Britain Abroad Task Force

What was Panel 2000?

Panel 2000 was a group of leading opinion formers brought together by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1998. They were set four objectives:

To produce a strategy to improve the way Britain is seen overseas
To look at methods and tools we can use to do this
To make sure the public and private sectors were working together
To modernise the way the Foreign and Commonwealth Office communicates with the public

What did Panel 2000 say?

Panel 2000 produced a Consultation Report in September 1998. This contained 21 recommendations under five headings. All but one of these were accepted at the end of the consultation in 1999. These were:

Defining who we are
Panel 2000 concluded that there were five main themes which were central to Britain's identity overseas:

Reliability and Integrity
Creativity and Innovation
Free Speech and Fair Play
Openness to the World
Britain's Heritage

Taking stock of what we do and how we are seen
They went on to propose the following:

Pool existing evidence of how Britain is perceived abroad
Co-ordinate questions and strategies for future research
Hold a conference every two years to discuss perceptions
Compile and circulate a record of best practice

Co-ordination
It was essential that all those working on promoting the UK co-ordinated their efforts. They suggested:

Increase information exchange on the Internet and develop a Britain Abroad website
Set up a database of facts which provide support for the Key Themes and circulate this
Continue work on making recruitment to the FCO more representative of modern Britain and extend short-term two-way secondment schemes
Create a Britain Abroad Task Force to co-ordinate strategy
Develop more one-stop shops which draw together public diplomacy activities into shared premises
Build on existing Public Diplomacy Committees overseas

Presentation
Much could be done by improving the look of things and thus communicating British style:

Make better use of reception areas of relevant public buildings
Improve the presentation of gateways to Britain
Look at making more use of FCO and British Council information work to promote awareness of British contemporary achievements
Showcase the best of British art, design and technology in official buildings overseas
Organise competitions for young British talent to bring in ideas for showcasing
Encourage British companies to showcase British art and technology

Projection
Active promotion of the UK would be more expensive, but could have high impact:

The Millennium should leave an enduring legacy
Develop a Best of British Award scheme (subsequently dropped)
More co-operation on bids to play host to sporting and cultural events
Foster the development of civil society overseas, promoting the values and principles in which we believe
Develop a rolling programme of new image events around the world

A full copy of the Panel 2000 report is on the FCO website.

So what is happenning now?

The creation of the Britain Abroad Task Force was one of the recommendations of Panel 2000 because they realised that the job of improving perceptions of the UK was not a one-off task, but something that would need a dedicated team to ensure joined-up working in the public sector and the full involvement of the private sector.

The Britain Abroad Task Force has drawn up a strategy to implement the principles behind these recommendations.