitments. However, the bidding deadline must be a minimum of ten working days after the job will be published and you must allow at least five days’ preparation time between inviting candidates to interview and the interviews themselves. You should also build in five working days after the bidding deadline for HR to complete eligibility checks. If you'd like to combine this period with sift and candidate preparation time that is possible, but it may mean that you invite to interview someone who later turns out to be ineligible. The checklist for hiring managers will help with the timing for each stage of the process. Hiring managers should print a copy and keep it to hand during the appointment process.
Wherever possible, home positions should be advertised three months before the incumbent's end of tour date. Overseas positions should be advertised at least one year in advance. Speaker slots need to be advertised further in advance to allow sufficient time for the successful bidder to join a scheduled language course.
New vacancies will be advertised by band on FCONet twice a week. The deadline for submitting job specs and advertising jobs proformas is close of play on Friday for Monday publication and close of play on Wednesday for Thursday publication.
See “Advertising on Interchange” for details of the timetable for jobs advertised on interchange.
Trawls Susan le Jeune, HR Director, issued a message to all staff on temporary promotion on 15 July 2009. This explains the timetable for phasing out temporary promotion. Jobs may no longer be trawled at Band D and Band B (unless they are in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen or Pakistan). There will be no more trawls for Band C jobs from 1 July 2011.
Re-advertising vacancies All jobs at home and overseas (other than jobs in Afghanistan and Iraq) should be advertised to staff in the grade or (for home jobs) those with a promotion ticket who are due to move. If an overseas job receives no applications, or there are no suitable applicants, the hiring manager should let the Appointments Team know if the job should be re-advertised. For home jobs that remain unfilled after the first advert, you must contact the Corporate Pool Manager for availability of staff for a substantive placement directly from the Pool. You will receive CVs of credible officers for you to look at. If the Corporate Pool manager confirms that there are no staff available for placement from the Pool you should let the Appointments Team know if the job needs to be re-
258 advertised. If a new job spec is necessary the hiring manager will need to submit a new version - the Appointments Team cannot make amendments. The hiring manager should also consider whether the job should be re-advertised internally or if there is a case for opening it to interchange. All overseas jobs will be open to FCO Home Civil Service staff after the first advert. The hiring manager must submit a new advertising jobs proforma letting the Appointments Team know the new deadlines and timings.
Advertising on interchange Jobs may be advertised on interchange if they have already been unsuccessfully advertised internally at least once (or twice for B3 jobs because of the relatively high ratio of B3 staff to jobs). More detail on this process is on FCONet.
Where jobs are being advertised on interchange as well, it is very important that hiring managers ensure both Interchange and Secondments Team and the relevant Appointments Team are sent the job spec in good time. Lead times for advertising on other departments’ websites may be considerably longer than those for FCONet, so the hiring manager should consult the Interchange and Secondments Team to agree a timescale; both internal and external processes should be run to the interchange timetable.
Receiving applications Staff who are applying for jobs will send their paperwork electronically direct to the hiring managers, copied to the relevant Appointments Team address (HRD - Band A Applications, HRD - Band B Applications, HRD - Band C Applications, HRD - Band D Applications) and any stakeholders listed (e.g. UKTI). This means that on or before the deadline for applications, the hiring manager will receive e-mails from all the applicants, containing their application form and their supporting paperwork. Hiring managers must confirm receipt of applications direct to applicants within 24 hours. Applicants are required to submit their most recent 24 months of appraisal evidence, or, if they have been in a job more than 24 months, they may submit their most recent appraisals from their current job plus the most recent appraisal from their previous job. Hiring managers should be aware that absences (e.g. for MATL) may mean that the most recent appraisals are several years old. These appraisals should be given the same consideration as more recent appraisals. Applicants must also submit reports from ADCs/FAB tests or fitted assessments taken in the previous 5 years, regardless of the grade of the job they are applying for. Staff may prefer not to submit the whole report but they must submit the section that shows competence ratings.
If there are gaps in the paperwork, the hiring manager must take this up direct with the applicant. If the applicant cannot provide a resonable explanation for any gaps, the hiring manager should ask the applicant who their line manager was for that period and speak with them about the reason for the gap, and the applicant's performance. Hiring managers are not obliged to consider incomplete applications. If an applicant intentionally does not provide the correct amount of evidence and cannot provide a reasonable explanation for their actions, this may be considered a disciplinary offence under the misconduct procedure and advice on next steps must be sought from the FCO's Conduct Adviser (8008 1455).
Please note that the application form is designed to keep the candidate's statement short and the free text box should not be expanded.
Hiring managers should set up a personal folder in Outlook into which they can move applications as they arrive; this will avoid using up their Firecrest e-mail storage limit.
Applicants who are unable to apply electronically should send paper copies to the hiring manager and Appointments Team by the normal deadline (or let them know that copies are being sent/faxed and why they cannot be sent electronically).
Hiring managers have discretion to decide whether to accept applications up to 48 hours after the deadline. If they agree to this for one applicant they must also agree to it for others.
Candidates applying for positions which are more than 5% consular side copy their papers to Consular Directorate. Those applying for jobs which are 50% or more commercial will copy their papers to UKTI. This means stakeholders will have copies of the paperwork when the hiring manager consults them about applicants.
The Appointments Team in HR will carry out spot checks on applicants’ eligibility to bid and send the hiring manager a complete list of eligible bidders once this has been done. Hiring managers should note that it can take up to five working days to compile this list. For speaker slots, HRD-Language Policy and Standards Team
259 will provide hiring managers with details of language aptitude and testing requirements.
Using non-FCO appraisal evidence Staff on loan or secondment are encouraged where possible to be appraised using FCO forms. However, they may need to submit non-FCO evidence as part of their bid. It is your responsibility as a hiring manager to give this the same consideration as you would an FCO form. In fact, it is in your interest to do so. The FCO Board is clear that secondments add real value to the FCO; the additional and varied skills and experience which staff returning from outside organisations can offer should be not be overlooked.
Diversity The FCO is an equal opportunities employer and hiring managers should welcome applications from all suitably qualified people regardless of gender, marital status, race, disability, age or sexual orientation. When completing job specs, care should be taken to avoid any suggestion that these factors have any bearing on the selection. In respect of the recent age discrimination legislation, it is important to avoid stereotypical language such as "energetic", "experienced", "lively" or "mature".
The FCO operates the “Two Ticks” system whereby disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for a job will in most circumstances be invited for interview. Candidates wishing to be considered under this system will indicate this on their application form. When the Appointments Team receive a “two ticks” application they will put the hiring manager in touch with the FCO’s Disability Adviser to discuss interview arrangements.
Interview sift The hiring manager must convene a sift panel following the receipt of all the applications. The sift panel decides which applications should go forward to the interview stage by weighing up what each applicant has to offer against all the criteria in the job spec.The sift panel then agrees a short-list of candidates to interview. The hiring manager issues feedback for the candidates not selected for interview. The hiring manager must send feedback to those not selected for interview as soon as possible. This need not be detailed, but should be competence based. A hiring manager who has received a large number of applications (more than 15) may tell unsuccessful applicants that detailed feedback will not be sent because of the volume of applications, but it generally saves time (in correspondence and appeals) to give applicants as much feedback as possible at every stage of the process.
Selection decisions must not be based on experience alone. Some development in a job is to be expected - and is part and parcel of a line manager's role. This is particularly true at the lower bands where previous experience should rarely be a pre-requisite. Line managers need to balance the value of existing experience with the relevant competences, potential for development, and enthusiasm for the job.Hiring managers must have strong justification for appointing an applicant to a position on temporary promotion where there are also credible bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets.
An officer already in the grade or with a promotion ticket who meets the acceptable standard should be awarded the job over somebody looking to move on temporary promotion (TP). If hiring managers wish to appoint someone on TP where there are bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets, they must send all papers relating to the interview to Appointments Team for approval before they can appoint the candidate on TP.
