The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman or lady Parliamentary Question of 26th June is attached.

The UK has High Commissions with accredited resident High Commissioners in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the latter of which was opened in 2019. The UK High Commissioner to Fiji is also the accredited non-resident High Commissioner to Tuvalu. The UK does not have Honorary Consulates in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu or Tuvalu.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 22 November is attached.

There are no immediate plans for an FCDO Minister to visit the countries listed. The former Foreign Secretary visited Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands in April, where he met with heads of government and made clear the UK's intention to develop partnerships with Pacific Island Countries that deliver on their priorities. The Minister for the Indo-Pacific attended the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in November, and our accredited High Commissioner visited Tuvalu in August. The UK is committed to sustained and long-term engagement with Pacific Island Countries through senior ministerial engagement and our High Commissions in the region.

There are currently no confirmed plans for a visit to Tuvalu within the next year. The UK is committed to creating lasting partnerships with Pacific Island Countries, demonstrated by the Foreign Secretary's visit to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands in April. The UK works with Tuvalu on its priorities in line with the Pacific Island Forum's 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent, including tackling climate change, building economic resilience and promoting sustainable development. The UK Government regularly engages with the Government of Tuvalu through our High Commission in Fiji and through ministerial engagement, most recently at the World Bank Annual Meetings in October 2022 and at COP27 in November 2022. I also visited Vanuatu in November 2022, where I engaged with counterparts across the pacific islands.

Tuvalu, and other Pacific Island Countries, are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As hosts of COP26, the UK brought together tens of thousands of delegates from 196 countries plus the EU to agree The Glasgow Climate Pact. Keeping global temperature rises below 1.5°C is essential for low lying atoll nations, such as Tuvalu, to cope with the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels.

Most UK aid in the Pacific is delivered through multilateral institutions such as the Green Climate Fund, which currently has two projects under implementation that
assist Tuvalu to counter the effects of climate change. The Tuvaluan Coastal Adaptation Project aims to protect Tuvalu from the impact of rising sea levels and increasing cyclone events. The second Green Climate Fund project aims to enhance the climate information services in five Pacific countries, including Tuvalu, and support increased climate-resilient sustainable development.

The UK has also provided £1.2 million in co-funding to the Pacific to establish the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Hub. By supporting the planning and achievement of climate targets in NDCs, the Hub is contributing to sustainable and resilient development and the transition to a net-zero emissions development pathway in the Pacific.

The UK is committed to building global consensus to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Bahamas, to address their unique vulnerabilities to climate change and build resilient green economies of the future. The UK led a High-Level Roundtable on SIDS Access to Finance and a call to action for global reform which brought together SIDS, development partners (donors) and international organisations. The Minister for Europe and the Americas set out the UK’s belief that the current development finance system is not working for SIDS.

At COP26 the UK amplified the voice of small islands and highlighted the need for drastic action to keep global temperature rises below 1.5^oC. The UK Presidency prioritised pushing developed countries to address SIDS’ concerns about climate finance: scale of finance, finance for adaptation, access to finance and action to avert, minimise and address loss and damage as a result of climate change. The UK also announced a new £40m ‘Small Island Developing State Capacity and Resilience’ (SIDAR) programme, which will support capacity-building for small island states to better access funding and to build state resilience. This is in addition to a further £7m to support resilient infrastructure for SIDS.

Pacific Island Countries are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The UK provides a range of support across the Pacific to finance adaptation in order to increase resilience to climate change. Most UK aid in the Pacific is delivered through multilateral institutions such as the Green Climate Fund. The Green Climate Fund currently has two projects under implementation and in progress that benefit Tuvalu. The Tuvaluan Coastal Adaptation Project aims to protect Tuvalu from the impact of rising sea levels and increasing cyclone events that threaten the country. A second Green Climate Fund project aims to enhance the climate information services in five Pacific countries, including Tuvalu, and support increased climate-resilient sustainable development. The Green Climate Fund's performance was assessed as meeting expectations in its most recent FCDO Annual Review. Reviews of this nature assess performance at the portfolio-level, and do not look at individual projects

As the UK exits the EU, it remains our priority to replicate the effects of the EU-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and implement it from exit day or as soon as possible thereafter. As Tuvalu has not signed the EU-Pacific EPA it is not party to the transitioned UK EPA although it is eligible to accede in the future.

The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries. This will provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme, granting duty-free, quota-free access to Least Developed Countries, including Tuvalu.

We engage with UN and US and EU partners about the risks and impacts of climate change on a regular basis, both within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, and in other fora including the G7, G20 and Pacific Island Forum. This includes, but is not limited to engagement focussing on the particular vulnerabilities of the small island states to climate change.

The UK provides financial support to small island nations through bilateral and multilateral channels, such as the European Development Fund, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and regional development banks. The UK has also committed to provide financial support to the multilateral Green Climate Fund which will include support for adaptation in countries vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including the small island states.

Work to combat violence and discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people forms an important part of our wider international human rights work. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works through our Embassies and High Commissions, and through international organisations, including the Commonwealth, the EU and the UN, to promote tolerance and non-discrimination against LGBT people and to address discriminatory laws, in particular those that criminalise homosexuality.

The UK has been a member of the LGBT core group in Geneva since 2011, playing a key role in passing the UN’s first ever resolution on LGBT rights and recently joined its counterpart group in New York.

Within the Commonwealth we continue to encourage the Secretariat and the Secretary-General to do more to promote the rights of its LGBT people. The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt hon friend the Member for Richmond, Yorks (William Hague), wrote to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in March urging him to take concrete action to address this issue within the Commonwealth.