Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding allocated to the BBC World Service has been used to promote covid-19 vaccine uptake overseas.

We have made it clear that the UK strongly supports COVID-19 vaccine uptake worldwide. The BBC World Service is an internationally trusted broadcaster, and is editorially and operationally independent of government. It would not be appropriate for the FCDO to direct programming.