Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of LGBT rights in Chechnya.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK Government has raised the issue of LGBT rights repeatedly with the Russian Government and made clear that Russia must abide by its international human rights obligations.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to never recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK does not and will not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia. We continue to make it clear to Moscow that Crimea is, and will remain, part of Ukraine.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of LGBT rights in Russia.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK Government has raised the issue of LGBT rights repeatedly with the Russian Government and made clear that Russia must abide by its international human rights obligations.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact of Government policies on achieving net zero on the cost of energy for the poorest households.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government set out four key principles of Net Zero Fairness including ensuring that the most vulnerable are supported by Government during the energy transition.
In the Sustainable Warmth Competition, published in February 2021, the Government outlined its approach to tackling fuel poverty in England. It also recognised that improving the energy efficiency of homes is the most effective way of permanently reducing consumer energy bills and tackling fuel poverty in the long term. The Government is providing £3 billion of funding over this Parliament for low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures to those who need it most. Examples of these schemes include the Local Authority Delivery scheme, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
The Government is also consulting on expanding the Energy Company Obligation Scheme to £1 billion a year from April 2022. This will help an extra 305,000 families with green measures such as insulation and heating, with average energy bill savings of around £290 a year.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking in preparation for a potential increase in channel crossings in the Spring.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We expect to see increased attempts by criminal gangs to facilitate these dangerous and unnecessary Channel crossings as the weather and sea conditions improve. Our focus is on prevention, and our ongoing support to the French Government provides for additional police patrols, improved detection technology and strengthened border security infrastructure on the French side. And at home, we are overhauling our broken asylum system to ensure people smugglers cannot profit from this vile trade.
We are exploring with Ministry of Defence partners how best we can use the full range of HMG’s capabilities to intercept and manage those that cross the Channel more effectively, safely and securely.
We have already improved the facilities at the Port of Dover. We have also set up a new, secure site at Manston to hold small boat arrivals for up to five days as security and identity checks are completed.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to encourage airlines to no longer require mandatory mask wearing on domestic and international flights.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In England face coverings are no longer required by law.
Airlines and operators set their own conditions of carriage, including decisions on the wearing of face coverings and when to lift this requirement. The majority of airlines continue to opt to retain face coverings following up-to-date guidance from international aviation regulators, including both the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EUASA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and due to continued differences in national COVID-19 restrictions around the world, which have made retaining the requirement simpler operationally in the short-term.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for airlines lifting mask mandates on domestic and international flights.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Airlines and operators set their own conditions of carriage, including decisions on the wearing of face coverings and when to lift this requirement. The majority of airlines continue to opt to retain face coverings following up-to-date guidance from international aviation regulators, including both the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EUASA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and due to continued differences in national COVID-19 restrictions around the world.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department will take to ensure that a transition to net zero remains affordable for people on lower incomes.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has outlined its plans to transition to net zero. Its plans include growing the economy, benefiting everyone by securing home-grown energy supply, establishing new industries and creating jobs in former industrial heartlands.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the political situation in (a) Tibet and (b) Xinjiang.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The FCDO monitors closely the situations in Tibet and Xinjiang. We are deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Tibet, including reports of severe restrictions on freedom of religion of belief, Tibetans dying in custody, coercive control, and labour transfer schemes.
We also have serious concerns about the human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang, including the extra-judicial detention of over a million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in "political re-education camps" since 2017, systematic restrictions on Uyghur culture and the practice of Islam, and extensive and invasive surveillance targeting minorities.
The UK Government continues to raise concerns about the human rights situation in China directly with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels. Most recently, the Prime Minister did so in a telephone call with President Xi on 29 October, as did the Foreign Secretary in her introductory call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on 22 October. I personally raised the situation with the Chinese Ambassador to London in our meeting on 15 December.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential level of risk to the UK Parliament arising from Christine Lee's reported attempted interference in UK politics on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Home Secretary made the Government’s position on this issue clear in a statement to the House on 17 January.
Investigations are ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further on intelligence matters. However, the interference alert was used in this case by our intelligence agencies to mitigate and prevent further risk to Parliament.
Unfortunately, we must face the reality that some foreign states will seek to operate covertly and below current criminal thresholds in an attempt to interfere with our democracy. We can expect to see these kinds of alerts become more commonplace as a result of the work our world class intelligence agencies who have adapted to counter these threats.
The Government intends to bring forward new legislation to further enhance our ability to counter threats from foreign states when Parliamentary time allows.