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Tag: Lord Hylton

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support the direct and indirect negotiations between the government of Turkey, elected representatives, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); and whether they will encourage the government of Turkey to maintain the current ceasefire and to conclude the negotiations as soon as possible.

    Baroness Warsi

    We applaud the continuing efforts of the Turkish government aimed at concluding a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue. We encourage all sides, including members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, to maintain the current ceasefire and continue negotiations until a just and lasting agreement is achieved.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that claimants of benefits who are subject to sanctions know that they may apply for hardship payments; and what is the median time between such applications being made and cash payments being received.

    Lord Freud

    Where a benefit doubt is identified and the case is being referred to a decision maker, claimants are given information (verbally and in writing) about the doubt in question, what happens next, what they can do if a sanction is applied and the availability of hardship provision. Once a decision is made and a sanction applied, a formal notification is issued to the claimant, which includes information about how to apply for hardship.

    The Department does not record information about the length of time it takes to make a Hardship payment following receipt of an application.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the resignation of Mr Lakhdar Brahimi as United Nations mediator in Syria.

    Baroness Warsi

    Lakhdar Brahimi has played a crucial role as joint UN and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria since June 2012. He showed strong leadership and great patience in getting the parties to the conflict round the same table in Geneva and take the first steps towards potentially constructive dialogue. The responsibility for the collapse of negotiations rests wholly with the regime’s refusal to engage in discussion on an agenda for future talks put forward by Mr Brahimi. The appointment and mandate of any future UN Special Envoy is still under consideration by the UN.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to instruct the various investigative and regulatory authorities to give priority to suspect deposits, in particular laundered money and investments, originating from Russia and Ukraine.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    The Government is committed to tackling money laundering and ensuring that the UK is a hostile place for the proceeds of corruption.

    Prior to EU sanctions being agreed, the Treasury contacted anti-money laundering supervisors suggesting that they emphasise the increased risk in relation to Ukraine to their firms and remind them of the need to have appropriate systems and controls for due diligence, ongoing monitoring and reporting of suspicious transactions.

    It is not possible to comment on specific operational matters.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the offer of partial amnesties by President Assad of Syria.

    Baroness Warsi

    The limited amnesties on prisoner release offered by President Assad do not offer a genuine solution to the problems in Syria. While the British Government has been consistent in calling for the release of political prisoners it is as yet unclear who these amnesties will affect and how prisoners’ safety will be assured. The lies and brutality of the Assad regime, as set out in the UN’s Commission on Inquiry reports, mean that this amnesty will not provide reassurance to the Syrian opposition. If the Syrian regime is serious about bringing the conflict to an end, then they should release political prisoners unconditionally and negotiate seriously within the framework set out in the Geneva communiqué.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what amount of money, fraudulently, corruptly or criminally acquired and transferred to the United Kingdom from (1) Russia, and (2) Ukraine, has been frozen, confiscated or returned to its rightful owners, in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    The Serious and Organised Crime Strategy sets out our commitment to making the UK a hostile environment for money laundering. The information you have requested is not centrally held, but the UK has taken a leading role in responding to allegations of corruption in Ukraine, promptly implementing European Union sanctions against individuals identified as responsible for the misappropriation of state funds, and posting a multi-agency team, comprising of the National Crime Agency, Metropolitan Police Service, and Crown Prosecution service, to Kiev to provide technical assistance and support to the Ukrainian authorities. All appropriate criminal justice and administrative routes to support the Ukrainian authorities are being pursued.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel about its holding children detained in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in immediate solitary confinement; whether they have any plans to work within the European Union to end the practice; whether they know when the proposed system of summons will start; and whether they will take steps to ensure access by parents to their children in custody.

