Tag: Hilary Benn

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 995, what steps the Government is taking to support the (a) gathering and (b) preservation of evidence of crimes that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account.

Mr Philip Hammond

Evidence is being gathered and preserved by a range of state and non state actors for potential prosecutions. The UK is supporting a number of these efforts. In Syria, the UK is funding the work of NGOs who are gathering evidence of Human Rights violations committed across Syria, including by Daesh and the Asad regime. This is being done to the standards required for criminal prosecution against high level perpetrators in a domestic or international court. In Iraq, we are considering how the UK might best complement similar efforts already underway. Working with international partners, we are doing everything we can to assist in the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used by judicial bodies to make a judgement on this matter. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Egyptian government on the death penalty imposed on Ibrahim Mohammed Helal and other journalists in that country.

Mr Philip Hammond

We regularly raise our concerns over press freedoms with the Egyptian authorities both in London and in Cairo. The Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the detention of journalists with President Sisi during his visit to the UK in November 2015. I raised press freedoms and freedom of expression with the Egyptian Ambassador in April, and these concerns are expanded upon in the Human Rights Priority Country report on Egypt which was published on 21 April. It is a long term policy of the UK Government to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle and we have raised this with the Egyptian Government. There are further stages in the legal process and we will continue to monitor the case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to act upon the Resolution of the House of 20 April 2016 on the recognition of genocide by Daesh against Yazidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government shares the House of Common’s condemnation of Daesh atrocities and we remain very concerned about appalling crimes committed against Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim populations in Iraq and Syria. Daesh’s victims, whether in Iraq and Syria or elsewhere in the world, must receive justice. This is why the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), announced on 21 July that the UK will work with our international partners to drive a global campaign to hold Daesh to account for its crimes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what meetings he has (a) had to date and (b) scheduled for a future date with trades unions.

Mr Robin Walker

We have already started a wide-ranging programme of engagement in order to build a national consensus, listening to organisations, institutions and companies in as many sectors as possible to establish their priorities and understand their concerns, and also to hear what they think the solutions could be.

One of the Secretary of State’s first meetings was with the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. I and my Ministerial colleagues have also met with a wide range of representatives from business groups, the universities, the charity sector and farming and fisheries organisations.

In the weeks ahead, we will continue to engage with as many other firms, organisations and bodies as possible, including with trade unions. We will also be holding roundtables with stakeholders in a series of sectors, to ensure that all views are reflected in our analysis of the options for the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is the Government’s policy to negotiate to continue participation in the European Food Safety Authority after the UK leaves the EU.

David Mowat

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the lead Department for relations with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The priority of the FSA and of the United Kingdom Government continues to be to ensure effective and proportionate food regulation which protects public health while supporting innovation and growth. The FSA will continue to use independent expert advice on risk assessment to inform food policy and regulation, and will continue to liaise with EFSA as an important source of international expert advice, as well as with other sources of evidence and advice from the UK and internationally. Detailed arrangements for the UK’s relationship with EFSA after the UK leaves the European Union will be determined as part of the UK’s wider approach to the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many named people from which countries have been subject to UK targeted sanctions in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Philip Hammond

The UK implements EU and UN sanctions. The definitive lists of named individuals subject to sanctions are held by these multilateral bodies. Sanctions usually comprise an asset freeze and/or a travel ban.

HM Treasury maintains a consolidated list of individuals subject to financial sanctions [http://hmt-sanctions.s3.amazonaws.com/sanctionsconlist.htm]. At present there are 1,296 individuals on that list. It is not current practice to retain the records of individuals who are no longer subject to targeted sanctions, nor to segment data on an annual basis. The consolidated list is updated whenever an individual is added to, or removed from, an EU or UN sanctions regime. It represents the current situation and is designed specifically to facilitate sanctions implementation and compliance by the private sector. Annualised data for the last 10 years is not held by the UK, EU or UN.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s expenditure against Departmental Expenditure Limits is in 2015-16; and what his Department’s Annually Managed Expenditure in 2015-16 was (a) at the time of the March Budget, (b) at the time of the Summer Budget and (c) on 10 November 2015.

Mr Philip Hammond

Audited spend information for 2015-16 will not be available until the FCO Accounts are published after the end of the financial year. Audited departmental outturn for 2014-15 against both Departmental Expenditure Limits and Annually Managed Expenditure is published in the FCO Annual Report and Accounts which has been placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to disrupt and prevent the sale of antiquities by Daesh to finance their terrorist activities.

Mr Philip Hammond

Daesh has two main sources of funding. About 40% comes from extorting communities living in territory it controls; and around 40% from selling oil. It also gets a small amount of funding from selling looted antiquities and donations from individuals in the region and around the world. The trade in stolen cultural property accounts for only a small proportion of Daesh revenues, and is mostly carried out by third parties operating in Daesh territory.

UK efforts in this area have focussed on limiting the market into which Daesh can sell looted antiquities into. UN Security Council 2199, which we co-sponsored in February 2015, sanctions those trading with Daesh and includes provisions on cultural heritage. The UK has an effective domestic legal framework for matters of cultural property. All import or export of illegally removed Iraqi and Syrian cultural property is prohibited, and it is a criminal offence in the UK to deal dishonestly in tainted cultural property from anywhere in the world.

The Government announced at the end of 2015 that a new Cultural Protection Fund would be established to help address recovery from acts of cultural destruction overseas, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office co-hosted a summitt in October 2015, with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to support this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 22858, on the basis of the evidence seen by the Government, what assessment he has made of who was responsible for the damage to the Iranian Embassy in Sana’a.

Mr Philip Hammond

It is important to determine the facts of any incident. From current evidence we have seen, it does not appear that a Saudi airstrike hit the Iranian Embassy. We are continuing to work with all parties to de-escalate regional tensions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Saudi Arabia following receipt of the Final Report of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen.

Mr Philip Hammond

As I said in Parliament on 28 January, we regularly raise the importance of compliance with International Humanitarian Law with the Saudi Government and other members of the military coalition. I raised the issue of IHL compliance on my recent trip to Rome with my Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir. The Saudi government have their own internal procedures for investigations and we encourage them to thoroughly investigate all allegations of non-compliance including those reports in the UN.