Embassy staff around the world are to be retrained because Foreign Secretary William Hague believes that essential diplomacy skills have been neglected, The Independent reports. This training will form part of a restructuring of the department to save money and focus more on helping UK companies build trade links.

The government believes that the Foreign Office has failed to win commercial advantage for the country in the past, according to the newspaper. Last year, senior members of the coalition government went on high profile visits to India and China in order to build better trade links with those nations.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Diplomatic excellence is the FCO’s reform and modernisation programme for the next four years. The programme is designed to build up the traditional skills of the Foreign Office. The Foreign Secretary did not think enough emphasis had been given to this under the previous government.”

The new permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, Simon Fraser, will lead the reforms and modernise the department while also finding budget cuts of 10 per cent - as demanded in the spending review.

Written by CSW