    Baroness Warsi

    The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Mr Grayling), raised the treatment of child detainees with the Israeli Supreme Court President during his visit to Israel in May. The system of summons started in February 2014. It has already shown initial success in decreasing the number of children arrested at night. We intend to carry out further analysis on this system over the coming months. As a recent progress report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates, Israel has taken some positive steps towards addressing the recommendations in UNICEF’s Children in Israeli Military Detention report. These include: the introduction of legal obligations to inform the child’s parents of an arrest and grant them legal status to be represented in court, as well as to notify minors of their legal rights; and standard operating procedures on methods of restraint. The Government will continue to work, both through bilateral engagement and through the EU, to encourage Israel to take further positive steps.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent deaths in the Yarmouk section of Damascus, reported by Amnesty International in its report Squeezing the life out of Yarmouk: War crimes against besieged civilians, and, in particular, of that organisation’s attribution of the deaths to starvation and lack of medical care.

    Lord Bates

    DFID is deeply concerned by reports of Palestinian refugees in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus suffering and dying as a result of malnutrition and lack of medical care. Yarmouk has been under siege for some time and we are calling for unfettered access to all affected communities and for all sides to lift sieges to end this suffering.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to prevent members of Britain First and other extreme groups causing offence in mosques in England; and whether there are any plans to take out injunctions against known offenders.

    Baroness Warsi

    Everyone has the right to feel safe in the place where they worship, free from discrimination and prejudice and we utterly condemn the recent intrusions of Britain First in Bradford and the fear and intimidation this has created among residents. In our country people of all religions must be able to worship without fear of harassment or interruption.

    The Secretary for State for Communities and Local Government (the Rt Hon Eric Pickles) has met with representatives of the Bradford Council of Mosques to encourage them to develop guidance for all mosques on what they should do in case of a repeat of the incidents in Bradford. Freedom of worship is a fundamental and hard-fought British liberty that should be defended and we will continue to work with faith organisations and the Council of Mosques to take the right security precautions and ensure that people in Bradford and elsewhere feel safe

    Injunctions would be taken out by the individual Mosques involved, not by Government. We are unaware of any plans to take out injunctions in this case.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Securityand Co-operation in Europe is considering Ukraine at is weekly meetings; and what recommendations, if any, it has so far made, in particular about conflict prevention.

    Baroness Warsi

    The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been at the forefront of the international response to the crisis in Ukraine over recent months. The crisis has been a regular topic of discussion on the Organisation’s agenda since the Permanent Council met to discuss it in special session on 3 March. Both the Permanent Council and the Forum for Security and Co-operation have discussed Ukraine on numerous occasions since then.

    The OSCE has launched a number of initiatives to contribute towards de-escalation of the crisis. On 21 March the Permanent Council agreed to the deployment of a Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine. That Mission, which includes a UK Deputy Chief Monitor and 9 UK staff, swiftly deployed across the country with a mandate to gather information, report on the security situation and assess how best to meet the concerns of all parties. The Mission is providing regular reporting and recently played a key role in the negotiation of the safe release of the Vienna Document unarmed military inspectors who had been detained in Slavyansk. In Geneva on 17 April the US, the EU, Ukraine and the Russian Federation agreed that the Mission should have a role in verifying the implementation of agreed steps towards de-escalation. The Government fully supports this Mission’s work and is actively backing it with both finance and personnel. The UK has so far contributed over £1 million and is currently the second biggest contributor to the Mission’s core costs.

    In addition to the SMM, the OSCE has been active in Ukraine through the work of its autonomous institutions, the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Representative on Freedom of the Media, while there has been a rolling programme of visits by unarmed military inspectors under the Vienna Document 2011. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is sending a large scale mission of 1000 observers to monitor the Ukrainian Presidential Elections on 25 May. The UK will be providing 10% of the total number of observers with 10 Long term Observers and 90 Short Term Observers.

    There are no current plans for an OSCE Summit, while the next formal Ministerial Council is due to take place in Basel, Switzerland on 4-5 December 2014. However the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), been in regular contact with OSCE Chairman and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, most recently when they met in Vienna on 6 May, while the Minister for Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), spoke by telephone to OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on the same day.