Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 201WH, on political and human rights (African Great Lakes), what steps the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights team is taking to encourage companies to participate in voluntary principles concerning supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected areas.

During the debate on 13 May I said that we were encouraging companies and countries to join the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. In the last two years, I have met a range of UK companies to discuss the Voluntary Principles. Three of those companies have joined or have applied to join the initiative. Officials, often working with other member governments of the Voluntary Principles, participate in in-country workshops, projects and other activity to support and encourage the participation of new governments in the initiative. On 11 June I met the Justice Minister of Mozambique to discuss the Voluntary Principles, and in April the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary raised the Voluntary Principles with President Kikwete of Tanzania.

In terms of responsible sourcing of minerals, officials participate in discussions with UK industry, and more broadly with international partners and non-governmental organisations to support responsible sourcing. The focus of these discussions is the OECD due diligence guidance I referred to on 13 May. DfID have provided financial support through the $90m World Bank- DFID ProMines project towards the implementation of the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, a publicly-available map of armed groups on mining sites through the International Peace Information Service as well as traceability schemes such as the ITRI tin supply chain initiative.