Scrutiny of associated public bodies

48. Our scrutiny of the work of the FCO's two major associated public bodies - the British Council and the BBC World Service - is chiefly carried out as an integral part of our annual exercise in looking at the FCO's departmental report.

49. In our Report on the FCO Annual Report 2006-07, we reviewed the British Council's activities during 2006-07.[22] We expressed some anxieties about the continued provision of satisfactory levels of funding for the British Council under the CSR07 settlement. We also commented on this issue in our Report on Global Security: Russia.[23] As we have commented in paragraph 16 above, we are also concerned about the extent to which the authorities in Russia are increasingly placing obstacles in the way of the Council's actitivies, culminating in their stated intention of shutting down its offices outside Moscow.

50. In the same Report we also reviewed the BBC World Service's activities over the past financial year.[24] We welcomed its performance, in particular its record audience figures, achieved against increasing worldwide competition, and better distribution. However, we noted that there are areas where improvement is required, including scheduling and marketing in Africa and partnerships in Latin America and parts of Eastern Europe (including Russia, an issue on which we also commented in our Global Security: Russia Report).[25] We also welcomed the confirmation under CSR07 of £15 million annual funding for the Farsi language television service and an extra £6 million to extend the BBC Arabic television service, but concluded that the World Service should have received additional funding in CSR07 for its planned new investments and redundancy costs.

Financial scrutiny

51. As in previous years, our scrutiny of the FCO's expenditure and resources is undertaken mainly - but not exclusively - in the context of our annual inquiries into its departmental reports. In 2007 we held our evidence sessions in June and July, when negotiations on the settlements and related new targets under the Comprehensive Spending Review for the FCO, the BBC World Service and the British Council were well underway. Details of the final settlements and targets were announced in October 2007.

52. Within the three-year CSR period, we calculated the annual real-terms budget growth year on year on the FCO's baseline budget for 2007-08 of £1.6 billion will be 3.4%, -1.2%, and -2.8% respectively. On our analysis, the FCO settlement therefore represents an average real annual reduction of 0.2% in its Departmental Expenditure Limit against the baseline. This compares poorly to the settlements of other departments where the average real increase of DEL is 2.1% per annum over the CSR period. Our conclusion, published in November 2007, was that the CSR07 settlement for the FCO, one of the tightest in Whitehall, risks jeopardising the FCO's important work.[26]

53. In our report we also discussed the FCO's operational efficiency, including issues such as ICT savings, workforce changes, shared services and efficiency monitoring.

54. We have corresponded with the FCO about its Supplementary Estimates, in which it seeks parliamentary approval for changes in the spending plans already agreed, and about its Autumn Performance Report.[27]

Scrutiny of major appointments

55. We have previously announced our intention of scrutinising any major diplomatic or consular appointment of a person from outside the diplomatic service. In our last annual report we noted that the only such appointments to be made in recent years were made during the period when there was no Committee in existence, at the time of the 2005 general election. As the appointments were faits accomplis by the time the Committee was nominated, we did not hold hearings with the individuals concerned.[28] However, in August 2007, the Government announced that it intended to appoint Scottish Labour leader and former First Minister Jack McConnell MSP as British High Commissioner to Malawi when the current High Commissioner's posting ends in 2009. We plan to hold an evidence session with Mr McConnell in March 2008.

23   Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 2007-08, Global Security: Russia, HC 51, paras 132-37 Back

24   Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2007-08, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2006-07, HC 50, paras 281-322 Back

25   Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 2007-08, Global Security: Russia, HC 51, paras 125-31 Back

26   Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2007-08, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2006-07, HC 50, paras 12-20 Back

27   See ibid., paras 10-11.  Back

28   See Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2006-07, The Work of the Committee in 2005 and 2006, HC 206, para 54 Back