Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks made by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel on 21 October (HL Deb, col 252), what steps have they taken to (1) detect, or (2) require others to detect, the prevalence of Xinjiang Cotton in garments (a) manufactured in, or (b) imported into, the UK.

HM Government have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang. We advise all businesses with Xinjiang supply chain links to conduct appropriate due diligence to satisfy themselves that their activities do not support any violations or abuses.

We have committed to introduce financial penalties for non-compliance with section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act, which asks large businesses to report on how they are tackling forced labour in their operations and supply chains. More widely we are committed to ongoing discussions on cotton and trade related matters at the WTO and continue to update Overseas Business Risk guidance.