Dated May 2007

Dated May 2007. On cover: Integrating and growing stronger. Spring 2007

Dated May 2007. With correction slip dated May 2007

Dated May 2007

This report is the Committee's annual review of how the FCO is managing its resources, examining the departmental annual report for 2007-08 (Cm. 7398, ISBN 9780101739825). Chapters cover: new strategic framework; performance measurement; global network; essential services; FCO Services; personnel issues; transparency and openness; financial management; public diplomacy and communication; the British Council; the BBC World Service. The Committee is concerned that the FCO is facing serious financial pressures in this financial year due to the Treasury's withdrawal of its support for the Overseas Pricing Mechanism (OPM) which used to protect departments from the weakening of sterling. There is a risk that the FCO may not be able to meet higher international subscriptions over the next two financial years, causing its performance against Public Service Agreement targets to suffer. The likely increase in the UN Regular Budget and other international subscriptions will push this figure even higher. The FCO should have to shoulder the financial burden from within its already tight budget to pay for subscriptions which also benefit other Government departments. The Committee recommends that additional nondiscretionary costs should properly be met by the Treasury.

This book comprises a definitive collection of papers on administrative justice, written by a set of very distinguished contributors. It is divided into five parts, each of which contains articles on a particular aspect of administrative justice. The first part deals with the impact of 'contextual changes' on administrative justice and considers the implications of changes in governance and public administration, management and service delivery, information technology, audit and accounting, and human rights for administrative justice. The second part deals with conceptual issues and describes a number of competing approaches to the administrative justice. The third part deals with the application of administrative justice principles to private law disputes while the fourth part deals with the distinctive characteristics of administrative justice in three other jurisdictions. The final part deals with current developments in administrative justice and the book concludes with a discussion of legislative and policy developments in the UK. The general approach of the book is socio-legal and interdisciplinary. The chapters adopt a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including those derived from political science, public policy, social policy, accounting and information technology as well as from law. Although most of the contributors are academics, some are practitioners. For these reasons, the book should be of interest to lawyers, particularly those with interests in administrative law, and to social scientists, particularly those with interests in public administration, public policy and public management.

Dated May 2007