Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many professionals the Forced Marriage Unit delivered training to in 2023; and how many people took the Forced Marriage Unit’s “Awareness of Forced Marriage” free online course in 2023.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2023, the Forced Marriage Unit delivered training to a total of 3657 professionals through their bespoke training and workshops.
We currently do not have the figure for how many people took the free online course in 2023 - these will be released in due course. In 2022, 5,029 people from a wide range of professions took the Government's "Awareness of Forced Marriage" free online course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to encourage local councils to replicate the 'mega skip' days run by Wandsworth Council to reduce incidences of fly-tipping.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Across two rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme we have awarded nearly £1.2m to help councils across the country introduce interventions to tackle fly-tipping hotspots. Successful projects have included community or ‘waste amnesty’ days. A selection of case studies from completed projects are available online so that others can learn about those interventions which were most successful. These can be found at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/fly-tipping-intervention-grant-scheme.
We are currently reviewing applications for a further round of grants, which could see an additional £1m handed out in the spring to help even more councils tackle the issue.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many household waste and recycling centres have closed since January 2023 because of budgetary constraints of local authorities.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not have detailed information on decisions behind local authority service implementation. Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are an important service to help ensure residents can dispose of waste in a responsible manner and we encourage local authorities to ensure appropriate provisions are made.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of household waste and recycling centre closures on incidences of fly-tipping.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have previously commissioned research into the drivers, deterrents and impacts of fly-tipping that suggested any friction in the system relating to the use of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), which have negative impacts on cost or convenience, can act as provocations for normally law-abiding people or businesses to fly-tip or give their waste to someone who goes on to fly-tip. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires waste disposal authorities to provide places for residents to deposit household waste. It is a Local Authority responsibility to manage suitable availability.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent of UK-based protection and indemnity insurance underwriting the shipping of Russian oil and products.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Oil Price Cap was designed to meet two core objectives: to bear down on Russian revenues that could otherwise be used to fund their illegal war, whilst also maintaining global energy security and flows of affordable oil to countries that need it. The measure has been effective partly thanks to the prevalence of highly sought after G7 service providers, it is very hard to make major oil trades or gain significant market share without using G7 services at all.
Where G7 services are involved in the shipping of Russian oil and oil products, these trades must be conducted at or below the relevant price cap – constraining Putin’s ability to use inflated oil revenues to sustain his war machine. This is why the UK, alongside G7 partners, have provided extensive guidance to industry to advise service providers, including insurers, on how they can move Russian oil in compliance with the price cap.
We continue to monitor our oil-related measures and investigate any potential breaches robustly.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any UK aid to Pakistan is directed specifically towards supporting persecuted religious minorities; and if so, how much.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We prioritise our aid to achieve maximum impact for the people of Pakistan in line with our strategic priorities, including promoting the rights of religious minorities. Examples include our Aawaz II programme, which is allocated £39.5 million (2018-2024) and brings together community leaders and minority representatives to promote tolerance; and our Hate Speech and Disinformation programme, which works to protect marginalised communities from hate speech online.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money was allocated to tackling humanitarian crises in Ethiopia in (1) 2019–20, (2) 2020–21, (3) 2021–22, and (4) 2022–23.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has been an overseas development assistance (ODA) donor to Ethiopia over the last four years. Our overall ODA allocations have been: £300 million in 2019-20, £254 million in 2020-21, £134 million in 2021-22 and £90 million in 2022-23. Since 2019, the UK has allocated over £400 million to tackle humanitarian crises in Ethiopia. UK funding has provided 950,000 Ethiopians with medical supplies and is delivering lifesaving nutrition, health, water and sanitation and protection support to the most vulnerable. In February 2024, Minister Mitchell announced an extra £100 million in humanitarian aid during his visit to Ethiopia in response to the worsening humanitarian situation.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to put in place mandatory training for diplomats on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In July 2021, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB), Fiona Bruce, MP, and I, launched the FCDO International Academy's training module "Religion for International Engagement," delivering recommendation 11 of the Bishop of Truro's review of FCDO support for persecuted Christians. The training is essential for FCDO diplomats, and highly recommended for all FCDO staff. The training is also available to all civil servants.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the governments of (1) India, and (2) Pakistan, to ensure that religious minorities are not denied their right to vote in upcoming elections in those countries.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We regularly engage with the Government of Pakistan to advance our key priorities and interests, including upholding democracy through inclusive elections. On 19 January, I raised the need for inclusivity in the upcoming elections with Pakistan's Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani. On 25 September 2023, the former Foreign Secretary raised the importance of credible, inclusive and timely elections with Pakistan's Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar. On 21 August, I wrote to Foreign Minister Jilani to raise concerns about the treatment of minority religious communities and underline the need to ensure all Pakistan's citizens are able to exercise their democratic rights. The British High Commission in New Delhi continues to monitor the rights of religious minorities across India, including in the context of elections.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they keep records of the occasions when oil tankers in the English Channel have turned off their transponders.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This data is not regularly collated in this form. The Joint Maritime Security Centre provides regular reporting on vessels of interest in the UK Marine Area.