Oral Answers to Questions

Johanna Baxter Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue, but it is not an issue on which the Government should act unilaterally. It is a multilateral issue on which we should act with our G7 partners and our European partners, recognising that some partners in Europe are hugely exposed. The best way in which to move forward is to pool those assets, and discussions on that are ongoing.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

The Yale University humanitarian research lab was doing incredible work in tracking the 19,546 Ukraine children who have been stolen by Russia, but then became a victim of the cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency. Following international outrage, its work was preserved and given a reprieve for six weeks, a period that ended on 8 May. Can my right hon. Friend reassure the House that the data collected by the university has been secured and transferred to Europol, or that its funding is secure for the longer term?

[Mr Lammy]

I thank my hon. Friend for continually raising this matter. We are an active member of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, and we fund the Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine campaigns. We have raised this issue internationally, and I am proud to have worked on it with Mrs Zelensky. I will write to the hon. Lady as soon as I can to update her on the funding.