The Consular Services Annual Report provides a thorough assessment of the performance of our Consular Services:

• Assistance
• Support in crises
• Advice and information
• Passports
• Other documentary services

The report also features details of our financial position.

Consular Annual Report 2008/09 [new window, PDF 1.64MB]

Foreward by Chris Bryant MP, Minister for Consular Services

The FCO’s consular service helps British Nationals in some of the most complex and often fragile of situations abroad.

Over the last financial year, the consular service provided assistance to almost 35,000 British nationals abroad, and dealt with close to 2.1 million assistance enquiries. They issued almost 11,000 emergency passports to people whose passport had been lost or stolen, responded to nearly 7,000 cases where Brits had been detained, and provided assistance on just under 200 new parental child abduction cases. The consular service’s Rapid Deployment Teams were deployed 11 times to assist our nationals caught up in global crises, from the earthquake in China to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

The consular service is funded by a fee levied on every passport. For around £1.50 a year, every British passport holder has at their disposal a global network of professionals who often provide the first line of support when things go wrong. More information about the services available can be found at fco.gov.uk/travel. The consular service is funded by the public and is rightly accountable to the public. This Annual Report, which includes an assessment of performance against measureable service targets, is an important part of that accountability. Whether they are successful is ultimately for you to judge. The consular service seeks constant feedback and is looking to improve its mechanisms for doing so. You can send your views to: feedback.consular.services@fco.gov.uk

Chris Bryant MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Share this with:

• Delicious
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Twitter