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 had to date with HM Government of Gibraltar on exiting the EU.
Mr Robin Walker
The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union met with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar this week and is committed to continued close working with the Government of Gibraltar.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-10-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic effect on the UK of the UK withdrawing from the European Banking Authority.
Simon Kirby
On 23 June the British people voted to leave the EU and the Government will deliver on their verdict. We will continue to undertake the policy work to support the UK’s negotiations to leave the European Union and to establish the future relationship between the EU and the UK. However, we are not going to give a running commentary on every twist and turn of our exit negotiations. It is in all our interests for UK and EU to work together on both our withdrawal and a new relationship and for us to be able to deliver a successful outcome through a constructive negotiation.
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 Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 21322, what advice has been issued to UK banks and building societies offering second charge mortgages in territory outside the UK.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government is not aware of any formal advice that has been issued to banks or building societies offering second charge mortgages in territories outside the UK.
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 actions he has taken as a result of receiving the Final Report of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen.
Mr Philip Hammond
We are looking at the conclusions of the UN Panel of Experts’ report carefully. We recognise the importance of the work of the UN Panel of Experts. Looking at the information available to us, we have assessed that there has not been a breach of IHL by the coalition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on steps being taken to rescue Yazidis being held hostage by Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
Mr Philip Hammond
We hold no specific information on steps being taken to rescue Yazidis being held hostage by Daesh in Syria and Iraq. However, Yazidi hostages have been freed by the Peshmerga during recent offensive operations against Daesh. We are also aware of media reports of organisations who are working to free those being held hostage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals work at administrator grade staff level in the European Parliament; and what proportion of the total number of that parliament’s employees they represent.
Mr Philip Hammond
The European Parliament does not publish statistics on numbers of permanent staff by nationality. As of April 2015, our records show there were 144 British citizens working in the European Parliament at administrator grade level, including UK secondees. This represents 2.4% of approximately 6000 total staff employed by the European Parliament in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of elections due to take place in November 2016 on political stability in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr Philip Hammond
The Government is concerned that elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may not take place by the Constitutional deadline in November 2016. We believe that it is still technically possible to hold the elections on time and remain committed to doing what we can to support this process.
On 4 March 2016 the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, my Hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd), announced in Kinshasa that the UK was prepared to make available £11.4 million to support the elections provided that certain conditions were met. These conditions include the production of a credible timetable and budget for the elections.
We have called upon the Government of the DRC to ensure that political freedoms, freedom of media and speech and human rights are respected to ensure a peaceful and fair environment for the elections. We have also called upon all actors to respect the law and avoid inciting violence and disorder.