Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the visit by Richard Lochhead MSP to to Beijing.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has made no assessment of the effectiveness of the visit. The delivery of Scottish Government ministers is properly to be assessed by Scottish parliamentary scrutiny mechanisms. The FCDO engaged with Scottish Government officials in support of the visit, as overseas missions routinely do for all overseas visits made by Devolved Government officials.