THE FCO'S DEVOLUTION CAPABILITY

The FCO handles devolution according to policy area. There is a “virtual devolution group” of officials with lead roles and responsibilities for devolution and working with the devolved administrations. This group comprises the Stakeholder Engagement Team (SET), Parliamentary Relations Team (PRT), EU Directorate (EUDG), Legal Advisers (LA) and the Permanent Under Secretary's office (PUS).

SECONDMENTS

The Head of the Welsh Assembly Government's Constitutional Affairs & External Liaison team was seconded to Stakeholder Engagement Team on a part-time basis for the past three months. This was a successful secondment. We have also explored previous short-term attachments to the DAs - to date one has been undertaken to the Scottish Executive in 2008, and the FCO is keen to pursue similar secondments in the future. We promoted further secondments in either direction at the last Whitehall Contacts Group meeting on Devolution.

The FCO has also taken on a part-time Devolution Policy Manager, on secondment from the Devolution Strategy branch of the Ministry of Justice: providing a central point of contact for devolution matters, joining up the FCO with the Territorial Offices and the Devolved Administrations as necessary, and facilitating the sharing of best practice and policy guidance on devolution matters. Awareness-raising activities and relationship building within the FCO will feed into a more proactive approach to ensuring that policy is devolution sensitive.

GUIDANCE ON THE DEPARTMENTAL INTRANET

FCONet, the FCO's intranet, hosts extensive formal Guidance on devolution and working with the DAs which is available to all staff worldwide. Additionally, there are cases studies, key contact points both in the FCO, in the DAs, and in the Territorial Offices, and links direct to the MoU, Concordats and MoJ devolution guidance. Stakeholder Engagement Team are looking to create a devolution `homepage' on FCONet, to bring all of these resources together.

SENIOR OFFICIALS VISITS TO THE DEVOLVED ADMINISTRATIONS

The FCO's Permanent Under-Secretary meets the Permanent Secretaries of the DAs at regular fixed meetings throughout the year. The FCO's 'Bringing Foreign Policy Home' campaign spearheaded by the Foreign Secretary has seen the Foreign Secretary, the PUS, Heads of Mission and FCO officials undertake outreach programmes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Quarterly meetings are held with the devolved administrations, rotating amongst the four nations, to flag up key developments and the DAs' overseas interests. These are conveyed to the relevant desk officers.