Tag: Hilary Benn

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is the Government’s policy to negotiate to continue participation in the European Patent Office after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The UK’s participation in the European Patent Office will be unaffected by leaving the European Union. The European Patent Office and the European Patent Organisation are established by an international treaty, the European Patent Convention, to which the UK is a contracting party. The European Patent Convention is not restricted to EU countries and it currently comprises 38 Contracting Member States.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 12951, whether all directly employed and contracted staff of his Department are contractually permitted to write to him about their employment conditions or pay without having investigatory proceedings instigated against them.

Mr Philip Hammond

Staff directly employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) may write to me on any issue without investigatory proceedings being instigated against them. The FCO obliges its contractors to adhere to all employment legislation and encourages its contractors to have appropriate measures in place to manage its employees. No disciplinary measures were taken against Interserve cleaners who wrote to me.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Russian counterpart on recent Russian military action in Syria.

Mr Philip Hammond

I met the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in the margins of the Syria talks in Vienna in October 2015. In addition, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made numerous representations to the Russian Government regarding military operations in Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14770, when she plans to publish the contribution the UK will make to the World Food Programme for 2016.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK is currently the second largest donor to the WFP, after the United States. For 2015, the UK has so far provided a total of £270.6million in funding to WFP. UK contributions are made up of unearmarked core funding (£40m in total for the financial year 2015/16) and bilateral funding allocated by DFID country offices (which represents the biggest proportion of UK funding).

DFID will be in a position to announce the UK core contribution to WFP for the financial year 2016 / 2017 once the Multilateral Aid Review 2015 (MAR 2015) is published in March 2016. UK core contribution will be informed by the results of the MAR assessment of WFP and the review of WFP performance and effectiveness in using the core funding provided by UK.

Bilateral funding is decided by DFID at country level and is based on needs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Written Statement of 25 March 2014, 9WS, whether it is still the Government’s policy not to grant an arms license if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Anna Soubry

The framework for arms export licensing remains as set out in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, known as the Consolidated Criteria. All licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated Criteria. A licence would not be granted if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria, including if there was a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to support an independent inquiry into alleged breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the UN Human Rights Council.

Mr Philip Hammond

The UK supported a UN Human Rights Council resolution in October 2015, which called on the UN to provide technical assistance to the Government of Yemen, assist the Yemeni National Independent Commission of Inquiry and report back to the next session of the Human Rights Council. It is for the Government of Yemen to decide how its domestic human rights monitoring mechanism should work and the UK welcomes Yemen’s commitment to cooperate with the UN on protection of human rights.

The UK has also encouraged members of the Saudi-led coalition to investigate allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law, and for their investigations to be thorough and conclusive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24112, if he will make an assessment of whether there have been contraventions of the (a) 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict and (b) 1972 World Heritage Convention during the conflict in Yemen.

Mr Philip Hammond

We remain concerned about any damage to cultural property in Yemen and are aware of reports of alleged damage by actors in the conflict. Yemen and many members of the Saudi-led coalition are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict and to the 1972 World Heritage Convention. We have raised our concerns regarding protection of cultural property with both the government of Yemen and the Saudi Arabian government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Government’s response to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s First Special Report of Session 2015-16, published on 11 February 2016, HC816, when he expects the internal review of his Department to be completed; what the key priorities of his Department are on which that review will be focussed; and if he will publish the conclusions of that review.

Mr Philip Hammond

The internal review is expected to be completed in the Spring. Its remit is to advise on how the FCO can be more expert, agile and focused on the Department’s key priorities. I expect the review to set out a vision of the organisation the FCO should be by 2020. The review is internal. No decision has yet been taken on publication.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which local authority areas applications can be made for naturalisation and a British passport at the same time.

James Brokenshire

Customers are able to book appointments in the following local authority areas:

Brent, Barnet, Southwark, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Hackney, Wandsworth, Enfield, Hertfordshire, Islington, Camden, Bracknell Forest, Leeds, Slough, Merton, Sutton, Poole, Luton, East Riding of Yorkshire, Tower Hamlets, Hammersmith & Fulham, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Oldham, Wolverhampton, Trafford, West Berks, Reading, Dudley, Hull, Norfolk, Worcestershire, Redbridge, Westminster, Bolton, Wokingham, Southampton, Warwickshire, Windsor & Maidenhead, York and Pembrokeshire.

This service will be further rolled out within additional local authority areas over the coming months.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to reports of his remarks in Ankara in January 2016, what recent estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens who have (a) entered and since left, (b) entered and remained in and (c) been prevented from entering (i) Syria and (ii) Iraq since April 2013.

Mr Philip Hammond

Approximately 800 individuals of national security concern have travelled to take part in the Syria conflict since it began. Of these approximately half have returned. As I said when I visited Ankara in January, the UK and Turkey have worked together to prevent the travel of over 600 UK nationals to Syria and Iraq via Turkey.

The UK continues to work to prevent the flow of extremist travellers to Iraq and Syria, through domestic measures in the UK, and through co-operation with international partners including Turkey.