Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the UK has voted against legislation in the Council of Ministers since 2001; and on how many of those occasions that legislation subsequently passed.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This information is not held centrally and to compile it would incur disproportionate cost. Information on EU legislation can be found on the EU website.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many EU legislative proposals the UK has voted against at the Council of Ministers since 2009; and how many of those proposals were withdrawn as a result.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This information is not held centrally and to compile it would incur disproportionate cost. Information on European Union (EU) legislation can be found on the EU website.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pieces of EU legislation have been passed as "A" items in the Council of Ministers in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold this information centrally. The European Union (EU) website provides information on EU legislation including the number of regulations, directives and decisions adopted by the EU. This information is available by month and by year.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on how many occasions since 1988 they have unilaterally withdrawn from their obligations under international treaties.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has unilaterally withdrawn from 52 treaties since 1 January 1988. All of these have been multilateral treaties.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to discuss with the government of Morocco why the Reverend Colin Dye was recently refused entry to Morocco, and why he was held overnight and then placed on a flight to Rome without any entries on his passport or a copy of the paperwork he was obliged to sign.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Her Majesty's Government cannot interfere in another country's immigration procedures, in the same way that we would not allow them to interfere in ours. Reverend Colin Dye did not request consular assistance while in Morocco; therefore the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have no information about his deportation to Rome.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the recent attacks on the Ahmadi mosque in Chakwal, and on the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Raburah; and about the arrest of Ahmadis in these incidents.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK Government is aware of reports of the raid on an Ahmadiyya Muslim office in Rabwah on 5 December and condemns the attack on the Ahmadiyya mosque in Chakwal on 12 December. The Government strongly condemns the persecution of all minorities, including the targeting of people based on their beliefs. Our concerns are reflected in the latest update to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual human rights report.
We regularly raise our concerns about the protection of minority communities, including religious minorities, with the Government of Pakistan. During his visit to Pakistan in November 2016, the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), raised religious tolerance and the importance of safeguarding the rights of all Pakistan's citizens. During his visit to Pakistan in January 2017, the Minister for Asia and the Pacific, my Hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Mr Sharma), raised the protection of minorities, including the Ahmadiyya, with Kamran Michael, Pakistani Minister for Human Rights, and Barrister Zafarullah Khan, the Prime Minister's Special Assistant for Human Rights. The Government continues to urge Pakistan to honour in practice its human rights obligations, including those related to religious minorities, and to uphold the rule of law.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficiency of the Foreign Office's vetting process for new employees; and what is the average time a successful applicant has to wait before they can start their duties.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Most new employees are cleared within 60 working days if they require Developed Vetting clearance, or 18 days if they require Security Checked clearance. Occasionally additional checks are required which may take longer. All Foreign and Commonwealth Office vetting is conducted in accordance with the requirements and standards set by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the treatment of Russian minorities in the Baltic States, particularly Lithuania, and (2) whether such treatment would attract a response from Russia; and if so, what type of response that would be.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
There are sizeable Russian-speaking communities in Latvia and Estonia, and a smaller community in Lithuania. All EU Member States are obliged to meet the standards for minority rights and are subject to obligations and monitoring mechanisms, such as through the Council of Europe. Our Embassies in the Baltic States have supported programmes run by their host governments and non-governmental organisations to encourage integration, tolerance, diversity and respect for minorities - including programmes to support media plurality and social cohesion.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many EU proposals and initiatives, of which they are aware, are being delayed for publication until after 23 June, and what are those initiatives.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Decisions on the timing of proposals for EU Laws and Directives are solely the responsibility of the European Commission. The European Parliament publishes details of current legislation under negotiation on its website.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they reconcile printing and delivering their pamphlet <i>Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK</i> to every household in the UK, with the statement by the Minister of State for Europe, Mr David Lidington, on 7 September 2015 that "we have no intention of legislating to allow the Government to do things such as mailshots, paid advertising or leafleting" (HC Deb, col 89).
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As the full excerpt below shows, the statement referred to by the Noble Lord relates to conduct and activity during the final 28 days of the referendum period, which are covered by the provisions of section 125 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The Government will comply fully with these provisions.
“Instead, new clause 10 provides a power to make regulations to exempt particular categories of publication from section 125. Any such regulation would need to be approved by an affirmative resolution in both Houses. We have also adopted the recommendation of the Political and Constitutional Affairs Committee that the Government should consult the Electoral Commission before any such regulation is made.
While I understand the constructive intention behind the suggestion made by the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon), I think that at the end of the day the Government must be free to go to Parliament and ask whether it accepts or rejects a particular proposal. The safeguard here is that if Government new clause 10 is accepted tonight, both Houses will have the right to veto anything that the Government might bring forward under this new provision.
Let me explain the kind of things I have in mind. They include, for example, modernising the press notice exemption, which is already in section 125, to take account of digital media, by making it clear that it is permissible to link to a press notice from a website or a social media site; allowing the publication of a document on government.uk; or clarifying that material passed on to the print or broadcasting media would be acceptable. None of those things is clear at the moment. Let me repeat that we have no intention of legislating to allow the Government to do things such as mailshots, paid advertising or leafleting.”