FCO defends its position
UK: Government department says it will not issue more specific advice
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has turned down requests to make its advice more specific, following a review of the way it operates.
The FCO has just completed a review of its services, following the bomb attack in Bali last October, which killed more than 200 people. The government department claims to be updating its advice more quickly and using a simpler style of language, but is refusing to be more specific on the advice it offers because it believes the Government could be left open to legal action.
According to The Times, experts believe that giving just one advice per country is confusing. Rachel Briggs, of the political think-tank the Foreign Policy Unit, reportedly told the newspaper: “The threat from terrorism remains very real and information should be geared more to target audiences. The advices cover all travellers, 60 million from the UK and 15 million more living abroad. A policy of information for all reasons to all travellers can result in confusion; it should be more tailor-made.”
James Watt, of the FCO’s consular division, was also quoted by the newspaper as saying: “I have an absolute inability to tailor advice. We must give the same advice to the same people and can’t give a slightly different language. We can’t tell everyone about everything but we can make sure the balance is good, the language clear and the information accurate.”
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