Restructuring at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

That this House considers that the main focus of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) should be on tackling pressing issues arising from the conflict in the Middle East alongside emerging and ongoing crises across the globe; regrets, however, that internal restructuring means that staff are occupied with a process of completing a self-assessment exercise so they can apply for roles in a new structure and will then go through a job selection exercise; believes this is a distraction from tasks which include ensuring the safety of 300,000 British Nationals in at-risk countries; agrees with the International Development Committee’s recommendation that the restructure must be immediately paused to understand the impact of potential workforce reductions; further believes that any restructure must consider the vital work the FCDO does, including development work in some of the most unstable areas of the world; is concerned that, if the restructure continues, there is considerable risk that the organisation's ability to cope with the current crisis and similar situations in the future will be significantly degraded; shares the view of PCS and International Development staff that the current plans come at a time when FCDO leadership themselves say the pace of global change has, as they put it, accelerated; and therefore asks that the current restructure exercise is halted to allow the Department time to give adequate consideration to maintaining expertise and protecting jobs to ensure the organisation is fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world.