Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief is being adequately resourced and supported in relation (1) to her role in implementing the recommendations of the Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians, published on 8 July 2019, and (2) to enabling the planning and delivery of the international ministerial conference on freedom of religion or belief in 2022.

The Government has committed to implementing in full the recommendations in the Bishop of Truro's review, and work continues to implement them in a way that will bring real improvement to the lives of those persecuted due to their faith or belief. Of the 22 recommendations we have fully delivered ten, made good progress on a further eight, and are confident that all 22 will be delivered by the time of the independent review in 2022.

I [Lord Ahmad] meet monthly with the Envoy to discuss freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) activity. The Envoy also works closely with FCDO Ministers in promoting FoRB in their respective geographic areas, and through her Private Secretary in the FCDO, with support from the FCDO FoRB team and other officials on specific aspects of her role, as well as the FCDO media office and Special Advisers. Geographic and thematic policy desks have the opportunity to feed in to policy recommendations and offer advice on activities. We have committed to holding a Ministerial conference on FoRB, which will bring countries together to make global progress on this important issue.