Tag: Diane Abbott

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the financial and humanitarian effect on Turkey of keeping its border with Syria open to refugees while restricting their access to the EU.

    Justine Greening

    The UK recognises Turkey’s extraordinary generosity in ably hosting so many refugees from Syria and elsewhere. The EU-Turkey Summit on 29 November 2015 highlighted the importance that the EU attaches to its wide-ranging partnership with Turkey and need to support Turkey in its hosting of Syrians. The EU and Turkey have agreed to an Action Plan and a €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey to help implement it. We have committed our share to the €3 billion Facility

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33646, what conditions of access have been placed by (a) Jersey and (b) the Cayman Islands on their registers of beneficial ownership.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer the hon. Member to the text of the arrangements concluded between the UK and the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and to the Oral Statement given by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) on 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 23.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beneficial-ownership-uk-overseas-territories-and-crown-dependencies

    https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-04-11/debates/1604111000001/PanamaPapers#contribution-1604116000104

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the destruction by lethal yellowing of coconut palms in Antigua.

    Justine Greening

    The identification and control of significant plant and animal diseases is an important part of DFID’s research programmes, delivered through co-funded projects with the UK research councils, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and through the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the contributions of the Minister of State for International Development at the International Development Committee, 27 January 2016, Question 28, and on 3 February 2016, Official Report, column 908, what the evidential basis is for the statements that export of arms by the UK to Saudi Arabia is not undermining her Department’s humanitarian work in Yemen.

    Justine Greening

    The UK is the fourth largest donor to the crisis in Yemen, committing £85million this year. Funding those agencies and NGOs who have the best access and ability to deliver humanitarian assistance in Yemen means we have been able to provide support to over 1.3m Yemenis. In recent weeks, UK food aid has also been delivered to some of the hardest to reach areas of Taiz.

    Nevertheless, the conflict in Yemen does make it difficult for agencies to operate and deliver humanitarian aid to all those who need it. That is why a lasting ceasefire is so important. We are doing all we can to support the UN to convene a further round of peace talks over the coming weeks and to renew the ceasefire.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has made to ensure that the safeguards on private sector instruments in the 19 February 2016 communiqué of the OECD Development Assistance Committees are implemented in the UK.

    Justine Greening

    The UK will comply with the agreement reached at the 2016 High Level Meeting (18-19 February 2016) in line with the timetable agreed by the OECD.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the implications are of the findings of the report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, entitled DFID’s efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, published on 17 May 2016, for her Department’s work on strengthening women’s rights organisations and networks in the developing world.

    Justine Greening

    I welcome ICAI’s recent review, which awarded my Department their highest rating, a green review score, for our work on tackling violence against women and girls. The review highlights the important contribution UK Aid makes to the lives of women and girls around the world and recognises the significant achievements of DFID to date on this vtial issue. My Department will provide a formal response to the ICAI findings in due course.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has met relevant bodies to discuss the issue of the arms trade and development since giving evidence to the International Development Committee on 27 January 2016.

    Justine Greening

    I did not provide evidence to the International Development Committee on 27 January.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications of the findings of the report by Europol, Migrant Smuggling in the EU, published in February 2016, for her policies on tackling smuggling through the criminal justice system.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government’s system-wide approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime is based on information and intelligence from a wide variety of sources. The Government takes Organised Immigration Crime very seriously – we are working to smash the criminal gangs that are fuelling this terrible trade in people. In June 2015 the Prime Minister announced the creation of the Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce bringing together officers from the NCA, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service. The Taskforce was subsequently expanded in November 2015 to more than 100 officers, and has had its funding extended until 2020. The Government values the intelligence-led approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime Europol helps to facilitate, including through Joint Operational Team Mare, and welcomes the launch by Europol on 22 February 2016 of the new European Migrant Smuggling Centre which will proactively support EU Member States in dismantling criminal networks involved in organised migrant smuggling. The UK has been at the forefront of calls in the EU for a robust approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the stability of developing countries of the change in the OECD’s Official Development Assistance definition.

    Justine Greening

    The changes agreed to the ODA system at the High Level Meeting uphold the primary purpose of ODA whilst improving the tools available to donors to address violence and promote stability in developing countries. The UK agrees with the OECD that these changes are essential in supporting delivery of Global Goal 16 on inclusive and peaceful societies.

  • Diane Abbott – 2022 Speech on Manston

    Diane Abbott – 2022 Speech on Manston

    The speech made by Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in the House of Commons on 28 November 2022.

    Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)

    I am grateful to the Minister for coming before the House with his statement, but does he not agree that it should not have taken a death to make Ministers focus properly on issues relating to infectious diseases at Manston? It is not as if the possibilities relating to infectious disease have not been raised and written about. Does he not agree that it is quite wrong that it took a death for him to come before us and talk about new guidance: new guidance that nobody presenting with symptoms will be progressed on; new guidance about ensuring that asylum accommodation providers get the very latest public health advice; and new guidance about co-operating with the French about infectious disease in northern France? It took a death for the Minister to come before us with that new guidance.

    The Minister has also said that there is no risk to the wider population and the House is grateful to hear that. However, does he not accept that, whether these people are deemed to be legal or illegal, we have a basic responsibility for their health? It should not have taken Ministers so long to focus on the well-reported dangers of infectious disease.

    Robert Jenrick

    I respect the right hon. Lady’s point of view and experience, but it has not taken a death for the Home Office to focus on this issue. This individual’s death is deeply regrettable, but we have been working on, and alive to, this issue for many months—indeed, for years. The Home Office has had in place procedures to deal with covid since the start of the pandemic. The hotels I mentioned earlier, which we will use to transfer people with diphtheria symptoms, were the locations the Home Office used for those who tested positive for covid.

    The UKHSA has been publishing guidance on the treatment and support of asylum seekers and refugees for many months—it may even be years. The latest guidance on this issue was published by Dame Jenny Harries and her colleagues two weeks ago, prior to the sad death of this individual. I am afraid that the connection that the right hon. Lady seeks to draw is not correct. We do not take this issue lightly, and we will continue to follow it and to put in place whatever measures we need to.