Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 31 July (HL154), why they have not appointed a Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief; and whether they will set out a timetable for doing so.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government will continue to champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. Envoy roles will be decided upon in due course. We cannot comment on timelines for individual appointments. In the meantime, we continue to use the strength of our global diplomatic network, including dedicated staff within the FCDO, to promote and protect FoRB around the world.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they have given to the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief in Berlin on 10 October.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
FCDO officials responsible for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) policy, attended the entirety of the Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, in Berlin 9-11 October. Following the conference, we will build on discussions focused on the implications of artificial intelligence for FoRB. The use of AI presents both opportunities and risks for the enjoyment of human rights. It is important that we champion the positive potential of AI, whilst taking action to mitigate risks. We will do this by working with international partners and through multilateral fora including the UN and regional organisations.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 31 July (HL154), when they expect to announce whether they will appoint a Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government will champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. Envoy roles will be decided upon in due course. There is no set timetable for doing so. In the meantime, we continue to use the strength of our global diplomatic network, including dedicated staff within the FCDO, to promote and protect FoRB around the world.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to measure value for money in respect of funding disbursed or provisionally allocated to the Ozanne Foundation for (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–28.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The FCDO's LGBT rights programme aims to transform the lives of millions of LGBT people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination, improving economic and social inclusion and legislative reform. All proposals to the programme are required to set out how they will deliver and measure value for money. Successful partners are required to submit reports for the monitoring and evaluation process. These reports include a results framework or log frame to track progress against targets of the project and quarterly and annual progress reports, which should highlight how they have achieved value for money.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) due diligence, and (2) procurement, processes were undertaken by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office prior to awarding the Ozanne Foundation £805,000 of project funding for the period 2024–28.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The FCDO's LGBT rights programme aims to transform the lives of millions of LGBT people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination, improving economic and social inclusion and legislative reform. Procurement for the first round of funding took place through a call for proposals which went out in June 2023. Following a due diligence process the Ozanne Foundation received £20,000 in 2023/24 to initiate a project to develop a residential course for senior religious leaders from around the world. The final workplan and budget for April 2024 onwards will be agreed after a satisfactory due diligence assessment of the lead programme partner, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford. It was announced by the Cabinet Office Minister on 13 May that all future contracts for external diversity spending will be signed off by ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding has been disbursed to the Ozanne Foundation via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or predecessor departments since 2019; on what evidential basis was that funding released; and what conditions, if any, were attached to that funding.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
LGBT rights are human rights and the UK is committed to championing these rights internationally, supporting those who defend them. The Ozanne Foundation works with religious organisations around the world to eliminate discrimination based on sexuality or gender to embrace and celebrate the equality and diversity of all. Since 2019, the FCDO and predecessor departments have provided the Ozanne Foundation with £207,500, this includes £20,000 for 2023-24. The funding, which was allocated to address the issue of violence and discrimination of LGBT people, has primarily been used for the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT lives which calls for an end to violence and criminalisation against LGBT people. It was announced by the Cabinet Office Minister on 13 May that all future contracts for external diversity spending will be signed off by ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund the Ozanne Foundation via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2024–28, and for what purpose.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The LGBT rights programme was publicly announced in November 2023. This programme has been set up to fund a range of partner organisations and is designed to improve the lives of millions of LGBT people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination, improving economic and social inclusion and legislative reform. The Ozanne Foundation works with religious organisations around the world to eliminate discrimination based on sexuality or gender to embrace and celebrate the equality and diversity of all. The Ozanne Foundation submitted a proposal to develop a residential course for senior religious leaders from around the world. The proposal was successful and due diligence of the lead programme partner, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, is currently ongoing. It was announced by the Cabinet Office Minister on 13 May that all future contracts for external diversity spending will be signed off by ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Ozanne Foundation to ensure that that organisation has appropriate financial oversight and management processes in place to manage projects involving large sums of public money received by grant in the 2023–24 financial year.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The FCDO's LGBT rights programme aims to transform the lives of millions of LGBT people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination, improving economic and social inclusion and legislative reform. Following a standard due diligence process the Ozanne Foundation received £20,000 in 2023/24 to initiate a project to develop a residential course for senior religious leaders from around the world. It was announced by the Cabinet Office Minister on 13 May that all future contracts for external diversity spending will be signed off by ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the European Commission on proposals to open negotiations to facilitate youth mobility between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK recognises the cultural value of youth mobility and the importance of facilitating cultural exchange opportunities for young people. We have successful Youth Mobility Schemes (YMS) with 13 countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Government is willing to explore precedent based bilateral YMS arrangements with international partners, including individual EU Member States who are interested. The Government has no plans to agree to an EU-wide Youth Mobility Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 9 February (HL1962), why they do not track and disaggregate discrete spend for abortion services, as part of the wider package of women's healthcare, in respect of development monies disbursed in Africa.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK has a strong portfolio of Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programming globally, which includes abortion services. We report our spend, according to the OECD Development and Assistance Committee (DAC) sector codes, in our annual Statistics on International Development publications [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development].
Comprehensive SRHR spend spans across various OECD DAC codes and we do not record data for SRHR services separately. Some civil society partners have developed methodologies to provide an estimate of the UK's SRHR spend.
Individual FCDO programmes record deliverables and results on SRHR. This data along with individual programme finances can be found on the Devtracker website: [https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/.] SRHR results are likely to be reported as a comprehensive service against sector approved indicators and metrics, rather than for individual services such as abortion.