The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any temporal or other limitations have been placed on his authorisation of the use by the US of RAF Lakenheath as a base for carrying out airstrikes in Libya.
Michael Fallon
My authorisation for the US to use UK bases to launch the airstrike against a Daesh training camp in Libya on 19 February 2016 was granted for that specific operation and for a limited period of time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2016 to Question 29390, what definition of principle of proportionality his Department uses to assess whether an incident counts as a violation of international humanitarian law.
Penny Mordaunt
International Humanitarian Law is founded in customary international law but now extensively codified in international agreements, most notably the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols. The UK’s interpretation of the principles of proportionality, military necessity, humanity and distinction is set out in the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Service Publication (JSP) 383, the Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, which is available online (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jsp-383).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of UK firms based in the North West of England that trade with other EU member states; and how many people are employed by each such firm.
Anna Soubry
HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.
HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the value of arms exports from the UK was in 2014.
Anna Soubry
The Department does not collate data on the value of the total contribution that arms exports make to the UK economy. However, we do publish official statistics on defence exports, which show that the UK’s defence export total in 2014 was an estimated £8.5bn. Further details of defence exports can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-defence-and-security-export-figures-2014
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many cases of alleged international humanitarian law violations by the Saudi coalition within the Yemen conflict presented to the UK and Saudi authorities by NGOs have been investigated by the Government.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK has encouraged Saudi Arabia to investigate allegations of breaches of International Humanitarian Law.
The Saudi Arabian Government announced on 29 February that they are forming an independent committee to examine military activity in civilian areas in order to minimise possible civilian casualties; assess the Coalition’s rules of engagement; assess accidents, verification and targeting procedures and advise how they can be improved; and provide a clear, full and objective report for each investigation made including conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for future actions.
We monitor the situation closely and we welcome any further information non-governmental organisations can provide to supplement the range of information we consider from a variety of sources.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the introduction of citizenship-for-investment schemes by EU member states.
James Brokenshire
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answers I gave on 22 March to Questions 31324 and 31325 from my Hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) and the answers I gave on 9 March to Question 29833 from the Hon. Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter) and to Question 29873 from my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood (Kelly Tolhurst).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK officials are based in China; and how many were based in that country in (a) 2010, (b) 2005 and (c) 1997.
Mr Hugo Swire
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) publishes the number of UK FCO officials overseas in its Annual Report. In the financial year 2014/15 there were 114 UK FCO officials based in China and in the financial year 2010/11 there were 113 UK FCO officials based in China. Information prior to 2010 is not held in a way that enables us to accurately report the staffing position overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35103, what the role is of the Liaison Officers deployed in Saudi coalition headquarters.
Michael Fallon
UK Liaison Officers located in Saudi Headquarters exchange information between the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to give the UK a better degree of insight into Saudi processes.
They remain under UK command and control and are not embedded with the Saudis. They do not provide training or advice on International Humanitarian Law compliance, and have no role in the Saudi targeting chain.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the UK’s right to halt the Article 50 process before the end of the two-year period allocated to EU exit negotiations.
Mr David Davis
The referendum result delivered a clear mandate for an EU exit and it is the duty of the Government to make sure we do just that. The Prime Minister has been clear that there must be no attempts to remain inside the EU and no attempts to rejoin it through the back door. Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what planning his Department is carrying out to prepare for the change of US President; and what assessment his Department has made of the implications for the UK-US relationship of the (a) Republican and (b) Democratic Presidential candidates being elected.
Sir Alan Duncan
Successive British Governments have worked with Republican and Democratic Presidents to advance our mutual interests and tackle shared challenges. We expect that the UK and the US will continue to be the closest of partners after the US elections on 8 November.