Foreign &
Commonwealth
Office
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Foreign &
Commonwealth
Office
3rd September 2008
Old Admiralty Building
Room 2/98a
Reference:
FOI 699-08
London SW1A 2AF
Tel: 020 7008 1361
E-mail: [email address]
Gavin Starky
By email: [FOI #1733 email]
Dear Mr Starky
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST: 0699-08
Thank you for your request dated 12th August 2008, under the Freedom of Information Act.
In this request you asked that we provide the number of job vacancies which were externally
advertised by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) between April 07 – April 08, and
from 1st April 2008 – 30th June 2008.
During the dates specified, the following recruitment campaigns were run by HR:
April 2007 – April 2008
Campaign
No. of vacancies
Auditors
3
Senior Auditors
2
Estate Surveyor
1
Head of Internal Communications & Public 1
Relations Group
Research Analyst (Terrorism)
1
Web Editors
2
Overseas Security Managers
12
Band D Officers (Senior Middle Managers)
10
Fast Stream
50
Total 82
30 April 2008 – 30 June 2008
Campaign
No. of vacancies
Assistant Legal Advisers
6
Facilities Management Director
1
Facilities Management Commercial Manager 1
Finance Trainees (advertised by DWP)
10
Police Adviser (Consular)
1
Research
Analyst
(Latin
America
& 1
Caribbean)
Interns (Policy Planners)
2
Total 22
In addition, 238 FCO vacancies during the period of April 2007-08 and 111 FCO vacancies
from 1 April-30 June 08 were advertised as secondment opportunities for officers in other
civil service departments, and were not restricted to staff already in the FCO.
It should be noted that the above figures apply to vacancies for UK-based staff only;
recruitment campaigns are also run by Posts overseas for Locally Engaged staff. However,
there is no central record of this, and I estimate that to locate, retrieve and extract this
information would exceed the appropriate limit of £600 or 3.5 days. This limit has been
specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004. Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act makes provisions for public
authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would
exceed the appropriate limit.
In keeping with the spirit and effect of the Freedom of Information Act, all information is
assumed to be releasable to the public unless exempt.
If you are unhappy with the way the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has handled your
request, you may ask for an internal review. You should contact Jane Sigsworth within 40
working days at the above address o
r at [email address] if you wish to complain.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless
you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCO. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
2
Ruth
Ruth Slater
Deputy Open Government Liaison Officer
Human Resources Directorate
3