Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of UK technical assistance to the World Bank’s capacity-building programmes.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to working with a range of multilateral organisations and international institutions to pursue our shared goals across a number of policy objectives, including sustainable development and poverty reduction.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that UK-funded multilateral programmes align with the Sustainable Development Goals review cycle to 2030.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to working with a range of multilateral organisations and international institutions to pursue our shared goals across a number of policy objectives, including sustainable development and poverty reduction.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the role her Department will be in discussions on debt sustainability and restructuring under the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to working with a range of multilateral organisations and international institutions to pursue our shared goals across a number of policy objectives, including sustainable development and poverty reduction.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with international partners since the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund 2025 Annual Meetings on the alignment of development financing with climate adaptation priorities.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to working with a range of multilateral organisations and international institutions to pursue our shared goals across a number of policy objectives, including sustainable development and poverty reduction.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what role UK diplomatic posts in the Gulf region will play in monitoring and supporting implementation of the enhanced partnership with the United Arab Emirates on illicit finance.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK-UAE Partnership to Tackle Illicit Financial Flows, chaired by the Home Office, is a cross-governmental effort to strengthen operational cooperation and disrupt financial crime. A senior UAE delegation visited the UK on 2 and 3 September to advance this work. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets and evaluates countries against global standards, which is a separate and technical process. Our bilateral engagement complements implementation of the FATF standards and supports international financial integrity.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of how the UK-UAE partnership on illicit finance will interact with multilateral initiatives such as the Financial Action Task Force.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK-UAE Partnership to Tackle Illicit Financial Flows, chaired by the Home Office, is a cross-governmental effort to strengthen operational cooperation and disrupt financial crime. A senior UAE delegation visited the UK on 2 and 3 September to advance this work. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets and evaluates countries against global standards, which is a separate and technical process. Our bilateral engagement complements implementation of the FATF standards and supports international financial integrity.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria is being used to allocate development finance support to the (a) manufacturing, (b) agricultural and (c) energy sectors in Africa.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our allocation of development finance to the highlighted sectors is currently informed by a mixture of criteria ranging from local priorities to alignment with overall Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) objectives. We will publish our Africa Approach later this year, outlining a transformed partnership that engages with African countries as equals and will inform future allocations. We will publish the FCDO's final 2025/26 Official Development Assistance programme allocations in the Annual Report & Accounts in July, and finalise budgets for the rest of the Spending Review period later this year.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage inward investment into the UK.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has tasked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to use its diplomatic influence to champion the UK economy overseas. Our diplomats will be the sales force for UK plc, working with colleagues from across government to ensure we are attracting investment to the UK. This includes directly working with businesses and partner governments, such as a recent Foreign Secretary hosted business roundtable with senior UK representatives from top Japanese firms who have invested in the UK.
In addition, the National Security and Investment Act (NSI) will also aid the UK's growth ambitions by allowing the Government to intervene in transactions that threaten national security.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps British International Investment is taking to ensure that investments strengthen commercial relationships between the UK and partner countries.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
British International Investment's (BII) investments are building markets in partner countries that are stimulating economic growth. This also develops future UK trade and investment opportunities.
BII invest in sectors where it can have the most developmental impact. These tend to also align with areas of UK commercial strength, including financial services, clean energy, and digital. Examples of this modern approach to development include BII's partnership with Standard Chartered Bank which has enabled $10 billion in trade volumes across Africa and Asia since 2013 and BII's partnership with Vodafone that has brought down the cost of mobile services by up to 70 per cent in Ethiopia, and a new £100 million Mobilisation Facility to de-risk institutional investors such as those in the City of London to accelerate climate-focussed investments in developing countries. We will continue to work with BII to focus and maximise the impact of its work in line with our missions and the wider geopolitical situation.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps British International Investment is taking to align investment decisions with the Government’s (a) missions and (b) development objectives.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
British International Investment's (BII) investment decisions are taken within a framework agreed and aligned with the Government's mission and development objectives. BII is delivering on the Government's ambitions on growth, accelerating the clean energy transition, and unlocking private capital for development impact. In 2023 alone, BII-backed businesses operating in developing countries provided jobs for over one million people, paid $2.4 billion in taxes in partner countries, and generated 59 TWh of electricity.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and BII ensure this strategic alignment through governance arrangements that follow best practice guidance from Cabinet Office and HM Treasury with robust lines of accountability between FCDO and BII. We will continue to work with BII to focus and maximise the impact of its work in line with our missions and the wider geopolitical situation.