Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to promote international safety standards for tailings dams following the collapse of the Fundão Dam near Mariana in Brazil in 2015.

The Department for Business & Trade's (DBT) Responsible Mining Team in Brazil have promoted best practice on tailings dams since 2016. They led a mission to the UK in November to build on work to implement the Global Industrial Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and have organised roundtables in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote the GISTM in Brazil. UK Ministers for the Americas and Europe have highlighted work to improve safety measures around tailings dam management, including in October in a meeting with the law firm representing victims of the Mariana Dam incident and at a Westminster Hall Debate in June.