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  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Dogs Trust pilot quarantine on disrupting the illegal importation of puppies under the Pet Travel Scheme.

    George Eustice

    I welcome the Dogs Trust initiative to pay the quarantine costs of dogs and puppies identified at Dover as being not compliant to enter Great Britain under the EU Pet Travel Scheme. Since 2 December 2015, 108 puppies have been licensed into the quarantine facilities, mainly due to concerns that puppies were under the minimum age for travelling.

    The Animal and Plant Health Agency will carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of the initiative following its conclusion.

  • Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bingham on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on implementation of the recommendations of the Bonfield report on public procurement of food; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Government is committed to providing food produced to British standards or their equivalent in all its canteens, restaurants and cafeterias by the end of this Parliament. Defra is working closely with other Departments and businesses to implement Dr Peter Bonfield’s Plan for Public Procurement of Food, including a balanced scorecard. The Ministry of Justice recently launched a tender for supplying food to prisons, worth £500m, which requires bids to use the balanced scorecard. Their current supplier has agreed that the 30 million portions of UHT milk served in prisons each year will be sourced from UK producers. All new Central Government food and catering contracts will use the balanced scorecard approach.

  • Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to implement the recent UN General Assembly Resolution on an Olympic truce during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

    James Duddridge

    The United Kingdom co-sponsored the General Assembly resolution “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, which calls for Member States to observe the Olympic Truce – a cessation of hostilities around the Olympic Games – within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations, and to promote peace through sport. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the UK already works to uphold the UN Charter and its commitment to the maintenance of international peace and security.

    For the 2012 Olympic Games in London the UK was the first ever nation to get all 193 UN Member States to sign the Olympic Truce. We are actively involved in building links between countries through sport. HM Government supported the successful London 2012 International Inspiration programme that reached 25m children in twenty countries through the power of sport and continues to support a range of other related initiatives around the world such as the British Council’s Premier Skills and Try Rugby programmes. Looking ahead to next year’s IAAF World Athletics Championships due to be hosted in London, the Government, through UK Sport, is supporting LEAP (Leadership and Excellence in Athletics Programme) which aims to develop youth athletics in a number of countries around the world.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ensure that the new ship contract agreed for the Pitcairn Islands supply run will include best practice stipulations regarding biosecurity and waste disposal.

    James Duddridge

    The Pitcairn Island Government is currently in the process of tendering for a new freight and passenger service. We will stress to them the importance of the need for best practice for biosecurity and waste disposal.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 29560, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of active Daesh fighters in (a) Iraq, (b) Libya and (c) Syria in each of the last 24 months; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    As outlined in our response to PQ 29560 the latest available public figures on the number of Daesh fighters in Iraq and Syria come from the US. These put the number at approximately 19,000 – 25,000, compared to 20,000 – 31,000 fighters in 2014.

    Our current estimate for the number of Daesh fighters in Libya is between 3,000 – 6,000. We do not have earlier estimates from which we could extrapolate a trend. The vast majority of Daesh fighters in Libya are foreigners rather than Libyans. While some Daesh figures have called for foreign fighters to go to Libya rather than Iraq/Syria, we have not seen any evidence to suggest this has happened.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of how many Yazidi civilians are held by Daesh forces in Iraq and Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We do not hold figures for the numbers of Yezidi civilians who are being held by Daesh forces. The situation is desperate for many communities within Syria and Iraq. We condemn in the strongest terms the targeting and persecution by Daesh of Yezidis, Christians, Muslims and all other communities.

    Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology. That’s why the UK is playing a leading role in the Global Coalition of 66 countries and international organisations committed to tackling Daesh.

    We are also using our aid budget to alleviate the humanitarian suffering caused by Daesh and the wider conflict in Syria. The UK has now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The funding is providing support, such as food, medical care and relief items, to over a million people including those targeted by Daesh. This includes life-saving maternal and child health-care, child protection services, and specialized support for those who have escaped Daesh’s terror.

  • Paul Scully – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Scully – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Scully on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Consulate General in Jerusalem give us regular updates on the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These updates include reports on rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into the sea; any rocket fire from Gaza into Israel; and any retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza. However they do not keep a record of the numbers, but according to UN figures, in January 2016 a total of three rockets were fired into Israel by Gazan militant groups.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he is making to (a) the UN and (b) his Thailand counterpart on the detention of Pakistani Christians fleeing religious persecution in Thailand despite being UN-registered asylum seekers.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We are concerned about the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. We continue to work with the UNHCR in Thailand on a wide range of refugee issues. However, Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Once any form of legal immigration status expires, refugees and asylum claimants may be deemed to be in Thailand illegally even if they have registered with the UNHCR. Nonetheless, we have pressed the Thai authorities to apply international humanitarian norms and standards when handling these vulnerable groups. We are also working with the Thai authorities to improve conditions of detention.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects discussions to begin with the US government on extending the lease for the military base on Diego Garcia.

    James Duddridge

    We have been clear that we want to see US presence continue. No decisions have yet been made about whether and when to have discussions with the US about their continued presence on Diego Garcia.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Nigerian government on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

    James Duddridge

    Religious freedom in Nigeria is protected by the Nigerian Constitution. Boko Haram seeks to undermine this constitutional provision by attacking all Nigerians who do not subscribe to its extremist views. It has committed atrocities against people of all faiths, including Christians and Muslims, with the majority of those killed having been Muslims. We regularly discuss with the Nigerian Government at the highest levels our concern about the threat Boko Haram poses to communities of different faiths and ethnicities. We will continue to work with the Nigerian Government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to improve the security situation and human rights for all in Nigeria.