Last week, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, issued a written statement to the House of Commons outlining changes in Consular services. You can read that statement here and there's a pamphlet available for download. According to Hague "the FCO aims to have the best consular service in the world by 2016." So why is it, then, that the Foreign Office's "LOCATE" system and local wardens are being scrapped? In case you haven't heard about "LOCATE", it is a remarkably efficient system. A traveller - or Expat - simply registers, free of charge, and provides details of themselves and their family, their overseas address, telephone and cellphone numbers, email addresses and, importantly, details of anyone in the UK who should be contacted in case of emergency. Their telephone/cellphone numbers and email addresses were then circulated to the local wardens as well as being available to Consular staff. This enabled the local Consuls with the ability to contact Brits abroad and advise them of any emergency situations. This was well-rehearsed under previous Ambassadors but not by the present incumbent who has not sought to fill the vacant Hon Con-ship in Davao or kept-up the warden system which has withered and died. "LOCATE" replaced the previous system of registering with the nearest British Embassy and was one of the no-doubt-expensive IT projects undertaken by the Blair government. But it worked and it worked well. It is being replaced with an email subscription service - a list server - and whilst the FCO will, in future, provide general country information for the Philippines, there is no such provision to provide travel advice for this country as there is for most other countries in the world. And of course, no longer will Embassies and Consulates know how many, who and where British citizens are. This is not going to provide better Consular services to those who need them, particularly in the more volatile regions of the world, as Hague claims. But it does deliver a far more important benefit to the government: it cuts costs and is typical of a government that is becoming increasingly more xenophobic in its outlook. Even tiny Norway provides far better consular services and is pro-active in ensuring its citizens' safety and well-being whilst they're abroad. The remainder of Hague's written answer and the accompanying pamphlet is long on rhetoric but short on detail; very little is new information, much is already in effect. For example, Hague tells us that, in future, all Passports will be issued by the IPS in the UK: nothing new there, that's been the case for over two years. What has changed, however, is that if, having waited and waited for your new Passport to be issued and it still hasn't arrived, you can now call a premium-rate service at IPS' Liverpool office. The very first question you will be asked is for details of your UK-issued credit card and your card will be charged on a per-minute basis. Can you imagine the ministerial condemnation if Amazon were to charge (say) £2.50 a minute to callers enquiring about the late delivery of goods they'd ordered? Get back into Government, Tony Blair, all is forgiven.
I thought the LOCATE system was a good idea especially for the Philippines, but now that's going; and the government is basically saying, any problems, go whistle in the wind and check your emails instead. Mind you, based on what I experienced at the old British Embassy back in 2004-2005 when Elsa submitted her Spouse visa application, and the ensuing interview/follow-ups/email exchanges, I'd rather not contact them unless it was a dire emergency, they seem a very unhelpful bunch who give the impression you are wasting their time.
Cuts, cuts and more cuts.... Coming from a government made up of (throw an N in there and you get the picture).
Exactly! Bear in mind that LOCATE was itself an exercise in cutting costs as it reduced the workload of individual consular staff. If you watch the opening scenes of "Johnny English Reborn", you may get some idea of where all this is going to lead. I'm half-expecting to see the "this email is sponsored by xxxxxxx" tag-line on GOVUK emails in the not-too distant future.
Hmm - what are the odds that this is the reason why the replacement for the Honorary Consul in Cebu is 'delayed'.
If you're exploring conspiracy theories then click on the "+ 37 others" link next to "World locations" in Hague's statement. Is it possible that the FCO has divided the countries of the world into tiers and will continue to provide full consular services to British nationals living in (eg) The US, Canada and Australia but is cutting services to those of us living in The Philippines, China and France?
Removing the wardens is a false economy. It means losing valuable local knowledge and resources that cost pennies - wardens are unpaid volunteers and are rewarded with a once a year one-day conference and an invitation to the embassy Christmas party. I've been a warden twice, once during the '89 coup attempt - during which the embassy could not possibly have maintained contact with British nationals not advised them appropriately without the support of the wardens - and more recently in Barretto, Olongapo, where I was able to provide assistance, as well as advising the embassy on local issues.
I agree, Bob, the warden system was good from both the Embassy and expats' points of view. My father was one in Malaya during the "emergency" of the early 1950s right up until the day he died. No cellphones or internet in those days of course and many places were without landlines too; keeping in touch with planters (tea and rubber) was quite a challenge. However many of the remoter stations did have two-way HF radios, mainly thanks to the British Army. I really am wondering if Hague is actually planning to close the Embassy in the not-too distant future. Is it too far-fetched to wonder if, in future, all EU countries will be represented by a single Embassy? Or a regional Embassy in some inconvenient, but cheap to run, location such as Jakarta, Phnom Penh or Shenzhen? As Visas and Passports are no longer handled by the Foreign Office, there really seems little for them to do and what little they do now do is all chargeable - and that includes visiting those unfortunate enough to find themselves guests of the government and can be very expensive if outside the NCR. Oh, I was forgetting the all-important Embassy party circuit :vhappy:- they and the consequent hang-overs must be about all they can handle. The scrapping of LOCATE and the local wardens is short-termism by a government looking for a quick fix to save a few shillings. As you rightly say, the warden system was cheap but its public relations' value far outweighed its cost. At the very least expats were reassured that if a natural or man-made disaster were to occur, their government would be looking out for them.
