Letter to Sir Peter Peter Ricketts, KCMG,
Permanent Under-Secretary of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office
from the Chairman of the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 9 February, on
FCO management issues.
You are quite correct to recall that your predecessor
"undertook to provide more regular updates on FCO Management
issues to the FAC." I have looked at Sir Michael's evidence
to the Committee, and I note that when he first floated the proposal
he suggested "a report for publication on the main management
issues that have been at the top of our agenda in the previous
three months." In a subsequent letter, Sir Michael was even
more precise: "I would therefore like to restate the offer
I made during the Evidence Session on 28 June that we should let
you have a quarterly report, for publication, on the main management
issues that have been at the top of our agenda in the previous
three months."
Your letter of 9 February, while welcome, does
not deliver on the commitment given by your predecessor. An annual
letter, between Departmental Reports (which have not hitherto
discussed management issues in any depth) falls a long way short
of what I and my colleagues were expecting. It is far from clear
to us why the FCO has now decided to withdraw its previous offer
to the Committee.
I know that you share the view of your predecessor
that Parliamentary scrutiny of the FCO is valuable and worthwhile.
As you and Ministers are well aware, the Standing Orders of the
House require the FAC to scrutinise the "expenditure, administration
and policy" of the FCO. Sir Michael appeared to recognise
this when he told us last June that "We have undertaken to
put systems in place which will enable you to get information
on a more systematic basis and in particular you should be able
to see key management papers which are of interest to you because
of your role in overseeing the management of the Office."
The Committee would be grateful to know why
the previous offer of quarterly reports on management issues has
been withdrawn; and whether the FCO still accepts that the FAC
should see key management papers as part of its role of scrutinising
the administration of the Office.
We may wish to return to this issue when you
give oral evidence on the Departmental Report for 2006-07.
Mike Gapes MP
28 February 2007
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