To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which (a) commercial banks and (b) independent financial experts his Department consulted on managing its exposure to foreign currency movements following the Treasury’s withdrawal of support for the overseas price mechanism. (261824)

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office consulted with commercial banks, the Standard Chartered Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. We also had discussions with the Bank of England.

We took, and continue to take, advice from independent financial experts HiFX Intelligent Financial Services.