Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209807, what further progress he has made in bringing to justice those responsible for the destruction of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014.

We continue to work with the Dutch Public Prosecutors Office on their investigation into the downing of MH17, supporting UN Security Council Resolution 2166's call for a full, thorough and independent international investigation into this tragic incident. The Metropolitan Police are providing advice and support to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT); (a collection of police and judicial officials from Ukraine, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia) which is under the coordination of the Dutch Public Prosecutors Office. The UK is not a member of the JIT but is an interested party and is represented at the bi-monthly JIT meetings by the Metropolitan Police.

On the separate investigation into the cause of the crash by the Dutch Safety Board; two Inspectors of Air Accidents from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport visited the Netherlands last week and viewed the wreckage of MH 17 held in storage at Gilze. This was undertaken in their capacity as the UK Accredited Representative/Adviser to the Dutch Safety Board.

We expect the Dutch Safety Board to release their final report prior to the anniversary of the crash, which will provide evidence as to how MH17 broke up in mid air. It will not attribute culpability, which is for the JIT process described above.