Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what role his Department has in the Beijing COP26 Core Group; what the aim is of that Core Group; who attends the meetings of that group and in what capacity; which other external individuals attend those meetings; how often such meetings take place; who the lead Minister is of those group meetings; and whether the group Minutes are published online.

The 'Beijing COP26 Core Group' is an internal meeting of officials from different teams across the British Embassy in Beijing. This includes experts leading on climate, environment, energy, transport, nature, green finance, international trade, communications, and multilateral policy, in support of the UK's COP26 objectives. The group usually meets fortnightly, supplemented by other ad hoc meetings. Minutes are not taken or published, reflecting normal practice for many internal meetings between civil servants. There are no external or Ministerial attendees.