The British Council's commercial income has been heavily hit by Covid-19. We are currently finalising the terms of a £60m loan which will stabilize the Council's financial situation until mid-August 2020, while we conduct a strategic review of the Council's future strategy, operations and long-term sustainable funding models. Discussions are ongoing about the recommendations of this review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-06-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "63340"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217079/answer/previousversion/32953", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-06-30T15:41:10.243Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "British Council: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) amount of revenue lost by the British Council in English teaching abroad programmes as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and (b) length of time it will take the British Council to return to pre-covid-19 revenue levels.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chi Onwurah"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Newcastle upon Tyne Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chi Onwurah"} ], "uin" : "63338"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217080", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217080/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the British Council's ability to operate, with the majority of their English language centres closed. The British Council has adapted quickly to the crisis by moving to digital in many areas. For example, they are now delivering online English teaching to 85,000 students in 44 countries, and have created new digital products including the IELTS indicator test as an interim measure for international customers.<\/p>
The FCO is finalising the terms of a £60m loan to support the British Council through to mid-August while we conduct a strategic review of their business. Conversations are ongoing about the recommendations of the review and how that will impact future services and funding.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-06-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217080/answer/previousversion/32947", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-06-30T16:11:17.747Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "British Council: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the ability of the British Council to provide English teaching programmes through digital platforms; and what additional resources his Department has made available to the British Council to continue English teaching abroad programmes digitally.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chi Onwurah"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Newcastle upon Tyne Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chi Onwurah"} ], "uin" : "63339"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217081", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217081/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The British Council's commercial income has been heavily hit by Covid-19. We are currently finalising the terms of a £60m loan which will stabilize the Council's financial situation until mid-August 2020, while we conduct a strategic review of the Council's future strategy, operations and long-term sustainable funding models. Discussions are ongoing about the recommendations of this review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-06-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "63338"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217081/answer/previousversion/32955", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-06-30T15:41:10.307Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "British Council: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from the British Council on future service cuts resulting from reduced income during the covid-19 outbreak.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4124", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chi Onwurah"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Newcastle upon Tyne Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chi Onwurah"} ], "uin" : "63340"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }