Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation and the Department for Education will work together to tackle child neglect.
Answered by Lord Bates
Tackling all forms of abuse and exploitation of children is a priority for this Government. We will continue the urgent work of overhauling how our police, social care and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children, including from the kind of organised grooming and sexual exploitation that has come to light in Rotherham, Rochdale and other towns and cities across the UK.
On 3 March, the previous Government published a report into the response to the failures in Rotherham, which were identified by Professor Alexis Jay and Louise Casey in their reviews. The report includes tough new measures to tackle child sexual exploitation and sets out a comprehensive, targeted set of actions, bringing together healthcare, social care, education, law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, and local and national government.
The Home Office’s Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation leads and coordinates work to tackle child sexual exploitation, as well as missing children and adults, child sexual abuse online, violence against women and girls, and modern slavery including child trafficking. The Department for Education is responsible for Child Protection issues including child neglect.
The Home Office and the Department for Education work closely on these issues with other Government departments, to ensure cross-Government policy coherence for children in England. Ministers and officials meet regularly to oversee the important work on child sexual abuse and have established a cross- Government programme board to oversee the development and implementation of this work. Government Departments represented at this board include the Home Office, Department for Education, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation’s responsibilities include in relation to preventing child neglect.
Answered by Lord Bates
Tackling all forms of abuse and exploitation of children is a priority for this Government. We will continue the urgent work of overhauling how our police, social care and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children, including from the kind of organised grooming and sexual exploitation that has come to light in Rotherham, Rochdale and other towns and cities across the UK.
On 3 March, the previous Government published a report into the response to the failures in Rotherham, which were identified by Professor Alexis Jay and Louise Casey in their reviews. The report includes tough new measures to tackle child sexual exploitation and sets out a comprehensive, targeted set of actions, bringing together healthcare, social care, education, law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, and local and national government.
The Home Office’s Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation leads and coordinates work to tackle child sexual exploitation, as well as missing children and adults, child sexual abuse online, violence against women and girls, and modern slavery including child trafficking. The Department for Education is responsible for Child Protection issues including child neglect.
The Home Office and the Department for Education work closely on these issues with other Government departments, to ensure cross-Government policy coherence for children in England. Ministers and officials meet regularly to oversee the important work on child sexual abuse and have established a cross- Government programme board to oversee the development and implementation of this work. Government Departments represented at this board include the Home Office, Department for Education, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure cross-government policy coherence regarding child exploitation and neglect.
Answered by Lord Bates
Tackling all forms of abuse and exploitation of children is a priority for this Government. We will continue the urgent work of overhauling how our police, social care and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children, including from the kind of organised grooming and sexual exploitation that has come to light in Rotherham, Rochdale and other towns and cities across the UK.
On 3 March, the previous Government published a report into the response to the failures in Rotherham, which were identified by Professor Alexis Jay and Louise Casey in their reviews. The report includes tough new measures to tackle child sexual exploitation and sets out a comprehensive, targeted set of actions, bringing together healthcare, social care, education, law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, and local and national government.
The Home Office’s Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation leads and coordinates work to tackle child sexual exploitation, as well as missing children and adults, child sexual abuse online, violence against women and girls, and modern slavery including child trafficking. The Department for Education is responsible for Child Protection issues including child neglect.
The Home Office and the Department for Education work closely on these issues with other Government departments, to ensure cross-Government policy coherence for children in England. Ministers and officials meet regularly to oversee the important work on child sexual abuse and have established a cross- Government programme board to oversee the development and implementation of this work. Government Departments represented at this board include the Home Office, Department for Education, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the security, political and human rights situations in Burundi ahead of the forthcoming general elections planned for May and June.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Since the end of the civil war in 2005, Burundi has made limited progress towards becoming a more stable democracy. Burundi remains a fragile post-conflict country, with a government that consistently uses the media and justice system to repress political opposition. There have been increasing reports of politically motivated violence, including extrajudicial killings. This political violence threatens regional stability, and could lead to population displacement into Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Burundi was included as a case study on political violence in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2014.
