Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the level of religious freedom in Brunei; and what steps the Government is taking to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief in that country.

​Brunei's constitution names the Shafi school of Sunni Islam as the country's official religion and states that all religions may be practiced in peace and harmony. Other forms of Islamic observance are not permitted. In 2013 Brunei announced a sharia penal code to operate alongside the common law system. To date, this has not had a significant practical impact on the level of religious freedom in Brunei. Our High Commissioner in Bandar Seri Begawan regularly discusses the direction of religious freedom in Brunei with its government, most recently in October 2017.