Working with Parliament

The relationship between the FCO and Parliament is hugely important.

Parliamentarians – both MPs in the House of Commons, and Peers in the House of Lords – take a close interest in foreign affairs issues, and in the UK's international relations. 

In addition to managing our routine parliamentary duties such as debates and Parliamentary Questions (we respond to about 5000 Parliamentary Questions every year), we work with a variety of important parliamentary Select Committees including the following:

Foreign Affairs Committee

The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its associated public bodies including the British Council and the BBC World Service.

It is known as a select committee and is made up of 14 backbench MPs from the government and opposition political parties who undertake various inquiries into issues which affect the FCO. The FAC also goes on foreign fact-finding trips to inform its work.

Depending on the inquiry, the FAC can call both for written and oral submissions from interested parties. The Foreign Secretary and his ministers often appear before it to give oral evidence.

Recent FAC inquiries have looked at Global Security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Non Proliferation.

The FAC has a rolling inquiry on developments in the European Union and conducts an annual inquiry into the FCO Human Rights Report and our Annual Departmental Report.

The FAC publishes a report when its inquiry has finished and reports to the House of Commons. These reports are sometimes debated by MPs.  By convention, the Government responds to an FAC report within two months of publication of the FAC's own report.

Visit the FAC website for comprehensive details of who the members are, what they do and how to get in touch with them. You can access the latest FAC reports.

You can also access the FCO-Government responses to FAC reports within the Publications section on our website.

European Scrutiny Committee

Another committee which examines the FCO's work in the European Union (EU) is the European Scrutiny Committee.

This is the principal Committee in the Commons for scrutinising the EU and the UK Government's interaction with it, and in-particular it assesses the legal and/or political importance of each EU document and decides which should be debated by Parliament.

Its main purpose is to ensure that the House of Commons and other organisations and individuals have a chance to influence UK Ministers on EU proposals and to hold UK Ministers to account for their activities in the EU Council of Ministers.

House of Lords European Union Committee

The House of Lords European Union Committee scrutinises and reports on proposed European legislation before it is agreed in the EU and starts its work at the earliest possible stage in the EU decision-making process. The Minister for Europe at the FCO often appears before its enquiries.

Other parliamentary bodies relevant to the FCO

In addition to the Select Committees mentioned above, we maintain close links with a number of other parliamentary bodies whose work is relevant to the FCO.  These include:

• All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs): There are over 130 APPGs with a specific focus on overseas countries and regions, and others dealing with international issues of particular interest to the FCO (climate change, human rights etc)
• The UK branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the International Parliamentary Union (IPU)
• UK parliamentary delegations to the Western European Union (WEU), the Council of Europe (CoE) and other international or regional parliamentary assemblies