Conclusion 9

We asked the British Council whether it would be possible to separate its work into commercial and soft power operations. The British Council told us that it is not possible to separate its two roles.23 The FCDO acknowledged that there is a complex challenge in fixing the financial sustainability of the British Council and ensuring that it can do both parts of its work well.24 We asked the British Council and the FCDO what the future of the British Council would look like, and heard from both that discussions are ongoing, and that in FCDO’s view there are options available such as ringfencing the commercial business so that it has its own “ecosystem”.25 Renegotiating the British Council’s loan