Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current security situation in the Central African Republic.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Despite encouraging political advances in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2016, the security situation remains of grave concern. It is particularly bad outside the capital Bangui, where violence, looting and human rights abuses continue to occur with impunity with recent reports indicating that the violence has grown more severe since September 2016. We continue to advise against all travel to CAR.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff members in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are in the top five civil service grades; and how many of those are from a black or minority ethnic background.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As of the 30 November the total number of staff in the top five civil service grades and those that were from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background were:
Grade | Total | Total number of staff who have reported an ethnicity | Those that reported they were BME |
D7 | 430 | 368 | 22 |
SMS1 | 263 | 230 | 11 |
SMS2 | 102 | 92 | 6 |
SMS3 | 27 | 24 | 1 |
SMS4 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many heads of mission to international organisations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are from a black or minority ethnic background.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As of the 30 November, of the seven of Heads of Mission to international organisations that have reported their ethnicity (86% of the total number of Heads of Mission to international organisations), none are from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background.
Continuing to improve the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's record on diversity, equality and inclusion is fundamental to our aim of being the best diplomatic service in the world. We undertake a range of interventions to improve our leadership and management capability and to remove barriers to the progress of under-represented groups in the FCO, to help people reach their full potential. Action includes a bespoke talent development scheme for BME staff; role models from all backgrounds; diverse interview panels at all grades; diverse shortlists for senior positions as the norm; and outreach to attract diverse talent into the FCO, focused on BME candidates and those from a low-socio economic background.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many resident heads of mission from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are from a black or minority ethnic background.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As of the 30 November, 5.3% of our Heads of Mission reported they were from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background (based on a 98% reporting rate).
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offers of honours have been refused by intended recipients over the last three years, and what were the reasons given for any refusals to accept an honour.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Since the New Year 2014 honours list, 122 nominees have refused the offer of an honour. This is around 2% of nominees per list. Nominees reasons for declining an award are given in confidence and the Government does not comment on the reasons given.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential need for Mrs Asia Bibi and her family to apply for asylum should she be released from detention in Pakistan.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We remain concerned about the situation of all religious minorities in Pakistan. We urge Pakistan to uphold the rule of law and ensure the rights of all citizens are respected regardless of gender, ethnicity or religious belief.
Our obligations under the Refugee Convention do not extend to considering claims from people overseas who may want to seek asylum here. There is no provision in the Immigration Rules for someone to be given permission to travel to the UK to seek asylum.
The UK and European Union approach is that an individual should apply for protection from the authorities in the first available safe country or through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the application of the death penalty for blasphemy.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
I remain concerned about Ms Asia Bibi, following the postponement of her Supreme Court appeal hearing on 13 October. The British High Commission in Islamabad continues to monitor developments in her case closely. We raise regularly our concerns about misuse of the blasphemy laws with the Pakistani Government, and continue to urge Pakistan to adhere to its international obligations and uphold the rule of law. During his visit to Pakistan in March, the former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), made clear our concerns about minority communities and misuse of the blasphemy laws.
The UK supported the EU statement of October 2014 following the decision of the Lahore High Court to uphold the conviction of Ms Bibi. We will continue to work with our EU and other international partners to ensure our views are made clear to the Pakistani authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last made representations to the government of Pakistan concerning the trial of Asia Bibi for blasphemy; what was the nature of those representations; and what was the response by the government of Pakistan to those representations.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
I remain concerned about Ms Asia Bibi, following the postponement of her Supreme Court appeal hearing on 13 October. The British High Commission in Islamabad continues to monitor developments in her case closely. We raise regularly our concerns about misuse of the blasphemy laws with the Pakistani Government, and continue to urge Pakistan to adhere to its international obligations and uphold the rule of law. During his visit to Pakistan in March, the former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), made clear our concerns about minority communities and misuse of the blasphemy laws.
The UK supported the EU statement of October 2014 following the decision of the Lahore High Court to uphold the conviction of Ms Bibi. We will continue to work with our EU and other international partners to ensure our views are made clear to the Pakistani authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many refugees from Iraq have been (1) granted asylum under the UN mandate or gateway scheme, and (2) granted asylum whilst resident in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office publishes figures on asylum and resettlement by nationality in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release.
The numbers of Iraqis resettled under the Mandate and Gateway schemes, from 2013 to 2015, are given in Table A. The numbers of grants of asylum or other forms of protection, at initial decision, to Iraqi nationals, from 2011 to 2015 are provided in Table B.
Table A: Iraqi refugees (and others) resettled, including dependants, 2013 to 2015 | |||||
Year | Gateway Protection Programme | Mandate Scheme | |||
2013 | 121 | 11 | |||
2014 | 107 | 6 | |||
2015 | 102 | 4 | |||
Source: table as_019_q, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, Home Office | |||||
Table B: Grants of asylum or other forms of protection to Iraqi nationals, main applicants only, 2011 to 2015 | ||||||
Year | Total grants | |||||
2011 | 80 | |||||
2012 | 54 | |||||
2013 | 69 | |||||
2014 | 116 | |||||
2015 | 216 | |||||
Table Notes: | ||||||
Source: Table as_01_q, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, Home Office | ||||||
(1) Initial decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period and exclude the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions. | ||||||
(2) Figures for 'Total grants' include: grants of asylum, humanitarian protection, discretionary leave, grants under family and private life rules, Leave Outside the Rules and UASC leave | ||||||
(3) 2015 data are provisional and subject to update. | ||||||
A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics, October to December 2015, is available from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.
Asked by: Baroness Berridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to respond to anti-Ahmadiyya hate literature in the UK in the light of recent reports that leaflets endorsing the execution of Ahmadi Muslims were found in Stockwell Green mosque on 10 April.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Religiously motivated hate crime and hate speech has absolutely no place in British society. This Government is clear that everybody should be free to live their lives free from fear of attack simply because of what their beliefs are, and that tragic events such as the recent murder of Asad Shah in Glasgow will not be tolerated. We have a strong legal framework in place against discrimination on the basis of religion, and criminal penalties for offences such as racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. Those who perpetrate hate crimes of any kind will be punished with the full force of the law. This Government has done more than any other to tackle anti-Muslim hatred. As of 1 April 2016, police forces in England and Wales are disaggregating religious hate crime data to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem. The Government also plans to publish its new Hate Crime Action Plan in the summer, which will set out our approach to tacking all forms of hate crime, including Islamophobia. This will build on the success of ‘Challenge It, Report It, Stop It’, which was published in 2012 and updated subsequently in 2014.