Written questions by McMurdock.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, if she will set out how her Department evaluates whether Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme-funded projects are inclusive of (a) marginalised and (b) indigenous communities.

The OCEAN Grants Programme has been designed to ensure that Gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) is at its heart. OCEAN's approach goes beyond gender equality alone to include disability and wider social inclusion, explicitly covering marginalised groups and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). All applications are assessed for social inclusivity by an external Expert Committee and GEDSI specialist and must ensure equitable access, active participation, and appropriate roles in decision-making, with safeguards to prevent intentional or unintentional harm. Projects are monitored and evaluated during delivery to track progress and embed learning. In Round Two, 54% of successful projects explicitly target IPLCs and/or other ethnic or religious minority groups and 100% of successful projects are expected to work with marginalised communities.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, over what period the £14 million allocated to the second round of the OCEAN Grants Programme will be spent.

The following projects have been funded under Round Two of the OCEAN Grants Programme. Funding comes from Defra’s Official Development Assistance budget and is projected to be spent between January 2026 and March 2029. The Round Two projects with signed grant agreements have been awarded the following amounts: Empowering traditional micro-retailers as refill stations to reduce plastic pollution, Indonesia: £93,155Eco Kolek, The Philippines: £249,973Solar-Powered Coastal Recycling Hubs: Transforming Plastic Waste into Construction Materials, The Philippines: £93,632Climate-smart initiatives for sustainable Coastal youth and women livelihoods, Tanzania: £95,000Iluminar el Mar, Ecuador: Reducing bycatch in Ecuador's Artisanal Gillnet Fishery: £150,000Empowering Coastal Communities Towards Inclusive Management of Ghana’s First MPA, Ghana: £250,000Mangrove restoration empowering women fisherfolks cooperatives in Sundarbans, Bangladesh: £243,073Blue Hispaniola: Protecting Coastal Ecosystems of the Northern Haitian-Dominican Corridor, Haiti and Dominican Republic: £2,999,192Scaling Community-based Resource Management through GEDSI-Empowering Information, Learning and Action, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea: £2,989,340 A final list of projects will be available on the OCEAN website in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what Department's budget the £14 million OCEAN Grants Programme funding will be drawn from.

The following projects have been funded under Round Two of the OCEAN Grants Programme. Funding comes from Defra’s Official Development Assistance budget and is projected to be spent between January 2026 and March 2029. The Round Two projects with signed grant agreements have been awarded the following amounts: Empowering traditional micro-retailers as refill stations to reduce plastic pollution, Indonesia: £93,155Eco Kolek, The Philippines: £249,973Solar-Powered Coastal Recycling Hubs: Transforming Plastic Waste into Construction Materials, The Philippines: £93,632Climate-smart initiatives for sustainable Coastal youth and women livelihoods, Tanzania: £95,000Iluminar el Mar, Ecuador: Reducing bycatch in Ecuador's Artisanal Gillnet Fishery: £150,000Empowering Coastal Communities Towards Inclusive Management of Ghana’s First MPA, Ghana: £250,000Mangrove restoration empowering women fisherfolks cooperatives in Sundarbans, Bangladesh: £243,073Blue Hispaniola: Protecting Coastal Ecosystems of the Northern Haitian-Dominican Corridor, Haiti and Dominican Republic: £2,999,192Scaling Community-based Resource Management through GEDSI-Empowering Information, Learning and Action, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea: £2,989,340 A final list of projects will be available on the OCEAN website in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what proportion of the £14 million OCEAN funding will be spent in each recipient country.

OCEAN Round 2 projects remain subject to final due diligence. The finalised list of projects, along with the countries in which OCEAN works, will be made available on the OCEAN website in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, if she will list the criteria that assess whether projects under the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme benefit women and girls.

All applications to the OCEAN Grants Programme are assessed against publicly available Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) assessment criteria. This assessment is conducted by an external Expert Committee and a GEDSI specialist to ensure applications demonstrate how they will mainstream GEDSI through the project lifecycle. Progress is routinely monitored. In Round Two, 100% of projects were identified as mainstreaming GEDSI and designed to explicitly benefit women and girls. Approximately 30% of projects are led by a woman Project Leader, and one project is led by a women’s-rights, women-led organisation in Bangladesh.

With reference to Prime Minister’s press release entitled Prime Minister unlocks new opportunities for British businesses in China, published on 29 January 2026, when the joint feasibility study on a UK-China trade in services agreement is expected to conclude.