Interviews For more detailed information on interviewing please check the Advice for Interviewers. For all Heads of Mission positions, the Hiring Manager should consult the Directorate and ideally include someone from the Directorate on the panel.
The hiring manager convenes an interview panel and makes the administrative arrangements for the interview. Once the interview panel has made their final decision the hiring manager offers the top choice candidate the job and informs the remaining candidates of the results (Head of Mission selections must be ratified through the Appointments Team). The hiring manager must issue competence-based feedback to all candidates, based on the notes from the selection panel.
It is good practice to interview even when there is only one applicant. Hiring managers may decide that they would like to ask interview candidates to make a short presentation on a topic relevant to the new job. Candidates should be informed of this and given the topic and any limits on time and format (e.g. availability of flipcharts/powerpoint) when they are invited to interview. The panel must agree which competences the presentation is testing and must mark it against these competences. The hiring manager must ensure that
260 applicants are not disadvantaged by the format in which they are interviewed - it would be much more difficult for an applicant to give a convincing presentation by telephone than face-to-face or by video conference.
Feedback Hiring managers must provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates direct, including when the job remains unfilled. It is important that this feedback explains clearly why the candidate has not been selected and does so in a way which makes clear that the rankings were made in accordance with HR guidance, FCO competences, and the FCO's diversity policies.
Feedback comments must be based primarily on the key competences for the job, though other factors, such as previous experience, technical qualifications, special factors etc might play a part. Feedback must relate to the job specification as advertised. It is not, for example, acceptable to say a candidate is unsuccessful purely on the grounds of having no previous experience, if previous experience was not listed as essential on the job spec.
Comments considered unfair or discriminatory could result in an appeal and ultimately in a grievance or employment tribunal proceedings in which hiring managers can be held to account personally.
Special factors It is the responsibility of bidders to bring to the attention of hiring managers any special factors which they would like taken into account (e.g. bidding for joint postings, previous postings being cut, previous service in Iraq or Afghanistan). Hiring managers should bear these in mind when ranking candidates and should look particularly carefully at applicantions which include special factors. Special factors come into play after the interview if candidates are equal in other respects, in which case the special factors decide who is offered the job. Special factors do not mean that a less suitable bidder should be placed ahead of clearly stronger competition. Hiring managers must make clear in their feedback how consideration of special factors has affected the selection. Where staff are bidding for joint postings, hiring managers' responses should be co-ordinated.
Hiring managers should also take account of wider “corporate” factors – e.g. re-using language skills, ensuring that staff in Bands A and B (in particular) are exposed to a range of different jobs, giving careful consideration to staff whose previous jobs have been cut or localised.
Confirming an Appointment All appointments must be agreed by Estates and Security Directorate (ESD). Once an interview panel has decided who their first choice candidate is, the hiring manager should notify ESD using the proforma.
ESD will begin the clearance process as quickly as they can and where possible will respond within 24 hours. If ESD have not given their agreement by the time the hiring manager wishes to offer the job, the offer must be made “subject to ESD clearance”.
If ESD do not agree, the appointment cannot be made and the hiring manager should then offer the job to their second choice subject to the same clearance requirements. ESD objections to appointments are extremely rare but their decision is final. Once ESD clearance is given and the candidate has accepted the job, the hiring manager should forward the ESD clearance e-mail and the applicant's acceptance e-mail to the Appointments Team requesting a letter of appointment.
The Appointments Team will spot check appointment decisions for each of the delegated grades on a weekly basis. Hiring managers must retain all paperwork relating to appointments (see Handling appraisals and application forms [link] below) for six months.
Ratifying Head of Mission Appointments For Head of Mission appointments there is one additional step that needs to be taken - ratification.
As well as ensuring ESD clearance is obtained, the hiring manager must also send a brief summary of the interviews and the panel’s decision on the recommended appointment to the relevant Appointments Manager. They will then clear the appointment with the Assistant Director HR who will request, through the PUS, ratification from the Foreign Secretary for the Head of Mission appointment.
Appointment Managers for: Band D appointments: Julia Shand SMS appointments: Maggie Docherty/Sarah Douse (HRD - SMS1 Sarah and Maggie on the GAL)
261 Extension Requests DHMs overseas (or Heads of Mission for the DHM position) have discretion to agree an extension of up to 1 year for any staff in their post. Departments may agree extensions for home jobs taking the tour length up to a maximum of 5 years. Extensions for UKTI posts must also be agreed by the UKTI International desk and UKTI HR. The Appointments Team and relevant HR Manager must be notified of all extensions so that Prism data and the long term forecasts can be updated. Please copy all extensions to the relevant Appointments Team address (HRD - BTA, HRD - BTB, HRD - BTC, HRD - BTD) and your HR Manager(s).
Extensions should be agreed on the basis of genuine operational need, or because of compelling personal reasons. In all cases, there is a balance to be found between the wishes of staff, post's requirements and the overall fairness of opportunity to staff (extensions without good reason can disadvantage other colleagues looking to bid for overseas jobs). As a guideline, HR have not supported extensions based on continuity alone, unless it is required for a particular reason; e.g. a State Visit or EU Presidency. Where there are concerns about clustering of leaving dates for staff with similar responsibilities, a full 12 month extension is not always necessary - smaller adjustments may be equally effective. Extension requests have been treated sympathetically where an officer's departure date would come in a child's GCSE or A-level year, but continuity of education for primary school or younger children is not a compelling reason for an extension. These examples are not exhaustive and HR would be happy to advise further.
Staff on temporary promotion or progression may not extend beyond their original end of tour date unless their letter of appointment included an optional extra year.
Handling appraisals and application forms Staff appraisals are sensitive documents and access to them should be restricted accordingly. Hiring managers should ensure they are seen only by those who have a real need to see them, that they are handled with discretion and that they are stored and later destroyed in accordance with their sensitivity. Paperwork relating to appointments must be kept by the hiring manager for 6 months in case they are needed for an appeal or an HR spot check Printed copies of appraisals etc must be returned to individual members of staff who request them and hiring managers must ensure that they delete electronic copies of applications at the request of applicants or after six months.
Recommendations for encouraging people to bid for 'hard to fill' vacancies
Incentives
Create good jobs. Most of our staff want to do important and rewarding work that makes a difference. It is much easier to attract staff to this sort of job. Ensure good line and post management. People want to work for good managers and leaders. Word gets around very quickly on the good and the bad. Demonstrate the career benefits of working in the most important places.
More flexibility
Create cross-postings within the same post/country/region to boost job variety and skills/experience in the team. Liaise with other posts and create linked postings - e.g. 1 year in Baghdad + 2 in Washington covering Iraq issues. Link a difficult overseas post with time in the relevant home dept, during or after the tour. Adjust tour lengths (longer or shorter) to improve demand for the job; and be flexible on short- tours/extensions where possible. Flexi-grade jobs to attract more applicants and/or joint posters and/or those with hard language skills. Offer flexible working opportunities where possible: part-time, remote, home-working, job share etc. Create an attractive family package for very difficult posts - e.g. family can stay in Kuwait if an officer is in Iraq.
Financial rewards
Ensure allowances (Hardship allowance etc) are set at the right rate to attract the right people. Give substantial bonuses for strong performance in difficult circumstances, via the develop bonus scheme and SMS appraisal system.
262 Partner/spouse employment
Advertise spouse/partner employment opportunities - and look to increase them where possible, without undermining the principle that post jobs should go to the best qualified.
Leave
Ensure that staff can take the leave to which they are entitled. HOMs should set a good example by taking leave themselves, offering TOIL and encouraging R&R breaks during quieter periods.
