Tag: The Marquess of Lothian

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-06-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have a strategy to combat the use of social media as a tool for radicalisation and the promotion of terrorism.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Prevent Strategy sets out the Government’s approach to combatting the use of social media as a tool for radicalisation and the promotion of terrorism, focussing on restricting access to terrorist and extremist content online; supporting those who are challenging them online and helping people resist poisonous ideologies.

Through the Home Office’s Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU) the Government works with a range of civil society groups to counter extremist ideologies online by providing advice and support to deliver their own online campaigns. 26 RICU supported national campaigns have generated over 29.8 million online engagements since January 2014.

The police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) refers content that they assess as contravening UK terrorism legislation or company terms and conditions to Communication Service Providers (CSPs) for removal. Since February 2010, CTIRU has secured the removal of more than 190,000 pieces of online terrorist-related content.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define moderate” in the context of opposition in Syria.”

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The moderate opposition in Syria, the majority of whom use the brand of the Free Syrian Army, call for a pluralistic political system in Syria that respects the rights of all Syrians (including minorities) and rejects terrorism and terrorist tactics. They have repeatedly condemned Islamic extremism, and have been fighting, and beating back Daesh in Syria for over two years while also protecting their communities from vicious attack from the Assad regime. They have scored significant victories in Idlib and Aleppo in Northwest Syria and in Dera’a province in the South.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specific goals they wish to achieve from the Syria Donors Conference taking place in London in February.

Baroness Verma

The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis.

Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The outcomes of the conference are reflected in the Co-hosts’ statement available on the Conference website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-03-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to recent UN figures that, between 1 January and 2 March, Israel has demolished 121 structures in the occupied West Bank funded partly or fully by international donors compared to 108 such demolitions during 2015; and whether they have raised that issue with the government of Israel.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government is extremely concerned by reports that there has been a large increase in demolitions since the start of 2016, compared to the monthly average in 2015. We are also concerned at the increase in the demolition of structures funded partly or fully by international donors. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv has raised our concerns on demolitions with the Israeli authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy with regard to future deployment of troops in (1) Iraq, and (2) Libya.

Earl Howe

In Iraq, the Government is already making a substantial contribution, with over 250 personnel who have provided training to more than 13,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces in infantry skills and countering improvised explosive devices. We keep the composition and scale of our contribution under close review, to reflect developments in the campaign.

We are discussing with international partners how to best support the new Libyan Government. This might include training Libyan forces to provide their own security, but no decisions have yet been made. There are no UK Government plans for the deployment of troops in a combat role to Libya. Any support the UK provides will be in response to a request made by the Libyan Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many xenophobic and racist hate crimes were reported in England and Wales each month in the past year; what percentage rise, if any, there has been in the number of such crimes reported since 24 June; and what is their assessment of the causes of any rise.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Home Office publishes information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales annually. The most recently published data are for 2014/15 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2014-to-2015

Data for 2015/16 will be published in October 2016. It is planned that this publication will include some information on hate crime following the EU Referendum on the 23 June.

Following increases in the reporting of hate crime and raised community tensions in late June, the National Police Chiefs’ Council requested weekly returns from forces across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. These show the number of all monitored hate crime recorded by forces, not just those that were racist or xenophobic.

At its peak, these returns showed a 58 per cent increase in the reporting of hate crime in comparison to 2015. This has since subsided and we have now observed four consecutive weeks of reductions in reporting. The latest returns from 5 to 18 August show 2778 hate crimes and incidents. This is a decrease of 479 offences on the previous fortnight but it is a 14 per cent increase on the equivalent period in 2015. Full information on these statistics can be found here: http://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/tackling-hate-crime-remains-a-priority

There is no single factor to which the rise in reporting can be attributed, and there is no current evidence to indicate the rise is due entirely to an increase in occurrence of hate crime. However, multiple factors, including the increased profile of hate crime in the media, greater awareness of hate crime and increased confidence in the police may have had an impact on levels of reporting.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they have that air strikes in Syria would reduce ISIL’s ability to attack the UK; and what assessment they have made of the terrorist threat to the UK posed by British-born ISIL recruits as a direct result of such air strikes.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The threat to the UK is already at Severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. In just over a year, our police and security services have stopped no fewer than 7 different terrorist plots in Britain, all linked to or inspired by Daesh. By attacking Daesh in its heartland in Syria, from where many of its plans are directed, we are taking the fight to Daesh and degrading their capability to plot to kill British people. There is already a significant threat to the UK from British Islamist extremists who have travelled to Iraq and Syria. Around 800 Britons of national security concern are known to have travelled to Iraq and Syria, and over half of those have already returned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-01-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the French Prime Minster concerning his recent statement that total, global and ruthless war must be conducted against Daesh; and whether he considers that total war would require the deployment of ground troops.

Earl of Courtown

The British Government shares a commitment with the Government of France to comprehensively defeat Daesh, and we are determined to work together to this end as part of an international coalition, as demonstrated by UN Security Council resolutions 2249 and 2254, amongst others. We continue to work very closely with the French government in a number of areas in order to coordinate as effectively as possible the international effort to degrade and defeat Daesh. France is one of our closest and most valued partners in the Global Counter-Daesh Coalition.

We frequently discuss cooperation against Daesh with a range of French colleagues. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), met the French Foreign Minister in Rome on 2 February and discussed the campaign against Daesh and counter terrorism, amongst other issues.

The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has said that the UK will not deploy troops in ground combat operations. We and our Coalition partners, including France, have been clear that defeating Daesh in Syria and Iraq will not be achieved by the large scale deployment of foreign ground troops.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-03-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect the UK to face a power deficit in winter 2016–17, and if so, what action they are taking to prevent electricity shortages.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The UK will not face a power deficit in winter 2016/17. National Grid has the right tools they need to manage the system and will ensure that they continue to do so.

National Grid has already procured 3.6GW of reserve capacity for next winter and, in January, the Capacity Market Transitional Arrangements auction bought 800MW of demand side response capacity for winter 16/17 which will also help secure the system. In addition, National Grid has the option to procure further demand side balancing reserve for 2016/17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many British Ambassadors based in the Middle East and North Africa (1) speak Arabic, and (2) are able to conduct official business in Arabic.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to the noble Viscount Waverley on 28 April 2016 (HL7839), namely that, in the Middle East and North Africa region approximately 95 per cent of our Heads of Mission speak Arabic or other local languages (e.g. French or Hebrew).