Asked by: Lord Noon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current estimate of the number of British citizens who have been killed while fighting for ISIL and other terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq; and whether they will publish a list of names, ages, gender and town of last residence in the United Kingdom of those thought to have died.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have no Embassy in Syria and are not routinely informed of the deaths of British nationals in the country. The difficulty of collecting information in a conflict zone, in particular when individuals have often deliberately chosen to disguise their intentions and their identity, means that the Government has no means of reliably assembling this information.
Asked by: Lord Noon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what the counter-terrorism budget for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was in each year since 2010; and how much they are budgeting for the current year.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) budget for counter terrorism work is comprised of a range of funding streams, as well as being incorporated into the overall approach taken to assist priority counter-terrorism partner countries.
The main fund for terrorism-related assistance is the Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF). The tri-departmental (FCO, Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development) Conflict Pool supports complementary work in some fragile and conflict-affected states by tackling the root causes of terrorism through upstream conflict prevention activities. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 24 June 2014, Official Report, column WS107-108, total conflict resources for the financial year 2014-15 have increased to £683 million, of which £239m has been allocated to the Conflict pool.
The budget for the CTPF for the financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14 was £38 million / £38 million / £36 million / £30 million respectively. The administration budget for CTD from the financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14 was £340,500 / £572,500 / £345,000 / £237,500 respectively. The administration budget for CTD in 2014-15 is £211,000. A Written Ministerial Statement will follow on the FCO Strategic Programme Fund allocation for 2014-15, which will include the CTPF.
Asked by: Lord Noon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed cuts in counter-terrorism funding and personnel in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) is the main fund for terrorism-related assistance to foreign countries used by the FCO Counter Terrorism Department. This is complemented by other budgets used for counter-terrorism related activities and the tri-departmental (FCO, Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence) Conflict Pool, as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 24 June 2014, Official Report, column WS107-108. We constantly monitor and review our projects, programmes and diplomatic engagement as our part of the wider Government efforts on counter-terrorism, to ensure our resources are having the maximum possible impact in the right places as the global security environment changes. It is not the case that important activities have ceased or are now under-funded.
The FCO's work on counter-terrorism goes well beyond CTPF - it is at the heart of our diplomacy across our overseas network, particularly in areas of instability. We have, for example, recently: opened an embassy in Mogadishu to support our work on stability and security in Somalia; brought together key players on Nigeria to secure much needed assistance to tackle the threat from Boko Haram; and continued our work to stop terrorists getting their hands on money to fund their activities through leading efforts on disrupting financial flows from sources such as ‘Kidnap for Ransom'.
Asked by: Lord Noon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the government of Iraq has accepted their offer to send counter-terrorism officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to assist against the current jihadi insurgency; if so how many personnel will be sent to Iraq; and how the recent decision to cut the number of counter-terrorism personnel in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will affect future deployments of that nature.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
We are currently reviewing a number of specific counter-terrorism options to assist the Iraqi government. However, any assistance can only be truly effective alongside an urgent show of unity by Iraq's leaders. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), reinforced this message when he met with leaders across Iraq's communities during his visit to Baghdad and Erbil at the end of June.
The Counter-Terrorism Department is one of the largest policy departments in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). We constantly monitor and review our projects, programmes and diplomatic engagement, as our part of the wider Government efforts on counter-terrorism, to ensure our resources are having the maximum possible impact in the right places as the global security environment changes.