Departmental Manpower

Mr. Walker
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the full-time equivalent headcount in his Department is; what the forecast full-time equivalent headcount for his Department is for financial years (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and if he will make a statement.

Dr. Howells
On 1 October 2006 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its agencies (Wilton Park and FCO Services) employed 6,130 full-time equivalent UK civil servants. In addition FCO missions overseas employ approximately 10,000 locally recruited staff.

We do not yet have firm estimates for staff numbers in 2008-09 and 2009-10.