Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office written question – answered at on 26 March 2024.
Lyn Brown
Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs)
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of 12 March 2024, Lords Official Report, column 1910, If he will publish a summary of Treasury advice received by his Department on legislation concerning private creditors.
Andrew Mitchell
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development), Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development and Africa)
The Government recognises the importance of private sector lending to low-income countries. The UK, alongside international partners, expects private creditors to participate in debt restructurings on terms at least as favourable as bilateral (i.e. country) creditors.
At this time, the Government is focused on delivering a market-based (contractual) approach to private sector participation in debt restructuring, which the IMF have found to be largely effective in recent years. As part of this, the UK has led the development of Majority Voting Provisions for private syndicated loans. We engage regularly with the Treasury on this issue.
Yes3 people think so
No2 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