The joint feasibility study for a UK-China Trade in Services Agreement is an exploratory stage; it’s not a commitment to negotiate an agreement. The study is intended to identify areas of shared interest and assess the potential benefits and challenges involved in a potential bilateral Trade in Services Agreement. Should both parties find sufficient common ground, the process may then proceed to formal negotiations, based on mutual agreement. The timing of the conclusion of the feasibility study and any potential future negotiations would be determined through further technical discussions between the UK and China.

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s press release entitled ‘Prime Minister unlocks new opportunities for British businesses in China’ published on 29 January 2026, what steps are being taken to improve recognition of UK professional qualifications in China.

The UK-China Bilateral Services Partnership (BSP) Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Thursday 29 January between the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Peter Kyle, and the Minister for Commerce, Wang Wentao.The BSP represents a commitment between the UK and China to deepen practical government cooperation and support in growth sectors such as financial and professional services where the recognition of professional qualifications is critical for trade.

With reference to Prime Minister’s press release entitled Prime Minister unlocks new opportunities for British businesses in China, published on 29 January 2026, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed UK-China bilateral services partnership on trends in the level of UK service exports.

The UK‑China Bilateral Services Partnership (BSP) is designed to deliver high‑value benefits for UK businesses in the world’s second-largest services import market.UK services exports to China rose 81% in current prices between 2016 and 2024. However, in 2024 the UK had nearly a three times greater share of the global services import market (at 8.0%) than of China’s market (at 2.6%) [ONS and UNCTAD data].The BSP therefore aims to help UK firms access China’s large and expanding services market. It is a mechanism to push for improved market access as well as deliver practical support to help drive UK services exports to China, supporting growth.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what outcome measures her Department will use to assess the impact of projects funded under the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme.

All recipients of OCEAN Grants are required to agree outcomes and to monitor and report on progress including of proposed environmental benefits, throughout the grant lifecycle. During the application phase, proposed outcomes and the indicators used to measure progress are agreed and assessed by an external Expert Committee. An independent evaluation of the programme is planned and will provide further evidence on progress towards agreed outcomes and overall impact.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the delivery of proposed environmental benefits from the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme.

All recipients of OCEAN Grants are required to agree outcomes and to monitor and report on progress including of proposed environmental benefits, throughout the grant lifecycle. During the application phase, proposed outcomes and the indicators used to measure progress are agreed and assessed by an external Expert Committee. An independent evaluation of the programme is planned and will provide further evidence on progress towards agreed outcomes and overall impact.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what proportion of projects funded under the second round of the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature Grants Programme are led by (a) women and (b) women’s organisations.

All applications to the OCEAN Grants Programme are assessed against publicly available Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) assessment criteria. This assessment is conducted by an external Expert Committee and a GEDSI specialist to ensure applications demonstrate how they will mainstream GEDSI through the project lifecycle. Progress is routinely monitored. In Round Two, 100% of projects were identified as mainstreaming GEDSI and designed to explicitly benefit women and girls. Approximately 30% of projects are led by a woman Project Leader, and one project is led by a women’s-rights, women-led organisation in Bangladesh.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, how much funding has been allocated to each project awarded grants under the second round of the OCEAN Grants Programme.

The following projects have been funded under Round Two of the OCEAN Grants Programme. Funding comes from Defra’s Official Development Assistance budget and is projected to be spent between January 2026 and March 2029. The Round Two projects with signed grant agreements have been awarded the following amounts: Empowering traditional micro-retailers as refill stations to reduce plastic pollution, Indonesia: £93,155Eco Kolek, The Philippines: £249,973Solar-Powered Coastal Recycling Hubs: Transforming Plastic Waste into Construction Materials, The Philippines: £93,632Climate-smart initiatives for sustainable Coastal youth and women livelihoods, Tanzania: £95,000Iluminar el Mar, Ecuador: Reducing bycatch in Ecuador's Artisanal Gillnet Fishery: £150,000Empowering Coastal Communities Towards Inclusive Management of Ghana’s First MPA, Ghana: £250,000Mangrove restoration empowering women fisherfolks cooperatives in Sundarbans, Bangladesh: £243,073Blue Hispaniola: Protecting Coastal Ecosystems of the Northern Haitian-Dominican Corridor, Haiti and Dominican Republic: £2,999,192Scaling Community-based Resource Management through GEDSI-Empowering Information, Learning and Action, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea: £2,989,340 A final list of projects will be available on the OCEAN website in due course.

What assessment she has made of the environmental impact of a) soil excavation and b) disposal generated by the Lower Thames Crossing.

