We are aware of the UN Environment Programme report on pollution in the Niger Delta. Oil spills in the Niger Delta occur because of criminal activity as well as oil company operations. We continue to closely monitor the situation in the Delta and raise pollution both with the Nigerian government and the oil companies.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), saw the environmental degradation in the Delta first hand during his visit to Nigeria in February 2014. On that visit he discussed these issues with President Jonathan and senior officials at Shell.

We are aware of the impact that oil pollution has had on the Bodo community and a number of other communities in Rivers State Nigeria. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), discussed the area's environmental problems with Shell during his visit to the Delta in February 2014.

We maintain an ongoing dialogue with the Government of Nigeria and oil companies operating in the Delta, including Shell, through which we continue to press for environmental responsibility in the oil and gas sector.

We maintain an ongoing dialogue with Shell and other oil companies operating in the Niger Delta and use such discussions to raise environmental concerns and stress the oil companies’ corporate responsibility, including the maintenance of equipment.

The UK intervened in both these cases (Kiobel v Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum and Rio Tinto v Sarei) to clarify our position on the proper limits of the extraterritorial application of US law. The amicus brief submitted by the UK was confined to our views on this point of international law, and did not take a position on the allegations made against the defendants in this case. The views expressed were consistent with long-standing UK policy.

The UK strongly supports the promotion of business and human rights and was the first country to produce a National Action Plan to implement the UN Guiding Principles. We have consistently made clear that we expect British companies to act in accordance with human rights wherever they operate, and that companies should not be able to act with impunity. States should enact domestic law to regulate the activity of businesses to ensure that they do not have a negative impact on human rights. We believe it appropriate and desirable for a State to provide remedies for human rights victims where human rights abuses are committed by their nationals (including corporate nationals) overseas.

Rio Tinto wrote to the British Government in November 2011 requesting that the Government intervene in their case in view of our stance on extraterritoriality. After considering the points of law that the case raised, we considered that submitting a brief would be appropriate. The Shell case was brought to our attention by a third party and again we objected because there was little, or no, connection between the corporate defendant and the US. Officials discussed the case with the company after we had made the decision to intervene. The Government initially submitted a brief in support of Shell in the Kiobel vs Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum case because we were not advised that a neutral brief was a possibility. As soon as we became

aware, we replaced our original brief with a neutral brief, as the best way of representing our wider legal concerns without taking a position on the specific allegations in this case.