Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 22 June 2004
I thought the Committee might welcome an update
on the practical steps we are taking to implement the FCO Strategy,
launched last December, ahead of my evidence session on 29 June.
This work has taken a number of forms.
First we have been working to develop further
our thinking on the strategic policy priorities. We have been
devising action strategies for each of the eight priority policy
areas. These will set out clearly defined aims for achieving the
Government's goals within each priority. We are also looking at
the services we provide, in London and across the network.
This process involves working closely with the
rest of Whitehall—the Strategic Priorities belong to the
government as a whole, not just the FCO. An important part of
this work is about clarifying how we can improve coordination
of the international work of different departments. I discussed
some of the implications with Permanent Secretary colleagues in
the International Sub-Committee of the Civil Service Management
Board, which I chaired on 17 June.
In parallel we are making good progress with
the FCO's Departmental Change Programme. This includes a range
of initiatives to underpin the Strategy, based around four broad
principles:
— focussing resources on priorities;
— being flexible and responsive;
— increasing our diversity, with a
wider mix of people skills and experience; and
— meeting customer needs.
Our change programme involves coordinated action
in several areas of FCO activity, such as finance, human resources
or consular. We have established a Departmental Change Board to
oversee this programme.
At the heart of the programme are organisational
changes to adjust our structures at home and overseas to ensure
we can help deliver the strategic priorities as effectively as
possible. These are reflected in the attached organisational chart.
We are now beginning the process of physical change as departments
establish their new management structures. We have established
a small team to drive forward these changes, while keeping costs
to an absolute minimum.
As part of this work we are also reviewing the
way we manage our resources. Our aim is to better reflect the
division between those resources focused on our core activity
(supporting ministers—including their accountability to
Parliament, maintaining the overseas network and providing services
to British citizens) and those which explicitly support our work
on the priority policy issues. While Ministers will, of course,
remain responsible and accountable to Parliament for the work
of the FCO at home and abroad, the new resource structures will
make Directors-General accountable to the FCO Board and to Ministers
on how they use the resources available to them to deliver the
priorities—In this way we will align resources and policy
responsibility. I expect most of these changes to come into effect
by the start of the next financial year.
We are also looking at the effect of the Strategy
on the overseas network. I will be discussing with the FCO Board
next month the balance of resources in our diplomatic missions
overseas.
This is about organising ourselves so that we
are better able to deliver the agreed international priorities
of the Government. It is not, as some have suggested, camouflage
for closures and cuts. That said I would not want to underestimate
the pressures the present resource climate places on the FCO.
We are, like the rest of Whitehall, working hard on the demanding
efficiencies targets that flow from the Gershon review and the
Budget. Delivering a successful programme of change against this
backdrop will be a major challenge.
I will, of course, keep the Committee updated
on the changes we are making to the FCO, and look forward to discussing
these issues in more detail when we meet on 29 June.
Sir Michael Jay KCMG
Permanent Under-Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
22 June 2004
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