Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department has spent on private security companies in the British Indian Ocean Territory in each of the last five years.

The FCDO provides financial support to the BIOT Administration to enable it to discharge its responsibilities. We are not aware of the FCDO itself having spent any money on private security companies in BIOT in the last five years.