Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

FCO TRAVEL ADVICE

Letter from the Clerk of the Committee to the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Department

  In paragraph 249 of its Report on Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, published today[1], the Committee asks the Government to supply "a full description of the process according to which travel advice is agreed among Government departments. Specifically, we seek details of the process of collating information in this area; of the relationship between the FCO and the Joint Intelligence Committee in deciding travel advice; and full details of the organisational structure and decision-making process within the Foreign Office, at both official and ministerial level, for the taking of travel advice decisions and issuing them to the public." I am writing on the instructions of the Committee to request that the information be supplied in the form of a memorandum of evidence not later than 27 January 2003, and to elaborate on the request made in the Report.

  In dealing with the recommendation, the memorandum should therefore include, but need not be confined to, answers to the following questions:

  1.  What are the terms of reference of the FCO review of the way in which travel advice is prepared and presented? When and to whom will it report? Will the report be published? If all or part of the report is not to be published, may the Committee receive a full copy on a confidential basis?

  2.  Which are the sources of information for travel advice? Please list all, including HMG sources, other governments, their agencies, and any non-governmental sources, with an indication of the importance to the process of each.

  3.  What are the internal FCO procedures for preparing and revising travel advice? What is the involvement of other Government departments or agencies, including the JIC? Please set out in detail all internal and external lines of communication, at official and at ministerial levels, and if possible please include diagrammatic representations of the process.

  4.  What procedures are in place for ensuring that sources' assessments are translated promptly and accurately into travel advice?

  5.  What guidance is issued (a) to the Travel Advice Unit (or to Consular Division as a whole), (b) to Posts, (c) to desk officers, (d) to Ministers and (e) to others in the FCO on the preparation or revision of travel advice? Please append to the memorandum copies of all such guidance.

  6.  At what level in the FCO is each revision of travel advice signed off?

  7.  What coordination is there of (a) decisions taken in the interests of the safety of Posts, such as the withdrawal of staff or their dependants, (b) advice to British expatriates, and (c) travel advice?

  8.  Your memorandum to the Committee of 28 October 2002 states that travel advice "is automatically reviewed monthly." What is the process by which such automatic reviews are carried out? Who takes the decision to move from automatic review to more frequent reviews?

  9.  What comparative studies have been undertaken of the travel advice systems used by

other countries'?

  10.  What coordination is there of (a) assessments of information and (b) preparation of travel advice by the FCO and by the ministries of foreign affairs of other countries, particularly the US, Australia and EU member states? Are there any proposals to enhance liaison at EU level, or any relevant CFSP developments?

  11.  What consultation is there on the preparation of FCO travel advice with authorities in countries which are the subject of that advice?

  12.  What external advice has the Travel Advice Unit sought or received on the dissemination and presentation of travel advice?

  13.  What concerns have been raised in the last two of the twice yearly meetings between Consular Division and the travel industry?

  14.  Which organisations receive daily faxed updates from the Travel Advice Unit? How often is the list revised? What steps does the Unit take to ensure that newly prepared or revised advice reaches those most likely to require it?

  The Committee wishes to receive the fullest possible answers to these questions. Material of a confidential or classified nature should be clearly marked as such and should be included as separate appendices.

Clerk of Committee

19 December 2002




1   Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report of Session 2002-03, Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, HC 196, Ev 69-71. Back


 
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