Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of British Geographical Society’s report entitled Deep-sea mining evidence review – MineralsUK, published in October 2022.

The Government commissioned this independent review from the British Geological Survey, the National Oceanography Centre and Heriot-Watt University to provide a comprehensive description of current research related to deep-sea mining.

Informed by evidence, we continue to contribute to discussions on deep-seabed mining at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), pressing for the highest environmental standards in relation to existing exploration activity, and potential future commercial exploitation should that be approved by the ISA.