Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The figures requested are attached and as follows:
|
Number of Staff |
Cost CEA Home |
Cost CEA Overseas |
Total |
|
|
2012/2013 |
442 |
£8,736,957 |
£6,189,104 |
£14,926,061 |
|
2013/2014 |
378 |
£6,727,304 |
£6,435,519 |
£13,162,823 |
|
2014/2015 |
370 |
£7,193,211 |
£5,749,923 |
£12,943,134 |
It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.
