First Report of Session 2007-08,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2006-07 (HC 50)
41. The Committee supplements its inquiries into
the FCO's work on a particular theme or in a specific country
or region by carrying out an annual inquiry into how the FCO is
managing its resources, using the Department's Annual Report as
our starting point. In the past we have described this exercise
in scrutiny, dealing with expenditure and administration as well
as policy, as being "at the heart of our work",[18]
and that continues to be the case. Our most recent Report in this
annual series was published in November 2007, examining the FCO's
departmental report for the financial year 2006-07.
42. Our Report dealt with a wide range of FCO activities.
A key area of interest for us was the Comprehensive Spending Review
(CSR07): our comments on this are dealt with in the section below
on financial scrutiny.[19]
Our comments on the British Council and on the BBC World Service
are dealt with in the section on FCO associated public bodies.[20]
Some comments on the FCO's relations with Parliament are dealt
with in the section entitled 'Departmental Response'.[21]
43. In a departure from our previous inquiries on
the FCO's Annual Report, we decided also to hear from witnesses
outside the FCO and its associated bodies. We asked Sir Ivor Roberts,
former Ambassador to Italy and San Marino and author of a leaked
valedictory e-gram critical of the FCO, to give evidence on the
Department's performance over the last financial year. We also
invited the Rt Hon Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, High Representative
for Bosnia and Herzegovina until 31 January 2006, to discuss the
FCO's work in the Western Balkans. His evidence helped us to put
together a case study on the FCO's performance against its PSA
target on conflict prevention, looking at its work in peacebuilding
in the Western Balkans.
44. We considered the FCO's performance against the
other nine PSA targets agreed with the Treasury for the SR04 period,
which runs until March 2008, and discussed the FCO's new framework
of targets for the CSR07 period. We expressed disappointment that
we were not consulted by the FCO about its draft targets far earlier
in the process. We concluded that the current system of performance
targets is less appropriate for the FCO than it is for other departments,
and may absorb time which could be better spent on core functions.
We also concluded that ten strategic priorities is too many, and
recommended that both targets and priorities be simplified and
reduced in number.
45. We discussed the conclusions of the 'capability
review' of the FCO conducted between October 2006 and February
2007, as a follow-up to the Collinson Grant review which reported
in 2005. We welcomed the current Permanent Under-Secretary's commitment
to improving management capability in the FCO, in particular signs
that the FCO is opening up competition for senior management roles
to professionally qualified, experienced individuals from outside
the Department. We recommended that in its quarterly management
reports to the Committee, the FCO should continue to update us
on progress against the four key areas for action highlighted
in the capability review.
46. Our Report also made recommendations in relation
to FCO Services' transformation into a Trading Fund, the closure
of the FCO's language centre, diplomatic representation overseas
and public diplomacy.
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