Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of using revenue raised from frozen Libyan assets to compensate people affected by acts of terrorism perpetrated by the IRA using Libyan-supplied weapons.

The UK Government reiterates its sympathy for UK victims of Qaddafi-sponsored terrorism, and indeed all victims of the Troubles. It is important that the UK Government pursues fairness and consistency in the provision of support to victims of terrorism and access to publicly funded compensation schemes. The UK's position with regards to victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism is that it is the responsibility of the Libyan Government to provide compensation. Moreover, the UK Government cannot lawfully use frozen Libyan assets to provide compensation to victims as doing so would break international law and our obligations as members of the UN.