Written questions by Morton.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the amount of humanitarian aid that reached (a) Chad, (b) South Sudan, (c) Egypt, (d) Ethiopia, (e) the Central African Republic and (f) other neighbouring countries to Sudan for supporting Sudanese refugees in the last 12 months.

Sudan is currently experiencing the world's largest displacement crisis, with over 12 million people displaced since the conflict began. As part of the UK's £120 million Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment this financial year, humanitarian assistance is being provided to Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries through key UN agencies such as the World Food Programme and UNICEF. In May, Baroness Chapman announced £36 million in support for over 260,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. The UK also supports Education Cannot Wait, which is delivering safe learning spaces and psychosocial support for 200,000 vulnerable children in refugee and host communities across Chad, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Uganda. In total, UK aid reached over 700,000 people affected by conflict in Chad, South Sudan, Libya, and Uganda in the last financial year.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the £120m in food aid for Sudan announced at the London Sudan Conference in April is reaching people who need it most.

During the London Sudan Conference, the former Foreign Secretary announced a further £120 million towards the crisis which will provide life-saving aid to more than 650,000 people. This funding supports UN agencies such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme to deliver a range of life-saving services including food, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene support. We also support the UN's Sudan Humanitarian Fund, which funds local responders including Emergency Response Rooms to reach hard-to-access areas, such as North Darfur. We continue to use our role as UN Security Council penholder to press all parties to uphold international humanitarian law, ensure the safety of aid workers, and remove bureaucratic barriers to delivery. On 14 August, the UK joined 28 partners in a Joint Donor Statement on El Fasher calling for a pause in fighting to allow urgent unimpeded aid to reach civilians trapped by the Rapid Support Forces' siege and guarantees for the protection of civilians and aid workers.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what aid agencies he is working with to deliver the £120m in food aid for Sudan announced at the London Sudan Conference in April; and what steps he is taking to ensure the safety of those aid workers working in-country.

During the London Sudan Conference, the former Foreign Secretary announced a further £120 million towards the crisis which will provide life-saving aid to more than 650,000 people. This funding supports UN agencies such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme to deliver a range of life-saving services including food, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene support. We also support the UN's Sudan Humanitarian Fund, which funds local responders including Emergency Response Rooms to reach hard-to-access areas, such as North Darfur. We continue to use our role as UN Security Council penholder to press all parties to uphold international humanitarian law, ensure the safety of aid workers, and remove bureaucratic barriers to delivery. On 14 August, the UK joined 28 partners in a Joint Donor Statement on El Fasher calling for a pause in fighting to allow urgent unimpeded aid to reach civilians trapped by the Rapid Support Forces' siege and guarantees for the protection of civilians and aid workers.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support dialogue between Sudanese (a) civilian and (b) political forces.

Throughout the duration of the conflict in Sudan, the UK has continually advocated for a return to a civilian-led government that represents the interests of Sudanese people across the country. In our engagements with the warring parties and their aligned governance structures, we continue to reiterate the importance of engaging with a broad range of civilians to facilitate an inclusive transition that delivers peace and stability. We have also frequently engaged directly with a range of Sudanese civilian actors, notably in the run-up to the London Sudan Conference to ensure that Sudanese views on how to end the crisis were represented. In addition, the UK supports the neutral, anti-war element of the Somoud civilian coalition (formerly known as Taqaddum) with technical facilitation and logistics to help broaden its base and promote a more inclusive and unified civilian vision for Sudan. The UK will continue to champion the importance of Sudanese civilians, especially women and youth, as well as civil society, in any efforts to resolve the conflict and shape the future of Sudan.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to increase support for international justice initiatives aimed at prosecuting people responsible for (a) war crimes and (b) crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. As early as February 2022, the UK led efforts to expedite an ICC investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The ICC's investigation is ongoing, with several arrest warrants already issued.The UK has led the way in ensuring the ICC has the resources and support necessary to conduct its independent investigations, including by seconding personnel to support the Ukraine investigation. The UK is one of the Court's major funders, providing £13.6 million to the annual budget in 2025.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish a strategy for tackling anti-microbial resistance globally; and how much funding he plans to provide for anti-microbial resistance official development assistance programmes in the 2025-26 financial year.

The UK's approach to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is set out in the UK National Action Plan. The UK has played a key role globally in advocating for the need for strong action on AMR, for example, helping to secure a strong outcome from last year's UN High Level Meeting on AMR. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports action to tackle AMR through its bilateral and research investments and through support to multilateral organisations that play a key role in tackling AMR globally, such as the World Health Organisation, the Global Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. It is not possible to identify the specific AMR element of such spending for 2025/26, as we are unable to disaggregate the AMR element of our multilateral and bilateral funding. Funding for the period beyond 2025/26 remains under review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support pandemic preparedness.

Strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is a priority for the Government. Through our multilateral and bilateral programming and working across Government and with our international partners we are helping to safeguard lives and economic stability in the UK and globally from pandemic threats. The UK's role in helping secure the recent adoption of the Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly in May 2025 and our support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Gavi are examples of this effort.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support he is providing to the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that group on prosecutions for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The UK, in partnership with the EU and the US, launched the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) in May 2022. Its mission is to support the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (OPG), and to ensure efficient coordination of our respective support to accountability efforts on the ground, including facilitating the deployment of financial resources and skilled personnel. UK funding for this work has totalled £6.2 million to date. ACA has made significant progress in supporting the OPG, including through the case-mapping and prioritisation of over 170,000 recorded atrocity crimes. ACA's Mobile Justice Teams operate on the ground across Ukraine to support OPG investigations, including in areas such as evidence collection and case building.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of debt servicing costs on developing countries’ public health spending.

Tackling unsustainable debt is one of the UK government’s international development priorities and we are committed to an international financial system that supports development needs and helps countries address their debt vulnerabilities, aligned with the aim of the recommendations of The Jubilee Report. The UK supports tailored debt solutions within a consistent international mechanisms, such as the G20 Common Framework, and actively advocates for responsible lending and borrowing practices, as well as enhanced debt transparency from both creditors and borrowers. We agree that the Common Framework could be improved to deliver smoother and more timely solutions. We are advancing these priorities through initiatives like the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt, the G20, and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Where necessary, we have backed early and comprehensive debt reprofiling, provided such measures credibly restore sustainability. We also agree that prioritising growth in borrower countries is essential for achieving long-term debt sustainability, and our focus remains on solutions that prevent defaults before they arise. We have implemented contractual innovations, such as climate-resilient debt clauses (CRDCs) for which we were the first creditor to do so, to help borrowers manage liquidity pressures following shocks, and are working with the private sector to expand their adoption. We are also pushing for the integration of climate risks into debt sustainability analyses and are pressing this agenda with the IMF and World Bank. The UK remains a strong advocate for comparability of treatment in debt restructurings. At present, we do not see a case for further legislation, as there is little evidence of private sector holdouts in negotiations, although we keep this under review. We recognise that in many low-income countries high debt servicing costs are crowding out spending on public health. To support low-income and emerging market countries with short-term liquidity challenges we support the IMF and World Bank’s Three Pillar Approach, which combines structural reforms, domestic resource mobilisation and external financial support to reduce debt burdens. We are pushing for the Three Pillar Approach to be rolled out swiftly, including for the IMF and World to actively engage early with affected countries to ensure they are informed of what support is available.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for his policies on global debt of the publication entitled The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy, published on 20 June 2025.

Tackling unsustainable debt is one of the UK government’s international development priorities and we are committed to an international financial system that supports development needs and helps countries address their debt vulnerabilities, aligned with the aim of the recommendations of The Jubilee Report. The UK supports tailored debt solutions within a consistent international mechanisms, such as the G20 Common Framework, and actively advocates for responsible lending and borrowing practices, as well as enhanced debt transparency from both creditors and borrowers. We agree that the Common Framework could be improved to deliver smoother and more timely solutions. We are advancing these priorities through initiatives like the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt, the G20, and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Where necessary, we have backed early and comprehensive debt reprofiling, provided such measures credibly restore sustainability. We also agree that prioritising growth in borrower countries is essential for achieving long-term debt sustainability, and our focus remains on solutions that prevent defaults before they arise. We have implemented contractual innovations, such as climate-resilient debt clauses (CRDCs) for which we were the first creditor to do so, to help borrowers manage liquidity pressures following shocks, and are working with the private sector to expand their adoption. We are also pushing for the integration of climate risks into debt sustainability analyses and are pressing this agenda with the IMF and World Bank. The UK remains a strong advocate for comparability of treatment in debt restructurings. At present, we do not see a case for further legislation, as there is little evidence of private sector holdouts in negotiations, although we keep this under review. We recognise that in many low-income countries high debt servicing costs are crowding out spending on public health. To support low-income and emerging market countries with short-term liquidity challenges we support the IMF and World Bank’s Three Pillar Approach, which combines structural reforms, domestic resource mobilisation and external financial support to reduce debt burdens. We are pushing for the Three Pillar Approach to be rolled out swiftly, including for the IMF and World to actively engage early with affected countries to ensure they are informed of what support is available.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to support the Pandemic Fund beyond 2025-26.

The UK has committed £25 million to the Pandemic Fund. We are currently working through detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used in future years, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) diplomats and (b) heads of mission on promoting freedom of religion or belief overseas.

In June 2025, Lord Collins, the Minister for Africa, wrote to all Heads of Mission to underline the importance of embedding our human rights priorities - including Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) - into every aspect of our work. On 8 July 2025, the UK Special Envoy for FoRB and Lord Collins outlined the UK's approach to FoRB at an event for stakeholders and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) staff. Both speeches were published on GOV.UK and shared with all our diplomatic posts.FoRB is incorporated within FCDO's broader human rights training programme. This includes workshops on religious or belief engagement for staff delivered in the UK and overseas. We also provide several additional tools for staff, particularly those based overseas, to support work on FoRB, including a FoRB Toolkit, scale of persecution and framework for FoRB reporting.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with African Union partners to help meet commitments under the Abuja declaration.

