Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is providing support to the Chilean Government to tackle the increase in kidnappings in that country.

The UK works closely with Chile to tackle threats it, like the UK, faces from criminal activity. We work with the Chilean authorities to inform the appropriateness of offers we make of capacity building and training. The Chilean authorities are not currently seeking our support in tackling the specific threat of kidnapping, but we would carefully consider any request for assistance. Our network of consular officials is prepared to support any British national in the event of an incident.