Written questions by Morton.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s policy paper entitled London Sudan Conference, 15 April 2025: co-chairs' statement, published on 15 April 2025, what the UK’s comparative advantage is in international efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan.

As penholder on Sudan at the UN Security Council, leader of the core group on Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council and as a major humanitarian donor, the UK occupies a unique position to keep international attention on the conflict. On 15 April, the London Sudan Conference demonstrated the UK's convening power, as Foreign Ministers and high-level Representatives from 21 countries and multilateral bodies gathered to discuss how to make progress on shared goals of ending the conflict and alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people. As detailed in the co-chairs' statement, this is not the end but the start of a process; the UK remains committed to working with the international community to bring an end to the conflict in Sudan and see vital humanitarian aid reaching those most in need.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the FCDO’s crisis response fund for 2025-26.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) maintains the Humanitarian Crisis Reserve (HCR) fund, which has the primary benefit of enabling flexible and rapid response to new humanitarian crises (e.g. earthquakes, floods, cyclones). Decisions about allocations are made by the Minister for Development and can be used in Official Development Assistance eligible countries only. The UK's commitment to supporting humanitarian aid across the world and responding flexibly remains a priority.Moreover, the FCDO Crisis Management Department has been allocated £227,500 for routine crisis management in Financial Year 25/26. This is used to meet the additional costs of responding to international crises, such as deploying Rapid Deployment Teams to affected areas, staffing and running the London crisis centre, and emergent procurement, i.e. chartering aircraft for an evacuation. If a single crisis response is projected to cost the FCDO more than £150,000, we will ask HM Treasury for additional funding from the Emergency Disaster Response Fund.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to reallocate reductions in in-donor refugee costs to other official development assistance programmes from the 2025-26 financial year.

The UK Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and reform the asylum accommodation system to help end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review period to ensure more of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget is spent on our development priorities overseas.The aid spent in the UK on refugee and asylum costs fell by a third last year and we are working to bring it down further as we continue to deliver on our election promise to slash asylum costs.Departmental ODA allocations will be confirmed at the Spending Review.The Foreign Secretary has regular discussions with the Chancellor.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on any potential reallocation of savings from in-donor refugee costs to the FCDO’s ODA budget.

The UK Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and reform the asylum accommodation system to help end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review period to ensure more of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget is spent on our development priorities overseas.The aid spent in the UK on refugee and asylum costs fell by a third last year and we are working to bring it down further as we continue to deliver on our election promise to slash asylum costs.Departmental ODA allocations will be confirmed at the Spending Review.The Foreign Secretary has regular discussions with the Chancellor.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March to Question 39447 on Israel and Occupied Territories: Development Aid, whether the funding levels for the years 2025-26 and 2026-27 will remain unchanged.

In financial year 2025-26, the UK will provide £101 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which will prioritise humanitarian relief, support for Palestinian economic development, and strengthening Palestinian Authority governance and reform. We cannot yet confirm funding allocations for the financial year 2026-27 as these are subject to Spending Review processes. On 25 February, the Prime Minister made clear in the House that this Government is proud of the UK's pioneering record on overseas development, and we will continue to play a key humanitarian role in Gaza.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has he made of potential opportunities for the BBC World Service to further support UK soft power.

The Government highly values the World Service, which makes a significant contribution to UK soft power. Soft power indices and perception studies regularly highlight the BBC's soft power attraction. Tapestry Research carried out an international study in 2022, finding that international BBC consumers, particularly 'influential' audiences: have a more positive attitude towards the UK; are more likely to use UK goods and suppliers; and more likely to invest in the UK, and visit the UK for leisure, study, or business.The World Service Licence requires that the World Service provides value for money. The BBC tracks World Service performance against impact and quality metrics compared with global comparators across multiple markets. The World Service continues to outrank other international news providers on trust, reliability and independence. It also rates highest for helping audiences to understand and engage with news topics.The HMG uplift for the World Service in 2025/26 takes our total contribution to £137m. The uplift ensures that the World Service will continue operating all 42 language services. This is a significant increase in an exceptionally tight fiscal situation, clearly demonstrating the value that the Government places on the World Service.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Belarussian counterpart on the reported disappearance of Anzhelika Melnikava and her daughters.

I am concerned by reports of Angelika Melnikava's disappearance. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials are following the case closely. We have not raised this with the Belarusian Government.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43886 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, what his planned timetable is for the (a) launch date, (b) details, (c) application period, (d) determination and (e) awarding of funding for the replacement scheme.

Defra will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. This future SFI offer will build on what has made SFI effective so far. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the value for money of the BBC World Service in terms of (a) reach and (b) impact, when compared with spending by other states on comparable services.

The Government highly values the World Service, which makes a significant contribution to UK soft power. Soft power indices and perception studies regularly highlight the BBC's soft power attraction. Tapestry Research carried out an international study in 2022, finding that international BBC consumers, particularly 'influential' audiences: have a more positive attitude towards the UK; are more likely to use UK goods and suppliers; and more likely to invest in the UK, and visit the UK for leisure, study, or business.The World Service Licence requires that the World Service provides value for money. The BBC tracks World Service performance against impact and quality metrics compared with global comparators across multiple markets. The World Service continues to outrank other international news providers on trust, reliability and independence. It also rates highest for helping audiences to understand and engage with news topics.The HMG uplift for the World Service in 2025/26 takes our total contribution to £137m. The uplift ensures that the World Service will continue operating all 42 language services. This is a significant increase in an exceptionally tight fiscal situation, clearly demonstrating the value that the Government places on the World Service.

