Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safe evacuation of British nationals who are facing challenges trying to leave Gaza.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Prime Minister and former Foreign Secretary have said, the safety of British nationals remains our top priority. We are working with the Egyptian and Israeli authorities round the clock to ensure our British nationals can leave Gaza as soon as possible. The UK is supportive of limited and temporary cessations of hostilities as part of measures to facilitate the flow of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza. It is crucial that we capitalise on the hostage deal to allow as much food, water, medical supplies and fuel as possible to reach vulnerable civilians in Gaza. This pause should act as a confidence-building mechanism for future pauses, including those solely on humanitarian grounds. The UK has a team at the Rafah crossing to ensure we can provide the necessary consular and administrative support needed to British nationals when they cross. We are providing support for British nationals to get from Rafah to Cairo, where we have set up a reception centre and have arranged temporary accommodation. Additional Consular and Border Force staff are in country to support this work, as is an FCDO Rapid Deployment Team and a team of British Red Cross psychological support experts. More than 150 British nationals and their dependants have left Gaza so far, this is well over half of those who registered with the FCDO initially.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial support they are providing to countries in Africa to help combat climate change on that continent.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is working closely with African partners to fight climate change, boost resilience and help those whose lives are most impacted. The UK supports initiatives, such as contributing towards the African Development Bank's Climate Action Window (£200 million) and South Africa's Just Energy Transition ($1.8 billion). At the Africa Climate Summit (4-6 September) the Minister for Climate and the Environment, The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, reaffirmed the Government's commitment to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance, with approximately 40 per cent of this being spent on Africa. Minister Mitchell also announced projects worth £49 million to help African countries manage the impact of climate change and improve the lives of women, farmers and at-risk communities.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to renegotiate part of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement given reports of threats to (1) export businesses, and (2) the sustainability of manufacturing operations in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise that the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine and energy crisis have shocked supply chains, meaning raw material costs for manufacturers of electric vehicles have spiked since we signed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). This is a problem for manufacturers across Europe, not just in the UK. Ministers have raised this with the European Commission and we're ready to work with the EU and industry to find a joint UK-EU solution.
The UK Government is supporting industry through the Automotive Transformation Fund and Advanced Propulsion Centre to develop a high-value end-to-end electrified automotive supply chain in the UK and support cutting-edge automotive technologies. In the coming months, the Government will build on these interventions with decisive action to ensure future investment in zero emission vehicle manufacturing.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with international partners regarding how the international development programme can help to support less developed countries that are at the forefront of climate change-related damage.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
All parties at COP27, the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including the UK, agreed to establish new funding arrangements for assisting developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Parties agreed to establish a Transitional Committee of developed and developing countries to operationalise the funding arrangements, with which the UK engages closely.
At COP27 the UK announced a commitment to increase climate adaptation finance to £1.5 billion in 2025. This funding will help countries build their resilience to climate change impacts. The UK engages closely through the UNFCCC process with partners, as well as through direct engagements with developing countries.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what development programmes they are considering as part of their Official Development Assistance spending.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO's Official Development Assistance spending will be focused according to the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy, while closely taking into account the needs of our partner countries. Individual programme funding decisions will be made by our experts on the ground, guided by our approach to prioritisation.
We will provide an update on Official Development Assistance allocations in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to form long-lasting partnerships with (1) Latin American, (2) Asian, and (3) African, countries.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to working with partners in Latin America, Asia and Africa, including to foster long-term stability and trade, address drivers of conflict, call out human rights abuses and violations, promote democracy and tackle climate change. In his foreign policy speech on 12 December, the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the UK's commitment to working with developing countries in continents around the world, and to making a sustained effort to revive old friendships and build new ones, reaching beyond long-established alliances. In the last year, the UK has offered guarantees to allow almost £5 billion of extra multilateral finance for the developing world, as well as a reliable source of infrastructure investment through the British Investment Partnerships, through UK Export Finance, and through the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure. We are negotiating and signing free trade deals and Mutual Recognition Agreements, and demonstrating our long-term commitment to the Indo Pacific, including by joining the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide support to Pakistan during the recent floods.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan as it faces the consequences of the recent devastating flooding. The UK was one of the first countries to announce funding (£1.5 million) to respond to the humanitarian need. We have now increased this to £16.5 million to support flood relief efforts. UK aid will be targeted towards the hardest hit areas of Sindh and other provinces. The UK contribution is also now over 10 per cent of the joint UN and Government of Pakistan emergency appeal ($160 million). This flooding demonstrates how climate change is making extreme weather events both more intense and more frequent.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor the re-emergence of the Marburg virus in Ghana.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As outlined in the International Development Strategy, the UK is committed to strengthening global health security. In Ghana, the UK recently trained 7,000 health workers on surveillance and response, including in the regions affected by the current Marburg outbreak. Ghana responded swiftly to the outbreak and continues to intensify containment measures, with all new suspected Marburg cases identified through surveillance activities. The UK continues to support Ghana on surveillance and infection prevention and control, and has offered to provide additional support if needed.
More broadly, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also providing technical support to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, to improve regional preparedness and response, and address weaknesses in health security systems in Ghana and neighbouring countries as needed. The FCDO's Emergency Medical Teams and UK Health Security Agency's Public Health Rapid Response Teams have expertise and capacity to be deployed at short notice and have recently provided support to African countries including Ghana, for Covid-19 and Ebola and Marburg outbreaks.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prohibit UK persons from undertaking financial transactions involving the Central Bank of Belarus.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We stand united with international partners in condemning the Belarusian Government for facilitating Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine from within its borders. Our intention is to extend recent Russia sanctions to Belarus. The Lukashenko regime will be made to feel the economic consequences for its support for Putin.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to impose sanctions on Gazprombank.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are focusing our efforts on those measures which will have the biggest impact. The UK Government has blocked all Russian companies from raising capital on UK markets, including Gazprombank and other significant Russian entities.