Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will take steps to ensure that Government funding of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise groups assisting with the integration of British National (Overseas) arrivals is not allocated to any organisation which has endorsed the National Security Law in Hong Kong.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) assesses the appropriateness and suitability of all potential grant funding recipients, and their ability to deliver the support required as part of HMG’s BN(O) Welcome Programme. This Programme reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their ties to the UK by taking up BN(O) status at the point of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.
In deciding whether to make a grant award to any organisation through the Hong Kong BN(O) Welcome Programme, a robust due diligence process is undertaken.