Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 14 January 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many civil servants in his Department's London offices work (a) full-time and (b) part-time solely on supra-, intra- and inter-Commonwealth member affairs; and how many civil servants in his Department's London offices spend part of their time working on such areas.
There are a number of staff working in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London who cover Commonwealth matters as a part of their work. This includes staff in Departments dealing with bilateral political relations with Commonwealth member countries, as well as staff working on thematic issues such as human rights' and climate change, where we seek to use the Commonwealth to advance these priorities.
There is also a dedicated Commonwealth Unit in the FCO's International Organisations Department, which has recently increased to six members of staff. In addition to these staff members, senior staff in International Organisations Department are actively engaged in Commonwealth work, as are more senior staff across the wider FCO. The size of the Commonwealth Unit is kept under review and will change to reflect departmental priorities. For example, in the run up to the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, additional staff will help with the increased associated policy and logistics work.
The central Human Resources management system cannot search by job content. In order to determine the exact number of staff working on Commonwealth matters, full time or part time, we would need to examine individual job descriptions, incurring disproportionate time and cost.
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.