Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that UK companies are not complicit in the use of Uyghur forced labour in (a) the manufacture of products and (b) chains of supply.

The Department for International Trade has been taking forward measures to help make sure British businesses are not complicit in human rights violations in Xinjiang, as announced in Parliament by the Foreign Secretary on 12 January. This includes a review of export controls as they apply to Xinjiang, to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to prevent the export of any goods that could directly or indirectly contribute to any such violations. It includes updating our Overseas Business Risk guidance too, underlining the specific risks faced by companies with links to Xinjiang and the challenges of conducting effective due diligence there.

We continue to advise businesses with supply chain links in Xinjiang to conduct appropriate due diligence to satisfy themselves that their activities do not support, or risk being seen to be supporting, any human rights violations.