Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Government officials in the Overseas Territories on reducing the amount of waste plastic in oceans.

Cutting plastic pollution in oceans is a key Government priority. We are working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to engage with the Overseas Territories to help them develop and implement policies to reduce plastic waste. Active monitoring of marine waste and clean-up takes place in a number of OTs. Henderson Island in the Pitcairns is particularly badly affected by washed-up ocean plastics. We are working with the Government of the Pitcairn Islands to undertake a scientific study later this year to evaluate the rate and impact of plastics washing ashore there.