The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s chart of account.
Mr David Lidington
From 1 April 2016 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will use the Government-wide Common Charter of Accounts, which is already in the public domain and can be found on www.gov.uk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Saudi Arabian authorities on pursuing a negotiated solution to the conflict in Yemen.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK Government is in regular contact with the Saudi authorities about the situation in Yemen through our Embassy in Riyadh and our Yemen Office based in Jeddah. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Al Jubeir on 29 September in the margins of the UN General Assembly. He underlined the importance of a political solution to the current crisis as soon as possible and reinforced the necessity of compliance with international humanitarian law. I also chaired a high level meeting at UNGA focused on pursuing a political solution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Saudi Arabian counterpart on human rights abuses in that country.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The British government regularly raises its human rights concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities at the highest levels through Ministers, our Ambassador, and the Embassy team in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign & Commonwealth Office country of concern because of the human rights situation in the country, particularly on the use of the death penalty, restricted access to justice, restrictions on women’s rights, as well as on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion or belief. We regularly make our views well known including through the UN Universal Periodic Review process and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s annual Human Rights and Democracy Report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress was made during the recent visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on negotiations on the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Mr David Lidington
We are not able to give a running commentary on the discussions. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) is focussed on success. He believes he can and will succeed in reforming and renegotiating our relationship with the EU and campaigning to keep the UK in the EU on that basis. I welcome Chancellor Merkel’s statement to the Bundestag on 15 October that “it goes without saying that we will work constructively with the British government” on this question, and that she was “convinced that we will be able to find an acceptable compromise”.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the level of sexual violence (a) within Syria and (b) in camps for Syrian refugees.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are extremely concerned by the high levels of sexual violence in Syria and within Syrian refugee camps. The UN Commission of Inquiry report of September 2015 highlighted widespread sexual abuse carried out by the Syrian regime, ISIL and some armed opposition groups within Syria. Assad’s forces and militia are responsible for the vast majority of sexual violence, which include threats, rape, degrading body searches and sexual harassment in prisons and branches of the security agencies. ISIL propaganda condones the barbaric treatment of male and female captives, sexual relations with adolescent girls and sexual slavery. Unfortunately, many of those who flee the conflict remain extremely vulnerable to sexual violence. Exploitation of vulnerable individuals within refugee camps was highlighted by the UN Equity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women report “We keep Silent” issued in April 2014. The UK is providing £1 billion in humanitarian aid, which includes support to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to provide services for survivors of sexual violence and has so far reached over 27,000 women in Syria. We are also supporting case management in Jordan for over 800 survivors and cash assistance to vulnerable refugee women in Lebanon. The FCO has committed £5.2 million to projects preventing sexual violence in Syria. We are supporting projects to train health professionals and human rights defenders in collecting and preserving evidence of human rights abuses including sexual violence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Saudi Arabian counterpart against that country’s policy of judicially-sanctioned capital punishment.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, especially in cases which do not meet the minimum standards defined by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We believe it undermines human dignity and there is no evidence that it works as a deterrent. Ministers, our Ambassador in Riyadh and the Embassy team raise the issue of the death penalty with the Saudi authorities, both bilaterally and through the European Union.
We recognise that total abolition of the death penalty is unlikely in Saudi Arabia in the near future. Our focus is therefore on encouraging the introduction of EU minimum standards for the death penalty as a first step, and on supporting access to justice and rule of law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on incursions into Gibraltarian waters by Spanish ships in recent months.
Mr David Lidington
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ) raised unlawful incursions with the Spanish government when he visited Spain in February. The Government has raised a number of serious unlawful incursions directly with the Spanish government at a senior level in recent months. I did this most recently on 12 September during a meeting with the Spanish Minister for Europe, Fernando Eguidazu Palacios.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what policy aims his Department achieved at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.
Grant Shapps
As a cornerstone of the international rules-based system, the UN is a universally recognised platform for countries to reach agreement on the global issues that affect us all. The opening session of the UN General Assembly brings together political leaders from across the world in a way that sets the multilateral agenda for the year ahead. Since the opening of the General Assembly’s 69th session in September 2014, notable achievements in support of UK policy aims include: a new set of global development goals to help eradicate extreme poverty within the next 15 years; support for the Secretary General to develop a comprehensive Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism; a General Assembly resolution on the Arms Trade Treaty which maintained momentum towards the Treaty’s entry into force in 2014; strong human rights resolutions on Syria and the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea; and $220m (£145m) in savings on peacekeeping mission costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to encourage other nations in the Levant and Arabian peninsula to accept refugees from Syria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the crisis in Syria, having committed over £1.1bn, which includes funding for regional countries to assist arriving refugees.
The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), recently visited Lebanon and Jordan, where he paid tribute to the efforts of these countries in hosting Syrian refugees. Syria’s neighbours have been incredibly generous in welcoming huge numbers of refugees. There are now over four million Syrian refugees in the region, including over one million who fled Syria in 2014 alone. Turkey hosts the highest number of refugees, at over 2 million, followed by Lebanon at over 1 million and Jordan at over 628,000. The UK has allocated £559 million to support refugees in the region and vulnerable host communities to date, including £304 million in Lebanon and £193 million in Jordan. The Gulf States continue to contribute generously to humanitarian support for the Syria crisis, and there are large numbers of Syrians already in the Gulf.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to prevent the export of illegal drugs from Afghanistan.
Mike Penning
Her Majesty’s Government provides counter-narcotics assistance to a range of international partners, including Afghanistan. We do so to tackle the international drugs trade and minimise the threat it poses to the UK. Our work involves the sharing of operational information and expertise and the provision of capacity building. It is important to protect activities which form part of the UK’s contribution to the international counter-narcotics effort and to respect the principle that international partners are able to operate in secrecy on matters of national security against organised crime. As such, it is our policy not to disclose specific details of our counter narcotics work, as to do so risks reducing its effectiveness and damaging international relations.