Written questions by Morton.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral statement by the Prime Minister of 25 February 2025 on Defence and Security, Official Report, column 634, what steps he plans to take to provide humanitarian support in Sudan; and which aid programmes will continue to operate.

The Sudan conflict has created the largest and most severe humanitarian crisis in the world with over 30 million people in need of assistance. UK funded organisations are providing life-saving assistance in Sudan and to those who have sought refuge in Chad and other neighbouring countries. This financial year (FY) the UK will provide £226.5 million towards the crisis. This funding includes support to key UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF who are providing critical food assistance and other support. We are also one of the largest donors to the UN-led Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) which provides support to local and national responders, Emergency Response Rooms and international non-governmental organisations. The UK continues to support the International Committee of the Red Cross, including their work on emergency preparedness and response, protection of civilians, and providing life-saving healthcare across Sudan. Once budgets for FY 25/26 have been finalised we will be able to share information about those programmes that will continue.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of Official Development Assistance funding to Sudan has been spent on Sudanese refugees in Chad.

Since the start of the conflict in Sudan, almost one million people have crossed the border into Chad which now has Africa's largest refugee caseload. On average, 200 people each day seek safety in Chad from Sudan. In January, whilst in Chad, the Foreign Secretary announced a doubling of aid to Sudan with an overall allocation of £226.5 million for financial year 2024/25. We have also provided over £40 million this financial year to address humanitarian needs in eastern Chad among refugees and host communities which has benefited 300,000 people with food assistance.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support frontline workers in Sudan working to (a) immunise and (b) educate children.

The conflict in Sudan is having a devastating impact on children. Malnutrition rates are at critical levels and an estimated 17 million children are no longer attending school. The context for children will worsen as the fighting continues. This financial year (2024/25) the UK will provide £226.5 million in life-saving aid towards the crisis. As part of this, we support the United Nations Children's Fund who are providing lifesaving nutrition programmes and immunisations to some of the most vulnerable children in Sudan. The UK supports Education Cannot Wait, providing safe learning spaces and psychological support to 200,000 vulnerable children in refugee and host communities in Chad, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, Central Africa Republic and Uganda. We are also one of the largest donors to the Global Partnership for Education who are delivering urgent support to children across Sudan.  The UK is also a major donor to the UN-led Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) which provides support to local and national responders, Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and a consortium of international non-governmental organisations. These frontline workers are also working on healthcare and education provisions across Sudan.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on (a) security and (b) regional stability in the western Balkans.

A just and lasting peace is vital for Ukraine and for wider Euro-Atlantic and international security and prosperity. Russia has sought to undermine fragile democracies and fan ethnic tensions across the Western Balkans. This threatens hard-won peace and stability in the region and the ambitions for greater European integration chosen by states. We will continue to counter Russian interference in the region, including through supporting North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) partners, programming on cyber security and counter-disinformation and wider efforts to promote stability and security.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on a free trade agreement with the United States.

Both the Foreign Secretary and his officials are speaking regularly with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and his officials about the future of the UK-US Trade partnership. To echo the Prime Minister's remarks during his meeting with President Trump on 27 February 2025: we will go further and work on a new economic deal with advanced technology at its core. We will set out more details as discussions evolve.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the reconstruction of (a) water networks and (b) other essential infrastructure in Lebanon.

The UK is committed to supporting Lebanon to meet the humanitarian needs of both refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities. The UK has played a leading role in addressing the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, providing over £41 million in humanitarian funding since April last year. This includes support to provide clean water, emergency latrines and showers for people displaced by the conflict as well the delivery of food, shelter, health, education, and protection services.We will continue to work in partnership with the Lebanese Government and international partners to support the stability, security and long-term prosperity of Lebanon and its people. This includes supporting Lebanon's new Government to prioritise enacting the necessary political and socio-economic reforms needed to facilitate the recovery, reconstruction, and state-building efforts.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of China's position on the conflict in Ukraine.

China remains the decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine through its large-scale support for Russia.On 13 February the Foreign Secretary met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, underlined the UK's ironclad commitment to Ukraine and urged China to prevent its companies supporting Russia's military. The Foreign Secretary made it clear that we would continue to sanction Chinese companies which are providing the vast majority of dual use components to Russia.The House will also wish to note that in light of the continued flow of these components from China to Russia this Government is now minded to refuse licenses for controlled goods on the Common High Priority list exported for stock to China. Guidance for UK exporters has been updated to this effect.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) Albania and (b) other Western Balkan to maintain regional stability in the context of Russian destabilisation efforts.

Russia has sought to undermine fragile democracies and fan ethnic tensions across the Western Balkans. This threatens hard-won peace and stability in the region and the ambitions for greater European integration chosen by states. We will continue work to counter other Russian hybrid threats in the region, including through support to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) partners and programming on cyber security and counter-disinformation. Furthermore, the UK will host the 2025 Berlin Process, to support wider efforts for stability, security and economic co-operation across the Western Balkans region (including Albania).

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with NATO allies on the potential deployment of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine in the event of any ceasefire.

