Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of acute food insecurity in Africa; and what steps they are taking to address it.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UN Humanitarian assessments indicate that over 140 million people are critically food insecure due to conflict, climate disasters and the Covid pandemic, made worse by the war in Ukraine.
The UK is a major humanitarian donor and we are pressing for an urgent collective response to current levels of acute food insecurity. This financial year we intend to provide approximately £156 million to address humanitarian requirements across East Africa. FCDO Ministers are also calling on multilateral institutions to do more. We continue to support the G7 Global Alliance on Food Security and the UN Global Crisis Response Group.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will address the impact of climate change on farmers in sub-Saharan African through the allocation of resources in their development programmes; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is addressing the impact of climate change on farmers in sub-Saharan Africa through a broad range of programmes. For example, the FCDO-funded African Food Trade and Resilience aims to facilitate food trade between surplus and deficit areas by supporting companies to develop farmer-support models that promote climate-friendly practices.
More broadly, the FCDO is supporting farmers to cope with climate change through our international climate finance, and in delivery of the UK's International Development Strategy commitment to prevent and anticipate shocks and build resilience in long running crises by tackling the underlying drivers of crises, instability, and food insecurity.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of state sponsored human rights abuses in the Cameroon after the reported shooting of a four year old girl by a gendarme in the Anglophone South-Western region of that country; and what discussions they have had the governments of (1) Cameroon, and (2) France, regarding this.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Following the shooting of the four-year old girl in Buea, the British High Commission in Yaoundé issued a statement condemning the act, welcomed an investigation by the Cameroon Ministry of Defence, and raised the incident directly with the Cameroonian Government. The UK works regularly with international partners, including France and the US, to raise the crisis in multilateral fora. At the UN Human Rights Council in March, we called for an end to violence and for impartial investigations to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses to account. The UK has also funded training to improve human rights reporting and better protect human rights defenders in Cameroon.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received any representations from (1) Ryanair, or (2) any other interested parties, concerning the compatibility of that airline's requirement for South African passport holders to take an Afrikaans language test, with (a) entry requirements, and (b) anti-discrimination legislation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The recent language test requirement for passengers travelling with Ryanair is not a UK Government requirement. The FCDO’s Post in South Africa has confirmed this via its social media channels and has been in touch with South Africa’s Department for International Relations and Cooperation. My officials have engaged with Ryanair on this matter and they have since confirmed that the language test is no longer in use.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 2 March (HL Deb col 846), when they intend to open a sponsored pathway for Ukrainians not related to persons settled in the UK to obtain entry into the UK as a refugee; what are the sponsorship requirements for any such application; and what qualifications are required to act as a sponsor.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Details of the plans to open a sponsored pathway for Ukrainians not related to persons settled in the UK were announced in Secretary of State's, Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities in his Oral Statement to Parliament of 14 March 2022:
Sponsors must be able to offer accommodation for at least 6 months and will be required to undergo necessary vetting checks.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the response by Safe Passage, the Hummingbird Project, and Kent Refugee Action Network to their proposed new plan for immigration; and what provision they intend to make for the specific needs of refugees and asylum seekers for (a) accommodation, (b) education, and (c) employment.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We note the joint report by the young people of Safe Passage, the Hummingbird Project and Kent Refugee Action Network, ‘Safe routes from the perspective of young refugees – our response to the New Plan for Immigration’, published on 25 June 2021.
As part of the New Plan for Immigration, there was an engagement and consultation process which ran from 24 March 2020 to 6 May 2021. During this time, the Home Office encouraged stakeholders and members of the public to share their views on its proposals via an online questionnaire.
The Home Office’s response to the consultation was published in July 2021 and can be found here:
The New Plan for Immigration will deliver the most comprehensive reform of the asylum system in decades. It includes plans to set up accommodation centres to provide basic accommodation for asylum-seekers who would otherwise be destitute. We will only accommodate people in the centres after an individual assessment shows it’s suitable and safe for them. We also continue to seek opportunities to expand the number of areas participating in our dispersal area accommodation system.
Asylum seekers’ children under 18 will continue to have access to full-time education and continuous support in line with our duty under section 55 of the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
In terms of employment, we will allow asylum seekers to work if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, when preparing the White Paper Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February, what assessment they made of the impact of ethnicity in determining the scale and nature of geographical disparities across the UK; and what measures, if any, they plan to introduce to reduce (1) the ethnic pay gap, and (2) the disparities in the levels of unemployment between different ethnicities, across all regions of the UK.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The United Kingdom is one of the greatest countries in the world, but not everyone shares in its success. Pockets of inequality and deprivation exist, with differentials both within and between regions. The Government’s central task is to level up the UK by spreading opportunity more equally across the country, addressing inequality and deprivation in those areas that have been left behind.
The Levelling Up White Paper drew on the findings of the independent Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities' report of 31 March 2021. As the Commission emphasised, geography is a key factor affecting equality of opportunity and social mobility, and geographical and ethnicity-related factors are closely interrelated. The Government welcomes the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings on the ethnicity pay gap and reporting, including in light of the work that has already taken place within government, and will respond to the Commission’s report in due course.
The ethnic minority employment rate is 68.1 per cent, a record high, but we know there is more we can do. This is why, building on the success of our flagship Kickstart scheme, we have introduced our Way To Work mission, which will support people back into work, including ethnic minority jobseekers, faster than ever before and filling vacancies across all regions more quickly.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of funding for COVAX to enable the (1) purchase, and (2) distribution, of ancillary vaccination equipment; and what assessment have they made of its implications for the delivery of vaccination programmes in the developing world.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to help bring the acute phase of the pandemic to an end and strongly supports the COVAX Facility as a key multilateral mechanism to deliver this. The UK is one of the largest donors to COVAX's Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million, and will donate 100 million vaccine doses by mid-2022. This support has helped COVAX deliver over 1 billion vaccines worldwide so far.
The UK has worked closely with COVAX on its recently published investment opportunity, including its financing assessments for the purchase and distribution of ancillary vaccination equipment. There are many barriers to effective rollout and the UK and COVAX partners are working with countries to help health systems deliver vaccines. This includes engaging with communities and leaders to build trust, provide correct information, and encourage uptake.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the military takeover in Burkina Faso, and (2) the implications for combating Islamist militancy in the Sahel region.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is deeply concerned about the deteriorating security and political situation in Burkina Faso. As the Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean set out in her statement on 25 January 2022, the UK condemns the coup d'etat by military forces in Burkina Faso, and calls for the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all members of the civilian government who have been detained, including the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. It is vital that all parties remain calm and respect human rights, and for Burkina Faso to return to democratic civilian and constitutional rule without delay. We are monitoring the political and security situation closely, and are working with partners to encourage a swift, peaceful and constructive resolution to events. Dialogue between all parties is required to tackle insecurity across Burkina Faso, and respond to the needs of the Burkinabe people.
We are concerned about insecurity and the impact of Violent Extremist Organisations in the Sahel. Through our deployment to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), our deployment of Chinook helicopters to the French counter-terrorism mission Barkhane, and our programmatic support for stabilisation and conflict resolution, the UK is working to build long-term peace and stability in the Sahel.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of access to human rights in Congo-Brazzaville; and what representations they have made to the government of that country on human rights issues.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In partnership with the international community, the UK Government engages with the Government of the Republic of the Congo on a range of issues, including human rights. The UK does not have a resident Embassy in the Republic of the Congo but we monitor the political, economic, and social situation in that country through the British Embassy in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UK is firmly committed to promoting and defending human rights globally.