Career development
Show how time in important posts improves promotion prospects. Ensure that staff in hard-to-fill posts get good development opportunities while there [coaching/mentoring; training opportunites; a mock ADC, etc] Talent-spot good staff nearing the end of a tour in a key/difficult place and encourage them to bid for jobs.
Last Updated: 17 January 2011
263 FROM THE FCO INTRANET
Am I eligible to bid?
Staff can bid for all jobs advertised in their substantive Band so long as they meet the eligibility criteria and can meet the timing of jobs advertised, including any pre-posting training required and accrued leave, without short- touring from their current job.
Staff on PIP/sick absence monitoring are not eligible to bid for jobs overseas until the PIP/sick absence monitoring period has successfully passed and all other eligibility criteria has been met. You may still apply for jobs at home while on Stage 1 Sick Absence.
Short-touring
You should expect to serve your full tour in both home and overseas jobs. Premature withdrawal from an overseas job may result in penalties and options for future jobs may be restricted (e.g. staff may be grounded and required to complete a full tour at home before being eligible to bid for overseas jobs). Short-touring from a home job will not normally be allowed, even if the line manager agrees. See FCO Guidance Volume 1 Chapter 5
Specialists
Specialists should contact the Appointments Team about their eligibility to apply for non-specialist roles.
Leave
You are required to use all accumulated leave before beginning a substantive posting. It is an operational requirement that officers account for accrued leave when considering bidding for future postings. If you fail to use your accrued leave as specified in FCO Guidance Volume 5 Chapters 7 & 8 before beginning duty in a substantive posting, you will be expected to forfeit the balance of unused accrued leave.
You are not eligible to continue bidding for an overseas posting whilst you are on end of tour leave except where you are bidding for a posting to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen (when you will be permitted to continue bidding until your EOT leave expires). If you are on EOT leave after completing a posting in Iraq/Afghanistan, you may apply for another overseas job if you are eligible.
UK Trade & Investment
Normal FCO eligibility applies to all FCO staff applying for UKTI positions at home or overseas. UKTI staff can apply for all commercial jobs overseas where the commercial content is 50% or more.
UKBA
Normal FCO eligibility criteria do not apply for UKBA positions but staff must be able to meet timing of jobs without short-touring from their current one.
Inward Interchange
Staff on inward interchange or secondment are not eligible to bid for positions (home or overseas) unless jobs are advertised as interchange opportunities.
Postings to Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan and Yemen Band A-D
Unless a hiring manager specifically requests for a job to be advertised on the routine agenda, all staff except those staff in the Corporate Pool who are not eligible (see separate guidance), in the grade (including Home Civil Servants) can apply for jobs in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen even if they have not completed a substantive home tour (1x3 or 2x2 years). Those with a progression/promotion ticket are also eligible. Band B staff can apply on temporary promotion (TP) for Band C jobs until TP at Band C is no longer available (however, staff will not be eligible if they are already on TP). For Band B and D jobs, staff are eligible to apply on TP if a job is advertised more than once. This will be made clear on the advert. The guidance for hiring managers makes clear that staff should only exceptionally be appointed on temporary promotion where there are also bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets. Please note that hiring managers who wish to appoint someone on TP where there are bidders in the grade or with promotion tickets, must send all papers relating to the interview to
264 Appointments Team for approval before they can appoint the candidate on TP.
For all jobs in Lashkar Gah at grades Band A-D, staff may apply on TP (unless they are already on TP).
For all Band D jobs in Iraq where Arabic is a requirement, staff who speak Arabic to the required level may apply on TP (unless they are already on TP).
Grade
What jobs can I apply for on promotion?
When does my promotion become substantive?
Timing
When can I apply for jobs?
Can I apply for home or overseas jobs?
Note - Staff who have not picked up another overseas posting before they leave post are expected to complete a home tour before bidding for an overseas again.
Can I extend in my current job?
My job overseas has been cut, what happens next?
Note – a full home tour is a minimum of 3 years served in one or more home jobs or 2x2 year jobs.
Cadre
Specialists should contact the Appointments Team about their eligibility to apply for non-specialist roles.
Can HCS/Specialist staff apply for jobs overseas?
What does 100% relevant skills/experience mean for HCS staff?
Corporate Pool
Staff in the Corporate Pool may bid for jobs overseas within their first 6 months in the Pool (provided that you have not just returned from overseas and that all other eligibility criteria, such as completing a home tour, are met). Staff in the Corporate Pool returning from Afghanistan or Iraq may bid for overseas jobs for up to 6 months after their end of tour leave. Concessions may also be made for staff who have had their visas refused or whose jobs overseas have been cut.
Time spent in the Corporate Pool does not count towards a home tour unless specifically agreed by HRD.
Staff working out of the Corporate Pool who have not yet been selected for a substantive job must continue bidding widely and realistically, including for jobs at home. Failure to do so may affect officers’ eligibility for overseas bids.
What jobs can I apply for from the Corporate Pool?
Staff Returning from MATL/SUPL/Career Breaks
Returning from MATL/SUPL/Career Break?
FCO Services Employees
Can I apply for FCO jobs?
Last Updated: 17 January 2011
265
How do I apply?
Jobs are advertised on FCONet by band on Mondays and Thursdays. You can subscribe to the page for your band by clicking on “add link” at the top right hand side of the relevant page. You will then be alerted when the page is updated. You should also check the relevant post and directorate pages on FCONet for more information.
You should send your application, together with supporting paperwork, direct to the hiring manager for each job you are applying for. You must also copy your application to the relevant HRD - Band Applications address (HRD - Band A Applications, HRD - Band B Applications, HRD - Band C Applications, HRD - Band D Applications), to your current line manager and to any stakeholders listed in the job specification.
In addition to the bidding form and CV, you should submit your most recent 24 months of appraisal evidence (i.e. two full appraisals, or however many abridged appraisals, minutes etc to make up two years' worth of evidence), or, if you have been in the job more than 24 months you may submit your most recent appraisals from your current job plus the most recent appraisal from your previous job with your applications. If you have sat a FAB/ADC in the last 5 years, your FAB/ADC reports must also be submitted to the hiring manager in support of your bids. This applies whether or not you are bidding at the higher band. Staff may prefer not to submit the whole report but they must submit the section that shows competence ratings. This also applies if you have received a fitted assessment in the last 5 years. You will need to submit a language form if you are applying for a speaker slot and a fitness declaration form for positions in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you intentionally do not provide the correct amount of evidence and cannot provide a reasonable explanation for your actions, this may be considered a disciplinary offence under the misconduct procedure.
Bids should be made on the electronic bidding form available on FCONet (under forms). The same form is used for jobs at home and overseas. An electronic CV should be provided for each form submitted. The new bidding form is shorter as bids will be made for single jobs and the free text boxes should not be expanded.
In exceptional circumstances only, bids can be submitted by fax.
When do I start bidding?
It is your responsibility to establish whether or not you are eligible to bid. You should check the timing of the jobs advertised on FCONet – please remember to factor in any necessary pre-posting training into your calculations. You should also read the eligibility guidance on FCONet.
You should start applying for home jobs around three months before you are due to move, and for overseas jobs about a year in advance.
Unless there is a serious operational need, you will not be allowed to short-tour from an overseas posting in order to meet the timing of another job.
How do I decide what to bid for?
The Job Specification provides a breakdown of the duties and responsibilities and other useful information relating to the job being advertised. The following information is included:
Start date for the job
Tour length
Training requirements
Security clearance level (this is DV for all overseas jobs)
Specific specialised knowledge required
266 Key competences required for the job
Hardship status (if overseas position)
Language requirements (if overseas position)
It is important that you read the Job Specification carefully, to ensure that you fully appreciate what the job would entail, and to check that you would be eligible to apply. For example:
Duties and responsibilities. Looking at the duties and responsibilities breakdown (and the comment box from the line manager) will help you decide whether you are likely to (a) be interested in the job; and (b) be a credible candidate for the job. You and your line manager should discuss whether this would be a realistic bid for you, whether it would be helpful developmentally and if it would make the most of the experience you have already gained.
