Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria and standards BBC Arabic is subject to for its receipt of (1) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office grant funding, and (2) World2020 programme funding.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
All BBC World Service language services are governed by the standards set in the BBC Charter, the Framework Agreement with HMG, and the World Service licence. The licence states that all BBC World Service output must meet the BBC's editorial standards as set out in the Editorial Guidelines agreed by the BBC Board. As part of the grant funding made to the World Service through the World2025 programme, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office agrees Objectives, Priorities and Targets for the World Service, covering audience reach, quality, impact, and value for money.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What assessment he has made of the effect on the work of the Global Coalition against Daesh of the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The inglorious end of Daesh’s leader is certainly an important milestone in the fight against this death cult but as reports of a new leader emerge, it is becoming clear that it is not the end of Daesh. Daesh still poses a threat to the UK, our interests, values and people. We will continue to adapt and strengthen our efforts to prevent Daesh carrying out terrorist attacks, spreading its poisonous narrative, financing its wicked operations and recruiting supporters. We will continue to work with coalition partners to end Daesh once and for all.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what resources the Government has allocated to tracking UK jihadis in Syria; and how many UK nationals are (a) fighting with (i) Daesh and (ii) other armed groups in Syria and (b) held captive by any party to the conflict in Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have committed considerable resource to our work with the Global Coalition Against Daesh, and European and regional partners, to develop international and collective solutions to the problems posed by foreign fighters operating in Syria. In particular we have focused on increasing information and evidence sharing amongst partners overseas and ensuring that all affected countries are taking steps to minimise the risk posed by the dispersal and return of such fighters. Approximately 900 people of national security concern who have travelled from the UK to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. We do not comment on the details of our activity in this area or on the number of UK nationals being held captive by any party to the conflict in Syria for national security reasons.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether chlorine gas is prohibited as a weapon under the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The use of chlorine gas as a weapon is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office operates an in year performance awards scheme for staff below the Senior Civil Service. This is devolved to Directorates as a way of recognising individual or team contributions to business delivery. Directorates determine the number and size of awards granted in a given year up to a ceiling allocation determined by HR Directorate. As such, no data is centrally held on the number of Instant Rewards made to staff by individual Directorates.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has purchased one iPhone with central FCO funds. Records of purchases using devolved FCO budgets (i.e. those managed by our overseas diplomatic missions or departments in London) are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions his Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Civil Service Recruitment Principles require recruitment to the Civil Service to be on the basis of merit after fair and open competition. Recruitment is also permitted, without fair and open competition, in an established set of circumstances (‘Exceptions’), when it has not been possible – or it is impracticable or disproportionate given an urgent need for business critical skills - to select someone on merit through fair and open competition. This has been our interpretation of ‘exceptions’ in the context of this question. The following table shows the number of times the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made use of these exceptions by financial year since 2010. FY 2007/8-103 FY 2008/9-52 FY 2009/10-33 FY 2010/11-15 FY 2011/2012-36 FY 2012/2013-14 FY 2013/2014-25 FY 2014/2015 (to 5/11/14)-15 The figures cover recruitment in the UK where an individual has been identified as as offering particular skills or experience which are critical to the business of the organisation. The FCO does not publish details of staff members.Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) publishes a quarterly statistics bulletin concerning FOI responses from all Government Departments including The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The bulletin includes tables showing how many requests were granted in full, or resulted in some information being withheld or all information withheld. The MOJ statistics bulletin can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions his Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Cabinet Office on 10 November 2014 (PQ 213040).
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
I refer the honourable Member to my reply of 14 July 2014, Official Report, column 477W.