Former Permanent Under Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. For services to the FCO and the pursuit of British foreign policy interests. Sir Simon Fraser led the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with distinction as Permanent Under-Secretary for five years from 2010 to 2015. This was a period of extraordinary challenges in foreign policy and international crisis management. He displayed outstanding personal leadership in guiding the response of the Diplomatic Service to these exceptional demands. Through his Diplomatic Excellence initiative he continually promoted the highest standards of policy making, and significantly strengthened the work of the FCO in its support to British business. Sir Simon also made an exceptional contribution to strengthening the management of the FCO. He oversaw the growth of the UK’s diplomatic network while at the same time significantly reducing running costs and leading a major rationalisation and modernisation of the FCO estate in the UK. He showed particular personal commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the FCO as well as through his wider work as the Civil Service Diversity Champion. Beyond Whitehall he devoted great energy to mentoring and to strengthening the outreach of the FCO to a wide range of schools and universities and to groups of young people from different backgrounds.