Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that Royal Dutch Shell's subsidiarity in Nigeria has failed to deal with oil pollution from its pipelines, as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme.

We are aware of the UN Environment Programme report on pollution in the Niger Delta. Oil spills in the Niger Delta occur because of criminal activity as well as oil company operations. We continue to closely monitor the situation in the Delta and raise pollution both with the Nigerian government and the oil companies.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), saw the environmental degradation in the Delta first hand during his visit to Nigeria in February 2014. On that visit he discussed these issues with President Jonathan and senior officials at Shell.