Oral QuestionForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office

“If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.”

Tabled: 14 July 2021Answered: 20 July 2021

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Answer from Hansard

Pat McFadden

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reading my speeches so closely, but what he has misunderstood is that the teams are on the ground, and the process is to learn every week. I am glad to report that I have already visited a couple of those areas, and good work is under way. The whole point is that this will develop, it will adapt, and perhaps it will be different from the record of the Conservative party, which saw a growth of 131,000 public officials over the last—