Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, for the purposes of the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, the definition of a "public body" may apply to a single individual person.

The Bill applies to public authorities as defined in section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

This means that the Bill will only apply to public authorities and not to individuals in their private capacities. When an individual is acting on behalf of a public authority, they will not be held personally liable for a breach of the ban. Only public authorities can breach the ban.

Cases where this definition may apply to a single individual will be limited to where that individual is themselves a public authority. An example of such a case would be a Secretary of State. In this example, the Secretary of State would only be in scope of the Bill when acting as Secretary of State – and not when acting in their personal capacity.