Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which Government department will take lead responsibility for the new legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons being negotiated by the Intergovernmental Working Group under the auspices of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The responsibility for the issues affecting older people does not fall to any single Government department, and a number of departments have an interest in this work. We are consulting with relevant Government departments on where responsibility will lie for any future legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons.