Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of potential challenges to resettling parts of the Chagos Archipelago.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our agreement will enable Mauritius to develop a programme of resettlement on the islands, other than Diego Garcia. The terms of resettlement will be for Mauritius to determine.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether (a) inflation measures and (b) indexation methodology has been included in the proposed treaty with Mauritius.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the response given to her previous Question 39402 on the details of the Treaty.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution by the then Minister for Development on 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 873, who the 28 international judges and arbitrators are; and in (a) what context and (b) which institutions those opinions were given.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As well as the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion in 2019, an Arbitral Tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2015 and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2021 have considered the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago. None have expressed support for a United Kingdom claim to sovereignty.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on on (a) business hospitality, (b) grant in aid to arms length bodies, (c) recruitment, (d) transport equipment costs, (e) travel and (f) IT and communications in 2024-25; and how much has been budgeted for the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The department spend for 2024/25 is still subject to audit and therefore may change. At the time of responding, we estimate the spend to be:
A | Business Hospitality | £10.5 million |
C | Recruitment | £1.2 million |
D | Transport equipment | £6.4 million |
E | Travel | £84.9 million |
F | IT and comms | £217.1 million |
Final spends and part (b) grant in aid to arms length bodies for 2024/25 will be confirmed in the Annual Report & Accounts (ARA), due to be published in July.
The department is still working on budget allocations for 2025/26, therefore cannot respond on those figures yet.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 23 April 2025 entitled Further reforms to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime, HCWS594, which projects were used to calculate the difference in the average processing time of applications in this Parliament compared to the last Parliament; and what (a) projects in the pipeline were and (b) methodology was used to calculate the estimated reduction in expenditure.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) applications once accepted by the Planning Inspectorate are being processed on average 50 days quicker in this Parliament than in the last. This was calculated using the average time taken by projects processed in the parliamentary term July 2019 to July 2024 compared to projects in this parliament between July 2024 to February 2025.
Information on applications for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, and their decisions, can be found on the Planning Inspectorate’s website here. This page includes information on projects already determined, projects due for decision and projects at an earlier stage in the application process.
In Written Ministerial Statement of 23 April 2025, the government announced that it will amend the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove the statutory requirement to consult as part of the pre-application stage for NSIP applications, bringing requirements in line with all other planning regimes. We estimate that these changes could result in a cost saving of £1bn across the pipeline. This estimate is based on analysis from the National Infrastructure Commission which identified that delays can cost a project around £1.5m per month of delay. Together with evidence from key stakeholders in the NSIP process which shows that these changes could save projects 12 months, we estimate a saving of £18m per project. If you apply £18m in savings to the number of expected projects that would benefit from these changes within this Parliament, it will give a total saving of over £1bn.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Home Secretary on the potential merits of placing China in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No decision has been made in relation to specifying China on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. As the Security Minister confirmed in Parliament on 1 April, countries are considered separately, and decisions are made based on a robust evidence base. It would not be appropriate to speculate on which countries may or may not be specified in the future, but any changes will be announced in Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of reports of China's involvement in support of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Any support for Putin's brutal and illegal war against Ukraine is deplorable. We are extremely concerned by these reports. There is a growing body of evidence that Chinese companies are enabling Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The Foreign Secretary has directly urged China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a number of occasions, to take concrete measures to prevent Chinese companies from supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. We continue to call on China to stop providing diplomatic and material support to Russia's war effort.
On 24 February, we sanctioned an additional 10 Chinese entities, taking the total number of Chinese entities designated by the UK over supply to Russia to 31. Given the continued flow of components from China to Russia, this Government is now also minded to refuse licences for controlled goods on the Common High Priority list exported for stock to China. Guidance for UK exporters has been updated to this effect.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what mechanisms are in place for the (a) renewal and (b) changes to the costs of the proposed lease with Mauritius towards the end of the initial 99-year period.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the response given to her previous Question 39402 on the details of the Treaty.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Government officials have been involved in the negotiations with Mauritius over the proposed treaty on the future sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It would be difficult to assess how many officials are working on the negotiations, given that we do not record and measure the amount of time spent on any one topic where an official covers a range of matters.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish his response to the representations his Department has received from Chagossians on the potential resettlement of parts of the Chagos Archipelago under the proposed treaty with Mauritius.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We will engage with Chagossians in the UK, and around the world on the implementation of the agreement at both an official and Ministerial level. We do not provide a running commentary on correspondence that is sent to individuals or organisations by Ministers and officials on this issue.