Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to (a) support and (b) provide funding to the Pax Silica programme of the US Department of State.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK signed the Pax Silica Declaration in December 2025. The initiative is in its early stages, and no financial contribution has been made.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Table 5.4 of HM Treasury's Spending Review 2025 document sets out the Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit budgets for each department up to 2029/30. Departmental level allocations for the Spending Review period will be set out in the coming months.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North of 14 March 2025, reference LB46879 on British Leadership in Multilateral Development Finance.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Minister of State for International Development, Latin America and Caribbean issued a response to the hon. Member on 12 May 2025.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will hold a summit of international financial centres.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Tackling corruption and illicit finance is a central priority of the Foreign Secretary to support the Government's Plan for Change by supporting UK growth and national security, including safer streets. The Foreign Secretary's Campaign Against Illicit Finance, launched in November 2024, will work in partnership with the rest of His Majesty's Government to deliver a powerful whole of UK Government approach both at home and internationally. The Foreign Secretary is exploring a range of options to galvanise global collective action against this transnational threat, including the idea to host an international summit.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October 2024 to Question 8320 on Gaza: Israel, what role his Department's International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Process Cell plays in the overall assessment of Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law; and if he will list the dates of each of the Cell's assessments since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO's International Humanitarian Law Cell undertakes regular assessments of Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in order to meet our legal obligations under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). Since 4 July 2024 assessments were submitted on 24 July 2024 and 1 October 2024. Assessments continue to take place.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when his Department’s International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Process Cell made its most recent assessment of Israel’s compliance with International Humanitarian Law.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to keep Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Gaza under review through a regular assessments process. Our judgment on Israel's IHL compliance remains as set out in the Foreign Secretary's statement to Parliament on 2 September.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the Government’s sanctions policy priorities are; and whether his Department plans to publish an updated strategy.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK uses sanctions to deter and disrupt malign behaviour and demonstrate our defence of fundamental principles, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
I recently convened Ministers from across government to deepen our cooperation on sanctions, and review enforcement measures. I also discussed sanctions enforcement with leaders of the Overseas Territories during the Joint Ministerial Council. We regularly coordinate with allies including in the United States, Canada, EU and others to maximise our impact.
This month we announced our largest sanctions package against Russia since May 2023, and working with our allies we will continue to use sanctions to further restrict the revenues and military goods Russia relies on. We have also recently used sanctions to respond to Iran's malign activity, as part of UK efforts to support a more stable West Bank, and targeted members of a Russian cybercrime gang.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how the Government assesses the (a) effectiveness and (b) impact of sanctions policies.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UK sanctions are designed and targeted to deter and disrupt malign behaviour, and to demonstrate our defence of fundamental principles, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The FCDO conducts reviews of the effectiveness and impact of our sanctions regimes. Any assessment will depend on the intended purposes of each individual regime - which are set out in the regulations for that regime. For example on Russia we consider wider macro-economic impacts, reduction in UK exports and imports and wider changes to trading patterns, changes to designated persons' behaviour, volume of frozen assets, and alignment with international partners. I launched a cross-Government review of sanctions enforcement with the support of Ministers from His Majesty's Treasury, the Department of Business and Trade, the Department for Transport and the Home Office. Through this review the Government will consider whether we have the right powers, approach, capacity and resourcing on policy, implementation and enforcement of sanctions.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure effective cross-government working on (a) sanctions and (b) export controls (i) policy, (ii) implementation and (iii) enforcement between (A) his Department's Sanctions Directorate, (B) the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation, (C) the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation, (D) the Export Controls Joint Unit and (E) HMRC.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In October, I convened the first Small Ministerial Group on sanctions, which launched a cross-Government review to examine whether we have the right powers, approach, capacity and resourcing on policy, implementation and enforcement, with an urgent focus on strengthening the latter. This grouping brings together key sanctions Departments: the FCDO; His Majesty's Treasury (with responsibility for both the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and HMRC); the Department for Business and Trade (with responsibility for the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation and shared responsibility for the Export Controls Joint Unit with the Ministry of Defence and FCDO); the Department for Transport; and the Home Office.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the sanctions placed on individual vessels announced by his Department on 11 September 2024 and 17 October 2024, what additional steps he has (a) taken and (b) considered with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent Russia circumventing oil export sanctions.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government is committed to closing down sanctions loopholes, and cracking down on ever more desperate forms of sanctions circumvention, working closely with our partners. Tackling Putin's shadow fleet is a key part of this work. Since gaining the power to 'specify' vessels, the UK has sanctioned 43 tankers transporting Russian oil. A significant number of these vessels have suffered disruption or struggled to re-enter the Russian oil trade. Additionally, last week we announced that the Department for Transport is working alongside the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to challenge shadow fleet vessels with suspected inadequate insurance to provide details of their insurance status as they pass through the English Channel. We have also targeted the Kremlin's energy revenues by sanctioning 9 liquified natural gas (LNG) vessels involved in the shipping of Russian LNG, including from Russia's flagship Arctic LNG 2 project. We actively consider all options to close loopholes and further constrain Russia's energy revenues funding their illegal war in Ukraine.