The results of a recent review of the public diplomacy effort in the United Kingdom have lead to the creation of a new Public Diplomacy Board. Regardless of improvements in the last couple of years, the review team, with the lead of Lord Carter, concluded that much more still needs to be done to coordinate the efforts of different parties involved, and to make sure the cooperation is carried out in an agreed strategic framework.

In addition to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and together with the BBC World Service, the British Council, as one of the three key public diplomacy institutions in the UK, is to be part of the new Board. The review recognised the British Council as a world-class public diplomacy institution and underlined its important role in the future efforts, too, especially through the promotion of UK culture and education abroad. Lord Neil Kinnock, the Chair of the British Council, welcomed the conclusions of the Carter Review and expressed the BC’s willingness to work on the Board to further the UK public diplomacy objectives.

• British Council press release
• Carter Review