Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the policy of the United States regarding deep-sea mining exploration licences could have on areas owned and licensed by the United Kingdom.

The Government has noted the US Executive Order on 'Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources'. UK Seabed Resources Limited (UKSR), a UK-registered company sponsored by the UK Government, holds two licences for exploration in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the body mandated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to organise and control activities in the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond national jurisdiction. The CCZ is an area beyond national jurisdiction and is not owned by the UK or any State. UKSR will continue to hold those licences under the auspices of the ISA.