Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Thursday 26th May 2016 Ministerial Corrections

Bangladesh

The following is an extract from questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 24 May 2016:

[Alex Cunningham]

The Minister has said that he has talked to the Bangladeshi Government, but does he really think that that Government are taking sufficient steps to tackle the issue of violence against LGBT people?

[Mr Swire]

Clearly I do not. We have a certain amount of leverage in Bangladesh—we are the largest grant aid donor, giving £162 million in 2015-16—so our voice has some influence there.

[Official Report, 24 May 2016, Vol. 611, c. 382.]

Letter of correction from Mr Swire:

An error has been identified in the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham).

The correct answer should have been:

[Mr Swire]

Clearly I do not. We have a certain amount of leverage in Bangladesh—we are the largest grant aid donor, allocating £162 million for 2016-17—so our voice has some influence there.