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  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Serbian counterpart on the financial consequences of the EU sanctions on Russia on Serbia.

    Mr David Lidington

    The EU imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the annexation of Crimea and the crisis in Eastern Ukraine. Serbia has not currently imposed sanctions on Russia. No assessment on the financial consequences of EU sanctons on Russia has been made.

    Neither I, nor the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), have had any disucssions with our Serbian counterparts on the financial consequences to Serbia of EU sanctions on Russia, but the UK Government has regularly encouraged Serbia, as an accession country, to align itself fully with EU foreign policy. The UK Government has not received any represenations from the Serbian government about the impact of EU sanctions on Russia on the Serbian economy.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the financial consequences of the EU sanctions on Russia on Serbia.

    Mr David Lidington

    The EU imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the annexation of Crimea and the crisis in Eastern Ukraine. Serbia has not currently imposed sanctions on Russia. No assessment on the financial consequences of EU sanctons on Russia has been made.

    Neither I, nor the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), have had any disucssions with our Serbian counterparts on the financial consequences to Serbia of EU sanctions on Russia, but the UK Government has regularly encouraged Serbia, as an accession country, to align itself fully with EU foreign policy. The UK Government has not received any represenations from the Serbian government about the impact of EU sanctions on Russia on the Serbian economy.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has sought from the Swiss government on best practice in concluding a trade deal with (a) Japan, (b) China and (c) other non-EU states.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not sought advice from the Swiss government on these matters.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral contribution of 12 January 2016, Official Report, column 697, whether UK personnel provided a quick check on whether the reported airstrike in Yemen on a market place in the Hajjah Governorate had broken international humanitarian law.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The role of the UK liaison officers is to maintain an information flow with the Saudi Arabian authorities. We do not comment on the specifics. The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February, that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide on atrocities committed by Daesh.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    My officials have regular contact with the Joint Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect. Their discussions cover a range of issues related to preventing genocide and mass atrocities, including the actions of Daesh.

    The UK provides funding for the Office, including for its work with religious leaders and faith-based organisations in the Middle East and North Africa.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The figures requested are attached and as follows:

    Number of Staff

    Cost CEA Home

    Cost CEA Overseas

    Total

    2012/2013

    442

    £8,736,957

    £6,189,104

    £14,926,061

    2013/2014

    378

    £6,727,304

    £6,435,519

    £13,162,823

    2014/2015

    370

    £7,193,211

    £5,749,923

    £12,943,134

    It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will estimate the proportion of rebel ground forces in Syria which could be considered moderate.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) stated in Parliament in December 2015 that we assessed at that time that there were around 70,000 non-extremist fighters in Syria, standing up to both the tyranny of the Asad regime and the poisonous and murderous ideology of Daesh. Since the time of that assessment, there have been significant shifts on the ground, particularly as a result of Russia’s military escalation, the majority of which has directly targeted the moderate opposition.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which academic and research bodies, which receive funding from the EU, are routinely used for research on the EU in departmental and ministerial briefings.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) draws on information from a wide range of sources when producing departmental and ministerial briefings. The FCO does not collect information on whether the sources used in the preparation of briefings receive funding from the EU.

  • Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Beckett on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the letter from the National Security Adviser to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy of 10 March 2016, how many GCHQ staff have been (a) recruited to and (b) completed the CyberFirst scheme.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The CyberFirst scheme was launched in 2015 and met its initial target of awarding 21 bursaries, of which 19 have been taken up and committed to by UK students. Eight of the students are in the first year of their degree, ten are in their second year and one student is in the third year of a four year course. The first students will be able to join the department when they graduate in 2017. As announced by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, we will have 1000 students on the scheme by 2020. During summer 2016, five of the students will attend GCHQ Student Technical Internships, seven will attend the various GCHQ summer technical schools, one will start a 1 year industrial placement at GCHQ and six will attend internships in other government cyber operations.

  • Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Beckett on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the letter from the National Security Adviser to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy of 10 March 2016, how many GCHQ staff were (a) recruited to and (b) completed the GCHQ cyber apprenticeship scheme in each year since 2012.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Since 2012 the scheme has already provided over 70 highly skilled new entrants to the GCHQ workforce. Of the 18 students who joined the GCHQ apprenticeship scheme in September 2012, over 60% successfully graduated from the course in 2014 and joined the GCHQ workforce. In September 2013, the nature and scale of the apprenticeship scheme changed as it expanded to become a scheme covering the whole of the SIA: all three of the UK’s intelligence Agencies (MI5, SIS and GCHQ) now directly recruit successful graduates from the scheme, which means that the exact number of apprentices each year cannot be openly released for security reasons. I can confirm however that over 160 new apprentices have joined the scheme since 2013, and of these a substantial majority are expected to join GCHQ when they graduate.