Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, given the operation of vulture funds and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poorer income countries, what consideration they have given to introducing legislation similar to the time-expired Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010.

At this stage, the UK is not considering legislative options to force private sector creditors to participate in debt treatments. We are focused on the swift and full implementation of the G20-Paris Club Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative which will ensure fair burden sharing between all official and private sector creditors. At their 5 June 2021 meeting, G7 Finance Ministers were clear that the private sector is expected to provide at least as favourable debt treatment as official creditors and the Government will be working with international partners to seek to ensure this is the case.