Letter to Kate Buxton, Parliamentary Officer
at the British Council, from the Clerk of the Committee
BRITISH COUNCIL'S
ANNUAL REPORT
AND FOLLOW-UP
QUESTIONS
The Committee noted the Foreign Secretary's
Written Statement of 20 December which announced the publication
of the British Council's Annual Report for 2004-05. I would be
grateful if you could arrange for 20 copies to be sent to the
FAC Secretariat so that we may circulate these to members of the
Committee. As you will remember, the Council sent the Committee
a draft copy of its Annual Report just before the oral evidence
session back in October. Having considered this draft, and now
that the Annual Report has been published, the Committee wishes
to raise several questions. (The questions are attached.)
The Committee also wishes to seek clarification
and some further information on a few points which relate to the
supplementary answers that the Council provided in follow-up to
the oral evidence session.
I would be grateful if you could arrange a response
to these questions to be sent to the Committee no later than Monday,
23 January.
Steve Priestley
Clerk of the Committee
3 January 2006
QUESTIONS RELATING
TO THE
ANNUAL REPORT
Questions 1 to 5 relate to pages 42 and 43 of
the Annual Report and to the Council's corporate scorecard for
2004-05
1. Can you confirm all the Key Performance
Indicators that the Council agreed with the FCO for 2004-05 and
demonstrate how performance has fared against them?
2. In relation to the measure "Reporting
strengthening of ties with the UK resulting from new or continuing
engagement with the British Council" the score has decreased
from 1.1 to 0.9. Can you explain why performance decreased and
tell us what action the Council is taking to reverse this decline?
3. Why did the number of participants last
year in library and information services, knowledge and learning
centres, and education counselling services halve from 2.8 million
to 1.4 million? What is the Council doing to address this?
4. The objective "Relationships brokered
by the British Council broaden the international view of young
people in the UK and other countries" is not currently measured.
How is the Council able to assess performance against this objective?
What plan is there to measure progress in this area?
5. What attempt has been made to scale the
FCO survey results so that comparisons can be made between 2003-04
and 2004-05? Have results improved?
Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2005
6. The accounts disclose a write-off of
£360,000 relating to over-payment of staff remuneration going
back 10 years. What is the background to this and why was it is
not discovered for so long? What actions has the Council taken
to ensure this type of control failure does not reoccur?
New finance and business system
7. Is the Council still on course for the
global roll-out of its new finance and business system? When is
the global roll-out of FABS scheduled to be completed?
8. What discussions has the Council had
with the FCO about its experience in rolling out its new systems
overseas?
9. What plans does the Council have to ensure
that the global roll-out does not affect its ability to sign its
2005-06 accounts?
10. In 2004-05 only 84.6 per cent of invoices
were paid on time. What action has the Council taken to improve
payment performance?
New premises in Nairobi
11. Was the construction of the new British
Council premises in Nairobi completed on time and to budget?
FURTHER QUESTIONS
REGARDING ORAL
EVIDENCE
Staff numbers
12. The Committee asked the Council to provide
data on its staffing figures in the UK. The Council provided figures
for the current year. Can you provide the Committee with staffing
figures for the last five years and projected staffing numbers
for future years?
13. Can you breakdown further by role/function
the 366 mainstream central services staff?
14. What decisions has the Council reached
on the locating of its UK-based staff following the Lyons review?
Comparisons with international analogues
15. The Council provided information on
the amount of floor space it occupies domestically and overseas
and data for comparable organisations in France and Germany. Can
the Council provide comparisons for its analogues in terms of
spend per head of population and numbers of staff employed split
by the function they perform?
Efficiency savings
16. The Council told the Committee in its
supplementary note that 62 per cent of its efficiency savings
(for the period to 2007-08) were reliant on IT. Can you detail
where these savings will be made? For example, what percentage
will be derived from staff reductions?
Tax liabilities overseas
17. The Council informed the Committee in
October that it has about £100,000 of tax outstanding in
St Petersburg, an amount that was "currently being processed".
When does the Council expect to settle this bill?
18. Is it possible that the Council will
face similar tax problems in other countries? What is the current
position in Turkey? What contingencies or provisions has the Council
for such eventualities?
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