Tag: Lord Judd

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of torture in Ethiopia.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We continue to be concerned about allegations of torture in Ethiopia made by organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in relation to people detained under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Those include members of the opposition groups, journalists, peaceful protestors, and others seeking to express their rights to freedom of assembly or expression. We continually monitor and assess a range of human rights issues in Ethiopia, including allegations of torture. We continue to make representations to the Government of Ethiopia on individual cases as well as more broadly through our Human Rights Dialogue. We also support the continued human rights discussions between international partners and the Government of Ethiopia.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent survey by the American University of Beirut and UNRWA on the socioeconomic status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon; and what bilateral and multilateral action they are taking to meet the challenges identified by that survey.

Baroness Verma

The UK Government is aware of the survey by the American University of Beirut and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). DFID staff attended the survey’s launch event and have noted its findings.

The UK is a long-term supporter of UNRWA, including in Lebanon, providing over £60 million in 2015/16 and remaining the third largest donor to the UNRWA General Fund. We also provided £12m in total to UNRWA in Lebanon through the 2015 and 2016 Syria Emergency Appeals, and £1.9m this year through the UK Conflict Stability and Security Fund, supporting Palestinian youth with vocational and English skills training and job placement.

DFID has also committed to spending up to £40m a year on education in Lebanon, with a major programming element aimed at providing non-formal education to the most vulnerable children and youth, including Palestinians.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ring-fence special education funding within their new national funding formula.

Lord Nash

We are currently consulting on arrangements for new national formulae for schools and high needs funding (funding to provide high cost support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities). Both funding streams, along with early years funding, make up the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is ring-fenced so that local authorities can only spend it on specified elements of education. The DSG will continue to be ring-fenced when the national funding formulae are in place. We have also protected the schools and high needs budgets in this Parliament. This year we are adding £92.5 million to local authorities’ 2016-17 high needs allocations.

At the Budget we also announced that we will provide £500 million over the Spending Review period, on top of per pupil protection, to speed up implementation of the national funding formula for schools and get extra funding quicker to those schools that need it most.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to move more UK officials to Calais and Northern France to work full-time on identifying, screening and processing potential transfers under the Dublin III regulations, and to make special provision for cases where further evidence of family links is needed.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the 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, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. The Home Office will review the existing arrangements as part of the work to implement the relevant provisions of the Immigration Act 2016.

To assist with the identification of potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including unaccompanied children) in Calais the UK has funded a project run by a French non-governmental organisation which aims to identify and direct these vulnerable people to the appropriate support services in France.

The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which informs individuals (including unaccompanied children) of their rights to claim asylum in France and gives them information on family reunification. The frequency of these campaigns has been increased in line with the Joint Declaration signed in August 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the resources available for the development of UK policies towards the UN, the UN Security Council, UN operational agencies, and international financial institutions.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government regularly reviews resources devoted to supporting policy development on key multilateral institutions, including the UN and international financial institutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their criteria for identifying countries of concern in the FCO annual report on human rights and democracy.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

In the 2014 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy, we continued to use the criteria published in the 2012 report to determine whether a country should feature as a country of concern:

• the gravity of the human rights situation in the country, including both the severity of particular abuses and the range of human rights affected;

• whether a deterioration or improvement in the human rights situation in the country would have a wider impact in the region;

• whether the human rights situation in the country has an impact on wider UK interests; and

• whether we are able to influence the human rights situation there.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that developmental play services, including Portage, are a statutory service for disabled children under the age of two.

Lord Nash

The Government recognises that play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning and a child’s experiences in their first five years have a major impact on their future life chances. This is covered in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework for children from birth to five years of age.

The commissioning of support services for disabled children, such as Portage, is a decision for local authorities. Each local authority should consider the needs of its population, in collaboration with parent carers and early years providers, to ensure that support services in the area reflect local circumstances and need. The Children and Families Act requires all local authorities to publish a ‘local offer’, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available in their area across education, health and social care for children in their area who are disabled or have SEN, including those who do not have EHC plans. This should include details of any Portage services that are available for children aged 0 to 5 years.

The Department recognises the importance of Portage and has provided £150,000 to the National Portage Association through the voluntary and community sector (VCS) grants for 2015-16. The National Portage Association has been using their funding to build on existing grant-funded work to support and develop Portage services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to work together with the French government to ensure that unaccompanied children have access to high quality legal assistance to submit claims for family reunion in the UK, and to fund improved measures for identification of, and support for, unaccompanied minors in Calais and Northern France.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the 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, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. The Home Office will review the existing arrangements as part of the work to implement the relevant provisions of the Immigration Act 2016.

To assist with the identification of potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including unaccompanied children) in Calais the UK has funded a project run by a French non-governmental organisation which aims to identify and direct these vulnerable people to the appropriate support services in France.

The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which informs individuals (including unaccompanied children) of their rights to claim asylum in France and gives them information on family reunification. The frequency of these campaigns has been increased in line with the Joint Declaration signed in August 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policy priority they now intend to accord to the Council of Europe.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK continues to be an active member of the Council of Europe. We value its role in the rules based international system, which helps nations work together to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will designate Egypt as a country of concern in the next FCO annual report on human rights and democracy.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign and Commonwealth reviewed the use of the designation “countries of concern” earlier this year. We now highlight “human rights priority countries” that we wish to work positively with wherever possible to improve their human rights trajectory.

Our criteria in designating a human rights priority country is an evidence-based assessment. We utilise internationally respected indicators and indices, such as the UN Gender Inequality Index and the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, to form our assessments. Once we have the relevant data, we will take informed decisions as to which countries will be human rights priority countries in 2016.