Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote the Commonwealth; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to promoting the Commonwealth within the United Kingdom, across the Commonwealth in partnership with its other 52 members, and in the wider international community.

A year ago, the Government hosted a highly successful Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was attended by 46 Heads of Government. As current Chair-in-Office, the United Kingdom is driving the delivery of commitments which Heads made at that meeting. Progress in that effort was set out by my Right Honorable Friend the Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary in a Written Ministerial Statement on 14 January. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office will shortly submit a more detailed update to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Last September, in her speech to the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister spoke about the Commonwealth's work and values, and she spoke explicitly as Chair-in-Office on behalf of all 53 Commonwealth members - the first time the Commonwealth's voice has been heard in the UN General Assembly in that way.

Also demonstrating our commitment to the Commonwealth, we are opening nine new diplomatic missions in Commonwealth countries: Lesotho, Eswatini, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. We will then be diplomatically represented in 47 Commonwealth countries.

On Commonwealth Day in March, UK diplomatic missions around the world organised events to celebrate the work and values of the Commonwealth. These ranged from a fashion show in Singapore focused on recycled materials, to an event in Brasilia exploring how the global Commonwealth community is working together to achieve the goals set out at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, aimed at a more sustainable, more secure, more fair and more prosperous future. In the UK, the Commonwealth flag was flown from government buildings and by local councils across the United Kingdom.