As part of the One Government Overseas (1HMG) initiative, a range of departments are sharing FCO offices and IT platforms abroad in order to boost efficiency and encourage collaboration.
The FCO’s global network now provides a platform for around 4,000 staff from 26 other bodies – such as Visit Britain and the British Council – in over half of its 268 overseas posts.
The FCO wants to introduce a new fees system, under which its tenants will pay per employee, Matthew Rycroft, the Foreign Office’s chief operating officer, told CSW.
Negotiations are ongoing to introduce the new system in April 2015. Jane Beecroft, a regional head at the British Council, told CSW that the current proposals will amount to a 500% hike in fees. Without a “radical change” to those figures, she said, small organisations will have to “consider moving out”.
However, Rycroft dismissed talk of such an increase. “We will make sure that we take account of the interests of big, small and medium-sized departments”, he said.
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