Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February to Question 138452, whether any penalties have been applied to those three companies in relation to the Cerrejón coal mine.

We are not aware of any recent penalties against Glencore, the company that owns the mine, but we expect British businesses to respect local and international law wherever they operate, and look to extractive companies to comply with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.