The UK is actively supporting African Union partners to achieve the global health commitments outlined in the Abuja Declaration and the 2023 Lusaka Agenda, including by allocating 15 per cent of their annual budget to health. We are providing ongoing support to African partners such as Ghana and Nigeria as they work to increase domestic health resourcing and maximise its effectiveness. Internationally, we are seeking to reform the global health architecture and agree a clearer approach for aligned international investments in domestic health systems; we co-sponsored a landmark resolution on health financing at the World Health Organisation last year.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps is he taking to fund (a) disease diagnostics and (b) primary health care services in developing countries.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) supports disease diagnostics through investments in health services, and research and development. We invest in public-private Product Development Partnerships to create diagnostics for diseases like sleeping sickness, malaria, and Tuberculosis. Through our partnership with Institut Pasteur de Dakar we're advancing rapid tests for epidemic diseases such as meningitis, Marburg, and Ebola. Our investment though the Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa programme (TDDAP) strengthens surveillance and lab systems in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and DRC, and our investments in the Global Fund support testing, treatment, and prevention in low and middle-income countries, with 335 million malaria tests conducted in 2023. Our investment in Gavi is enabling the vaccination of 300 million children over 2021-2025 and supports diagnostics distribution, with £1.25 billion committed for 2026-2030 as recently announced.On primary health care (PHC), the FCDO uses multilateral and bilateral investments, diplomacy and research to strengthen PHC systems. Multilateral support through Gavi, the Global Fund, WHO, UNICEF, UNITAID, and the World Bank complements bilateral partnerships. In Nigeria, for example, we're contributing £16 million with other investors to scale up PHC delivery for mothers, infants, and children, and to strengthen the health workforce.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken with (a) NATO, (b) the United Nations and (c) G7 partners to ensure accountability for senior Russian officials suspected of orchestrating atrocity crimes in Ukraine.

The Foreign Secretary regularly raises the issue of international criminal justice and accountability with partners, including in multilateral fora. The UK is committed to securing accountability for those responsible for atrocity crimes, and any allegations in the context of Russia's war in Ukraine must be thoroughly investigated by competent and independent courts - such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC's investigation into the situation in Ukraine is ongoing, with several arrest warrants already issued for current or former senior Russian officials.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of UK funding for global health data systems supporting future pandemic preparedness.

The UK has a strong record of partnering and supporting others to strengthen global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, within which strengthening health surveillance and information systems is a core priority. We strengthen these systems through, for example, our support as leading donor to the Global Fund, the World Health Organisation, Gavi and the World Bank; through the deployment of UK expertise under the International Health Regulations Strengthening Programme; and through bilateral support to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) victims and (b) witnesses of war crimes in Ukraine are protected from reprisals (i) during and (ii) after investigations.

Through our support for the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA), the UK has worked to ensure that the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (OPG) takes a survivor-centred justice response, rooted in international standards, in order to protect the rights of victims and witnesses. This has included supporting the establishment of the Victim and Witness Coordination Centre in the OPG, which has already provided support and protection to 1,500 people engaged in legal proceedings related to atrocity crimes. The UK is also providing capacity-building support through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict team of experts to embed international guidance and best practice on survivor-centred approaches into the work of Ukrainian investigators, prosecutors and judges. In November 2024, the Ukrainian parliament approved a law on the legal and social protection of Conflict Related Sexual Violence victims, the development of which was supported by UK funding.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab on the future of its work monitoring the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian forces.

Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General has confirmed that Yale's data on deported children has been transferred to the Ukrainian government. The data that the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab provided to Ukraine was part of a larger project, not specifically aimed at tracking deported children. We are working closely with the Government of Ukraine to identify which Open-Source Intelligence providers will best meet their needs to provide this data in future. We are supporting political efforts to return and rehabilitate forcibly deported children and, through the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine, are also funding Ukrainian organisations working to return and rehabilitate children.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is providing support to establish a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The UK has long supported efforts to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. This is a manifesto commitment and a personal priority for the Foreign Secretary. UK experts played a key role in discussions within the 'Core Group', which devised the legal basis for the Tribunal. In May, the Foreign Secretary travelled to Lviv and endorsed the legal texts. In June, we welcomed the signing of the bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. All these steps help bring us closer to making the Special Tribunal a reality. We continue to offer technical, legal and political support as work progresses through the Council of Europe.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) effectiveness of the funding provided in December 2024 to help support Ukraine’s capacity to (i) investigate and (ii) prosecute war crimes.

The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to develop Ukraine's capacity to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes resulting from Russia's illegal invasion. Our coordinated approach with US and EU partners through the establishment of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group has ensured that support from international donors is efficiently coordinated and streamlined in close cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. We continue to review and refine our support, to ensure it is meeting Ukraine's needs.