Key Competences. The key competences listed on the Job Specification are those competences that the Department/Post concerned consider useful/essential. Before bidding for a job, you should consider with your line manager if you have experience and evidence of these key competences.
Specialised knowledge required. Occasionally a job requires previous skills/experience. If that is the case, details will be provided in this section. For example, some commercial jobs require previous overseas commercial experience. If you do not have the relevant experience, you are less likely to beat the competition.
Other essential pre-bidding preparation
It is your responsibility to ensure that the posts for which you are bidding are suitable both for you and those accompanying you. It is therefore essential that you do as much investigation as possible before you submit your bids. Here are a few examples of the things you could do:
Contact the present incumbent and others in the Dept/Post
The Job Specification should give you a good idea of what the job will entail, but it is unlikely to give you full information about the Post/Department overall. E-mailing/calling the present incumbent will allow you to ask more questions both about the job and about the Post/Department. You could also e-mail the Deputy Head of Mission, or the line manager of the job holder.
Internet searches The Internet can be an excellent tool in your pre-bidding investigations.
For overseas: Post Reports/Post Fact Sheets
Reading the Post Report and the Post Fact Sheet is essential pre-bidding preparation. These two documents will provide a huge amount of information about the post, the country, the education and recreation facilities available, and provide information on the spouse/partner employment opportunities that might be available.
Joint Postings
Hiring managers should do their utmost to facilitate joint postings. The two-year job forecasts should provide a useful tool for joint posting partnerships in planning their bids.
Hiring managers consider joint postings against the following criteria:
Where operationally possible hiring managers should advertise jobs in the same Post which are coming vacant at the same time closely together. This will not, however, always prove possible. Couples might therefore have to decide whose career or bid takes precedence in relation to a particular posting (the “lead officer”) . Where jobs are being advertised on the same round of boards, couples may declare that they are bidding on an “all or nothing” basis. All bids for joint postings should be flagged up in the “special factors” box on the bidding form.
267 If a lead officer accepts a position, they will be expected to take up the posting whether or not their partner is successful.
Both partners must be credible in their own right - they must both be able to do the jobs for which they bid.
An officer bidding for a joint posting must be at least as credible as other candidates for the job.
Officers bidding for a joint posting should bid as widely as they possibly can. The likelihood of employment for a spouse/partner varies from Post to Post (the size of the Post, hardship rating etc). For details, check the Post Fact Sheet for more information.
Officers requiring Reasonable Adjustments
If you require Reasonable Adjustments you should consult the Disability Pages on FCONet for the latest guidance. http://www.fconet.fco.gov.uk/Human+Resources/HRandYou/Disability/
The FCO operates the “Two Ticks” Guaranteed Interview Scheme. http://www.fconet.fco.gov.uk/Human+Resources/HRandYou/Disability/Jobs/#Two%20Ticks If you consider you have a disability under the terms of the Equality Act 2010, and you meet the minimum requirements for the job you will be offered an interview. You do not need to give details of a disability on your bidding form.
Officers with disabilities will be selected for jobs on the same basis as officers who do not have disabilities. Reasonable Adjustments for disabled officers will not have an impact on this process other than in exceptional circumstances such as where staff security or health and safety may be at risk. In the small number of cases where proposed adjustments need to be considered under the Reasonable Adjustment Policy this will only happen once an individual has been selected for a post. This is to ensure that we do not impose any additional hurdles on officers with disabilities during the application and selection process, and that appointments are made on merit.
When must bids be submitted? Bids must be submitted by the closing date indicated on FCONet. It will be up to the hiring manager for the job to decide whether or not to accept late bids up to 48 hours after the deadline, but applications cannot be accepted after that. If a hiring manager decides to extend the deadline he/she must ensure that this is the same for all applicants.
Can I withdraw my bids? You can withdraw at any stage before you have accepted an offer by informing the hiring manager and the relevant section of the Appointments Team.
What happens to my paperwork? Hiring managers must keep all paperwork relating to appointments securely for six months after the appointment, then destroy it. You may request the return of personal documents (e.g. appraisals, ADC reports) after the interview.
How do I apply for an extension? Your DHM has discretion to grant extensions of up to one year overseas; extensions at home can be agreed by departments taking tour lengths up to a maximum of 5 years. HR agreement is not required, but the Appointments Team and your HR Manager(s) must be notified of all extensions agreed. Extensions beyond one year overseas or five years at home must still be agreed by HR. Where tour lengths overseas include an optional year, these must also be by mutual agreement, and HR must be informed, but they do not count as extensions.
Prism Prism Self-Service is not yet active. Staff will be informed when they are expected to submit bids through PRISM.
Last Updated: 17 December 2010
268 Terms and Conditions
Please read and ensure you understand before signing the Internal Vacancy Application Form .
Disabilities
The FCO operates the “Two Ticks” Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you consider that you have a disability under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and you meet the minimum requirements for the job, you will in most circumstances be guaranteed an interview.
Staff with disabilities are encouraged to submit a Job Match Request Form to the disability advisers for advice on selecting jobs to apply for.
All Candidates
Data Protection Act 1998: the FCO will process any personal details you provide on this form for the purpose of staff administration. Your personal information will be held in secure conditions. Access will be restricted to those who need it in connection with dealing with your application.
By signing this application form, you are declaring that you:
Give consent for the use of your data in the ways described above.
Have read the guidance on submitting a bid available on FCONet, and are bidding in accordance with the guidelines detailed there.
(For overseas positions) Have confirmed that the Post is suitable for you/your partner/your family – including medical and educational needs.
(For officers intending to be accompanied by children overseas): I confirm that I have read the post reports for the posts for which I am bidding, and that consulted the FCO Healthline Healix website, and am aware of the paediatric facilities available at post. Where a post is classed as 'informed choice' I am also signing to demonstrate that I am aware of this guidance and that this is my informed decision.
Confirm that the information you have given on your bidding from is, to the best of your knowledge, true and complete. You are aware that giving any information, which you know to be false, or withholding relevant information, may lead to your application being rejected or disciplinary action, which could lead to dismissal.
By signing this application form, you are declaring that you are not:
In your probation period.
Under Performance Improvement Procedures (including Preliminary Remedial Action).
Restricted by conditions imposed by HR, including misconduct proceedings.
Subject to monitoring under sick absence procedures.
Line Managers
You are signing this bidding form on the understanding that:
The information given in the form is true to the best of your knowledge and belief.
(Where applicable) You agree to the early departure of the officer from their current position.
Last Updated: 14 May 2010
269
NOTE ON TRAINING FOR FAC
What training is required and recommended to staff joining the Diplomatic Service?
All staff are given induction training when they join the Diplomatic Service. They learn to be diplomats through a combination of on‐the‐job tutoring and practice in a range of jobs and formal training.
All staff joining the Diplomatic Service are given induction training to help them understand their role in the FCO, and the FCO’s role within government and the international community. They are made aware of the Civil Service Code, which defines the values and standards of behaviour expected. They are required to undertake courses on: security, conduct, information management, diversity at work, health and safety and finance.
New policy entrants have additional briefings, for example on Parliamentary issues, and are required to attend an international policy skills course covering international policy; analysis and use of evidence; negotiating and influencing. They also take a Modern Language Aptitude Test which has been designed to provide a measure of an individual’s ability to learn a foreign language. Hiring Managers use the score as a factor in their decision on who should be recruited for a particular speaker position in an overseas post. Officers selected for language speaker slots undertake intensive full time language training (usually a combination of training in London and some immersion) in advance of being posted overseas.
