53rd Report - Cost of maintaining the FCDO’s overseas estate
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 884
12 November 2025
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth-third report from Session 2024-26 · published 19 Jan 2026
Recommendations & Conclusions
3 results
7
Conclusion
Deferred
FCDO estate strategy development remains complex, balancing central oversight with local flexibility and diverse properties.
Conclusion
In 2010 the Public Accounts Committee concluded that the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) estate strategy “provided a high-level description of the estate’s strategic aims but lacked detail on its estate requirements, whether the estate met these requirements, and …
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Government Response Summary
The government response is entirely unrelated to the FCDO estate strategy, instead detailing actions regarding "Britain's illegal meat crisis" and biosecurity at the border, including potential funding increases for Dover Port Health Authority and a new methodology for estimating imports by early 2026.
HM Treasury
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8
Conclusion
Deferred
FCDO now better positioned to develop its global estate strategy with improved data and new resources.
Conclusion
FCDO told us it is now in a better position than it was previously to make progress in developing its estate strategy. It considers itself to have better data on its overseas estate than it had before, and has had …
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Government Response Summary
The government response is entirely unrelated to the FCDO estate strategy, instead detailing actions regarding vaccine availability for animal diseases, including a five-year multi-stakeholder Action Plan to be published in late 2026 and an ongoing assessment of a Bovine TB vaccine application.
HM Treasury
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9
Conclusion
Deferred
FCDO prioritises estate safety, compliance, and security as its paramount strategic goal for staff welfare.
Conclusion
FCDO’s first strategic goal for its estate is for it to be safe, compliant with all relevant health and safety standards, and for it to be as secure as possible.19 The Permanent Under-Secretary told us that his most important duty …
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Government Response Summary
The government response is entirely unrelated to the FCDO estate, instead detailing work on negotiations for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU and plans to examine strategic themes for strengthening long-term resilience to animal disease.
HM Treasury
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