Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s training budget was in each of the last three financial years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Like all organisations we invest in training and developing staff. It helps us to provide the best service to the UK and deliver value for the taxpayer. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold central records for all Learning and Development spend. Individual Directorates and overseas Posts each have a devolved budget for learning and development. Amounts vary. To obtain a detailed breakdown of all funding allocated to learning and development will incur disproportionate cost. Based on the records we do hold, the total amount allocated to learning and development during the past 3 years were: 2011-12: £18,931,475 2012-13: £17,722,379 2013-14: £17,805,262 These figures cover the costs of all courses, including language training. It also includes the associated running costs (including salaries) to deliver learning and development in the UK and our 270 overseas posts. The data for 2014/15 is unavailable.