New policy entrants do two jobs in their first two years in the Diplomatic Service. These are carefully selected to ensure that they get experience of both policy and either a corporate or operational delivery role. For each role, a detailed job description sets out what skills and knowledge a new entrant is expected to develop while in the role. It also explains what training would be appropriate, for example, a new entrant working in EU directorate might undertake EU training, while a new entrant working in Counter‐terrorism Department would take a course on counter‐terrorism
Within six weeks of taking on a role, new entrants are expected to produce a personal development plan in consultation with their line manager. This sets out what skills and knowledge they are expected gain in that specific job, as well as identifying areas for development to help them perform effectively across the competence framework at their grade. The plan sets out development activity – formal training and on‐the‐job‐learning and practice – to undertake within their first year. It takes account of the new entrants’ existing experience and abilities. We believe this targeted approach to training and development has greater impact on the individual and therefore provides greater value for money.
Attachments:
‐ Band C Induction Training Programme 2010
270
Band C Induction Programme
Welcome to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)
Week 1: FCO Induction
Monday 01 November
0915 ‐ 1000 Welcome to the FCO
1000 ‐ 1015 Mutual Expectations
1015 ‐ 1115 Conduct
1115 ‐ 1130
1130 ‐ 1145 Your First Job
1145 ‐ 1215 Our Corporate Structure
1215 – 1315
1315 ‐ 1445 Introduction to the FCO: Home & Overseas
271
1445 ‐ 1500
1500 ‐ 1530 News Review
1530 ‐ 1615 Diversity Briefing
1615‐1700 Review
Revisit today’s aims
Questions, Evaluation and Close
Tuesday 02 November
0915 – 1015 Familiarisation tour of KCS
1015 – 1100 Communicating Effectively in the FCO
1100 – 1115 FCO Trade Unions & Break
1115 – 1145 Language Training and the MLAT
1145 – 1215 Your Performance
272
1230 – 1330 Spare
1330 – 1400
1400 – 1500 Coaching
1500 – 1530 Parliamentary Relations Team
1630 ‐ 1700 Review
Questions, Evaluation and Close
Wednesday 03 November
0915 – 1700 Introduction to Performance Management
Thursday 04 November
0915 – 1700 Management Essentials
273
Friday 05 November
0900 – 1300 Join Teams
*0900 – 1030 MLAT
1300 – 1500 Parliamentary Relations Team
1500 – 1630 Private Office
Week 2: FCO Induction
Monday 8 November
0915 ‐ 1015 Recent C4 New Entrants Interactive session
1015 ‐ 1130 Learning & Development
1130 – 1145
1215 ‐ 1245 Health & Welfare
1245 – 1345
274
1345 – 1415 Probation & Promotion
1415 ‐ 1445 Your next Job and Beyond
1445 ‐1500
1500‐ 1530 Fast Stream Finance Option
1530‐1630 Review
*1530 – 1630 Separate option for European & Economist Fast Streamers
*1600 – 1730 MLAT
Tuesday 09 November
0930 – 1630 Home Security Course
Wednesday 10 November
0900 – 1300 Information Technology & Information Management
1400 – 1500 Introduction to International Policy Skills
275 1500 – 1700 UK Trade & Investment
Thursday 11 November
Join Teams After joining your department: Mandatory Courses & Events
Monday 6 December – Friday 10 December
International Policy Skills course (see next page for details)
Meet the PUS
E‐learning packages that must be completed after joining your departments
1 Month
‐ Protecting Information
‐ Diversity at work
3 Months
‐ Health and Safety Awareness
‐ Finance in the FCO
276
Course title International Policy Skills for Policy Officers
For band Open to Band B & C officers and LE equivalents doing policy jobs
Competence Problem solving and judgement, Managing external relations, Taking a wider perspective, Strategic awareness, Communicating and influencing
Skill International Policy, Analysis and Use of Evidence, Negotiating and Influencing
Delivery method UK
Duration 5 days
Description:
The course aims to help staff use the international policy framework and develop tools related to the four skills which underpin the framework. These are: International Policy; Analysis and Use of Evidence; Influencing; and Negotiating.
The course is delivered in two very distinct modules. The first three‐day module delivered by the National School of Government will focus on international policy and analysis and use of evidence; and how these can be used throughout the IPF. The second two‐day module run by Centre for Political and Diplomatic Students will look at the skills of influencing and negotiating and how they apply across the IPF. The two modules provide a range of tools and learning experiences to help everyone get a better understanding of how to use the IPF in their jobs whether in the UK or overseas.
Preparation:
You will receive pre‐course reading with your joining instructions. Please ensure you provide an up‐to‐date email address to which we can send the course information.
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Questions from FAC
How do secondments into and out of the FCO take place?
Interchange and Secondments
The FCO describes the inward and outward loan of staff between Government Departments or accredited Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) as interchange. Typically FCO positions which require specialist skills or knowledge not generally available within the FCO are filled via interchange.
Inward loans bring fresh talent and ideas to the FCO. It allows us to deploy staff into specialist positions with the appropriate skills and expertise to deliver. And outward loans enable existing staff to develop fresh skills and expertise which they then bring back to the FCO.
The FCO has approximately 5000 UK based staff in London and Overseas. Currently 315 jobs are filled by inward interchange and 157 officers are on outward interchange. We also encourage FCO staff to undertake secondments to the private sector to develop commercial awareness and refresh the skills available within the FCO. There is currently around 20 staff on secondment to the private sector. Interchange opportunities are advertised across all Government Departments, although sometimes adverts are targeted at Departments whose staff have the specific expertise to fill the vacant position (e.g. MoJ for legal roles; MOD for defence issues etc). All SMS (SCS) positions are advertised on interchange in the first instance. Interchange is also sometimes used when positions prove hard to fill.
Interchange positions are typically advertised on the Civil Service website (www.civilservice.gov.uk). As with internal appointments, most positions are filled through a competence based interview process. Candidates usually apply for positions commensurate with their current grade, although exceptions can sometimes be made to allow for temporary promotion.
Officers loaned to the FCO undertake a specific job for a specific length of time. Staff on loan to the FCO cannot extend in the same role beyond five years. Unlike FCO officers, officers on loan cannot be moved into other jobs within the FCO.
Terms and Conditions
Staff on inward loan move on to FCO Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of service and transfer to the FCO pay roll, although typically they remain subject to the disciplinary procedures of their parent department. The process is reversed for FCO staff on outward interchange; i.e. they transfer to the host department’s T&Cs.
In exceptional circumstances staff may stay on their existing terms for practical reasons e.g. if pension schemes are incompatible; the loan is for less than six months.
278 Terms and Conditions for interchange vary between departments, but the substance is broadly similar. Terms and Conditions for home and overseas jobs also vary slightly; the differences largely cover the practical implications of working overseas e.g. travel arrangements; allowances; leave etc.
Staff going on secondment to the private sector remain on FCO Terms and Conditions. They remain on the FCO payroll and the host organisation reimburses the salary costs. Staff on inward interchange can apply to transfer permanently to the FCO after successfully completing an FCO assessment and development centre Staff from our Partners Across Government (PAGs) who are posted to work overseas in an FCO mission remain on their existing T&Cs (unless they are recruited to fill an FCO position through interchange). The PAGs which post staff overseas to FCO missions have in place Service Level Agreements outlining expectations on both sides. The recent Strategic Defence and Security Review, agreed by the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet Ministers, says that the FCO will “improve co‐ordination of all UK work overseas under the leadership of the Ambassador or the High Commissioner representing the UK Government as a whole.” The local Head of Mission or another FCO member of staff may directly manage non‐FCO staff but this will depend on individual circumstances and is certainly not a pre‐requisite to PAG staff sharing the FCO platform overseas.
External recruitment How is it decided which FCO positions are opened to competition from outside the FCO (i.e. other departments) and/or from outside the civil service?
As set out in the note on recruitment, decisions to recruit externally through open competition are – under the current government‐wide recruitment freeze – only allowed under certain circumstances: ie if the position is business critical, provided that options such as internal recruitment and inward loan from elsewhere in the Civil Service have been tried first, and that the recruitment has been approved by a Director General.
A very small number of staff (currently four) are seconded from outside the civil service to work in the FCO in specific roles for example as Research Analysts.
Have any Heads of Mission posts been taken by appointees from outside the FCO (including other government departments) apart from political appointees There has been no external recruitment for Ambassadorial posts through open competition in the last two years. In 2010 one officer on inward loan (from DFID) was appointed Head of Mission (Montserrat).
Have any changes been made to plans or procedures regarding appointments from outside the FCO since the change of Government? On 21st November 2010 the FCO advertised publically for the post of British Consul General – New York and Director General Trade and Investment – USA. We are midway through the recruitment
279 process for this role. This is an SMS 2 position and is the only senior position at post that has been opened up to external competition since the change of Government. The FCO works towards three foreign policy priorities:
Safeguard Britain’s national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation and working to reduce conflict;
Build Britain’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth;
Support British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services.
Commercial Diplomacy is a key activity in building Britain’s prosperity. The Foreign Secretary identified this senior Trade and Investment position as one to be opened up to external competition in order to attract a field of applicants with significant commercial experience. The position of Chief Executive at UKTI is also currently being advertised through external competition.
25 January 2011
280 Tour Lengths
Six Month Posting
All staff: six months with the option to apply for a second six months
Baghdad Basra Lashkar Gah
One year postings
Heads of Mission and Hard Language speakers: minimum two years with the option to apply for a third year All other staff: minimum one year with the option to apply for a second and third year
Abidjan Kabul Monrovia Islamabad
Conakry Luanda Pyongyang Sana'a
Two year postings
Heads of Mission and Hard Language speakers: minimum three years All other staff: minimum two years with the option to apply for a third year
** The tour length for Bands A and B in Grand Turk is minimum two years with the option of a third year.
Algiers Freetown Pristina
Abuja Grand Turk** Riyadh
Almaty Guangzhou St Helena
Al Khobar Jeddah Tashkent
Ascension Karachi Tbilisi
Ashgabat Khartoum Tehran
Banja Luka Kigali Tirana
Sana’a Kinshasa Tristan da Cunha
281 Chisinau Lagos Ulaanbaatar
Chongqing Minsk Yaounde
Dushanbe Phnom Penh Yerevan
Ekaterinburg Port Moresby
Three year postings
C4s and above: minimum three years with the option to apply for a fourth year Bands A and B: three years. Extensions for a fourth year only granted in exceptional personal or operational circumstances
Accra Dhaka Manila
Addis Ababa Doha Maputo
Alexandria Georgetown Montserrat
Anguilla Gibraltar Moscow
Asmara Grand Cayman Mumbai
Grand Turk - Baku Nairobi C4 and above only
Bandar Seri Begawan Guatemala City New Delhi
Bangalore Hamilton Rangoon
Banjul Hanoi Rio de Janerio
Beijing Harare St Petersburg
Beirut Hi Chi Minh City Sao Paulo
Belgarde Honiara Sarajevo
Belmopan Jakarta Seoul
282 Bogota Jerusalem Shanghai
Cairo Kampala Skopje
Chennai Kathmandu Stanley
Colombo Kolkata Suva
Dakar Kuwait City Taipei
Damascas Lilongwe Tortola
Dar es Salaam Lusaka Victoria
Exceptions
C4s and above: minimum three years with the option to apply for a fourth year Islamabad - C4s and above: minimum 2 years with the option to apply for a third. Bands A and B: minimum two years with the option to apply for a third year
Islamabad Kiev Tripoli
Four year postings
C4s and above: four years Bands A and B: three years. Extensions for a fourth year only granted in exceptional personal or operational circumstances
Abu Dhabi Havana Port Louis
Amman Helsinki Port of Spain
Amsterdam Holy See Prague
Ankara Hong Kong Pretoria
Athens Houston Quito
Atlanta Istanbul Rabat
Auckland Johannesburg Reykjavik
283 Bahrain Kingston Riga
Bangkok Kuala Lumpur Rome
Barcelona La Paz St Johns
Berlin Lille San Francisco
Berne Lima San Jose
Boston Lisbon Santiago
Brasilia Ljubljana Santa Domingo
Bratislavia Los Angeles Singapore
Bridgetown Luxembourg Sofia
Brisbane Madrid Stockholm
Brussels** Melbourne Strasbourg
Bucharest Mexico City Sydney
Budapest Miami Tallinn
Buenos Aires Milan Tel Aviv
Canberra Monterray Tokyo
Cape Town Montevideo Toronto
Caracas Montreal Tunis
Casablanca Munich Valletta
Castries Muscat Vancouver
Chicago Naygoya Vienna
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Copenhagen New York*** Vilnius
Denver Nicosia Warsaw
Dubai Osaka Washington
Dublin Oslo Wellington
Durban Ottawa Windhoek
Dussledorf Panama city Zagrab
Gaborone Paris
Geneva Perth
The Hague
** = at UKRep (Brussels) - Bands A and B: three years, Band C: minimum two years with the option to apply for a third and fourth year, Band D and SMS: minimum three years with the option to apply for a fourth
*** = at UKMis (New York) - Bands A and B: three years, C4s and above: minimum three years with the option to apply for a fourth.
Last Updated: 25 November 2010
285 FURTHER WRITTEN EVIDENCE FROM THE OFFICE OF SIR PETER RICKETTS
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS
Many thanks for your email of 1 February seeking clarification of a number of points supplementary to Peter Ricketts' written evidence on the role of the FCO in UK Government. I enclose below our responses
1. With regard to Sir Peter's written answer A4, which of the current five Directorates in the National Security Secretariat is to be disbanded as a result of the recent, post‐SDSR review, and where will its responsibilities then be sited?
The Strategy and Counter‐terrorism Directorate in the National Security Secretariat is to be merged following the review. Its counter‐terrorism responsibilities will be integrated into the Security and Intelligence Directorate. The central direction and coordination of strategy will also still be carried out by the Cabinet Office, including through the creation of a more formal strategic thinking network overseen by the National Security Adviser. This was a commitment made in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
2. With regard to Sir Peter 's written answer A9, for the purposes of determining items to be considered by the Emerging Powers Sub‐Committee, is the NSC operating with any firm definition of 'emerging powers '?
The term 'emerging power' is being used to refer to countries whose geopolitical influence is growing and expected to be ever more influential in the next 5–10 years. These countries are broadly outside Europe and North America, where the UK already has very deep and well developed relationships. We do not have a set of fixed criteria for determining where to draw the lines, but look at a combination of factors such as political, commercial, military and economic influence, and where the benefits to be accrued from elevating bilateral relations are in the UK's wider interests. Such countries will typically offer the greatest new potential sources of commercial opportunity to the UK.
3. Would it be possible for the bilateral strategies being approved by the Sub‐Committee—such as the one recently approved on Brazil—to be shared with the FAC, if necessary on an in‐confidence or classified basis? The FAC is taking an interest in this as it will shortly be launching an inquiry into UK‐ Brazil relations.
The FCO intend to provide detailed information on UK‐Brazil relations as part of their input to the Committee's Inquiry. This will cover the full range of UK activity with Brazil. However, bilateral strategies being approved by the Emerging Powers Sub‐Committee would not be shared with the FAC. Papers of the National Security Council and its sub‐committees are treated in the same way as other Cabinet Committee papers. Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees is generally not disclosed as to do so would put at risk the public interest in both collective responsibility and the full and frank discussion of policy by Ministers. This is consistent with longstanding practice.
