Written questions by Morton.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the meeting of the All-Serbian Assembly in June 2024.

While the UK welcomes inclusive regional cooperation, economic integration and inter-connectivity initiatives across the region, we have underlined to Serbia's leadership concerns about the June 2024 All Serb Assembly and Declaration and encouraged adherence to the commitments on good neighbourly relations made by all Western Balkans leaders at the 2018 London Summit. We consistently emphasise at senior levels the importance of Serbia's role in building and supporting regional stability; I did so when I met Foreign Minister Djuric in October and reinforced the message with President Vucic and Foreign Minister Djuric in Serbia in January 2025.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the inclusion of children in multilateral events such as the Nutrition for Growth Summit.

The safety and security of children globally spans across all six of the Foreign Secretary's priorities. At the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) summit, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) are funding Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Civil Society Organisation (CSO) network advocacy work to elevate youth participation and representation at the summit, directly facilitating their inclusion and highlighting the experience and needs of mothers and children in their communities. FCDO also are funding a UK and a global south partner country youth delegate to attend the Commission on Population and Development summit. FCDO continues to strengthen CSO partnerships, ensuring grassroots voices are heard and amplified globally, as the Foreign Secretary outlined in his Human Rights Day speech in December 2024.

What plans his Department has to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

In their meeting on 27 February, the Prime Minister and President spoke about the fair, balanced and reciprocal economic relationship that the UK and the US enjoy. They agreed to deepen this relationship, and tasked their teams to work together on an economic deal focused on tech. We are in regular discussions with our US counterparts, and we will set out more details as conversations evolve.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the application by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Taliban leaders for crimes against humanity.

We continue to condemn the Taliban's draconian restrictions on women and girls' rights. Those responsible for international crimes committed in Afghanistan should be held to account for their actions. We note the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Taliban leaders in relation to the persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan. We welcome the progress being made in the investigation in Afghanistan. The UK Government respects the independence of the ICC. It is for the ICC Prosecutor to determine independently who should be prosecuted in accordance with his mandate under the Rome Statute.

Whether she discussed China’s economic practices during her visit to Beijing in January 2025.

During the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, the Chancellor was clear that whilst we must cooperate with China on areas of mutual interest, we will confidently challenge on areas where we disagree. The Chancellor raised UK concerns during meetings with her Chinese counterparts, including about trade imbalances and economic security.The Chancellor also published a written ministerial statement about her visit to China on the morning of Monday 13 January (found here) and delivered an oral statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 14 January (found here).

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the rights of Afghan women and girls.

The UK Government condemns the Taliban's inhuman repression of Afghan women and girls. We are working with international partners to maintain collective pressure to press the Taliban to respect the human rights of women and girls. While in New York in January, I publicly demonstrated my support for Afghan women and girls at the UN, ahead of the International Day of Education on 24 January. The UK Government is committed that at least 50 percent of Afghans reached by UK aid are women and girls.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to enhance the safety and security of aid workers in conflict zones.

We recognise the vital role that aid workers play in conflicts, and the risks they face. In May 2024, the UK co-sponsored UN Security Resolution 2730. The resolution establishes a regular reporting mechanism to highlight the safety and security of all humanitarian personnel at the Security Council and provide recommendations on measures to protect and enhance the safety and security of humanitarian personnel, assets and premises and ensure accountability.As a permanent Member at the UN Security Council, we will continue to use our position to protect aid workers, champion compliance with International Humanitarian Law and seek accountability for violations.

What plans he has to negotiate any new state-level trade agreements with the United States.

The UK is exploring various avenues to strengthen UK-U.S. trade ties and support economic growth, in tandem with development of the Industrial and Trade Strategies. The UK continues to deliver against commitments in signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with individual U.S. states, to help UK businesses deepen their commercial links and facilitate trade.The UK most recently signed an MoU concerning co-operation on economic relations, trade and investment with the State of Colorado on 27 January 2025

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to make additional funding commitments under the Nutrition for Growth initiative to support malnutrition interventions in Nigeria.

The UK Government welcomes the upcoming Nutrition for Growth summit in Paris, and continues to champion improved nutrition in the long-term, integrating its approach alongside successes in other sectors such as health, agriculture, humanitarian, and climate. Specific funding commitments are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income today to 0.3 per cent in 2027. The Government will set out its spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) plans and (b) discussions with the US Administration he has had on developing a strategy for managing Iran's influence in the Middle East region.

