Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the evidential basis was for the downgrading of the impact of persecution of Christians in the Middle East between the the Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians and (a) Interim and (b) Final Report.

This is an independent Review. As the Foreign Secretary has stated, the findings of the report make for harrowing reading and we are concerned about the situation for all Christians, including those in the Middle East. The report states that further evidence will be published and will be available incrementally from 15 July on the Review's website.