Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to strengthen consular support for UK nationals overseas.

Consular support is tailored to the individual circumstances of each case, and prioritises those that need help the most. A key aspect of our support is prevention to help British people keep safe overseas, including representations to authorities overseas to make local environments safer for British people. Where this is not possible we may advise against travel. The Foreign Secretary announced today that we advise against all but essential travel for the next 30 days due to the current outbreak of Covid19, which has affected our ability to provide consular support.

We have specialist teams working on forced marriage, murder, kidnap and cases involving those on death row or at risk of the death penalty. Additionally we work with, and fund, other organisations where these are better placed to provide support, or have specialist skills that we need including the Victim Support Homicide Service, Lucie Blackman Trust, and (for detainees) Prisoners Abroad.