286 4. Could you confirm whether the NSC, or an NSC body has taken a discussion of the security implications of climate change, late last year? Which department or body provided the relevant paper(s)?
The NSC met on 16 November 2010 to discuss climate change, including its security implications. Papers were drafted by the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
5. With regard to Sir Peter's written answer A1Ob), the Committee would welcome an update on funding and governance arrangements for the Critical Capabilities Pool when these have been agreed.
In January the National Security Council Official Committee on Counter Proliferation (NSC(OCP)) agreed on the Structure of the counter proliferation Critical Capabilities Pool (CCP). The CCP will contain several programmatic elements, with resources being prioritised for the Government's work to:
• Strengthen nuclear and biological security globally; • Reduce the risk to national security from States' illicit acquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction and their means of delivery; • Support the international system of organisations, treaties and regimes that underpins global security such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non‐ Proliferation Treaty and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
In addition, the CCP will contain resources for security‐related science and technology work in the radiological and nuclear, and chemical and biological fields.
Work to allocate resources within the CCP is still ongoing. Alignment of those resources against the strategic objectives for the Government's counter proliferation work will be ensured through the governance mechanism for CP that was announced within the Strategic Defence & Security Review.
7 February 2011
287 Written submission from Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP
I am writing with regard to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s on-going inquiry into the role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in UK Government. I would like to contribute my views on the very helpful role that the FCO plays in international climate diplomacy.
My department works very closely with the FCO and we agree that an effective response to climate change is in the UK’s fundamental national interest. It underpins both our security and prosperity. DECC welcomes the FCO’s role in taking this work forward internationally which complements DECC’s focus on the UNFCCC negotiations process by deploying foreign policy assets to create the political conditions within nations that will be necessary for an effective response to climate change. This is crucial to underpinning the continuing effort to reach a legally binding agreement, and thus create the policy confidence required to drive a low carbon transition. I have been very impressed with the enthusiastic work done by the FCO officials here in London as well as by their network of posts around the world and the impact that it has had. We have been able to work together to deliver our mutual objectives e.g. in supporting the Mexican presidency in Cancun.
It is clear too that the targeted use of programme funds has been instrumental in both leveraging political change and in ensuring that concrete actions on the ground build up to provide a coherent response. The FCO’s commitment to an inclusive approach to the use of these funds has meant that my officials were regularly consulted on their use under the Low Carbon High Growth SPF programme. I look forward to forthcoming announcements on how the FCO’s programme funding will be organised in the future and my officials stand ready to give relevant input where required.
The FCO’s commitment to the climate change agenda has been further supported by the appointment of the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative. He has played a critical role in our progress by setting out the compelling case for low carbon growth and to create the international political conditions necessary for action to prevent dangerous climate change. He has ensured that there is consistent engagement from FCO Ministers and officials in climate diplomacy which plays an important role in our joint efforts to ensure that we achieve a UN global binding deal which agrees effective action against climate change.
7 February 2011
288 Written evidence from the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
1. Thank you for giving PCS the opportunity to contribute a written submission to the Inquiry—The role of the FCO in UK Government.
2. PCS is the largest civil service union within the FCO, we have nearly 1500 members at all grades who are scattered throughout the world in some of the most difficult places in the world, serving their country with distinction.
3. We will focus with a snapshot on three areas that the Committee is looking at. How can the FCO best use its resources, how does the FCO interact with OGD's and the role of FCO Posts overseas.
FCO Resources
4. PCS understand how tight resources are in the FCO but we have struggled, as staff representatives, over a number of months to try and engage constructively with senior management in the FCO on where best resources might be used or indeed saved. Unfortunately, the senior management style over recent years has been a culture of just do it, with little or no consultation with elected staff representatives (and staff). In looking to make savings we believe that FCO management takes the easy route of targeting staff rather than some of the more costly estate and IT projects it has engaged in over the years. We think this is because it is potentially easier than actually taking some tough decisions within these areas and the FCO’s poor record of project and programme management.
5. As in many parts of government we believe the FCO spends far too much of its budget on consultants, often with negligible or no discernible benefit. Between May and November 2010 alone the FCO spent nearly £12 million on consultants and in 2010 nearly £5 million was paid to consultants for “rebranding” the FCO corporate image. In a climate of tight budgets we believe resources must be focused on “front line services” and roles supporting these services.
6. In order to make some of the savings required by the recent spending review, the FCO have said they will target so called “back office” functions in order to concentrate resources on “front line diplomacy”. We believe there is a false distinction between the front line and back office. The reality is the front line cannot do what it is supposed to without back office support. We believe cuts may focus on finance and other corporate service directorates who carry out vital work which ensures the overseas network of posts can operate effectively. If jobs are cut in these areas, the work will not go away but will be passed on to posts themselves and often to fairly senior diplomats who will have to spend time carrying out administrative work rather than front line diplomacy. The FCO are looking to make cuts to administrative costs of £100 million over the next four years. We believe this is simply not sustainable and will damage the capability of the FCO. It is also likely to lead to substantial job losses and reduced career opportunities amongst UK based staff. This will further damage the morale of FCO staff who have already seen a cut to budgets of around 20% in real terms due to the decision of the previous government to remove the Overseas Price Mechanism (OPM).
289
FCO interaction with other OGD's 7. We have noticed in the past a tendency in dealing with other departments who have an international role that the FCO seems to want to take a lead in its attempt to gather political kudos and control the debate. How successful they have been in achieving this is open to question.
8. Relations with the Treasury have not been good with a feeling the FCO has not been good at getting the resources it required. The most striking recent example of this was the decision to abolish the OPM. This took a big chunk out of the FCO’s budget and has only now been partially restored. The Treasury also took a hard line in asking for big cuts to the allowances received by diplomatic staff working overseas. OGD with staff overseas took a much smaller hit, with FCO staff feeling their own department should have taken a harder line in negotiations with the Treasury.
9. The responsibility for issuing UK visas, which was previously jointly administered by the FCO and UKBA, has now passed over completely to UKBA, although there is a service level agreement (SLA) which gives the FCO in theory some say in this work. The issuing of visas is still an important part of many FCO embassies and consulates around the world and 40% of posts should be filled by FCO staff. However despite the SLA the FCO seems to have a long term policy of having less and less to do with visa work with fewer and fewer FCO staff now working in visa sections. . We do not believe current arrangements with UKBA are working well and should be revised so the FCO has a greater role in the issuing of visa which we believe should be an important part of its service delivery overseas.
FCO Posts
10. The network of overseas posts is the key to delivering the new overall priorities for the FCO of security, prosperity and consular services. There is much debate at present about the impact of the cuts on this network. PCS believes it would be a big mistake to see any significant shrinkage of the overseas network. In order to maintain our diplomatic influence and to seek to increase overseas trade in a rapidly changing world, HMG will still need a physical presence and UK based staff in most countries around the world. In our view, posts also still have a key role to play in providing a full range of consular services and help to UK citizens overseas. In recent years there has been a big increase in UK citizens needing consular help or other assistance from UK embassies. With current patterns of work and travel this is likely to increase. In times of emergency or crisis UK citizens (and their MPs) expect their embassy to help them and FCO staff do a fantastic job, often in difficult or dangerous circumstances. This help is often required immediately and this would simply not be possible if the UK reduced its presence to regional rather in-country in some parts of the world.
11. In order for the FCO network of overseas posts to function effectively we believe the right balance needs to be struck in staffing them with a combination of UK based civil servants and locally engaged staff. There is no doubt that locally engaged staff play an important role in posts around the world. However we have now reached the point
290 where 67% of all FCO staff globally are not UK citizens. We believe this has pushed the balance too far and that this is now having a detrimental impact on overseas posts. The reason for increased localisation has frankly been one of crude cost cutting with no improvement to service delivery. A good example of this is the recent localisation strand of the Corporate Services Programme with which the Committee is familiar. Anecdotally, we understand that replacing UK based management officers with local staff has not seen any improvement in service delivery. Because of security concerns there are many tasks formerly carried out by UK staff which locally engaged staff cannot perform with this work drifting up to more senior staff who are having to spend more and more time carrying out admin tasks rather than concentrating on other diplomatic work. We fear that the FCO is planning more localisation of posts overseas. We believe it would be folly to do this without a proper evaluation of the impact of localisation in the FCO in terms of the impact on UK posts overseas, career opportunities and jobs for UK FCO staff who will have much reduced chances of working overseas and also whether it is in the long term interests of the country to have a UK foreign service staffed mainly by non UK citizens.
8 February 2011
291 Written submission from Carne Ross
I am a former British diplomat who resigned after giving evidence to the Butler Inquiry in 2004 (my last posting had been as Britain’s Middle East and particularly Iraq specialist at the UN Security Council in New York). I then founded and now head Independent Diplomat, the non‐profit diplomatic advisory group, based in five offices around the world, which advises various countries and governments, and other political groups, on diplomatic strategy. Our clients include the Government of South Sudan, various island states (whom we advise on the climate change negotiations), Eastern European states (on their relations with the EU), the POLISARIO Front of the Western Sahara and Somaliland. In our work around the world, my staff and I encounter the work of British embassies as well as the FCO in London. We also hear the views of foreign diplomats and others who deal with the FCO both in London and overseas. The views below are my personal views, but also reflect informal impressions gathered by my colleagues in Independent Diplomat.
The impressions are these:
‐ The FCO has made significant progress in loosening promotion and career progression, including by promoting talent quickly to senior posts. For instance, the new High Commissioner in Nigeria is a (very able) forty‐something who began in the FCO as a filing clerk at sixteen. The “buggins’ turn” culture has ended, although there is still a sense that some overseas heads of missions are in place thanks more to the longevity of their service than other qualifications. The FCO is still lucky to enjoy in general a high quality of individuals in its staff, who are widely esteemed within the diplomatic profession internationally. (This however is a virtue that should not be taken for granted.)
‐ However, the promotion of younger staff has had the knock‐on effect of blocking career progression for many, with a growing “log‐jam” in promotions across the board. Combined with the budget‐driven downgrading of many slots, including overseas, it has noticeable effects opportunities for staff and therefore morale. A number of FCO staff have approached Independent Diplomat for work, or for advice about leaving the FCO, if that is any indicator. This is on top of the wave of staff who left in 2006‐8, taking with them considerable accumulated experience.
‐ More seriously however, something seems to have happened to the “brain” of the FCO in recent years. I am not alone in noticing that the quality of UK foreign policy thinking seems to have declined. In a number of cases, UK policy‐makers seem overly content to stick to superficial generalities, rather than the more deeply‐ considered strategies for getting from the current situation to the desired end‐state.
‐ For instance, Independent Diplomat has followed the diplomacy on Sudan very closely, in particular the North‐South issue and the just‐passed referendum on Southern self‐determination. I have observed closely the work of the US State Department on this question and have been struck by its thoroughness and openness to outside thinking. The relevant offices of the State Department have for instance organised weekend brainstorming sessions to “game out” different
292 scenarios in the North‐South process; they also regularly invite outside experts to their offices to discuss policy ideas with great frankness and openness (I have been present for such discussions)—above all these discussions are characterised by an atmosphere of invitation to criticism and ideas. By contrast, despite the evident abilities of the UK officials involved, the UK has not played a significant role in this diplomatic process. At the State Department, the UK is talked of in the same way as Norway, the other of the three‐member “Troika” on Sudan—helpful but not terribly significant.
‐ Of course, the American thoroughness is a function of the very intensive role the US is playing on this issue—itself a function of US power and influence—but of course the one reflects the other: in other words, influence is partly a function of preparation and deep strategy—and indeed the less influential a country is, the more essential deep preparation of policy to secure influence is. Another more provocative example illustrates the same point: When I first attended UK‐US bilateral discussions on Iraq and the Middle East, the UK delegation would bring its own agenda, and on each point its own developed ideas on the way forward. This was in 1998. By the time I left the UK Mission in 2002, the UK delegation no longer brought its own agenda but simply worked off and responded to US suggestions.
‐ This last example may help explain what is going on. When I first joined the FCO in 1989, there was a real sense within the “Office” that the FCO should look at the world, decide its objectives and design strategy to reach those objectives, while seeking to persuade others of those goals. These days, the British diplomatic machine appears more reactive: responding rather than shaping. And there is no doubt that the gross failures of policy over the years since 9/11, and the subordination of UK foreign policy to that of the US, have exacerbated a trend that post‐imperial decline was already evoking.
‐ To be frank, this is less a deficit of officials than a failure of leadership and political vision, shared by both major political parties. Officials reflect the ambitions of their political masters. But this is also a vicious circle into which, I’m afraid, the FCO has clearly sunk. With little political imagination or willingness for risk at the top, officials are discouraged from ambition and creativity, but also the hard grind necessary for the thorough preparation of detailed strategy. I watched my seniors carefully in the FCO during my years there, and realised, as others have, that the quality most essential to promotion was not risk‐taking or creativity, but caution and an exquisite ability to tune one’s own views to the prevailing mood of the day (though there were and are some notable exceptions to this generality). The relative decline of the UK as an international power, inevitable with the rise of China, India and the rest, should not provoke a parallel decline in the ambition or strategic thinking of the FCO, rather the opposite: indeed there are manifold opportunities for exciting strategies and initiatives on myriad issues from disarmament to democratization. But the self‐confidence, imagination and dedication required need to be rekindled, and deliberately built into the structures and practices of the FCO. Independent Diplomat would be happy to provide ideas if requested (we often
293 advise governments on the structure of their diplomatic system, and are skilled in “building‐in” practices that encourage innovation).
‐ There is a final issue, which applies to every government and not only the FCO. The world is becoming rapidly more complicated—more a Jackson Pollock painting than a chessboard, and even a Pollock is inadequate to convey the multitudinous, dynamic nature of the flows that are shaping events today. On any particular issue, an extraordinary cast of players is on the stage, many with growing influence. In Sudan, again it was clear to Independent Diplomat that new actors have become more significant than ever. One philanthropic foundation has supported huge numbers of important NGOs in the South, some wielding considerable political influence, often un‐noticed; a film star has been more often quoted on the conduct of the referendum than Jimmy Carter or Thabo Mbeki—ostensibly in charge of the international process. Major oil companies have been an important behind‐the‐ scenes influence in Khartoum and Juba, as has a telecoms billionaire. That same film star, supported by a highly media‐savvy coterie of activists, has influenced the White House to emphasise the issue of Abyei over other North‐South issues in the coming negotiations before the new state will be established. Governments that concentrate their energies mainly on other governments risk missing the big picture (did the Embassy in Cairo predict the current turmoil? What are their contacts with the emerging new class of Egyptian leaders and youth activists—or the Muslim Brothers?).
‐ This fragmented, globalised world of multiple actors (where in fact few of them are states) is immensely difficult for conventional structures to respond to: indeed ultimately this world suggests a fundamental challenge to centralised decision‐ making. I am increasingly convinced that it is no longer possible to sit in an office (particularly a closed one) in Whitehall and produce credible analyses of what might happen in Egypt—or China—or terrorism. The world is simply too complex. But to respond, qualities like transparency, openness to new thinking (and outside advice), and cutting‐edge technological aptitude are clearly necessary. From the frustration I hear from the ranks, the declining esteem in which British strategic thinking is held, but above all the nature of the world today, it is important that the Foreign Office very deliberately review its structure and culture to ensure that these qualities are the most manifest in British diplomacy in the 21st Century.
8 February 2011
294