Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK's Investor-State Dispute Settlement Scheme on foreign policy goals.

The UK is party to 77 Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) that contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). The UK’s international investment agreements aim to enhance opportunities for UK businesses to expand overseas, with commitments that seek to limit the barriers they face, make it easier to navigate local rules, and ensure investments are treated lawfully, and protected against unfair or arbitrary action. These are fully consistent with our foreign policy goals and our economic ambitions for the country. We keep the operation of these provisions under review.