Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office written question – answered at on 26 May 2026.
Iain Duncan Smith
Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress on freedom of religion and belief for (a) Tibetans, (b) Uyghurs, (c) Hui and (d) Mongols; and what discussions she has had with international counterparts on that law.
Seema Malhotra
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities), Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer provided in the House of Lords on 17 March in response to Question HL15305.
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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.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
