Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the value to the UK of its membership of UNESCO.

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) operates within a broad remit in culture, education, science and communication, and information. Research by the UK National Commission for UNESCO in 2020, a body funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, found that UNESCO projects in the UK, ranging from World Heritage Sites to Creative Cities, generate an estimated £151 million of financial benefit to local communities each year and help bring them together to protect and conserve some of the most important places across the country.

The financial value of the UK's UNESCO designations is only one measure. As a normative organisation it sets international standards across education, science, culture, information and communication, including in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.