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Tag: David Anderson

  • David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Islington of 2 September 2013, Official Report, columns 294-5W, on Israel, what recent steps he has taken to raise allegations of corporate complicity in human rights abuses and international law violations by G4S in Israeli prisons with G4S.

    Hugh Robertson

    International law does not impose direct obligations on corporations. However, the British Government encourages British companies to show respect for human rights in their operations in the UK and internationally. This is why in September 2013, we launched the UK Action Plan based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

    Through the Overseas Business Risk Service we provide online advice to raise awareness of the key security and political risks which British businesses may face when operating abroad, including in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

  • David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure the viability of the financial position of the North East Refugee Service; and for what reasons her Department has not yet paid exit costs to that organisation.

    James Brokenshire

    Negotiations on the exit claim are underway between the Home Office and the
    Refugee Council and we hope to conclude these as soon as possible. The North
    of England Refugee Service was a subcontractor of the Refugee Council, and the
    Home Office is therefore unable to negotiate directly with the North of England
    Refugee Service.

  • David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Sudan about the imprisonment of Meriam Ibrahim.

    Mark Simmonds

    I am appalled at the death sentence given to Meriam Ibrahim, and her continued imprisonment. Immediately following her trial, I issued a statement describing her conviction as barbaric and calling upon the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion and international human rights laws as enshrined in its own constitution. The Chargé d’Affaires of the Sudanese Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign Office on the 19 May at the request of Foreign Secretary. DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lynne Featherstone, reiterated our demand with the Sudanese Foreign Minister when she met him on 20 May. Our Embassy in Khartoum, that attended her trial, continues to press the Sudanese authorities for Meriam Ibrahim’s release, and is in close contact with the defence team.

  • David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2014-05-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will examine Pfizers’ involvement in the development of rucaparib and publish the findings of that examination.

    Mr David Willetts

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • David Anderson (Lord Anderson of Ipswich) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

    David Anderson (Lord Anderson of Ipswich) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

    The tribute made by David Anderson, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

    My Lords, when a Knight of the Thistle dies, the surviving spouse or a child attends on the sovereign to return the knight’s insignia. Shortly before Christmas, as we started to recover from Covid, that extraordinary honour fell on me. Appointment to the Order of the Thistle, Scotland’s equivalent of the Garter, is, as noble Lords well know, in the personal gift of the monarch. My father had no other titles but was thought of, I suppose, because as a young teacher at Gordonstoun he took Prince Charles under his wing. We were proud of our modest tradition of royal service, exemplified by my grandfather, who used to travel to Balmoral, tape measure in hand, to fit the Royal Family for their kilts. Her Majesty seemed to remember everything—that included.

    Her Majesty explained that the insignia did not actually need to be returned, pointing to my father’s thistle collar and the badge already laid out on the small round table in Windsor Castle. But she had reckoned without our family incompetence in matters of protocol. I fished out of my pocket a gold-coloured medallion, feeling ashamed that I had not ironed its green ribbon first. We had wrongly believed that it was our duty to keep it safe at home. Royal surprise turned to triumph when the Queen’s sharp eyes spotted that the medallion fitted into an indentation in the jewellery box which contained the badge. She pressed it in like the last piece of a jigsaw.

    “It’s been a funny time, hasn’t it?” said Her Majesty, as she drew the audience expertly to a close. “Do you think things will go back to the way they were, or have some things just changed?” That question, posed in the context of the pandemic, came back to me after her death. Some things will never go back to the way they were, and in that there is infinite sadness. The future, by contrast, affords us no comfortable memories and fear often weighs more heavily with us than hope. But our national future can be happy and glorious if we unite to make it so. After an unparalleled life of service, Her Majesty has left us in good hands. Thank you, Ma’am, and long live the King.