Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the Maritime Conservation Areas around UK Overseas Territories are (1) monitored, and (2) policed.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Blue Belt programme is actively working with UKOTs to ensure large scale Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have effective monitoring and enforcement regimes in place. Blue Belt funding provides targeted satellite surveillance across the maritime zones of British Indian Ocean Territory, South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory, Pitcairn, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The Programme is working closely with the National Maritime Information Centre (NMIC), allowing the use of the NMIC systems to undertake surveillance of all UKOTs, and has implemented a system to assess the risks of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The programme is also trialling new and emerging technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles, which potentially improve the UKOTs' ability to monitor these vast and often remote areas, in conjunction with traditional monitoring platforms where available.
The Blue Belt has also funded work to ensure there are effective legislation and robust compliance frameworks in place, to enforce the MPAs. To support the OTs, the Blue Belt programme has improved the process whereby vessel monitoring data is requested from flag states, and has raised issues of non-compliance through Regional Fisheries Management Organisations.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have caused inquiries to be made about the export of plastinated human bodies (1) globally, and (2) to the UK, by Dalian Hoffen Bio-Technique Co, based in China.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Government is aware of the technique to plastinate human bodies exported from China for exhibition and for medical research. We have not made inquiries with the Chinese government on this matter but continue to monitor media coverage.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to counter Russian efforts to confront and destabilise the UK, as described in the speech on fourth generation espionage by Alex Younger, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, on 3 December.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service stated in his speech on 3 December, we are drawing together all our national capabilities to detect, deter and counter hybrid attacks and other threats to the United Kingdom. Together with our allies, in response to the attack in Salisbury, we coordinated the largest ever collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers, fundamentally degrading Russian intelligence capability for years to come. We are investing £1.9 billion into our National Cyber Security Strategy and with our international partners have shone a light on the reckless and irresponsible cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. We are a leading voice within the EU on delivering sanctions in respect of Russia's actions in Ukraine and we work closely with our NATO allies to deliver effective deterrence and reassurance measures. We will continue to work closely with our international allies to protect the UK and our interests from Russia-based threats.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the interim report published by the Fact-Finding Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on 6 July on the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome the work of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in investigating the 7 April attack on Douma. The interim report noted that chlorine was found in samples taken during the investigation, along with residues of explosives. We look forward to further reporting in due course. In addition, the 12 September 2018 report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria also found that "a vast body of evidence" suggested that a gas cylinder containing chlorine, delivered by helicopter, struck a residential building in Douma on 7 April.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of jihadist groups in Idlib filming and preparing statements to prove a chemical attack on the inhabitants of the city has taken place.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
These reports, produced by the Russian Ministry of Defence, fit into a wider Russian disinformation campaign which includes absurd and baseless insinuations about the UK. The campaign is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the appalling crimes of the Asad regime, including its documented and repeated use of chemical weapons. We are clear that this Russian disinformation campaign is designed to distort, distract and confuse the facts. In the last couple of years, the Syrian regime and its Russian backers have repeatedly hidden behind the rationale of confronting terrorism to launch brutal, indiscriminate campaigns, killing countless children and civilians in the process. If they do the same in Idlib, they will cause a human disaster that could leave thousands dead and many more homeless.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the current holdings of banned chemical agents by the Assad regime; and whether they have held any discussions with the government of Russia concerning the accuracy of those estimates.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is responsible for verifying Syria's Declaration and destruction of its chemical weapons programme under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Four years after Syria’s accession to the Convention, the Director General reported “gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies remain” in the Declaration, and an absence of credible evidence to account for quantities of agent Syria possessed, the type of agent and the munitions used for delivery. The OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism has also confirmed Syrian regime use of chemical weapons four times since its accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013. This is a flagrant breach of the convention. Syria’s retention of a chemical weapons capability cannot be in doubt.
The UK has been active in highlighting the importance of action at the OPCW, at the UN and more widely to put an end to the possession and use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime and building international consensus to that end, engaging Russia accordingly both bilaterally and in key multilateral fora.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are compiling a list of persons allegedly responsible for war crimes in Syria; and if so, whether and when those names will be submitted to the International Criminal Court.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly supports efforts to pursue accountability for war crimes in Syria. We have provided funding to non-governmental organisations and to the UN's International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) whose role is to investigate and collect evidence of the most serious crimes committed in Syria. The UK also supports the important work of the independent UN Commission of Inquiry, which is reporting on human rights violations and abuses. We have also taken significant steps to sanction those linked to the violent repression of civilians in Syria. With UK support, the EU now has such sanctions in place against 261 persons and 67 entities. In May 2014, the UK co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Russia and China vetoed this resolution.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the status of the UK's diplomatic relations with the government of Syria; and whether they have any plans to change those relations.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Government has not severed diplomatic relations with Syria. Since the withdrawal of our staff from the British Embassy in Damascus in February 2012 and the closure of the Syrian Embassy in London in August 2012, our dealings have been minimal and occur only in relation to essential consular or administrative issues. There is no plan to change this. The UK believes the Asad regime has lost its legitimacy due to its atrocities against the Syrian people and that a sustainable political settlement in Syria ultimately requires a political transition away from the current regime.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition was denied approval to operate a rescue helicopter in South Georgia earlier this year.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands takes very seriously its responsibilities for the protection of the remote and environmentally sensitive territory it administers. The operating environment on the islands is such that the Government requires that any helicopter activity meets its stringent rules in relation to safety and environmental protection, consequently helicopter use is only permitted in exceptional circumstances, such as the recent South Georgia rodent eradication programme. Given the requirements of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition it was not feasible to develop similar arrangements on this occasion in the timeframe available.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what hard evidence they have collected that Daesh is using small commercial drones for surveillance and for conveying explosives.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government has a range of material, including images, that provides evidence that Daesh has used small, commercially available unmanned aerial vehicles in Syria and Iraq to extend their surveillance capability, produce propaganda material and carry small improvised explosive devices.