We continue to use our influence in the UN and in the EU to keep Burundi on the international community’s agenda. We believe that maintaining the spirit of the Arusha peace accords is vital: compromise, reconciliation and dialogue are essential if we are to have an electoral process which is inclusive, peaceful and transparent.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will support the organisation of a European Union Electoral Observation Mission in Burundi ahead of and during the general elections of May and June.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The EU will deploy an electoral observation mission from April 2015. The EU's support for the electoral process, through both the presence of this observation mission and the provision of financial assistance, is contingent on the electoral process being inclusive, transparent, and open to all political parties and actors in a fair manner. The UK supports this approach.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Burundi in relation to (1) the prosecution of members of the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy following protests last year, and (2) the human rights of opposition group members there.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We continue to raise our concerns about the diminishing political space and use of political violence during regular exchanges with the Burundian government. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), did so during a meeting with the Burundian Foreign Minister in September 2014. We have also joined EU partners in expressing our concerns publicly, most recently in the form of March EU Council Conclusions on Burundi. We were involved in the successful campaigns for the release of imprisoned activists such as Pierre Claver Mbonimpa and Bob Rugurika. Officials met Mbonimpa in his offices shortly after his release in October 2014. Our Ambassador to Burundi visited Rugurika in prison on 12 February 2015. Both meetings were publicised on social media channels to demonstrate our support for the activists and their work.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding, and for which specific programmes, is proposed to be provided for civic education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the lead-up to the local, provincial and general elections there in 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Baroness Northover
DFID is committed to supporting elections and is looking at how to do this most effectively. We recognise that civic education is an important ingredient for successful elections, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what decision they have taken in relation to providing funding for the forthcoming local, provincial and general elections in 2015 and 2016 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Baroness Northover
Elections are an integral part of efforts to build a secure and prosperous Democratic Republic of Congo. A new electoral law was promulgated and comprehensive electoral calendar was published on 12 February 2015. We welcome these. This law is an important step towards elections which are credible, inclusive and peaceful, and which respect the will of the Congolese people, the country’s constitution and the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. DFID is committed to supporting elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions their representatives have had with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with President Kabila in relation to respecting the current constitutional presidential term limits.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Successful elections and the peaceful transition of power in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are important for the country’s longer-term development and stability. Officials at our Embassy in Kinshasa have consistently raised the importance of respect for the constitution with the Government of the DRC and with President Kabila himself. They will continue to do so.
A revised electoral law, passed on 25 January by the DRC’s Parliament, was welcomed in a Foreign and Commonwealth Office press statement of 26 January. This, and the subsequent comprehensive electoral calendar published by the DRC’s Independent Electoral Reform Commission on 12 February, represent an important step towards elections which are credible, inclusive and peaceful, and which respect the will of the Congolese people, the country’s constitution and the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the new Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Efforts to stabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) require a comprehensive disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme aimed at successfully returning those combatants not suspected of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or abuses of human rights, into a peaceful civilian life. It is crucial that the DDR programme is responsive to the needs of the Congolese people while guaranteeing the rights and welfare of those ex-combatants admitted to the programme. The Government of the DRC presented its DDR plan to international partners in June 2014. In October it announced that it would begin implementation using Government of the DRC and UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) funds. However, we have not yet seen any meaningful action on the ground and have noted with concern that a number of people transported to a military camp to await DDR have died from apparent disease and malnutrition. Alongside the UN and other members of the international community, we have requested the Government of the DRC take immediate action to protect the rights of those awaiting DDR in military camps. Whilst we are committed to working with the Government of the DRC on helping former combatants reintegrate into civilian life, we have made clear that our financial support is dependent on there being strong monitoring arrangements in place and that the needs and rights of all stakeholders are respected.