Andy Slaughter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2014-05-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 594-5W, on official visits, if he will provide details of the six received requests for special mission status; and from which countries they were received.

Mark Simmonds

None of the six requests for special mission status to which I referred in my answer to the House of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 594-5W, were refused. After consenting to the visits as special missions, two of the visits were subsequently cancelled by the country making the request.
As I noted in my previous answer, in view of the confidentiality of diplomatic exchanges, we have no plans to make public further details about requests that have been granted or refused. But if those applying for special mission status wish to announce the details of their visit to the UK, they are of course at liberty to do so.