The Foreign Secretary is in regular contact with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Allies as well as Ukraine on how to achieve a just and lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine's security and sovereignty. The Foreign Secretary attended the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Canada from 12-14 March 2025, which discussed security support for Ukraine. The UK has been clear that when this war ends, Ukraine will need robust security guarantees to ensure against future Russian aggression. The UK is playing a leading role alongside France to build a coalition of countries willing to play a role in supporting Ukraine's future security.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to counter foreign disinformation and manipulation campaigns.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) works closely with the Home Office, which leads on addressing malign information activity aimed at UK audiences, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) which leads on online safety and information threats in the UK. The FCDO is responsible for understanding and addressing information threats relating to third countries, deterring hostile activity globally and building a global ecosystem through partnerships to collectively challenge the threat.The Foreign Secretary recognised the importance of 'stepping up action with allies on Kremlin Disinformation' in his January 2025 Locarno speech.We have dedicated resources to identifying foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and taking action against Russian networks. This includes sanctioning the Social Design Agency (SDA) for attempting to undermine and destabilise Ukraine; exposing Russia's attempts at electoral interference in Moldova and exposing how RT (formerly Russia Today) engages in covert influence on behalf of the Kremlin.We are driving a collaborative international approach - the G7 pledged to 'strengthen our coordinated efforts to better prevent, detect and respond to FIMI threats'. In January 2025, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism exposed ongoing deceitful activity of RT and the SDA to advance Russia's interests.We have a range of programmes to build societal resilience in third countries to protect against deceptive information campaigns, and we will continue to provide factual narratives to global audiences.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support Albania to tackle corruption.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) remains a consistent supporter of efforts to tackle corruption in Albania, through diplomatic engagement and programmes funded by the UK's Integrated Security Fund (ISF) and FCDO Official Development Assistance (ODA). Ongoing support includes working with Albania's security and justice institutions to strengthen accountability and transparency, support to lawmakers to improve the effectiveness of legislation, and empowering journalists to act as effective watchdogs for corruption in public procurement and appointments.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is considering on UK-China cooperation on (a) climate change, (b) artificial intelligence and (c) clean energy.

From 14-17 March, The Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will visit Beijing to discuss energy and the climate crisis with Chinese Ministers. He will sign a UK-China Clean Energy Partnership, hold the eighth UK-China Energy Dialogue, and formally invite counterparts to London to take part in a Climate Dialogue and sign a Climate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Since China was represented at Vice-Ministerial level at the Bletchley AI Safety Summit in November 2023, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials maintain regular contact with Chinese counterparts on AI safety issues.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans his Department has to continue supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

The UK is committed to supporting Lebanon to meet the humanitarian needs of both refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities. The UK has played a leading role in addressing the humanitarian situation in Lebanon and announced £41 million in humanitarian aid in Financial Year 24/25 to support thousands of displaced and host communities to meet their basic needs and access essential services. We recognise post-ceasefire needs remain high and the UK's ongoing response will continue, including working with international partners to support the Government of Lebanon to respond to the UN Flash Appeal extension.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the United States’ decision to freeze USAID funding on humanitarian aid programmes in Lebanon.

USAID spent $293 million on programmes in Lebanon in 2024 and $3.3 billion since 2017, primarily in education and water sectors. Changes in USAID programmes are a matter for the US. The UK is a strong supporter of Lebanon and supports humanitarian assistance through a range projects, including cash assistance to the most vulnerable, education for out-of-school children and strengthening social protection systems.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has considered using official development assistance as part of the financial arrangements for the Chagos Islands deal.

Once an agreement is signed further details of the Treaty will be put before both Houses for scrutiny and treaty ratification in the usual way. This will include costs.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that aid reclassified as international climate finance provides additional finance to developing countries.

All UK International Climate Finance (ICF) supports developing countries with capital investment, technical assistance, and capacity building to help drive the transition to low-carbon, climate resilient and nature positive development paths. Since 2011 UK ICF programmes have directly supported over 110 million people adapt to the effects of climate change; reduced or avoided over 105 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and provided over 82 million people with improved access to clean energy.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of (a) overspends and (b) underspends in the International Climate Finance budget.

The UK has met all of its climate finance targets to date.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much and what proportion of expenditure on international climate finance will have been with (a) multilateral organisations and (b) development banks in each financial year between 2020-21 and 2025-26.

The UK Government spend on International Climate Finance (ICF) was £1,560 million in 2020-21, £1,623 million in 2021-22, £1,641 million in 2022-23, and £2,277 million in 2023-24. Financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 are not complete and so figures are not available. The proportion of ICF spent through multilateral organisations was 41% in 2020-21, 23% in 2021-22, 39% in 2022-23, and 46% in 2023-24. The proportion of ICF spent on development banks, included under multilateral organisations, was 0% between 2020-21 and 2022-23, and 16% in 2023-24.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what amount of International Climate Finance funding is (a) allocated and (b) distributed via other Government departments.

Between 2021-22 and 2023-24 the amount spent on International Climate Finance was £4,111 million by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, £1,179 million by the Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero / Department for Science and Technology and £250 million by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. Figures for 2024-25 and subsequent years will be published in due course.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking ensure the (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of the delivery of international climate finance spending planned for the (i) final two years of the 2021-2026 funding period and (ii) other years.

To ensure the effectiveness and adequacy of the delivery of international climate finance (ICF) spending the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has robust delivery rules in place - these can be found here: FCDO Programme Operating Framework - GOV.UK. In addition, ICF programmes report progress against a set of Key Performance Indicators annually. These results are published to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of ICF spending - the latest report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-international-climate-finance-results-2024