Foreign Office: Minister denies 10% staff cuts by the spring

A Foreign Office minister says the department is facing "workforce changes" in the spring, but denied there would be 10 per cent staff cuts.

James Cleverly admitted to MPs the figure had been "used internally by officials for planning purposes".

But he said ministers had not made any decisions, and there would not be cuts at that precise level.

He refused repeated requests from MPs to say how big the staff cuts could be instead.

Mr Cleverley was answering questions in the Commons after recent reports have suggested staff cuts as high as 10 or even 20 per cent were being considered at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

He said: "There will not be a 10 per cent staff cut at the FCDO. Internal work has taken place but has not been signed off by ministers."

He added: "There is a difference between a figure used internally by officials for planning purposes and decisions made by ministers. The decisions around these issues will be made by ministers… That figure is not a ministerial figure."

"There will not be a 10 percent staff cut, and ministers will make the final decisions on workforce changes in the spring."

He described reports of 20 percent cuts as "scaremongering".

Mr Cleverly argued that the FCDO needed "to ensure that its resources - both its funding and its most valuable resource, its people - are aligned to its priorities".

"Diplomacy is changing and the nature of international relations is changing. We have to invest in future facing resources, that means things like IT, but it also means ensuring we have a network of experts across a wide range of fields."

"Decisions on future structures and priorities and orientation of the department will be made by ministers in due course."

The 10 per cent figure came from a leaked internal FCDO email seen by the i online newspaper which said: "In line with our SR settlement and the direction of travel across the Civil Service, we are planning on the basis of just under a 10% reduction in our overall workforce size by March 2025."

As part of its Spending Review settlement with the Treasury, the Foreign Office has committed to cut its overall costs by 5 per cent by 2024/2025.

The FCDO said that would not just come from staff cuts, but also cuts to non-aid budgets, buildings and arms-length bodies.

Yesterday Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, asked Boris Johnson whether he shared his concern that 10 per cent staff cuts were being considered at the FCDO.

The prime minister replied: "I am assured by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary that the information that has recently trickled into his ears is fake news."