Written questions by Maguire.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help promote democracy in Russia.

The UK has consistently called on Russia to cease repression, release political prisoners and to safeguard space for independent media and civil society, most recently at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 6 October, and will continue to do so. The UK supported the renewal of the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia this September.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the release of the Ukrainian children held in Russia and its occupied territories.

As the Foreign Secretary said in her statement to the House on 15 October: "The forcible deportation - and kidnapping - of almost 20,000 Ukrainian children by Russia is one of the most disturbing aspects of this war. We have been supporting organisations such as Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine, which are supporting efforts to return Ukrainian children. Just two weeks ago, Baroness Harman attended the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children event at the UN General Assembly. We will continue to do all we can to support the return of those children."Last month, the UK announced sanctions against those supporting the forcible deportation, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, a despicable and systematic attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine's future. Our sanctions aim to hold those responsible to account and shed light on those crimes. UK sanctions are strategically coordinated with allies to impose severe costs on Putin and his regime. We work closely with EU partners, and where appropriate, we seek to align our approaches to sanctions, including against those involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implication for her policies of the the IMF report, the Urgency of Conflict Prevention – A Macroeconomic Perspective, published in 2024.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions (IFIs) bring valuable expertise and investment to address key drivers of fragility and conflict, improving employment and livelihoods, natural resource management, access to essential services and governance.The UK is working closely with IFIs to prioritise early engagement in conflict prevention. This includes enhancing the use of analytics to anticipate potential conflict, increasing funding in at-risk areas before violence breaks out, and guiding timely interventions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of placing further sanctions on people attempting to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukrainian children.

As the Foreign Secretary said in her statement to the House on 15 October: "The forcible deportation - and kidnapping - of almost 20,000 Ukrainian children by Russia is one of the most disturbing aspects of this war. We have been supporting organisations such as Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine, which are supporting efforts to return Ukrainian children. Just two weeks ago, Baroness Harman attended the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children event at the UN General Assembly. We will continue to do all we can to support the return of those children."Last month, the UK announced sanctions against those supporting the forcible deportation, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, a despicable and systematic attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine's future. Our sanctions aim to hold those responsible to account and shed light on those crimes. UK sanctions are strategically coordinated with allies to impose severe costs on Putin and his regime. We work closely with EU partners, and where appropriate, we seek to align our approaches to sanctions, including against those involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure aid air drops are carried out safely to avoid unintentional harm.

In the last few years, the UK has been involved in a limited number of aid air drops operations, specifically into Gaza. The latest effort in July 2025 was led by Jordan where up to £500,000 of humanitarian aid was procured by the UK and placed onto Royal Jordanian Air Force aircrafts. In line with humanitarian principles, we assess all delivery methods to minimise unintended consequences and ensure aid does not exacerbate existing vulnerabilities or tensions. We have been clear from the start that whilst airdrops into Gaza would have helped to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid at scale.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the level of funding for (a) conflict prevention, (b) mediation and (c) peacebuilding building efforts on levels of migration to the UK.

We take a comprehensive and integrated approach to tackling conflict using all our diplomatic, development and security levers and working closely with our international partners. This approach recognises that addressing conflict effectively is not only about how much we spend. This enables us to prioritise our resources where they have most impact, and take the broader action needed to address the drivers of conflict, and effect lasting change.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on market systems strengthening by country in the most recent period for which data is available.

Market system strengthening has been a core part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) approach to development for over two decades. Roughly 50 different country programmes, and at least 15 centrally managed, multi-country programmes have been identified that broadly deliver impact through this approach, and many more contain elements of the approach. The following table shows spend estimates for the top ten countries, for calendar year 2024, through projects which are primarily Market System Strengthening. A comprehensive estimate is not possible due to definitional issues, and there may be additional programmes containing elements of the approach.Estimated market system strengthening spend by country in 2024 (£millions)Country2024 FCDO ODA spendZambia26.7Kenya12.4Uganda9.2Nigeria8.0Sierra Leone6.1Pakistan5.7Ethiopia5.4Ghana4.1Bangladesh3.8Zimbabwe2.4Additional non-country specific programmingCountry2024 FCDO ODA spendAfrica Regional31.9Middle East regional8.6Other Multi country programming [Note 1]77.4Source: Statistics on International Development: Final UK ODA Spend 2024.Note 1. Programmes that benefit several developing countries, across regions, cannot be tagged to a specific country or region and are tagged as benefitting "Developing countries, unspecified".

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with European counterparts on joint sanctions for people attempting to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukrainian children.

As the Foreign Secretary said in her statement to the House on 15 October: "The forcible deportation - and kidnapping - of almost 20,000 Ukrainian children by Russia is one of the most disturbing aspects of this war. We have been supporting organisations such as Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine, which are supporting efforts to return Ukrainian children. Just two weeks ago, Baroness Harman attended the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children event at the UN General Assembly. We will continue to do all we can to support the return of those children."Last month, the UK announced sanctions against those supporting the forcible deportation, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, a despicable and systematic attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine's future. Our sanctions aim to hold those responsible to account and shed light on those crimes. UK sanctions are strategically coordinated with allies to impose severe costs on Putin and his regime. We work closely with EU partners, and where appropriate, we seek to align our approaches to sanctions, including against those involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of further sanctions on Russia that target the network of camps being used for indoctrinating Ukrainian children.

