Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her department uses to determine which states qualify for the enhanced tier listing under 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. To date, Iran and Russia are the only two countries to have been specified under the enhanced tier.

In reaching that decision, the Government considers a broad range of factors, including national security assessments.

Any additional enhanced tier specifications would be made through regulations laid before and approved by Parliament in the usual way. However, it would not be appropriate to comment now on which countries may or may not be specified in future.