Tag: Lord Hylton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to speed up family reunions for refugees and migrants now in Europe, particularly in Greece, Italy and France; and whether special provision has been made for the 1,400 unaccompanied children in Greece, and households headed by women.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Goverment continues to work with key EU Member States to ensure the Dublin Regulation family reunification process works effectively.

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agree single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and a UK asylum expert was seconded to the French administration to faciliate the improvement of all stages of the process. The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and the family reunion process.

We are also providing support to the Dublin units in Greece and Italy, both bilaterally and through European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

On the 4 May the Prime Minister announced the Goverment will work with local authorities on plans to resettle unaccompanied refugee children from Europe. We are looking to transfer children who are already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March.

Ministers and senior officials are engaged in ongoing discussions with Greece, Italy, and France to identify and transfer to the UK unaccompanied refugee children where it is in their best interests. We are also consulting local authorities, non-governmental organsitations, UNICEF and UNHCR.

The UK is the largest bilateral contributor to the humanitarian response to the crisis in Europe and the Balkans with a total contribution of £65 million. This includes nearly £46 million to provide life saving aid to migrants and refugees including food, water, hygiene kits and infant packs, and protection for the most vunerable, as well as support to organisations helping goverments build their capacity to manage arrivals in Greece and the Balkans. The efforts of the partners we fund are targeted to reach the most vulnerable including children.

It also includes the £10 million Refugee Children Fund the Department for International Development (DFID) has created the needs to vulnerable refugee and migrant children specifically in Europe. The fund will support three specialist and mandated organisations the UNHCR, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee to work with host authorities to care for and assist unaccompanied or separated children in Europe and the Balkans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to strengthen the capacity of the Commonwealth to prevent and resolve conflicts between or within its members; and whether they will seek to provide the Secretary-General with greater resources for that purpose.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are committed to strengthening the capacity of the Commonwealth towards preventing and resolving conflicts between member states, including through the Secretariat and the Good Offices of the Secretary-General. We welcome the work already done by the Secretary-General in this area, most recently her appointment of a Special Envoy to strengthen multi-party democracy towards inclusive presidential elections in the Maldives in 2018.

We will work closely with Patricia Scotland and partners as we build towards the UK hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Spring 2018. We believe she is the right person to drive through reform, strengthen the Commonwealth’s voice and unite members behind the values enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter.

A key strand of strengthening the Commonwealth’s focus on democracy, the promotion of the rule of law and preventing conflict is the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work in promoting democratic values, including through election observation missions. We welcome these missions and will work with the Secretary-General to take forward this important programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-09-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funds or other support they have provided in recent years for the organisation known as White Helmets in Syria; and what assessment they have made of its activities.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK has provided support to Syria Civil Defence (also known as the White Helmets) through the cross-departmental Conflict Pool and its successor, the Conflict Stability and Security Fund. Our assistance has been delivered through trusted third party implementers. The total value of funds committed between June 2013 and the end of the last financial year (31 March 2016) was £19.7m. For financial year 2016/17, we have allocated a further £12.5m.

Our support to Syria Civil Defence is part of a coordinated international programme of assistance. It has helped to provide the Syrian-led organisation of over 2800 volunteers with much-needed training and equipment. To date they have saved more than 60,000 lives and were nominated for the Nobel peace prize in both 2015 and 2016 in recognition of their efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to establish an enhanced Modern Slavery Helpline following the Home Secretary’s announcement on 9 December 2015.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

In December 2015, the Government welcomed an announcement by Google and Polaris that they intend to establish an enhanced modern slavery helpline in the UK. Partnerships between business and civil society are vital if we are to eradicate modern slavery, and this project has the potential to make it easier for people to report suspected cases of modern slavery.