Communities and Local Government, whether costs incurred by neighbouring local authorities from assisting Birmingham City Council (BCC) with waste collection will be met by (a) BCC and (b) her Department.

This is a local issue and it is right that the response is led by the key public sector partners in Birmingham. We have been clear that if the local leaders on the ground in Birmingham feel tackling these issues goes beyond the resources available to them and they request national support, then we stand ready to consider any such ask. The Department is working with the Council on options to address further costs arising from industrial action. More widely, the government is under no illusions about the scale of the wider financial challenge facing councils following more than a decade of cuts by successive Conservative governments. The government is therefore supporting the Leader and his team in Birmingham, directly and through the Commissioners, to move the council on from its historic issues. This includes providing an increase in Core Spending Power in Birmingham of up to 9.8%, or £131m for 2025-26, and £39.3 million of the new one-off Recovery Grant that illustrates this Government’s commitment to correcting unfairness in the funding system.

What estimate she has made of the number of named neighbourhood police officers in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency.

The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing for everyone in England and Wales, no matter where they live.As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the Government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.We are providing £200 million to police forces in financial year 2025/26 to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across the country.West Midlands Police has been allocated £12,210,903 for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for West Midlands Police over 2025/26 will be 289 police officers (FTE) and 20 Police Community Support Officers (FTE).

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking through the Commonwealth to support (a) UK soft power and (b) the soft power of Commonwealth partners.

Our Commonwealth membership plays an important role in the projection of UK soft power. Shared history means the English language is spoken widely, we have strong cultural links and similar systems of rule of law and parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth Secretariat provides technical support that reinforces these links and our shared values. In addition to our core financial contributions to the Secretariat, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funds human rights advisers and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association International to strengthen human rights, parliamentary democracy and good governance. We will discuss with the new Secretary-General how to enhance the soft power impact of the Commonwealth.

What discussions she has had with the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands on the number of neighbourhood police officers based in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency.

The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing for everyone in England and Wales, no matter where they live.As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.We are providing £200 million to police forces in financial year 2025/26 to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across the country.West Midlands Police has been allocated £12,210,903 for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for West Midlands Police over 2025/26 will be 289 police officers (FTE) and 20 Police Community Support Officers (FTE).

What discussions she has had with the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime on knife crime.

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary launched the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime in September 2024. The Coalition brings together campaign groups, families of those who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives.The Minister for Crime Prevention and Policing has attended 5 coalition meetings since it was founded, chairing its most recent meeting on 28th April. The Home Secretary has also met with members of the Coalition. The Coalition has discussed key issues, including the online sale of knives, child criminal exploitation and the banning of ninja swords.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43886 on Sustainable Farming Incentive, what estimate his Department has made of the number of farmers impacted by the closure of the scheme; and whether they will be prioritised in future schemes.

Currently there are over 39, 000 live SFI agreements.The government will work with the farming and environmental sectors to prioritise funding for future years so we can target SFI actions fairly and effectively, focusing on helping less productive land contribute to our priorities for food, farming and nature.We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of mobile speed camera vans in reducing speeding in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Aldridge-Brownhills constituency.

The use of mobile speed camera vans to enforce speed limits is an operational matter for West Midlands Police.Excess speed is a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads and anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face proper sanction.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK Soft Power Council at utilising UK science and technology.

The Soft Power Council is now operational but still in an early phase of developing its work. The Council includes several individuals with expertise spanning science, technology, education and research, in recognition of the importance of these themes to UK foreign policy impact. The Council's geographic working groups are considering how to harness the UK's strengths in science and technology. The contribution of these sectors will also be considered as part of development of the new Government strategy on soft power over the coming months.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK soft power on exports by UK companies.

Our soft power is an important driver for growth; the sectors that contribute to our soft power are the economic backbone of the country and deliver tangible benefits for the people of the UK. Greater coordination of the UK's soft power through the Soft Power Council will contribute to growth for the UK through providing opportunities for investment and trade. Research from the British Council shows that strong soft power results in strong growth outcomes for UK businesses. Exports are supported through strong positive perceptions of the UK globally, including trust, favourability and attractiveness.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he plans to take following the London Sudan conference on 15 April 2025 to support countries neighbouring Sudan to (a) continue to keep their borders open and (b) address increased levels of migration.

Sudan is now the world's largest displacement crisis, with 8.6 million people estimated to be internally displaced and a further 4 million having fled to neighbouring countries since April 2023. On 15 April, the Foreign Secretary co-hosted the London Sudan Conference alongside the AU, EU, France and Germany. A Co-Chairs' statement following the conference committed to increase the international attention on the human cost of this conflict, including its impact on neighbouring countries. We frequently engage with neighbouring countries, including Egypt, South Sudan and Chad to support and underline the vital role they play in hosting refugees. The Foreign Secretary's visit to Chad in January was an important part of the UK's engagement with neighbouring countries.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Overseas Development Aid changes on the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership.

The UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) provides a comprehensive framework to coordinate the full spectrum of the UK's partnership with Nigeria in addressing shared security and defence challenges. Part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) approach in Nigeria is to prevent and reduce the systemic drivers of violent conflict such as weak governance, climate change, food insecurity, intercommunal violence and lack of access to basic healthcare and education. Nigeria was the third largest recipient of UK bilateral ODA in Africa in Financial Year 24/25, with an allocation of £117 million. ODA allocations for forthcoming years are currently being finalised. The SDP will remain a fundamental element of the UK-Nigeria bilateral relationship in the coming years.