EMBASSIES

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes have been made to the UK's network of embassies since May 2010. [141773]

Mr Lidington, Minister of State: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is strengthening its diplomatic network significantly, deploying more staff to the fastest growing regions, upgrading existing posts and opening new ones. Nine new posts have been opened or upgraded since May 2010, in the following locations:

Date Country Post Change
May 2012 Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire Political Office upgraded to Embassy
October 2012 Antananarivo Madagascar British Interests Section upgraded to Embassy
July 2012 Bishkek Kyrgyzstan New Embassy
September 2012 Calgary Canada Trade office upgraded to Consulate General
June 2012 Hyderabad India Trade office upgraded to Deputy High Commission
July 2011 South Sudan Juba New Embassy in new sovereign state
November 2011 Brazil Recife Trade office upgraded to Consulate General
November 2012 San Salvador El Salvador New Embassy
October 2012 Vientiane Laos New Embassy

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has made a commitment to retain all existing British embassies and high commissions throughout the life of this Parliament, but we have closed a number of consulates in Europe. We have changed our working methods to provide services to our customers in a more effective and efficient way, for example through the introduction of a Contact Centre in Malaga, which helps reduce calls to our posts in southern Europe.

Date Country Post Change
September 2011 France Lille Consulate General closed (now covered from Paris)
June 2012 France Lyon Consulate General closed and re-opened as a trade office
December 2011 Italy Florence Consulate closed
September 2011 Italy Venice Consulate General closed
October 2010 Switzerland Geneva Consulate General closed

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