Written questions by Brickell.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support women and girls in states affected by conflict.

Empowering women and girls is a UK Government priority. The UK will take a leading role on the global stage, building partnerships, particularly in the Global South, to promote greater gender equality that strengthens whole societies and economies. Having led on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, the UK is resolute in its commitment to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, and intends to build on the ambition displayed in the UK's 5th WPS National Action Plan during this anniversary year. At the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2025, I, alongside Lord Collins, will promote women's economic empowerment, galvanise funding for the global grassroots women's rights movement, support women and girls in Afghanistan, and strengthen global action on conflict-related sexual violence.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve partnerships with major humanitarian relief donors, in the context of the recent USAID funding freeze announcement.

We are currently working to assess the implications of the US funding pause across development sectors, geographic regions and multilateral organisations. We are gathering information and working with other donor partners to share analysis of the pause before making any decisions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Cypriot counterpart on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK (a) businesses and (b) individuals to evade VAT.

The Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with Cypriot counterparts on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK businesses or individuals for tax evasion. The UK and Cypriot governments committed to share expertise and invest in capacity building to tackle illicit finance at the UK-Cyprus strategic dialogue in December 2024.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has set out expected levels of transparency in line with international standards in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive for legitimate interest registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of (a) the adequacy of the Cayman Islands’ new Regulations: Beneficial Ownership Transparency (legitimate interest access) regulations 2024, (b) whether those regulations meet the expectations laid out during the Joint Ministerial Council to provide the maximum possible degree of access and transparency, (c) whether Bermuda’s regulations are aligned with international standards set out in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and (d) whether (i) case-by-case applications and (ii) the introduction of fees between $30 and $100 will hinder journalists and NGOs from accessing beneficial ownership information to combat money laundering and its predicate offences.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to assist the Central Bank of Bangladesh in repatriating UK-based assets diverted illegally from that country.

The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. We have robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests. We would not comment on any individual Asset Recovery cases but we are in discussions with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery on how to support the Interim Government of Bangladesh. In October 2024, the UK National Crime Agency visited Dhaka as part of the UK's effort to support Bangladesh in this area, as well as wider engagement on law enforcement issues. We will continue to support these recoveries to the extent that we can.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to use UK-based assets that were expropriated by the Assad regime for (a) aid and (b) re-development projects to help the Syrian people.

UK-based assets expropriated by the Assad regime remain frozen. As with all our sanctions, we keep our approach under review.We do not comment on future designations as to do so lessens their potential impact.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure the financial stability of the British Council.

This Government is committed to a successful British Council that is financially stable. Our funding to the British Council underlines our support. The FCDO will provide the British Council with £162.5 million Grant-in-Aid in 2024/25. Funding for 2025/26 ...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Indo-Pacific and Hong Kong’s Convenor of the E

I met Regina Ip on 31 October. Human rights were raised as part of the discussion. The UK will continue to speak often and candidly with Hong Kong authorities across both areas of contention as well as areas for cooperation. Engagement with representative...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2024 to Question 8363, what minimum requirements his Department set out as being an expectation in any legitimate interest access regime 

Tackling illicit finance in the UK, as well as in our Overseas Territories (OTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) is a priority for this Government. We consider publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership (PARBOs) a vital tool for combatting financi...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report entitled Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the

Following publication of its first report in September, the UK co-led the renewal on 9 October 2024 of the Fact-Finding Mission's mandate for a further year. The UK will continue to use its position as penholder at the Security Council and the Human Right...