Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 20 March (HL5602), what representations the government of China or its representatives have made to the Home Office relating to the latest planning application for the Chinese Embassy, prior to and after the Secretary of State's call-in decision, and on what dates.

Having conducted reasonable due diligence, we are not aware of any such representations. In any event, final decision sits with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government in her independent, quasi-judicial role.