Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions officials have had with Chinese officials on the application to develop Royal Mint Court into a new Chinese embassy.

The planning application has been called in by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Ministers in MHCLG will make this decision independent from the rest of Government in their quasi-judicial capacity. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials speak regularly with the Chinese officials about a range of issues.