Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they received regarding facilitating the safe passage to the UK of Fawzia Koofi, a former Deputy Speaker in the Parliament of Afghanistan; whether they responded to any such communications; if not, why not; and what assessment they have made of the possibility of offering Fawzia Koofi safe passage.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question is about an individual's situation. I have written to the Noble Lady.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to develop, and (2) to build support for, a regional counter-terrorism programme in Central Asia; from where they will seek to build support for any such programme; and what assessment they have made of their ability to build any such support in the absence of cooperation with the Taliban to counter international terrorist threats from (a) Al-Qaida, (b) ISIS, and (c) related splinter groups.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We must prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a haven for terrorism, including from Al-Qaida and ISIS, and an exporter of instability.
We will continue to convene partners both bilaterally and through the G7, the UN Security Council, and NATO and we expect that NATO will continue to have a role in fighting terrorism. We will work with our partners to use all levers at our disposal to disrupt terrorist groups' access to resources. This will include leading an international approach to prevent and deter Foreign Terrorist Fighters travelling to Afghanistan and effective implementation of counter-terrorism focused sanctions against terrorists in Afghanistan.
We will engage regional governments, in particular India and Pakistan, to work to prevent Afghanistan becoming a haven for terrorism. I visited Uzbekistan on 14 September, after visiting Uzbekistan and Tajikistan the week of 30 August for discussions on Afghanistan. The former Foreign Secretary also visited Islamabad to address the issue of terrorism and discussed it with the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers. We will build regional resilience to prevent any spread of instability/extremist and to counter radicalising narratives.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what percentage of total House of Lords hospitality venue bookings were for the Home Room in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Laming
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. In 2019 there were 184 events serving 3,289 guests in the Home Room. This accounted for 37% of all venue bookings for House of Lords hospitality in the Attlee, Home and Chomondeley Rooms.
The events generated an income of £180,720, of which £20,208 was for facility fees.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to appoint a specific individual or group to lead on international action to prevent any geopolitical and humanitarian crisis in Idlib.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are gravely concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Idlib where nearly one million people have been displaced as a result of regime and Russian military action since 1 December 2019. During his visit to Turkey on 3-4 March, the Foreign Secretary discussed the situation and the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire. The UK is a member of the Syria Small Group, together with the US and key European and Arab states, and the UK Special Envoy for Syria, Martin Longden, has been in close contact with his counterparts on the crisis in Idlib. We currently have no plans to create a further position or grouping to address the situation in Idlib.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey about the case of Ms Gocke Tuyluoglu, the former director of the Open Society Foundation in Turkey; and what support, if any, they have offered her since her first arrest.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We remain concerned by the arrests and trial of 16 civil society figures in June 2019 over the 2013 Gezi Park protests, including Ms Gokce Tuyluoglu, and have been following the cases closely, including the latest hearing on 19 February, which a British Embassy official attended. We have raised their cases at ministerial level with the Turkish Government on several occasions, most recently in January this year. We hope that the outstanding charges against them can be brought to a timely and equitable conclusion.
We have long encouraged Turkey to work towards the full protection of fundamental rights, particularly in the area of freedom of expression. On 28 January at the 35th Universal Periodic Review on Human Rights, one of the recommendations that the United Kingdom put forward for Turkey was protecting freedom of expression, including for journalists and human rights defenders, by decriminalising defamation. We will continue to engage the Turkish Government on these issues and be clear in our expectation that Turkey live up to its human rights obligations, which is essential to the long-term health of Turkish democracy.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific measures they are taking to prevent the introduction to the UK of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa via the import of infected host plants.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Xylella fastidiosa is currently not present in the UK but we are taking a lead in the EU to tighten import and movement controls to protect the country against its introduction.
We supplement EU measures with national legislation requiring notification of certain imports, allowing the Animal and Plant Health Agency to build intelligence about such trades and carry out targeted inspections. The notification requirements were strengthened in 2018 through the inclusion of olive trees, following an interception in Belgium of Xylella on olive trees imported from Spain.
We have also successfully pressed the case for stronger requirements at an EU level against certain high risk hosts for this disease, with supplementary measures also now in place against Polygala myrtifolia. Under the leadership of Defra’s Chief Plant Health Officer, Nicola Spence, we are continuously reviewing new developments to determine whether additional measures are required.
We have a surveillance programme in place targeting imports and businesses trading in hosts from within the EU, as well as inspections in the wider environment.
We are also taking action with UK industry to raise awareness, resulting in nurseries and garden centres committing not to bring Xylella host plants into the UK from EU regions where the disease is present, and employing careful sourcing, traceability and good hygiene measures.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific measures they are taking to prevent self-harming in very young children.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government is committed to preventing self-harm among children and young people of all ages. In 2017 Public Health England introduced the Rise Above programme that offers advice to young people on dealing with difficult emotions and situations that can lead to problems such as stress, bullying and self-harm.
The current Healthy Child Programme (from 0-5 years old) aims to support early identification of problems with an emphasis on support for mothers and fathers or partners to provide sensitive and attuned parenting.
On 17 June 2019, it was announced that tailored advice will be provided to parents on supporting their children’s mental health and well-being by 2020 through the ‘Every Mind Matters’ campaign. This will include information on subjects such as stress, screen time, online bullying, body image and self-harm.
Ministers wrote to social media and internet providers on 26 January to express concern about suicide and self-harm content. The companies have committed to increasing their efforts by establishing and funding a strategic partnership with the Samaritans to tackle this content and support vulnerable users of their platforms.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for appointing a minister for children at Cabinet level.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
My Honourable Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families at the Department for Education has a wide range of responsibilities for children's interests and that work is represented at Cabinet by the Secretary of State for Education.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make greater provision to enforce due diligence on loans made to developing countries initiated by banks based in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bates
The sustainability and transparency of debts held by low income developing countries is currently a G20 priority. Given the complex nature of sovereign debt, we continue to believe that internationally-agreed approaches are the most effective way to achieve progress in this area.
The UK recognizes that creditors, including private creditors, have an important role to play in promoting sustainable lending. The G20 is currently supporting the Institute of International Finance’s efforts to increase the transparency of lending to developing countries, which we hope will support sustainability and drive up standards.
Separately, in the UK, there are already prudential requirements for firms to hold sufficient capital against their exposures and have adequate risk controls in place. These are supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to resume channelling development and emergency aid through the government of Mozambique and its agencies in the light of Cyclone Idai.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK has been monitoring the situation in Mozambique since last week. The situation is extremely concerning. Beira – a city of half a million people in central Mozambique has been cut off since the weekend with no water or electricity. Other areas are under water.
The Government of Mozambique is leading the response. They are experts in disaster management but are overwhelmed. They are being supported by UN agencies, international and local NGOs.
The UK has responded quickly. The Secretary of State has approved up to £22 million to support the people affected by the cyclone. We will not be channelling funds through the Government of Mozambique but will work through UN agencies and non-Government partners.