Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has (a) received representations on and (b) made an assessment of the potential relationship between (i) Confucius Institutes and (ii) the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party.

Ministers are briefed regularly and in detail on matters relating to China. They are clear that as with all international bodies operating in the UK, Confucius Institutes must operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to our values of openness and freedom of expression.