On 25 March 2025, the Transport Secretary gave approval for the application from National Highways for a Development Consent Order for the Lower Thames Crossing. The Transport Secretary’s consideration of the application for the development including the environmental impacts are set out in her decision letter of 25 March 2025 which is available on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Foreign Secretary sets out new cooperation on illegal migration from Horn of Africa on visit to Ethiopia, published on 2 February 2026, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Joint Development Agreement on the number of illegal migrants coming to the UK.

The Joint Development Agreement announced by the Foreign Secretary marks a major milestone in an investment project by a UK company. It will support the growth of Ethiopia's economy by building new electric transmission lines to support Ethiopia's growth, electrification and further jobs. Supporting economic growth and job creation in Ethiopia helps address the underlying economic drivers that contribute to migration flows. The Department keeps the impact of all its investments and programmes under continuous review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department’s World News Story entitled Cameroon: UK supports new generation of Central Africa researchers, published on 29 January 2026, what steps she is taking to help ensure that research produced through the Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training for Sustainable Development programme will support (a) forest governance, (b) biodiversity protection and (c) climate resilience.

The Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training (CRAFT) for Sustainable Development programme is a major milestone in advancing world‑class, locally led scientific research across the Congo Basin. Further details of all FCDO-funded programmes can be found at the Development Tracker website on GOV.UK. Each proposed programme is assessed in advance for the impact it will have on the UK's partnership objectives in the country in question, and for its cost-effectiveness in achieving that impact. Each approved programme is subsequently evaluated on an ongoing basis for its performance against agreed objectives, and for its delivery on time and on budget.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department’s world news story entitled Cameroon: UK supports new generation of Central Africa researchers, published on 29 January 2026, what steps she has taken to ensure that the £9.1 million of International Development funding achieves value for money; and what criteria she uses to assess the effectiveness of that funding in achieving the UK's development objectives.

The Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training (CRAFT) for Sustainable Development programme is a major milestone in advancing world‑class, locally led scientific research across the Congo Basin. Further details of all FCDO-funded programmes can be found at the Development Tracker website on GOV.UK. Each proposed programme is assessed in advance for the impact it will have on the UK's partnership objectives in the country in question, and for its cost-effectiveness in achieving that impact. Each approved programme is subsequently evaluated on an ongoing basis for its performance against agreed objectives, and for its delivery on time and on budget.

With reference to the Prime Minister’s press release entitled Prime Minister unlocks new opportunities for British businesses in China, published on 29 January 2026, how she plans to monitor and evaluate cooperation with China on transnational organised crime and illegal immigration.

The Home Office will monitor and evaluate the impact of any cooperation with China by assessing operational outcomes against the UK’s Transnational Crime and Illegal Migration threat picture, drawing on performance indicators and intelligence from UK operational partners to determine the reduction in associated harms.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the British Embassy in Bangkok’s press release entitled UK PACT and Bangkok advancing sustainable transport, published on 30 January 2026, what assessment she has made of the value for money of the UK PACT funding for sustainable transport initiatives in Bangkok.

The UK PACT Thailand programme is funded from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's (DESNZ) Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.Further details of all FCDO and DESNZ funded programmes can be found at the Development Tracker website on GOV.UK. Proposed activities are assessed in advance for the impact they will have in meeting the UK's programme and partnership objectives in the country in question, and for their cost-effectiveness in achieving that impact. ODA programmes are evaluated on an ongoing basis for their performance against their agreed objectives, and for their delivery on time and on budget.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the British Embassy in Bangkok’s press release entitled UK PACT and Bangkok advancing sustainable transport, published on 30 January 2026, which Department's budget the funding for Thailand's transport and green finance will come from.

The UK PACT Thailand programme is funded from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's (DESNZ) Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.Further details of all FCDO and DESNZ funded programmes can be found at the Development Tracker website on GOV.UK. Proposed activities are assessed in advance for the impact they will have in meeting the UK's programme and partnership objectives in the country in question, and for their cost-effectiveness in achieving that impact. ODA programmes are evaluated on an ongoing basis for their performance against their agreed objectives, and for their delivery on time and on budget.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department's world news story entitled Cameroon: UK supports new generation of Central Africa researchers, published on 29 January 2026, what proportion of that funding is provided directly to Central African institutions.

The Congo Rainforest Alliance for Forest Training (CRAFT) for Sustainable Development programme is a major milestone in advancing world‑class, locally led scientific research across the Congo Basin. Further details of all FCDO-funded programmes can be found at the Development Tracker website on GOV.UK. Each proposed programme is assessed in advance for the impact it will have on the UK's partnership objectives in the country in question, and for its cost-effectiveness in achieving that impact. Each approved programme is subsequently evaluated on an ongoing basis for its performance against agreed objectives, and for its delivery on time and on budget.