Tag: Lord Lester of Herne Hill

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek assurances from the government of Iran that Nazanin Ratcliffe will be granted access to a lawyer and due process rights.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We regularly lobby the Iranian government on all of our consular cases; requesting consular access for our officials, and to ensure that they have access to lawyers and are receiving appropriate medical care. Most recently the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the issue with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on 17 May, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), raised the subject with the Iranian Charge d’Affaires in London on 18 May. The Iranian government do not recognise dual nationals of any country, therefore we cannot gain direct access to dual nationals held in custody.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have evidence that Saudi Arabia funds Wahhabi mosques and Wahhabi communities in the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

HM Government does not collect information on the denomination of religious institutions, nor of communities in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 13 January (HL4703 and HL4704), what were the other administrative reasons for retaining documents to which she refers.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The administrative grounds for retaining public records referred to in my answer to HL4703 are: records or series of records which have not been selected for transfer to The National Archives or a place of deposit, but which the department has retained after they are defined as historical records because they are required for its own administrative purposes; records or series of records that have been selected for transfer to The National Archives or place of deposit but are still required for administrative purposes; records or series of records which are awaiting appraisal or preparation for transfer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-03-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the appropriate level for the BBC licence fee and of the case for that level being recommended by an independent regulator.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The BBC Charter Review Consultation Paper, published in July 2015, set out the issues for consideration in Charter Review, including questions about how the BBC is funded. The Government will set out its proposals in the forthcoming White Paper, but remains clear that the licence fee is a tax and therefore should ultimately be decided by Ministers. The level of the licence fee will be agreed once questions on the BBC’s scope and purposes, have been agreed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-06-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 13 June (HL424), whether another country’s failure to recognise dual citizenship impedes the UK from offering consular assistance to an individual whose fundamental rights are being violated.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Dual citizenship is allowed in the UK and we respect the rights of Britons who choose to have dual nationality in the UK or overseas. However we acknowledge that many countries do not accept dual nationality, or allow it in the same way as the UK.

The consular assistance we offer to dual British nationals overseas depends on where they are and their circumstances.

We do not normally offer support to dual nationals who are in the country of their other nationality, however we consider each case on the circumstances and we may make exceptions if there are special humanitarian reasons to do so.

In countries where dual nationality is not recognised we offer assistance and lobby for consular access, but the other country has the right to refuse to grant such access.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they cancelled the contract with Saudi Arabia on justice, security and policing.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

The Ministry of Justice has not entered into, or withdrawn from, a contract with Saudi Arabia concerning justice, security and policing. Earlier this year Just Solutions international (JSi), the commercial arm of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), submitted a bid to undertake a training needs analysis for the Saudi Arabian prison service. On 13 October 2015, the Secretary of State for Justice announced that this bid would be withdrawn, and so no contract was signed. I refer the honourable member to the Justice Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons which can be found in House of Commons Hansard Debates, 13 Oct 2015: Column 180.

No direct cost was incurred as a result of withdrawing the bid from the competition process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 4 December (HL3813), what is their assessment of whether they have the power under section 24 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to give direction to the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland to secure their compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights; and whether the Secretary of State has considered exercising any such power to secure full compliance in Northern Ireland with its obligations under the Convention in relation to equal marriage, blasphemy and defamation.

Lord Dunlop

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland does not have the power under section 24 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to give direction to the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland to secure their compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The UK Government recognises and respects the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland and in any event does not have power under section 24 to secure full compliance in Northern Ireland with its obligations under the Convention in relation to equal marriage, blasphemy and defamation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 13 January (HL4703 and HL4704), whether the decisions not to transfer records to the National Archive were in each case in accordance with the advice given by the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, and in each case what that advice was.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Yes, all decisions were made in accordance with the advice by the Advisory Council.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-03-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for maintaining the scale and scope of the BBC’s coverage on all platforms.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

These issues are being considered as part of Charter Review. The Government will set out its proposals in the forthcoming White Paper.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-06-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek parliamentary approval before deciding whether to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

It is a matter for the Government, and the new Prime Minister, to decide whether there should be a Parliamentary vote before the UK notifies the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the EU.