Foreign Office teams win three Civil Service Awards
Foreign Office teams recognised for their outstanding achievements at the 2013 Civil Service Awards.
Prime Minister David Cameron presenting the Growth award to the GREAT Britain campaign team
On 21 November three FCO teams won awards at the annual Civil Service Awards. The Awards recognise outstanding achievements from across the civil service and this year received over 500 nominations from individuals and teams.
Speaking at the ceremony Prime Minister David Cameron said:
It’s only when you become Prime Minister that you really grasp the enormity of what the Civil Service does. And as the leader of a Coalition Government I am especially grateful for what you do.
The awards were presented to FCO staff in the following categories:
Winner of the International Award: The Arms Trade Treaty Team, FCO, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Ministry of Defence
The unregulated international arms trade fuels conflict, instability, corruption, terrorism and crime worldwide. It costs Africa some $18bn a year - equivalent to total development aid – and contributes to 750,000 deaths. At the same time, it undermines the legitimate arms trade and the business of UK exporters. Efforts to establish internationally-agreed standards have proven extraordinarily challenging, but the UK took the lead in 2006 in attempting to build support for an Arms Trade Treaty. The Arms Trade Treaty Team devised new ways to regulate arms flows, drafted a treaty and used international business and NGO support to finally secure its adoption on 2 April 2013.
Winner of the Growth Award: The GREAT Britain Campaign Teams: No10, FCO, UKTI, VisitBritain, VisitEngland, British Council, DCMS, BIS in London and worldwide
The GREAT Britain campaign is the Government’s international marketing campaign that showcases the best of what Britain has to offer in order to encourage people to visit, study and do business in the UK. Unifying the international growth-promotion efforts of UKTI, VisitBritain, British Council and FCO, GREAT aims to deliver significant, long-term and measurable increases in trade, tourism, education and inward investment in support of HMG’s prosperity and growth agenda. To date, the campaign has delivered over £500m return on its initial investment, has won international awards and is being delivered in 86 countries worldwide. This award was presented by the Prime Minister, in recognition of the groundbreaking work the team has done to promote the UK abroad.
Winner of the Analysis and Use of Evidence Award: 2050 Team, Department for Energy and Climate Change and FCO Climate Change Attache Network
For the world to avoid dangerous climate change, countries must reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping the lights on. The 2050 Calculator is an open source online tool created by DECC that helps ministers, policymakers and the public to understand how this can be done. The calculator has been promoted overseas by the FCO and a key breakthrough came when China was persuaded to develop its own version. The tool is now being adopted by a further 10 countries. What began as a UK policy tool is helping to create conditions for bolder and better-evidenced energy and climate decisions worldwide.
More information on the Awards and the full winner’s list can be found at Civil Service Awards.
Further information
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Updates to this page
Last updated 22 November 2013 + show all updates
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Addition of photo and comment from the Prime Minister
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First published.