Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he plans to take steps to support the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul following recent floods in that area.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I [Minister Rutley] was saddened to learn of the terrible flooding that has ravaged Rio Grande do Sul. I offered my sincere condolences to all those affected by this tragic incident, including the families of those who have so sadly lost their lives. His Majesty's Ambassador to Brazil has also offered condolences to State Governor Eduardo Leite. Through the Start Fund the UK has supported an allocation of £193,000 to provide humanitarian aid in response to the flooding in Brazil. The Start Fund is a pooled fund to which the UK is a major donor.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support people facing food insecurity due to El Niño in (a) Colombia, (b) Ecuador, (c) Peru and (d) Bolivia.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is a significant contributor to global humanitarian pooled funds which are activated to respond to a humanitarian crisis such as those caused by El Nino. This includes the UN Crisis Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) and the NGO Start Fund.The UK is providing expertise through a multi-year Government-to-Government Agreement with Peru to support the reconstruction of the country's public service facilities following severe damage caused by El Niño flooding in 2017 and supporting Peru through the Start Fund and Save the Children in its humanitarian response to flooding caused by heavy rainfall and high sea temperatures in northern Peru in March this year. Since June 2023, the Start Fund has also provided £140,000 to support NGO responses to the health, water and food security impacts of drought in Colombia. These responses targeted assistance to thousands of people across the region.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to help sustainable aviation fuel producers meet levels of demand from airlines.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting the development of a UK SAF industry to increase the supply of SAF in the UK.
We will introduce our SAF Mandate from 2025, which will secure demand, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects. It will incentivise the supply of SAF through the provision of tradable certificates with a cash value.
Thirteen projects have been awarded a share of £135m through the Advanced Fuels Fund, supporting them to reach commercial scale. Once at operational scale, funded projects could produce over 700,000 tonnes of SAF yearly. We have established a UK SAF Clearing House, which helps to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market.
We are also consulting on options to provide UK SAF producers with a revenue certainty mechanism, which will help provide greater certainty of future revenue and attract investment in commercial scale SAF plants within the UK.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to increase the provision of fast chargers for electric vehicles.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government and industry have supported the installation of over 61,000 publicly available charging devices. This is a 44% increase on last year. There are now more than 10,000 rapid charge points available.
ChargeUK members have committed to investing more than £6 billion in developing and operating charging infrastructure before 2030.
Going forward, the Government’s £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund is already supporting local authorities to deliver tens of thousands of local chargepoints and the £70 million Rapid Charging Fund pilot will future-proof electrical capacity at strategic locations
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of Russia's threat of a military response following the UK's provision of long-range missiles to Ukraine.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK provided long range, precision strike conventional weapons so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine may better defend themselves in Ukraine.
The granting of Storm Shadow was in response to Russia's continued brutality and deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, and it will help Ukraine restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow is the business of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and has successfully put pressure on Russian forces.
The UK, along with other allies, is providing a range of equipment to Ukraine to help it counter Russia's illegal and unprovoked aggression, on the understanding that it will be used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the BGI Group (a) has or (b) has ever had contracts with his Department.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not have, nor has ever had, contracts with the BGI Group.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the ruling by the Appeal Court in Hong Kong on the banning of the song entitled Glory to Hong Kong.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are concerned about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, including freedom of speech, which is guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. As the then Foreign Secretary said in the foreword to the January - July 2023 Six-monthly Report, "the Hong Kong authorities have extended the application of the National Security Law beyond genuine national security concerns…to use legal routes to supress the song 'Glory to Hong Kong'". I raised the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong with Christopher Hui, Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 24 April during my visit to China.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the cap on faith school admissions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
My Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced on 1 May 2024 that the department are consulting on faith designation reforms for new and existing free schools and special academies. This is available on Hansard at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-05-01/hcws437.
The consultation will run for seven weeks, closing on 20 June 2024. The department will then carefully consider all responses to the consultation and use them to inform the department’s recommendations for better meeting the policy objectives of faith schools.
The government’s response will be published on the GOV.UK website within twelve weeks following closure of the consultation.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department plans to take steps with (a) NGOs and (b) charities to tackle deficiencies in water (i) quality and (ii) access in South American countries due to El Niño.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is a significant contributor to global humanitarian pooled funds which are activated to respond to a humanitarian crisis such as those caused by El Nino. This includes the UN Crisis Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) and the NGO Start Fund. Since June 2023, the Start Fund has provided £750,000 across the region to support responses to water, health and food security impacts of drought, particularly in Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia, with these responses targeting around 25,000 people.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department plans to take to investigate the recent MoD security breach.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The recent MoD security breach with the compromise of MoD payroll information is the work of malign cyber actors who compromised a contractor-run network entirely separate from the MoD core system. A specialist security review of the contractor and its operations is under way by the MoD. We cannot rule out a state or criminal actor at this stage. Investigations are ongoing and appropriate steps will be taken.
We consider every case on its merits and will not always name who was responsible for a specific incident. Should the UK Government choose to respond publicly, it will do so at a time of our choosing when we judge it is in the best interests of the UK to do so.