Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the proposed agreement with Mauritius on the British Indian Ocean Territory will contain (a) provisions and (b) timescales when costings can be reviewed; whether a measure of indexation will be used to uplift UK payments to Mauritius for the lease; what currency will payments be required to be made including the relevant exchange rate provision; at what point will the UK need to give notice of it’s request to extend the lease; whether the Mauritius Government will be able to set the cost of the exercise of the extension provisions; and whether arbitration processes will be in place to arbitrate potential disputes over the costs of exercising the lease extension provisions.

Once an agreement is signed further details of the Treaty will be put before both Houses for scrutiny and treaty ratification in the usual way. This will include costs.