Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have met with representatives of Save the ArQ in Jerusalem; and what support, if any, they are providing to the campaign.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
British officials met Armenian Community leader Hagop Djernazian in January 2024. The UK is monitoring the situation and are clear on the need to avoid any further rise in tensions. The UK's position on the status of Jerusalem is clear and long-standing: it should be determined in a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Jerusalem should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states. The UK is a strong supporter of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and an advocate for the integrity of cultural important areas to be respected. The UK continues to take a strong stance against settler violence and urges Israel to take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to reduce tensions, and (2) to support efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the territorial dispute, between Venezuela and Guyana.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are concerned by the recent steps taken by Venezuela. We are clear that the border was settled in 1899 through international arbitration. The Foreign Secretary has reassured President Ali of this. We continue to work with regional partners and international bodies to de-escalate tensions.
Minister Rutley visited Guyana on 18 December. He met with President Ali, Foreign Secretary Todd, National Security Advisor Captain Gerry Gouveia, Defence Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Omar Khan and the Caribbean Community CARICOM Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett to show UK support for Guyana's territorial integrity.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel in relation to the use of force in the death of Mr Ameed al-Jaghoub on 21 August.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our sympathies are with Ameed al-Jaghoub and his family. While we have not discussed this specific incident with the Israeli Government, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza is too high. In our dialogue with the Israeli authorities, whilst we have recognised their legitimate need to deploy security measures to address violence, we remind them that such deployments are done to minimise tension and use appropriate force. When there have been accusations of excessive use of force, we have advocated swift, transparent investigations. Israel must abide by its obligations under international law, and we have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation. As the occupying power, we urge Israel to fulfil its responsibilities, including ensuring the protection of the civilian population. I, (Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon), made this clear most recently in a meeting with the Israeli chargé d'affaires on July 4.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to identify the beneficial ownership of 100,000 properties held by foreign shell companies on behalf of others as disclosed by the report published on 4 September by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Warwick and the Centre for Public Data.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of the report provided by LSE, University of Warwick and the Centre for Public Data. We consider its methodology to be highly misleading. It has arbitrarily used a different definition of ‘beneficial owner’ from that in the Economic Crime Act 2022. This means that it counts as ‘non-compliant’ many overseas entities who have provided the required information.
As of 7 September 2023, over 29,000 overseas entities have registered with Companies House. So far, over 1,200 warning notices have been issues to unregistered overseas entities. Warning notices are a pre-cursor to the imposition of a financial penalty. Financial penalties to the value of around £660,000 have so far been issued. The Government currently has no plans to publish a list of unregistered entities.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support London Councils who have reported a 120 per cent rise in requests by landlords for return of properties used as temporary homes and a 41 per cent reduction in the number of properties available for private rental since 2020.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is investing over £1 billion into the Homelessness Prevention Grant between 2022 and 2025. In London, this includes over £350 million for 2023/24 and 2024/25 which funds local authorities to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to work with landlords to prevent evictions, among other preventative measures, or to provide temporary accommodation where needed.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Poverty Strategy Commission’s interim report A New Framework for Tackling Poverty, published on 5 September, and in particular the recommendations that a net rise in benefit awards by 5 per cent would reduce numbers in poverty by 725,000 and a net rise in earnings wound reduce poverty by 515,000.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has not undertaken any specific assessment but notes that the analysis included in the report is based on the Social Metric Commission’s (SMC) measure of poverty.
The Government accepts that the SMC’s approach offers a more expansive view of inescapable costs, and alternative income sources will add new insight to the understanding of poverty. In March 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions announced plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty based on the SMC’s innovative work. The Government already publishes national statistics on low income using a range of measures.
The Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that working age adults living in workless households were over 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work. To help people into work our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. We are also addressing progression barriers through our comprehensive package of childcare support, our in work progression offer, and changes to the administrative earnings threshold which ensure that more claimants can benefit from work coach support.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills. From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with (1) international partners, and (2) the government of Azerbaijan, to encourage that country to lift its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has publicly highlighted the importance of re-opening the Lachin corridor and addressing related humanitarian issues, including at the United Nations Security Council in New York on 20 December 2022 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna on 17 January and 27 April 2023. Minister Docherty visited Baku on 22-23 February to meet with senior representatives of the Azerbaijani government and called for the re-opening of the Lachin corridor in those meetings. Minister Docherty reiterated these messages when he hosted Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Bayramov in London for the 5th UK-Azerbaijan Strategic Dialogue on 20 June. We will continue to support constructive dialogue in further contact with the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions were undertaken of people smugglers in each of the last three years for which data are available.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office works tirelessly, with other national and international law enforcement authorities, to tackle migrant smuggling gangs who organise and profit from illegal crossings and to bring to justice the ruthless criminals behind them.
We are determined to go after the callous people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people in difficult circumstances and put them in life-threatening situations.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to apprehend people smugglers operating routes into the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
This Government remains focused on doing everything we can to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs responsible for the dangerous Channel crossings. Our law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to tackle the criminal networks who facilitate people smuggling from source countries to Europe and then the UK, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations.
Since its inception in 2015, the UK’s dedicated Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) taskforce has achieved more than 1,400 arrests (both in the UK and overseas), with suspects sentenced to more than 1,300 years in prison.
Following the Prime Minister’s commitment on 13 December to stop the dangerous small boats crossings, co-ordinated by ruthless, organised criminals. And every single journey risks the lives of women, children and - we should be honest - mostly men at sea.
That is why we are doubling the funding for the Operation Invigor. The increased funding will aim to double the number of disruptions and enforcement activity against OIC and the criminal gangs that facilitate it.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Amnesty International published on 2 May into the use of the Israeli military facial recognition system, Red Wolf, in mass surveillance and whether they support the call by Amnesty International for an end to mass and targeted surveillance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a regular dialogue with the Government of Israel on the conduct of its occupation of Palestinian territories. The UK respects the necessity of Israeli security measures as part of the occupation, but we continue to stress to the Israeli authorities that the impact of such security measures must not disproportionately impact the lives of ordinary Palestinians or their right to non-violent protest.