Activities
British Council Parliamentary Affairs
Involving MPs and Peers in our work is a crucial part of building long-term and sustainable overseas relationships for the UK. Almost every constituency in the country now has links to projects with other countries, brokered by the British Council.
Many of these are school links for young people or teachers, through schemes such as the International School Awards or the Connecting Classrooms programme, which twins schools in the Middle East and North Africa to schools throughout the UK.
The Parliamentary Affairs Team works closely with MPs and Peers across parties, through the British Council All Party Parliamentary Group, and through specific projects, such as Reporting the Elections and InterAction.
Lectures and briefings
The team regularly hosts lectures and country briefings in Parliament on various topics and issues. Previous meetings have focused on a range of issues, including public diplomacy, education in the Middle East, the situation in Zimbabwe and cultural relations. Events such as these draw speakers from a variety of backgrounds, including academics, journalists, government ministers and senior British Council directors from various postings.
The Parliamentary Affairs Team at the British Council can arrange for one-to-one briefings between Members of Parliament who have an interest in a particular area of work or geographical region and the corresponding British Council country or regional director. They can also arrange for MPs to visit our overseas offices and teaching centres on their trips abroad.
The British Council also hosts annual fringe meetings and networking receptions at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences.
Parliamentary visits 2008–09
We invite MPs and Peers to participate in our overseas programmes and ask that they visit our country offices when overseas on Parliamentary business. Our global programmes have direct impact in the UK and MPs and Peers are a useful link to some of the communities we work with across the UK. In addition, participants in our overseas programmes benefit from meeting and working with British Members of Parliament.
In 2009 we invited a small number of MPs to participate in our global school linking programme, Connecting Classrooms, which is building understanding between pupils and teachers in the Middle East and the UK. Nigel Evans, Clare Curtis Thomas and Roberta Blackman Woods visited schools in Bahrain; Colin Breed and Robert Goodwill visited schools in the United Arab Emirates, and Tony Cunningham and Baroness Morris visited schools in Kuwait.
In addition, Paul Keetch visited our office in Brazil and saw programme activity there.
Get in touch
If you would like further information on our parliamentary activities you can contact our Parliamentary Affairs officers on 020 7389 4877 or at parliamentaryaffairs@britishcouncil.org.
