Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Polish counterpart on cases outstanding of children abducted from the UK to Poland.

The Government takes international parental child abduction (IPCA) very seriously and I [Minister Docherty] recognise the distress of all those affected. Ministers and senior officials raise IPCA with the Polish authorities at every appropriate opportunity. I raised the issue with my Polish counterpart, Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk, most recently on 7 September. The former Foreign Secretary also raised the issue in his dialogue with Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, on 5 July, and the Minister for International Affairs (MoJ) raised IPCA with Deputy Justice Minister Sebastien Kaleta on 18 September. We will continue to engage with representatives of the new Polish government on this issue, once formed.