Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the compatibility of the actions of the joint British-American registered Carbones de Cerrejón company at the Tajo Patilla mining site in Colombia with the commitments contained in the UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

The UK was the first country to create a National Action Plan to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This plan sets out what is expected of the conduct of UK businesses, including compliance with relevant laws and respect for human rights; treating the risk of causing human rights abuses as a legal compliance issue; adopting appropriate due diligence policies; and consulting those who could potentially be affected.

The Government backs its expectations with actions. We ensure that large UK companies are held to account on these issues through regulation, including the Companies Act, which requires corporate transparency over potential human rights issues, and due diligence measures taken.