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Written question asked by Rob Marris (Labour) on Thursday, 13 April 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 April 2017. It was answered by Alan Duncan (Conservative) on Tuesday, 25 April 2017 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Conditions of Employment

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of staff employed by his Department are employed on a contract which is (a) full-time permanent, (b) part-time permanent, (c) for less than two years' duration, (d) on an agency basis and (e) zero-hours.

Answer

As of the 31st March 2017, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs 4499 UK-based staff of whom 4278 work full-time and 221 work part-time. There are 47 fee-paid staff on zero hours contracts. The FCO uses zero hours contracts to carry out functions that require specialist expertise but have a fluctuating workload. We only use them for exceptional roles where they represent the best value for the taxpayer and where terms are mutually agreed with the employee. This type of contract does not preclude employees from taking secondary employment.

As of the 13thApril 2017, there were 65 temporary agency workers assigned to the FCO in the UK. Of the 65 workers, 45 have been in their assignment for less than 2 years.

The proportion of staff employed is detailed below:

Type of contract Percentage of staff
Full-time (UK based) 94%
Part-time (UK based) 5%
Temporary agency workers (UK only) 1%

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
70464
Session
2016-17
Subjects
Conditions of employment Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk