MISCELLANEOUS
Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Permanent Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
I am writing to share with you the good news
that the FCO's network of overseas Posts achieved Investors in
People (IiP) recognition in December 2005. As the FCO's UK-based
operations (an IiP organisation since 2001) were judged to be
successfully maintaining the IiP Standard back in November 2004,
we are now recognised together under FCO corporate accreditation.
This is a real achievement and a testament to the hard work that
Posts overseas and Directorates in London have put in to improving
the management and development of staff.
The Assessor highlighted revised induction programmes
and the development of Locally Engaged (LE) staff as two major
improvements since his last visit in 2004, noting that these had
been facilitated with the assistance of internal team members
and the 10 Regional Training Centres around the world, which we
introduced in April 2004. He commended the latter as being a very
innovative step to improving the opportunities for LE staff to
access training and noted the significant commitment by senior
managers at Post in encouraging and supporting staff development.
The Assessor acknowledged that a considerable
effort has been made at all levels of the FCO to develop the skills,
knowledge and behaviour of line managers. The greater rigour in
our appraisal system coupled with a clearer competence framework
and increased (and improved) management training has contributed
to the raising of management standards. In particular, "LE
managers now have a far better appreciation of their responsibilities
for supporting and managing the successful performance of their
teams".
While we are pleased that the progress we have
made, we are conscious that a great deal more remains to be done
if we are to maintain recognition against the revised (more challenging)
IiP Standard in future reviews. Looking ahead to 2006-07, the
impact of our new leadership training for Heads of Mission as
well as mandatory performance management training for all senior
managers should start to be felt. At the same time we intend to
expand our network of Regional Training Centres to include more
Posts and more staff. And we will also be addressing the development
points highlighted in the Assessor's report by continuing to enhance
our ability to plan and evaluate training effectively—continuous
improvement being a key IiP theme.
Sir Michael Jay KCMG
6 January 2006
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