Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 5 January (HL13210), whether in the past 20 years they have undertaken a study of the merits of the UK joining the European Development Bank; if so (1) when this was, and (2) whether a report of the study was laid before Parliament; and if not, why not.

There is no record of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office having undertaken a formal study of the potential merits of membership of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). The government keeps the potential membership of various international organisations under periodic review but our current position on the CEB remains as set out in our previous responses.