I’m proud of the achievements of FCO staff this year. We delivered for Britain in difficult areas of foreign policy and helped tens of thousands of British people overseas. We’ve continued to modernise the way we work. And we thought deeply about the role of a foreign ministry in today’s interdependent world. Under the Foreign Secretary’s guidance, we have developed a new strategic framework. This enables all our staff, wherever they are serving, to understand how their contribution fits into the FCO’s overall purpose of improving the prosperity and security of the British people. We’ve sought to sum this up in our new mission statement: Better World, Better Britain.

A key part of the FCO’s role is to serve the citizen overseas. Over the last year our consular staff gave assistance to some 35,000 British people in difficulty or distress around the world. Our visa service – for foreign nationals wishing to come to this country – is world class. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) helped keep the UK the number one inward investment destination in Europe.

On foreign policy, FCO staff in the UK and in our global network of posts have responded to crises such as the upheavals in Burma, Pakistan and Kenya. They have worked in dangerous conditions helping to bring stability in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have lobbied and negotiated to reduce tensions in the Middle East and to secure the release of hostages. The FCO has worked with other Whitehall departments to counter terrorism, halt nuclear proliferation, campaign for climate change and tackle inequalities and poor governance in many countries.

The FCO is becoming a more modern, flexible and efficient organisation. To make the most of the talents of all our staff we have introduced a new Strategic Workforce Plan. We have improved business planning and updated our finance function. We are introducing a new IT system that will enable us to work more flexibly in future.

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, refers in his Foreword to our new strategic framework. One benefit of developing this has been a new focus on how the FCO works with other Whitehall departments. Our Ambassadors and their staff are there to deliver the overseas priorities of all government departments. In some areas, we have agreed new partnerships with Whitehall colleagues who will take on a greater leadership role on the international aspects of policies on which they lead domestically.

We are now aligning our resources with these priorities, and shifting a number of staff within our global network to the areas of the world where they are needed the most. We will not be closing posts as part of this exercise: we are determined to maintain global reach.

Since the new strategic framework will be the organising principle for the FCO’s work in the coming years, this year’s Departmental Report follows the structure of our new Departmental Strategic Objectives in reporting the activities of the FCO for the past year.

FCO ministers and the Board have worked closely with our staff and stakeholders in producing our new strategic framework. This has been a rigorous process, and a healthy one for the organisation. We now have a clearer focus, a resource settlement for the next three years, and revitalised partnerships with other departments in Whitehall. Our big task now is to deliver the objectives ministers have set. I’m confident the modernising FCO is in good shape to do so.

Peter Ricketts
Permanent Under-Secretary