Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure long term access to the Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK will assist Mauritius in implementing a new Mauritian Marine Protected Area in the Archipelago, which will extend to technical, financial, capacity-building assistance, fostering long-term sustainable management. The parties will work with international conservation organisations to ensure the implementation of science-backed strategies for conservation.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to end all (a) non-humanitarian aid, (b) trade, (c) financial services and (d) exports to Russia.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK has put in place an unprecedented package of sanctions.
The UK has locked most of the Russian banking sector out of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), frozen Russia's sovereign assets and adopted a wide range of trade and financial sanctions measures, covering most areas of the Russian economy with the exception of trade in humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.
We will continue to bear down on Russia, ratcheting up economic pressure until it ends its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 29073 on FCDO: Flags, what flags have been flown at ground level but visible from the public highway since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The bisexual flag was flown in September 2024 and the Union flag was flown in November 2024 on the internal Quad flag poles.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of EU sanctions against individuals in Georgia, and whether they plan to implement similar sanctions.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I am not aware of any EU sanctions on individuals in Georgia. The Foreign Secretary set out on 9 December 2024 that the UK was limiting engagement with the authorities, restricting defence engagement and suspending UK support to Georgian government programmes. Later in December we imposed sanctions on the Georgian Minister and Deputy Minister of the Interior and three police chiefs responsible for police brutality. We do not comment on future designations as this could affect their impact.
Asked by: Lord Monks (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks by the President of the United States of America about a possible American takeover of Greenland; and whether they have discussed this matter with the Kingdom of Denmark.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and Government of Greenland, and the Kingdom of Denmark. The Prime Minister met with the Prime Minister of Denmark in February. The readout is available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Saudi counterpart on the case of Manahel al-Otaibi.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office have monitored the case of Manahel Al-Otaibi and will continue to do so. We have raised the case with the Saudi authorities. The British Embassy in Riyadh has attempted to observe Ms Al-Otaibi's trials. We will continue to discuss human rights, including individual cases of concern, with the Saudi government.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed reduction of the proportion of gross national income spent on official development assistance on women and girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to ringfence official development assistance for women and girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) locally-led mutual aid networks and (b) civil society on funding for peacebuilding programmes.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ministers meet regularly with mutual assistance networks during their visits to countries facing humanitarian needs. During his visit to the Chad-Sudan border in January 2025, the Foreign Secretary announced £20 million in additional funding to support people in Sudan and Chad, including support to mutual aid groups, such as the Emergency Response Rooms. The previous Minister for Development also met with these networks during recent visits to both Sudan and Ethiopia where they are involved in both relief and peacebuilding, and where we have allocated UK Official Development Assistance to peacebuilding programmes in Tigray. A major purpose of the Integrated Security Fund is to provide support to civil society actors in conflict environments. Similarly, the UK continues to invest in the Peacebuilding Fund, the UN's primary mechanism supporting conflict prevention and peacebuilding activity in over 40 countries including Sudan, South Sudan, West Africa, and the Sahel. The FCDO engages regularly with civil society working on conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, including on funding for programmes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria his Department uses to assess applications to the John Bunyan Fund.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's John Bunyan Fund provides funding to overseas posts to support the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all around the world. UK posts are invited to submit applications that support the central objective of the fund: to curtail FoRB violations and abuses. Diplomatic missions have full control over the exact design and scope of project work to best develop an intervention that suits their specific in-country context and priorities and is complementary to any other financing they receive.