Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the transaction for £1,567.63 on 14 December 2021 included in her Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, how many members of Marine Management Organisation staff stayed at the Island Club Turks; and what the purpose was of that visit.

Three members of the MMO Global Marine Team travelled to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) under the UK Government’s Blue Belt Programme. The Blue Belt programme aims to enhance protection of the marine environment in the UK’s overseas territories. The TCI Government signed up to the programme in 2021 and formally announced this at World Ocean Day in 2022. The purpose of the visit was to meet with TCI Government Ministers and hold workshops with key stakeholders to scope support that the programme would provide to TCI.