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UK Worldwide Interests

My Lords, I specifically talked about figures from spending reviews up to this point. There are questions about the future level of budget—the ones to which the noble Lord has just referred—and we are about to enter a new and, I hope, dynamic negotiation with the Treasury on the next comprehensive spending review. That negotiation will be fiercely fought. Like all other departments, the 2004 spending review set the FCO challenging efficiency targets of 2.5 per cent in each of the three years of the review period. However, it must be emphasised that the savings generated by these efficiency measures would all be retained by the FCO for its own use. The FCO is deploying these new resources, both those granted in the 2004 spending review and those generated through internal efficiencies, on key priorities, including increasing engagement with and understanding of the Islamic world as well as counter-terrorism, climate change and energy issues. Expenditure in these areas will increase by £15.6 million from 2003–04 levels. They are big figures and there are real projects at the heart of them. I mention one by way of illustration—the agreement between the Anglican Communion and the Al-Azhar University in Cairo to exchange scholars to help improve understanding of the teaching of different religions and to promote tolerance. Behind the big figures are real stories. As I said, this additional expenditure has been possible only because of the FCO’s efficiency programme, which will deliver £86.7 million of cashable and non-cashable efficiency savings by 2007–08. This will achieved by a number of measures including better purchasing, improved use of capital assets, efficiencies through improvements in the FCO’s IT infrastructure and reductions in the number of staff in London working on human resources and finance. As the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, said, it is certainly true that globalised environments make it very much more important to get co-operation across departments in the delivery of foreign policy, just as it is important for those departments to have an FCO input into it. I do not think it is true, though, that the FCO is out of the loop of these major discussions because No. 10 has become a significant player. Of course, some ambassadors and some individuals may believe themselves to be significantly cleverer than the person elected to be the Prime Minister. They may resent the fact that on occasions Prime Ministers may talk directly to presidents without their constant mediation. A very high priority for the FCO is the security and protection of its own staff, both UK-based and those recruited overseas. This is both a duty of care for the Foreign Office and a requirement if it is to be able to deliver on UK interests throughout the world. The Foreign Office will spend £50 million more on security in each of the next two years. In my judgment Istanbul taught us a very stark lesson. Candidly, no FCO Minister and—dare I say it?—no Member of this House would rest comfortably unless they felt that every effort had been made to protect those who work for us and represent us in some very dangerous places. As regards defence diplomacy and the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Garden, co-operation with the MoD is vital. Training teams need to be in place for long periods. In the Kofi Annan Training Centre in Accra—a training centre for the peace-keeping missions in Africa—exceptional British and African officers are working together. The noble Lord, Lord Wright, also described the need for FCO and MoD co-operation, which I fully endorse. Public diplomacy was mentioned by, among others, the noble Lords, Lord Patten and Lord Truscott, the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe. The 2004 spending review included increased resources for the British Council and the BBC World Service to enable them to expand their activities. The BBC World Service will receive £239 million this year from the Government, up from £225 million last year. The figure is set to rise again in 2007–08 to £252 million. The British Council’s resources will increase from £172 million to £193 million in 2007–08. Those institutions are widely admired and regarded as giving high value to the United Kingdom. Like the FCO, both of them are required to deliver a 2.5 per cent efficiency saving each year, and like the FCO, they are able to use all the resources released for their own activities. I hope noble Lords will accept that both are capable of demonstrating that they can do better and demanding that of themselves. They both do an extraordinary job, but like every other institution, they can do better. I doubt that either finds it helpful if they are described as being close to perfection. Of course, they can learn from the Goethe Institute and others. Indeed, the Goethe Institute and American institutes overseas are keen to learn from the British Council. There has been a decision to reduce the number of vernacular radio services. That makes sense. We have debated these matters in your Lordships’ House before. The end of the Cold War, EU accession and NATO membership all add up to living in a different world. The map of the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon—if I may refer to it that way—is an interesting map, but it is a map of a world in which we no longer live, as I am sure he would acknowledge. The new world is often charted out by commercial interests and it is a highly networked world. The BBC World Service is one of the key networks in that highly networked world. I hope I draw on one of the themes that the noble Lord introduced.