Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will give the most recent date on which he discussed (a) Guantanamo Bay and (b) the tube feeding of hunger strikers held at Guantanamo Bay with his US counterpart.

The US Government is well aware of our long-standing view on the closure of the Guantanamo detention facility. Senior Government officials continue to take opportunities to underline this position to the US Administration, but the Foreign Secretary has not personally raised it.

The Foreign Office recently received confirmation from the US Government that the practice of medically monitoring hunger striking detainees in Guantanamo Bay has not changed. The US Government stated that close attention is paid to the condition of prisoner health, particularly if there are signs of serious deterioration. On 17 October, a Pentagon Spokesperson said that the practice of permitting the involuntary feeding of hunger-striking detainees in Guantanamo Bay will continue, if US medical officials decide that artificial feeding is required to prevent death or serious self-harm.