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  • Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether representatives from the entertainment industry have been consulted on proposed changes to the rules and guidance relating to visitor visas to the United Kingdom.

    Lord Bates

    We consulted with a wide range of sectors on our proposals to streamline the visitor routes and produce new, clearer Immigration Rules and guidance for visitors. These included business groups, tourism bodies and representatives from the arts and creative sectors which included organisations that work in the entertainment industry.

    The new Immigration Rules for visitors will be laid in Parliament on 26 February and will come into force in April. More details will be available then.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Sudan.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK remains seriously concerned by the human rights situation in Sudan. Sudan is a human rights Country of Concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and features in the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report. A copy of the FCO’s latest quarterly assessment of the human rights situation in Sudan is attached, which highlights the ongoing conflicts, restrictions on freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression remain of particular concern.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Eritrea.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We remain concerned about the human rights situation in Eritrea, including shortcomings in the rule of law, reports of arbitrary detention, and limits on the freedom of speech. We have made clear we want the Eritrean government to take concrete steps to implement the international commitments it has made. We welcome recent progress made by the Government of Eritrea, including ratifying the Convention Against Torture in 2014 and hosting a visit by international human rights experts in January 2015. We continue to urge Eritrea to work constructively with the international community and implement the recommendations of the 2014 Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Eritrea is a human rights Country of Concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and features in the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report. A copy of the FCO’s latest quarterly update on the human rights situation in Eritrea is attached.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Burma.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Burma remains a human rights Country of Concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and features in the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report. A copy of the latest quarterly update to that report on Burma is attached, which highlights the humanitarian situation in Rakhine, continuing conflict and sexual violence in Kachin, political prisoners and restrictions on freedom of expression.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Guinea-Bissau.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK welcomes the return to constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau following the democratic Presidential and Legislative elections in 2014. We also welcome the subsequent improvement in the human rights situation, particularly in respect of civil and political rights, but further progress needs to be made, especially in strengthening the justice sector. We have encouraged Guinea-Bissau to take practical steps to accelerate the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation and to reduce the number of child, early and forced marriages, including at the UN in January during the Universal Periodic Review of Guinea-Bissau’s human rights record.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Mali.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK remains concerned about the human rights situation in Mali. In recent years civilians have suffered from widespread human rights abuses, particularly during the occupation of northern Mali by terrorist groups. Women and girls have been victims of sexual violence and children have been recruited into armed groups. Those who commit human rights violations continue to act with impunity. Negotiations in Algiers are taking place between the government and armed groups aimed at reaching a sustainable peace agreement, which would lead to an improvement in human rights in Mali.

    The UK is actively working to improve human rights in Mali including with partners. For example, we are providing a curriculum of training in international humanitarian law as part of the EU’s training mission to the Malian Armed Forces. So far some 3,000 Malian soldiers have received this training. We also support the work of the UN to monitor human rights abuses in Mali.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Libya.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK remains seriously concerned by the human rights situation in Libya. Libya is a human rights Country of Concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and features in the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy report. The UK worked closely with international partners to support the efforts of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General, Bernardino Leon, to bring an end to the violence through an inclusive political dialogue between the parties. In April 2014 the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), offered diplomatic support for UN efforts by appointing Jonathan Powell as a Special Envoy to the Libyan political transition.

  • Lord Davies of Stamford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Davies of Stamford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Davies of Stamford on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest estimate of the number of people sleeping rough in Greater London; and how many places in hostels are available for homeless adults in that area.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The annual Rough Sleeping Statistics for England reports rough sleeping counts and estimates provided by local authorities and represent single night snapshots of the number of people sleeping rough in their area between 1 October and 30 November. In 2014 there were 742 rough sleepers in local authority areas in London:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2014

    The Department does not hold information regarding the number of places in hostels for rough sleepers in London.

    This Government has increased investment in homelessness services over the lifetime of this Parliament. We have invested over £500 million to support local authorities and voluntary sector agencies help the most vulnerable in our society. This includes £34 million to the Greater London Authority to tackle rough sleeping across London.

    We have recently put in place funding and support to prevent single homelessness and help those at risk of rough sleeping. The £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund will help 22,000 people with multiple needs across 168 local authorities and the innovative £15 million Fair Chance Fund programme will change the lives of around 1,600 homeless young people with high needs and at risk of falling through the net of existing services. We have also supported Crisis with nearly £14 million in funding that by 2016 will have helped around 10,000 vulnerable single people to access and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector.

    Thousands of vulnerable people who have slept rough or faced with the prospect of doing so have been given the help they need through No Second Night Out and StreetLink initiatives.

    The No Second Night Out initiative has actively sought to identify and then help more rough sleepers, uncovering rough sleeping which was previously hidden or under-reported. This is in contrast to the counts under the last Administration which systematically under-estimated or ignored the true level of rough sleeping.

    By using StreetLink, the national telephone, digital and app service, the public can help connect rough sleepers to the local services available so they can get the help they need to get them off the streets. This has already resulted in 23,000 referrals of rough sleepers to local authorities for investigation. We have also supported No Second Night Out schemes nationally through the £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund for the voluntary sector ensuring rough sleepers are found quickly and that they do not spend more than one night on the street.

    According to CHAIN (Combined Homeless and Information Network) data, the majority of rough sleepers in London are foreign nationals. My Department’s activities have included education campaigns led by the voluntary sector warning those coming here without appropriate support about the dangers of ending up destitute and sleeping rough on our streets. European Economic Area nationals who are begging or sleeping rough will be administratively removed. From the beginning of the year they will then be barred from re-entry for 12 months, unless they can prove they have a proper reason to be here, such as a job.

  • Lord Davies of Stamford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Davies of Stamford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Davies of Stamford on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the power and propulsion systems of the Type 45 destroyer; what actions they plan to take and to what timescale in order to remedy any problems that may have been identified; what is the estimated cost of any necessary remedial work; and what share of this cost will be borne by public funds.

    Lord Astor of Hever

    As a new class of warship the Type 45 has experienced some equipment reliability issues. Most of these have been resolved. Work is continuing to resolve the remaining issues. This is being funded from within existing Ministry of Defence (MOD) support budgets.

    In addition, options to undertake a Diesel Generator upgrade are being considered. This would add greater resilience to the Power and Propulsion system by increasing electrical generation capacity. The feasibility phase for this work, which is being co-funded by BAE Systems and the MOD, will conclude at the end of March 2015. A decision on whether to proceed with the upgrade programme will then be considered against wider Defence priorities and would be funded by the MOD.

    I am withholding information about the potential costs for the Diesel Generator upgrade as releasing such information at this stage would prejudice the commercial interests of the MOD.

    We have six in service, and the Type 45 class has demonstrated its capability, supporting operations in the Gulf and the South Atlantic.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-02-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Turkey about proposals to convert many secular schools into Imam Hatip schools and the forced enrolment of pupils into Imam Hatip schools in 2014.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Our Embassy in Ankara regularly discusses education policies with senior Turkish cabinet ministers and officials, and Turkish education unions. In January our Ambassador met with Mehmet Görmez, President of the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey), and discussed religious education and Imam Hatip schools with him. More widely, we regularly raise human rights issues with the Turkish government, including the importance of freedom of religion and safeguarding the rights of minority groups.