To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Malloch-Brown on 24 November (WA 234), when the next meeting of the political dialogue between the European Union and Cuba will take place; and whether at that meeting British representatives will raise the treatment of political prisoners in Cuba. [HL106]

The next round of the EU political dialogue with Cuba has not yet been scheduled.

During the first meeting of the new dialogue in October, held between EU troika Ministers and the Cuban Foreign Minister in Paris, progress on human rights was highlighted as a key issue for the EU. The EU also raised the issue of political prisoners and access to Cuba's prisons.

In a meeting with the Cuban ambassador in November, my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Gillian Merron, also raised UK concerns about political prisoners in Cuba.