The Foreign Secretary has discussed the situation in the Middle East, including Iran, with Secretary Rubio. We are in close contact with the US Administration on all our Middle East priorities and will continue to work with the US to counter Iran's destabilising activity in the region. This includes by holding Iran to account in multilateral fora, using sanctions regimes to target Iranian support to its proxies, and by maintaining our permanent defence presence in the region.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to undertake further consultation with stakeholders following the completion of Baroness Shafik’s Independent Development Review.

As my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Oxford East wrote in response to question 28558, the Foreign Secretary is considering his response to the three reviews he commissioned into the UK's Global Impact, Development and Economic Diplomacy. The Foreign Secretary and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Ministers will continue to meet key stakeholders on a wide range of issues, including international development, in the course of their duties, and as part of a commitment to harnessing a wide range of perspectives and integrating them into the FCDO's policy and strategy.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the safe and voluntary return to Syria of Syrian refugees.

As I made clear in my Statement to the House on 10 March, Syria faces an ongoing humanitarian crisis, with the UN reporting 16.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. We agree with the UN's assessment that the conditions in Syria are not currently suitable for large-scale refugee returns. With the international community, we are providing vital humanitarian and development support to Syrians in Syria and those displaced across the region. The UK has provided over £4.3 billion in aid to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure UK participation with regional partners on the Abraham Accords.

The United Kingdom warmly welcomed the normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab partners. The Abraham Accords are a historic milestone that bring us closer to the goal of shared prosperity and peace throughout the region. The UK is working with regional partners to ensure the Abraham Accords are an enduring success, and we continue to encourage other countries who have not yet normalised their relations with Israel to do so. We continue to support efforts to ensure normalisation also delivers benefits for the Palestinians.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely aid delivery to vulnerable populations; and what steps he is taking with international partners to remove barriers to that delivery.

The Foreign Secretary has been clear that the UK is committed to protecting the most at risk in situations of conflict and crisis, including civilians, refugees, internally displaced people, women and girls, and people with disabilities.We work closely with international partners to remove barriers to delivery, both through diplomatic initiatives and in the way that we select delivery partners and approaches. This includes using our seat at the UN Security Council to promote access to aid and the protection of aid workers.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Nigerian government on bilateral cooperation to improve food security.

The UK has raised food security with Federal and State Government representatives in Nigeria. This includes discussions on supporting food availability, access, utilisation and stability, including through relevant Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) programming. Officials have discussed efforts to address food insecurity in recent meetings with Nigeria's Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit, Nigeria's new Federal Ministry of Livestock and Development, and Kaduna State Government. Officials and other development partners have stressed to the Nigerian Government the importance of implementing the World Bank funded Social Safety Nets programme as a matter of urgency to help address food insecurity.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle increasing malnutrition rates around the world through its international development programs.

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office is taking steps to prevent, detect, and tackle malnutrition through our Child Wasting Innovation Programme (CWIP), the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and through our approach to integrating nutrition objectives alongside other policy objectives on sectors such as health, food and agriculture, humanitarian, and climate.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the autonomy of the UK and US operations on Diego Garcia.

We will retain full control over Diego Garcia with robust provisions to keep adversaries out. These include unrestricted access to and use of the base for the UK and US, including control over the electromagnetic spectrum; a buffer zone around Diego Garcia; a comprehensive mechanism to ensure no activity in the other islands threatens base operations; and a ban on the presence of any foreign security forces. The details will be set out when the treaty is laid before Parliament.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he has made on delivering on the Action Plan in the Atlantic Declaration (2023) since July 2024.

The Atlantic Declaration was agreed with the Biden Administration under the previous UK government. Since entering office last year, we have taken a case-by-case approach to its initiatives in support of this government's missions. This included a meeting of the UK-US Joint Standing Committee on Nuclear Energy Cooperation in August 2024 and the second Strategic Technologies Investment Council in November 2024. As the Prime Minister said, we are committed to pursuing an economic deal with the new US administration with advanced technology at its core.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government’s Africa Strategy includes specific commitments to addressing food security and malnutrition in Nigeria.

The Foreign Secretary launched a five-month consultation to inform the UK's new approach to the African continent during his visit to Nigeria and South Africa in November 2024. This follows the manifesto commitment to develop a fundamentally transformed partnership that engages with African countries as equals, promotes our economic growth ambitions and supports migration priorities. While consultations are ongoing, a broad range of policy options are being considered.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the UK’s £25 million commitment to the Pandemic Fund, how much of this funding (a) had been spent, (b) had been committed and (c) remained unallocated as of 30 December 2024.

The UK has committed £25 million to the Pandemic Fund. £10 million has been transferred to the Pandemic Fund. The remaining £15 million will be transferred in 2025/26.