Conclusions and recommendations
1. The Department has made some significant
innovations, such as working with operators like EasyJet and publishing
the Rough Guide to Safer Travel, to increase
its influence on those travelling overseas.
To better assess how effective these innovations are proving and
to inform future campaigns, the Department needs to identify those
groups who are most often in need of assistance, and assess how
effective their publicity has been in targeting these vulnerable
groups and in influencing their behaviour.
2. Consular staff are increasingly called
to help the irresponsible minority whose problems may have been
avoided by greater awareness and planning before travelling, or
by sensible behaviour once abroad. The
Department used its existing powers to charge for consular services
in just 323 out of 84,000 assistance cases. It should make greater
use of the call out fee to charge for assistance to those who
have been clearly negligent or otherwise at fault. It should also
publicise more individual case studies to demonstrate the consequences
of irresponsible behaviour overseas.
3. The Department is responding to the increasingly
diverse needs of customers by tackling important issues such as
forced marriages and child abduction.
With static funding levels, it is likely to become increasingly
important for the Department to target assistance towards the
most vulnerable groups. The new Consular Guide should set out
a clear strategic framework to ensure that scarce resources are
deployed effectively and that staff have a clear understanding
of the levels of assistance they should be expected to provide
in individual circumstances.
4. Within the Department the perceived status
of consular services work is improving, but it is not yet seen
as a proven career route to the most senior positions.
Whilst new trainees are given some exposure to consular work early
in their careers, there is more to do if this vital service to
United Kingdom citizens is to be fully recognised and rewarded
at all levels in the Department. As services for the individual
citizen become an increasingly significant aspect of the Department's
work, it will be important for senior diplomatic staff to have
an up to date understanding of the challenges of consular work
gained through genuine front-line roles and not just work experience.
5. There are wide variations in the frequency
of prison and hospital visits by consular services. The
reasons for such discrepancies are unclear. Rightly, the Department
wants to give overseas Posts the flexibility to use their local
knowledge. But customers need to know the minimum standard of
service they can expect, and management requires a firm baseline
against which to assess Posts' performance.
6. The lack of consistent management information
across Posts adds to the difficulty of managing a widely dispersed
operation. To deliver an effective consular
service, the Department needs to collect the data required to
support decisions on how to direct resources to meet customers'
needs and to help identify good practice. For example, recording
the amount of time staff at Posts spent on each type of consular
case would allow the Department to manage its allocation of staff
resources more efficiently.
7. Thirteen years after the NAO first made
the case for a modern case management system for assistance work,
the Department is struggling to properly implement one.
Weaknesses in training and in getting staff to use the system
in a consistent manner mean there is a risk that much of the £3.3
million investment will be wasted. The Department should increase
the proportion of training delivered face-to-face, and focus on
areas where the system is not currently being used to its full
potential.
8. The Department is making more use of honorary
consuls and locally engaged staff, and is working with a wider
range of partners to improve the quality of service it offers.
It should also share representation with other countries, and
should take a more quantified and better-evidenced approach to
decisions on where to allocate resources, and on where this country
needs to have consular representation.
9. Issuing passports at over 100 Posts is
inefficient and exposes the Department to increasing risks from
fraudulent applications. The Department
should analyse the costs and benefits of repatriating large elements
of passport work to take advantage of the economies of scale and
quality assurance arrangements of the United Kingdom Passport
Service. Consolidating its passport issuing service in fewer locations
would also aid the Department in reducing inconsistencies in security
checking, and in dealing with the technical complexities in moving
to biometric passports
10. British nationals who wish to obtain a
passport from consular services overseas have to pay passport
fees that are 64% above the equivalent service in the United Kingdom.
British nationals living abroad should be able to choose whether
to obtain their passports overseas or at a lower cost in the United
Kingdom. The Department wants to consider the effect of such a
change on its funding, but accepts that the needs of the customer
should be given due priority in such a decision.
11. The Department took over 18 months to
roll out emergency plans at all Posts.
Starting with the Posts at most risk, the Department should test
existing emergency plans against a wider range of potential scenarios
and introduce a quality rating system for the plans. Over time
the quality ratings of plans should increase, and senior management
should more clearly hold Posts to account for delays in testing
and updating plans to reflect good practice learned from successive
crises.
12. Consular staff and volunteers have often
worked long hours and in difficult conditions to assist British
nationals in distress. The nine major
consular crises which the Department faced in 2005 show how consular
staff have displayed great dedication in responding to successive
major incidents and natural disasters.
| 
