Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the European Commission in each year since 2010.

Mr David Lidington

Whilst the European Commission provides staffing numbers by nationality they do not break them down between permanent and temporary agents. In total the numbers of UK nationals employed by the European Commission in each year since 2010 is:

April 2010: 1284
April 2011: 1162
April 2012: 1134
April 2013: 1079
April 2014: 1053
April 2015: 1008

The latest figure available is for Feb 2016 and is 982.

UK representation has been falling across EU institutions as UK officials retire and are not replaced by the same number of new UK entrants. The Government is committed to reversing this picture, recognising that this will require a sustained effort. The EU Staffing Unit, established in April 2013, promotes EU careers across the UK and supports candidates through the application process. It has increased secondments in positions of strategic importance to the UK. The European Fast Stream within the Civil Service has also been re-launched