Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Benyon on 30 November (HL Deb cols 1172–1174), what steps they are taking to identify whether the cobalt-containing products imported into the UK are associated with child labour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; what assessment they have made of the credibility of assurances given by consumer-facing technology and electronic vehicle companies that their cobalt supply chains are not associated with child labour, forced labour, hazardous conditions, or environmental destruction arising from mining operations; and what steps they are taking to ensure (1) that the products arriving in the UK contain correct information about the supply chain, (2) that any falsified information is fully addressed, and (3) that, where it is not possible to give assurance from legal and ethical sources, this should be clearly disclosed on the products.

The use of child labour in artisanal cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains a serious problem. We regularly raise the issue of child labour in DRC's mining sector with both the DRC government and through multilateral fora such as the Human Rights Council. We also raise concerns about gender-based violence in DRC. The UK was the first country in the world to require businesses to report on the steps they have taken to tackle modern slavery. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to report annually on steps they take to prevent modern slavery in operations and supply chains. We are also committed to addressing the developmental impacts of illicit mining on children, and have provided funding to the Effective Approaches to Ending the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Fragile Contexts consortium, to develop innovative approaches to ending child labour in DRC.