As the Foreign Secretary said in her statement to the House on 15 October: "The forcible deportation - and kidnapping - of almost 20,000 Ukrainian children by Russia is one of the most disturbing aspects of this war. We have been supporting organisations such as Bring Kids Back UA and Save Ukraine, which are supporting efforts to return Ukrainian children. Just two weeks ago, Baroness Harman attended the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children event at the UN General Assembly. We will continue to do all we can to support the return of those children."Last month, the UK announced sanctions against those supporting the forcible deportation, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, a despicable and systematic attempt to erase Ukrainian identity, and with it, Ukraine's future. Our sanctions aim to hold those responsible to account and shed light on those crimes. UK sanctions are strategically coordinated with allies to impose severe costs on Putin and his regime. We work closely with EU partners, and where appropriate, we seek to align our approaches to sanctions, including against those involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her Israeli counterpart on increasing the number of evacuation days for (a) recipients of the Chevening Scholarship and their dependents and (b) medically vulnerable children and their dependents to the UK.

We continue to work with international partners to facilitate departures from Gaza where possible, and the Foreign Secretary most recently spoke to her Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on 18 October about the importance of opening more crossings.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a ban on (a) shipping and (b) insuring Russian liquified natural gas by UK companies.

The UK has taken extensive action to limit energy revenues that fund Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. This includes Russian revenues from Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). Importing Russian LNG into the UK has been prohibited since January 2023. On 15 October the UK sanctioned 90 targets across Russia's energy, financial and military sectors. This includes targeting two of Russia's largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil and seven specialised LNG tankers. We continue to explore all options for constraining Russian revenue further and we do not comment on future potential actions as to do so could undermine their effectiveness.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a ban on importing Russian-derived oil products processed in third countries.

To further restrict the flow of funds to the Kremlin on 15 October the UK announced that it will ban imports of oil products refined in third countries from Russian-origin crude oil. We note the EU's announcement of a ban on the import of refined oil products containing oil of Russian origin. We will continue to work closely with partners to explore options to bear down on Russia's energy revenues.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential long-term impacts of the conflict in Gaza on children in Gaza's (a) health and (b) education.

Israeli restrictions on aid have created a man-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Since 1 July, around 400 people have died from malnutrition, including at least 119 children. More than 132,000 children under the age of five are estimated to be at risk of dying from hunger by June of next year. Israel must urgently lift restrictions and facilitate a surge of aid into Gaza to prevent further hunger and malnutrition related deaths. On 21 July, the UK announced £60 million in humanitarian aid, with a further £15 million announced on 1 September, to support healthcare, food and water which includes vital funding to the The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and to treat patients at UK-Med field hospitals in Gaza. It is estimated that over 650,000 school-age children have lost two years of in person formal education. UNRWA is continuing to provide learning services in Gaza in Temporary Learning Spaces and through its distance learning initiative. To date, more than 59,000 children, have benefited from learning and recreational activities, established across 67 UNRWA schools-turned-shelters.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her international partners on taking steps to help support the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

I refer the Hon Member to the statement on the Middle East made in the House by the Prime Minister on 14th October.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the findings by the Human Rights Watch entitled Questions and Answers on Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon, published on 12 October 2023.

Since the start of the conflict, the UK has urged all parties to comply with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, including in relation to protection of civilians. We continue to engage the Government of Israel at the highest levels to urge it to do much more to protect Gaza's civilians and to ensure it fully complies with its obligations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to publish its legal advice on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.

In line with the long-standing practice under successive governments, we do not routinely publish the legal advice on which assessments of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) compliance are based.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to the BNO visa settlement route on older BNO visa holders’ ability to access pension funds from Hong Kong.

The Government remains fully committed to the BNO route, and we will continue supporting members of the Hong Kong community in the UK and all those who will arrive in future. We are listening to visa holders' views about the route to settlement, and we will continue to do so.We are aware that individuals in the UK on the BN(O) visa route are having difficulty drawing down early their pensions held in Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund. We continue to raise this issue directly with the Hong Kong authorities to encourage a pragmatic solution.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to expand the designation of vessels considered part of Russia’s shadow fleet to align with (a) the US, (b) Europe and (c) Canada.

This Government has sanctioned 229 oil tankers in Putin's shadow fleet, more than any other partner. On 9 May, we sanctioned 100 oil tankers - our largest single action to date. We work closely with our G7 partners to maximise the impact of our sanctions.We do not comment on future designations as to do so could reduce their impact.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to expand penalties for sanctions evasion by banning maritime services for vessels used to transport Russian crude oil without complying with the price cap.

With the implementation of the maritime transportation and associated services ban, the UK, along with G7 partners, banned the provision of services that facilitate the maritime transportation of Russian oil. The Oil Price Cap (OPC) exemption permits UK services to be available to third country importers and exporters only where the price paid for Russian oil is at or below the relevant price cap.Where Russia has sought to circumvent those sanctions, we have taken robust action; since July 2024 we have sanctioned 129 shadow fleet oil tankers. We continue to step up our efforts, working closely with partners, to ensure our sanctions' effectiveness.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to expand the designation of vessels considered part of Russia’s shadow fleet.

The Prime Minister has been clear that we must strengthen economic pressure on the Kremlin. The UK has led international efforts to disrupt Russia's shadow fleet, which it spent over $10 billion to purchase. We have sanctioned 129 oil tankers under this government with many ships left idling outside ports, costing Putin and his war effort millions in wasted funds. We have also spearheaded a 49-nation 'Call to Action' against the shadow fleet condemning the risks that it poses to the environment, maritime safety and security, and adherence to international maritime law. We do not comment on future designations as this could affect their impact.