Diplomatic Service: British Nationals Abroad
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of her staff are trained for deployment as part of her Department's Rapid Deployment Teams for consular crises.
Answered by Mr Hamish Falconer
Consular and crisis support is available 24/7 through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) contact centre and global network. When a crisis results in increased consular assistance requests, the FCDO may send a Rapid Deployment Team (RDT) to the affected region to support British nationals. A rotating roster ensures that a team can always be deployed at short notice.
In 2024-25, the last full financial year for which data is available, the FCDO answered over 400,000 requests for consular support from British nationals overseas, and provided detailed consular assistance in over 22,000 cases, including giving support to families of more than 6,000 British nationals who had died abroad, and 3,500 who had been hospitalised. In 2024-25, 85% of service users were satisfied with the service received. Extensive further information about consular services is published on GOV.UK and in the FCDO's annual report.
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