Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterparts in Tanzania on the proposed amendments to the 2015 Statistics Act in that country criminalising the collection and dissemination of information contradicting official statistics.

The promotion of transparency and freedom of expression remains an important priority for the British Government. We are concerned about the recent amendments to the Statistics Act 2015 in Tanzania, which are out of line with international standards such as the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. The British High Commissioner and Head of DFID in Tanzania have both raised our concerns with the Tanzanian Authorities including the Minister of Finance and Planning and the Bank of Tanzania. During CHOGM in April I also raised concerns over democracy and human rights in my meeting with the Tanzanian Foreign Minister. We supported the World Bank's statement of 2 October and will continue to work with partners to express our concerns. We believe it is important for countries to use statistics laws to ensure official statistics are of a high quality and are trusted, and also support openness and transparency