John Baron MP questions Minister on British Council closures

MP wishes James Cleverly MP a swift recovery

Today in Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Questions in the House of Commons, John asked,

“Further to my constructive Adjournment debate with Rt Hon Member for Braintree on the British Council, and given the FCDO’s overall budget will be increasing 21% over the three years of the spending review period, I continue to seek clarity from the Front Bench as to whether it is the Government’s intention to cut funding further to the British Council – this will cause the closure of a further 20 overseas offices, which is on top of the 20 that they are already having to grapple with?”

The Minister, Vicky Ford MP, responded that the British Council budget had increased by 27%.

Afterwards, John said,

“I am sorry that James Cleverly MP, the Minister with responsibility for the British Council, was not able to attend due to a positive covid-19 test yesterday. I wish him a speedy recovery.”

“I believe the Minister was referring to the financial situation in 2020/2021, an unusual year in which the British Council stopped all non-contractually obliged spending due to the pandemic. However, I was raising the future funding situation, about which the British Council APPG remains concerned as all the indications are that there will be a budget cut even as the FCDO’s budget increases by over 20%.”

Notes to Editors:

• John recently led an Adjournment debate on this subject, online at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-11-18/debates/E5D45AEF-1B34-40C7-B0FE-05171AA62671/BritishCouncilGlobalBritain#contribution-1C5A4FB2-D997-46F0-BEF7-D22BBB103BB6.

• John is the Chairman of the British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group.