Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have (a) been reported missing or lost or (b) had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

According to our records, no Ministerial red boxes have been reported lost or stolen from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023. There is no explicit requirement for the FCDO to record instances where security features have been removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers. If the decision is taken that the Minister may keep their red box, but several of the FCDO's boxes share the same lock, the Minister would need to cover the full cost of changing the relevant locks.