Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the possible diplomatic benefits of recommissioning HM Yacht Britannia.

    Alok Sharma

    The Government is determined to make a success of our global role in the world, but re-commissioning the Royal Yacht Britannia is not on our agenda, nor is commissioning a new yacht. There was a debate in Westminster Hall about this very topic on 11 October which aired a range of issues including feasibility and cost. My Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson MP), the Foreign Secretary, also told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on 13 October that he hoped a consortium of philanthropists would come forward to finance the cost of a new yacht.

    The former Royal Yacht was used on just 37 occasions for trade promotion and signing trade deals during the last seven years of its commission (1989-1997) and only 27 trips were made overseas – four times per year. There is no evidence that the yacht made a difference to the trade deals secured in these years and this level of use would not represent a good return on investment.

    The Government does not have potential costs for the reintroduction of the Royal Yacht Britannia or building of a new royal yacht because neither a feasibility study nor a review has been carried out since the decommissioning of the Britannia in 1997.

    We shall continue to make full use of the FCO global network of nearly 270 embassies, high commissions and consulates to promote UK interests overseas. We shall also continue to make full use of existing Royal Navy ships for promotional purposes when they are in foreign ports.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of changes to stop and search guidelines on the level of knife crime in (a) north east Essex and (b) other areas with a higher than average incidence of such crime.

    Mike Penning

    No assessment has been made of the effect on knife crime or other offences of the amendment to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code of Practice A which makes clear what ‘reasonable grounds for suspicion’ are and that officers would be subject to conduct or performance procedures as a result of misusing the power. The changes came into force on 19 March 2015. More generally, statistical evidence does not suggest a clear relationship between changes in the use of stop and search and knife crime. The Home Office continues to monitor levels of knife crime but the latest figures show that nationally it is 17% lower than in June 2010, and although it has seen a slight rise of 4% in the last year (to June 2015) it remains close to its lowest level since data was first collected.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many employers were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of a criminal offence by the Crown Prosecution Service for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last five years.

    Robert Buckland

    Data held centrally by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), together with information provided by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which has responsibility for enforcing the law in relation to the National Minimum Wage (NMW), shows that in the financial year 2010 – 2011, no employers were charged with a criminal offence for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation but one employer was convicted from an earlier charge. One charge was made in the financial year 2011 – 2012 and one conviction was made in 2012 – 2013. No cases were charged or convicted in 2013 – 2014 and one case was charged in 2014 – 2015.

    The majority of employers identified as paying below the National Minimum Wage pay arrears on receipt of a formal Notice of Underpayment. Where they do not do so, HMRC pursues recovery through the civil courts. For deliberate non-compliance or obstructive behaviour HMRC operates a policy of selective and exemplary criminal investigation action as part of a wider enforcement strategy.

  • Lord Bruce of Bennachie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Bruce of Bennachie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bruce of Bennachie on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recent violence in Burundi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is deeply concerned by the recent violence in Burundi and supports the East African Community mandated dialogue, facilitated by Uganda, as the only route to a sustainable and inclusive solution. The UK has been active in its response, working alongside our international partners. Under the UK’s Presidency the UN Security Council approved Resolution 2248 which provided for the deployment of a UN team to Burundi. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (Mr Duddridge), visited the region between 15 – 17 December with a focus on Burundi. Mr Duddridge discussed the recent violence with the Burundian Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe, and Major General Prime Niyongabo, Army Chief Of Staff. In Uganda, Mr Duddridge had separate meetings with President Museveni and Foreign Minister Kutesa. Additionally, he spoke by phone with Defence Minister Kiyonga. Mr Duddridge also met Rwandan Foreign Minister Mushikiwabo to underline the need for constructive engagement to solve the Burundi crisis. We have intensified our coordination with African Union (AU) countries alongside international partners. We welcome the AU’s Peace and Security Committee communiqué of 18 December which authorised a deployment of AU troops to Burundi to stabilise the security situation. We are exploring what more we can do to support the AU’s leadership at the UN and with our EU partners.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the action they and their allies can take to enable the UN agencies in Syria to carry out their mandates fully and freely.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has played, and will continue to play, a leading role in ensuring that UN agencies are able to carry out their mandates in Syria. Through our membership of the UN Security Council and as part of the International Syria Support Group we helped generate a mandate for the UN Special Envoy for Syria to launch intra-Syrian peace negotiations this month. We have also co-sponsored a series of UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) on humanitarian issues, including most recently UNSCR 2258 on cross-border humanitarian access. These resolutions provide a mandate for the delivery of aid into Syria.

    We are deeply concerned about the restrictions placed on UN agencies to deliver these mandates, particularly the obstructionism and lack of response from the Syrian Regime to repeated requests from the UN for humanitarian access to towns and regions across Syria. We regularly raise these issues in the UN Security Council.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people under the age of 18 were dependants of adults who had been granted leave to remain in the UK and had also had a no recourse to public funds condition attached to their leave in the financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

    James Brokenshire

    Home Office Systems cannot be interrogated in a way that will provide any meaningful response to the question. A manual review of all applications submitted with dependants within the stipulated timeframe would be needed in order to provide an accurate response and this would incur a disproportionate cost to the public purse.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has prohibited entry into the UK of people from other EU member states on public protection grounds in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government has prevented EEA/EU nationals entry into the UK on public protection grounds in each of the last five years. The Home Office is unable to provide figures for refusals within each refusal category. Total refusals for each of the last ten years are provided in the table below.

    Numbers of EU nationals granted entry to the UK through Regulation 11 (2) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 are not recorded centrally.

    EU Passengers initially refused entry each year since 2006

    Year

    Total refusals

    2006

    1663

    2007

    973

    2008

    753

    2009

    618

    2010

    594

    2011

    688

    2012

    787

    2013

    1078

    2014

    1755

    2015

    2165

    “

  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department is (a) carrying out and (b) encouraging into extending the use of materials that biodegrade more quickly.

    Rory Stewart

    In October 2014, Defra commissioned the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) project on biodegradable plastic carrier bags – solutions through innovation. The project is contracted to the plastic packing manufacturer Aquapak Polymers Ltd, and is due to report in December this year. The project is testing the biodegradability of a hydrophilic polymer under simulated composting and anaerobic digestion conditions, and in experiments simulating natural conditions, and testing the impact on aquatic life.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens imprisoned abroad in each country.

    James Duddridge

    We collect global detainee statistics twice a year. On 30 September 2015 we were aware of 2,003 British nationals detained overseas (either pre- or post- sentencing). The largest numbers are detained in USA (499), Spain (186), Ireland (173), Australia (155) and France (102).

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to stop the further displacement of civilians in Iraq, particularly in Mosul, due to continued military action by coalition forces there.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is working with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government, the UN and international partners to ensure that all Coalition-supported military operations against Daesh in Iraq are under-pinned by comprehensive plans to minimise and manage expected displacement, and provide humanitarian assistance and stabilisation support. The Foreign Secretary, my Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), raised these issues with international partners at the counter-Daesh Coalition Ministerial meeting in Washington on 20-21 July.

    On 20 July, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), announced £10.5 million in additional UK funding for stabilisation in Iraq, we expect a significant proportion of our contribution to support efforts in and around Mosul. This announcement brings the UK’s Iraq contributions on immediate stabilisation to £9.25 million, and on explosive hazards to £7.75 million.

    Since summer 2014, the UK has pledged £129.5 million of humanitarian support. This includes £50 million of additional assistance announced on 20 July 2016.