Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding the Government plans to allocate to research to help Commonwealth countries prevent plastic waste from entering the oceans.

In April, the Government set out its intention to work with other Commonwealth countries to develop a Marine Plastics Research and Innovation Framework and announced up to £25 million as part of the UK’s contribution. In addition, the Government announced several other Commonwealth programmes, totalling up to £41.4 million, that support capacity building, including research activities, to prevent plastic entering the world’s oceans and rivers.