Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 May to Question 42243 on Overseas Trade: Israel, what processes her Department has put in place to exclude from the trade and investment promotion activities, businesses (a) operating and (b) investing in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The United Kingdom does not treat the Occupied Palestinian Territories as part of Israel. The settlements are not covered by the EU-Israel Association Agreement nor by the United Kingdom-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement. Products produced in the settlements are, therefore, not entitled to benefit from preferential tariff treatment.

The Department for International Trade does not provide direct support to business activity in the settlements and my officials work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to encourage companies to put rights and responsibilities at the centre of everything they do.