The civil service’s biggest union has questioned Keir Starmer’s claim that the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s now-closed International Law Unit is being picked up by other officials.
PCS said there was “no evidence” to support the prime minister’s assertion, which was made in response to a question in parliament yesterday.
Starmer told MPs that the closure of the unit – as part of the controversial FCDO 2030 restructure – does not mean the department will no longer deal with the issues that the unit previously handled. He said that work would just be done by a different team.
Today, PCS said the government had provided it with no detailed plans setting out what work will continue and what work will stop under the restructure – or how the staff who remain after job cuts in the region of 15-20% will absorb work in highly specialised areas.
PCS said “standard civil service practice” would normally involve full consultation with unions on changes of the anticipated scale.
However, the union said it “has seen no substantive evidence that workforce planning is aligned with ministerial priorities, or that ministers have been fully sighted on the operational implications of the cuts”.
The union said the loss of specialist functions, lack of transparency over restructuring, and wider concerns about internal challenge in FCDO “raise serious questions about the department’s ability to uphold international law commitments and maintain robust, evidence-based decision making”.
Starmer’s comments came in answer to a question from Iqbal Mohamed, an independent MP. Mohamed said the closure of the International Law Unit and other measures were not the actions he would expect from a human rights lawyer – a reference to Starmer’s previous career – or a government committed to upholding international law.
Starmer responded: “Let me reassure the House that the work of the International Law Unit has not ended. It will simply be done by a different team under a restructure. We will, of course, continue to monitor international humanitarian law in Gaza and elsewhere, and invest in conflict prevention and resolution.”
Civil Service World sought a response from the FCDO.