Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to the oral statement on China and security of 4 March 2026, if HM Government will now make it their policy to add China to the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

As set out in the National Security Act 2023, the Secretary of State may make a specification under the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) where they consider it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom. As I set out in the House of Commons on 4 March 2026, FIRS is a relatively new tool, and this Government is seeking to ensure that we can derive the maximum operational capability from it. We look very carefully at which countries should be on the enhanced tier of the scheme, factoring in a broad range of considerations. We have not made any final decisions as to whether we will place other countries on the enhanced tier, but we keep that under very close review. Any changes to the countries listed will be brought to Parliament in the usual way.