Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Oxfam's report entitled Sick Development, published on 26 June 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of human rights abuses by British International Investment-funded private healthcare providers.

British International Investment (BII) and the FCDO have reviewed the report. BII has strong policies in place through its Policy on Responsible Investing, which draws on the standards set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Legally binding action plans are agreed to improve standards of investees over a defined period; and investees are risk assessed on a quarterly basis. Alongside this, BII has an established confidential complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/]. BII investigates any complaints and take steps to address any failures in meeting desired standards.

Since the reported investments were made, BII has refocused its health investments into private hospitals and will only invest in hospitals that support a significant proportion of users who are on government payment schemes or on low incomes.