Over the past two years, the Government’s modern slavery reforms have resulted in record high numbers of victim referrals and of prosecutions and convictions for slavery-related offences. But there is more to do and projects such as this will help to ensure that even more victims are helped and even more slave- drivers are brought to justice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Turkey about the release of mayors, party officials, lawyers and journalists who have been arrested but not convicted; and what responses they have received.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK continues to raise human rights issues at the highest levels, including the detention of journalists in Turkey in recent months. We strongly encourage Turkey to continue to work towards the full protection of fundamental rights, especially in the areas of minority rights and freedom of expression.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that the FCO’s cleaning contractor, Interserve, pays the London Living Wage to its employees.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Interserve is responsible for setting the terms and conditions of its staff, including pay. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office supports its contractors in paying the London and UK Living Wage when it is affordable and does not cost jobs, however this should be for individual employers to decide. Interserve will have to pay its staff the National Living Wage from April.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking, and advocating to others, in order to boost Palestinian economic activity in Zones B and C of the occupied West Bank.

Earl of Courtown

DFID is promoting economic development which is vital for Palestinian development. We are providing £15 million (2013-2019) through the Palestinian Market Development Programme (PMDP) which seeks to improve the competitiveness of 570 Palestinian businesses and address market failures. So far 190 firms in the West Bank including Areas A, B, and C have been assisted and were able to develop 117 products and enter 63 new markets. Through the UN FAO, DFID has helped vulnerable rural farmers in Area C support their families through increased incomes from agricultural production. We also continue to fund the development of Palestinian outline plans to improve Palestinian communities’ access to services in Area C.

The UK remains deeply concerned about the impact of Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which continue to be the main impediment to sustainable economic growth in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including Area B and C. We have consistently called on Israel to improve movement and access in the OPTs, including in visits by the Minister of State for International Development and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We fund advisers to support the work of the Office of the Quartet (OQ) on easing movement and access restrictions in the OPTs and to improve the environment for businesses operating there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to ensure that Turkey does not repatriate any genuine refugees, following the recent EU–Turkey financial agreement.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK cooperates closely with Turkey on migration and Turkey has consistently confirmed that their borders remain open to genuine refugees. We commend Turkey’s generosity in hosting over 2.2 million refugees from the crisis in Syria and Iraq. Enhanced cooperation between the EU and Turkey is critical to resolving the current migration crisis. At the EU-Turkey summit on 29 November, the EU agreed €3billion of additional support to Turkey to help ease its refugee burden and prevent further irregular migration to the EU. Turkey and the EU also agreed to activate the migration action plan. As part of this action plan, Turkey committed to accelerate procedures in order to readmit smoothly irregular migrants who are not in need of international protection, whilst ensuring that vulnerable people continue to be identified and taken care of.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what practical steps they are taking to achieve the maximum use of vacant residential, commercial, and industrial premises for temporary or interim housing, in particular for homeless people or refugees; and whether they have released government properties for such purposes.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government has taken a range of steps to increase housing supply by providing more homes for rent and ownership, as well as encouraging local authorities to bring empty homes back into use. As a result, the number of homes that stand empty for more than six months is at an all time low. The Government is committed to releasing surplus assets to drive economic growth and release land for housing. The Spending Review announced that departments have committed to release land for more than 160,000 homes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any proposals for diverting a proportion of the EU’s external aid to assist member states in receiving and caring for the current increased numbers of refugees, and to job-creating investment in the Middle East and North Africa.

Baroness Verma

With pressure from the United Kingdom and other Member States, the European Union (EU) has mobilised considerable funding to support the international response to the refugee crisis – including within Europe, and to tackle the root causes of migration and displacement in the Middle East and North Africa.

Within Europe, the UK is working to ensure that all tools are being used to support the humanitarian response to the refugee crisis, and that the donor effort is well coordinated through the Civil Protection Mechanism. Alongside this, the UK’s support for refugees and migrants during the Mediterranean migration crisis has reached nearly £55million. This money is focused on providing life-saving assistance and protection to vulnerable people rescued at sea or in transit.

In the Middle East and the North Africa, the EU is a leading donor in the response to the Syria crisis with over €5 billion of total budget mobilised by the European Commission and Member States collectively in humanitarian, development, economic and stabilisation assistance. The UK has been at the forefront of this, pledging over £1.1 billion, our largest ever humanitarian response to a single crisis. In addition, the EU Trust Fund for Africa – a €1.8billion fund – will allocate money to projects in the Sahel, Horn and North Africa to tackle the root causes of migration.