Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of asking British International Investment to produce a critical minerals strategy that (a) strengthens the UK's supply chains and (b) supports its development goals.

British International Investment's (BII) mission is to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. With regards to the critical minerals sector, BII's role is currently most relevant where it supports investments in the enabling infrastructure around critical minerals projects. As part of BII's next strategy, we will consider whether and how BII's approach to critical minerals should evolve.