Departmental Databases
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Written answers and statements, 4 November 2009
Tom Watson (West Bromwich East, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2009, Official Report, column 70W, on the Diplomatic Service: databases, for what reason his Department's online registration and crisis database does not break down registrations on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement.
Chris Bryant (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Rhondda, Labour)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s overseas online registration and crisis database, LOCATE, was designed primarily as a crisis tool. As such it breaks down registrations by countries, by regions or by districts—all of which enables FCO staff to assess the number of British nationals potentially affected in an emergency.
We are examining the costs and benefits of introducing a feature that enables the FCO to track the number of registrations on a yearly basis. The cost of implementation needs to be balanced against other crisis requirements.