Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help tackle and (b) recent discussions he has had with the Iraqi Prime Minister on the influence of external forces on regional governance in the Nineveh Plains.

HMA Baghdad has regular engagement with diplomatic colleagues as well as the Prime Minister of Iraq. We are closely monitoring the impact of these developments on the safety of Nineveh's Christian community.

The UK is firmly committed to protecting the Christian community and other ethnic and religious minorities and are strong advocates of greater Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in Iraq. We regularly engage with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on this issue, in particular the importance that minorities are included in national and local government as well as reconciliation efforts.