Lord Balfe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Balfe on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the security implications arising from the reported leak of telegrams from the British Embassy in Ankara, whether they will conduct a review of security vetting of Foreign and Commonwealth office staff.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) regularly reviews its policy on security clearance and did this most recently in October 2015. Our policy is to vet our UK-based staff to ‘Developed Vetting’, the highest level of security clearance, which provides a high level of security assurance. We are satisfied that this is appropriate. Locally Engaged staff are vetted to the level required by their job and the Post.