Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what grants they made for rainforest protection in the last year for which data are available; and whether they will list in a table the recipients of each grant and the amount provided.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In 2018, approximately £74.6 million of bilateral International Climate Finance (ICF) was spent, in the form of grants, on forestry and forestry policy and administration with a further £11.8 million spent on forestry through contributions to multilateral climate funds.
Details of UK ICF spending are reported to, and published by, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat biennially. The most recent publication covers years 2017 and 2018 and can be found at: https://unfccc.int/BRs. This dataset lists all ICF programmes with their spend and benefitting countries, where this data is available. In addition, details of all UK ICF programmes can be found at Development Tracker (fcdo.gov.uk).
The UK Government remains committed to doubling our International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion over the five years 2021/22 - 2025/26, of which at least £3 billion will be invested to protect and restore nature and biodiversity including at least £1.5 billion to support the global pledge to halt deforestation made at COP26 (Over 100 leaders make landmark pledge to end deforestation at COP26 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will answer the letter that he wrote to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs concerning vaccines and the Commonwealth, dated 3 March.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Regrettably we have no record of having received this correspondence.
FCDO officials have reached out via the House of Lords custodians for a copy of this correspondence. On receipt, we will expedite an urgent response to your letter.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to which (1) Commonwealth countries, and (2) non-Commonwealth countries, they have supplied COVID-19 vaccines; and how many COVID-19 vaccines each of those countries have received.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have not directly provided COVID-19 vaccines to any country outside the UK, Crown Dependencies, and Overseas Territories. However, the UK is among the biggest donors to the COVAX facility, which is rolling out vaccines globally, including to low and middle income countries. We have committed £548 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which will contribute to the supply of at least 1.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for up to 92 developing countries this year. All but two members of the Commonwealth are COVAX members, and 31 Commonwealth countries will be receiving vaccines in the first phase of the COVAX rollout (Ghana was the first COVAX recipient on 24 February 2021). The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of any future surplus COVID-19 vaccines from our domestic supply with the COVAX procurement pool to support developing countries.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what checks they undertake into the potential incidence of modern slavery in the supply chains of each recipient of Official Development Assistance.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery and achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7. We are taking active steps to identify and prevent modern slavery in government and partners' supply chains. In March 2020, we published the world's first Government Modern Slavery Statement, setting out steps taken to eradicate modern slavery from our supply chains.
The FCDO's Supply Partner Code of Conduct requires ODA-funded commercially contracted supply partners to go through a comprehensive code compliance process. This process considers supply chain risk and requires compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The FCDO is exploring applying the Code more broadly to other funded partners, such as accountable grants and Memorandum of Understandings. The FCDO encourages supply partners to use the Her Majesty's Government Modern Slavery Assessment Tool, which provides tailored recommendations to improve anti-slavery management and due diligence activity in their supply chains, including conducting risk assessments to reduce the risk of exploitation. From 2021, all Ministerial government departments, including the FCDO, will publish annual modern slavery statements, reporting on specific steps taken to tackle modern slavery in commercial supply chains.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to coordinate international partners to support Taiwan's sovereignty.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our international partners are aware of the UK's longstanding position on Taiwan, which has not changed. The Taiwan issue is one to be settled peacefully by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, through constructive dialogue. The UK does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan but we do have a strong, unofficial relationship, based on dynamic commercial, educational and cultural ties.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the overseas aid budget is allocated to Commonwealth countries; and how much each of those countries receives.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2019, UK bilateral aid to Commonwealth countries totalled over £1.887 billion, representing around 18% of total UK bilateral ODA. Information on UK bilateral aid to each Commonwealth country is contained in table A4g of the 2019 UK Statistics on International Development, published on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians.
Answered by Jeremy Hunt - Chancellor of the Exchequer
We are grateful to the Bishop for setting out ambitious recommendations. The report has identified specific steps the British Government can take to address the issues faced by persecuted Christians around the world. I am pleased to confirm that the government has accepted the recommendations in full and work will now begin to implement them. This work will include exploring how best to deliver a new Security Council Resolution on protecting Christians in North Africa and the Middle East; and sanctioning those who persecute people for holding a religion or belief.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking in response to the Court of Appeal's ruling on the legality of British sales of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The decision did not state that arms sale were illegal. It stated that one aspect of the decision-making process was inadequate. The Government disagrees with the judgment and has sought permission to appeal. In the meantime, we are carefully considering the implications of the judgment for decision-making. Whilst we do this we will not grant any new licences to Saudi Arabia or other coalition partners for exports of items that might be used in the conflict in Yemen.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2019 to Question 211155 on Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Contracts, for what reason cleaning staff (a) outside London are paid the statutory National Living Wage and (b) inside London are paid the London Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Alistair Burt
In line with the practice of previous Administrations, we do not require companies contracted to the Department to pay Living Wage Foundation’s living wage to the staff that they employ.
Specific rates of pay are a matter for each individual contractor, as the employer, but assurances are provided to ensure full compliance with the requirements of the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which service providers are contracted to carry out third party cleaning contracts for his (a) Department and (b) executive agencies; if he will list all of the services delivered by third party contractors to his (i) Department and (ii) executive agencies; and how many people working for those third party contractors are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Interserve are contracted to deliver all cleaning services within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). All staff in London are paid the London Living Wage (£10.20). Cleaning staff outside London are paid the National Living Wage (£7.83). No staff employed by Interserve on the FCO contract are paid less than the National Living Wage.
Information is not readily available for all of the services delivered by third party contracts across the FCO as data is not held centrally for all contracts. Where information is held centrally, there is no record of which contracts relate solely to services. To determine this would incur disproportionate cost.
Information relating to FCO Executive Agencies is not held centrally and therefore not readily available. To determine information would incur disproportionate cost