Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to ensure that underwater fibreoptic cables in the (a) Mediterranean, (b) North Sea and (c) Baltic Sea are strengthened to help prevent sabotage.

The UK regularly engages international partners and industry on strengthening the resilience of subsea infrastructure, including from potential sabotage. We work closely with NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Allies to address threats, which has recently included UK support to NATO and JEF operations in the Baltic Sea. In December, the Prime Minister discussed cooperation with JEF leaders and signed a Strategic Partnership with Norway's Prime Minister committing to closer cooperation to tackle subsea threats. In February, the Foreign Secretary discussed coordination to protect subsea infrastructure with Finland's Foreign Minister while I raised cooperation with European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General Charles Fries. I have also discussed these issues with counterparts from the three regions.