7 Assisting the House
55. Three of our Reports were the subject of debate
in Westminster Hall during 2008-09: those on the FCO's
Annual Human Rights Report 2007, in December 2008,[52]
on Overseas Territories, in April 2009, and on Global Security:
Iran, in July 2009.[53]
56. We list in Annex 3 the extensive series of informal
meetings we hold at Westminster with distinguished visitors
from overseas (including heads of government and foreign ministers)
as well as with Ambassadors to the Court of St James. In addition
to gathering valuable information, relevant to our inquiries,
about bilateral relationships between the UK and other countries
and international organisations, these meetings fulfil a useful
purpose in that they allow us in a representative capacity to
welcome visitors to the UK on behalf of the House of Commons,
and to inform them about the British political scene and parliamentary
processes.
57. The FCO has told us that it intends to adopt
a more active strategy of strengthening its links with Parliament,
and improving knowledge of Parliament on the part of its officials
and diplomats. We propose to question the Permanent Under-Secretary
about this strategy when we take evidence from him in December
2009. Our frequent informal meetings with British diplomats and
FCO desk officers at home and abroad form a valuable 'two-way
street' in exchanging information between Parliament and the FCO.
In particular, in March 2009 we held a series of separate private
meetings with Heads of Mission who were in London for the FCO's
annual 'Leadership Conference'. In the space of two days we met
HM Ambassadors to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Russia and
Serbia, HM High Commissioners to Cyprus, India and Pakistan, the
UK's Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York,
and the Prime Minister's Special Representative to Afghanistan.[54]
We are grateful to all of them for their valuable briefings.
52 Foreign Affairs Committee, Ninth Report of Session
2007-08, Human Rights Annual Report 2007, HC 533 and the
Government Reply (Cm 7463) Back
53
Foreign Affairs Committee, Overseas Territories, and the
Government Reply (Cm 7473) and Foreign Affairs Committee, Fifth
Report of Session 2007-08, Global Security: Iran, HC 142
and the Government Reply (Cm 7361) Back
54
See below, Annex 3, 25 and 26 March 2009. Back
|
