Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on China of the recommendations contained in the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission report, published on 28 June 2016.

Alok Sharma

​I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, the Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, to the noble Lord Alton of Liverpool, on 26 September 2016 (PQ HL1811), copied below for ease of reference: "My officials and I have read the report with interest. Although the Government was not asked to give evidence to it and the views stated within it do not reflect Government policy, there is much in the report with which we agree. We are already pursuing an approach consistent with many of the recommendations. For example my Ministerial colleagues and I regularly raise concerns about the crackdown on human rights lawyers, repressive legislation, and challenges to freedom of religion or belief. Equally, there are parts of the report which require further investigation to substantiate the claims made, for instance about organ harvesting."