Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Kuwaiti counterpart on (a) the rights of Shia Muslims in Kuwait and (b) the Government's assessment of the legality of sentences against Shia figures in Kuwait; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We have a close relationship with Kuwait and regularly discuss a wide range of issues including the importance of rights for all religious groups in Kuwait. Kuwait has independent courts and an independent legal system. I visited Kuwait in May for our regular Ministerial Dialogue where I discussed a wide range of topics with the Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister, as well as meeting with civil society representatives.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations to the Government of Kuwait on the imprisonment in absentia of the Kuwaiti Shia dissident Mohamad al-Mail; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We have a close relationship with Kuwait and regularly discuss a wide range of issues including the importance of rights for all religious groups in Kuwait. Kuwait has independent courts and an independent legal system. I visited Kuwait in May for our regular Ministerial Dialogue where I discussed a wide range of topics with the Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister, as well as meeting with civil society representatives.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has had any (a) financial contract and (b) meetings with (i) Clifford Chance LLP, (ii) FTI Consulting and (iii) Fenchurch Advisory Partners in the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in the context of data on the AstraZeneca vaccine's level of effectiveness against the omicron covid-19 variant, what proportion of the UK's doses to be redistributed to lower income countries in 2022 will be AstraZeneca; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Decisions on vaccine donations will continue to depend on supply chain reliability, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice and the ability of countries to absorb and deploy vaccines. Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been crucial to the UK's domestic vaccination programme, accounting for over 40% of the vaccines used. This vaccine has a significant role as part of our continuing 'evergreen vaccination programme offer' and for members of the population coming forwards for boosting who are mRNA intolerant.
World Health Organisation have said that Omicron is probably already in most countries, and is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. Whilst early estimates suggest vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection with Omicron is significantly lower than with Delta, the UK Health Security Agency have highlighted that, as we saw with previous variants, the effectiveness against severe disease with Omicron (protecting both individuals and health systems) is likely to be substantially higher than against symptomatic infection. This means that full vaccination with AstraZeneca is likely to continue to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death from Omicron.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the covid-19 vaccine doses that the Government has redistributed to lower income countries have been AstraZeneca vaccines; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As of 05 January, the UK has delivered 23.3 million doses to countries in need of which 17.8m have been delivered via COVAX and 5.5 million doses delivered directly. A further 7.5 million doses have been received by COVAX and will shortly be allocated and shipped in line with COVAX's fair allocation model. All doses donated to date have been AstraZeneca doses delivered to ODA eligible countries.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she will respond to urgent correspondence from the hon. Member for Harrow West dated 14 September 2021, case reference GT48805, on behalf of a British national constituent stranded in Afghanistan; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
A response to the Honourable Member's correspondence has been issued. The Government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave, and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan. We are in contact with British nationals and others who are eligible for resettlement in the UK, and are working urgently with neighbouring countries to ensure that at-risk Afghans have options for safe passage. We have evacuated around 8,000 British nationals to date. We are continuing to work as hard as we can to get more people out.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to reply to the urgent correspondence from the hon. Member for Harrow West, sent on 4 and 8 September 2021, case reference GT48624, on behalf of a constituent, a British National stuck in Afghanistan; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
A response to the Honourable Member's correspondence was issued on 27 September. The Government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for eligible individuals who wish to leave, and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan. We are in contact with British nationals and others who are eligible for resettlement in the UK, and are working urgently with neighbouring countries to ensure that at-risk Afghans have options for safe passage. We have evacuated around 8,000 British nationals to date. We are continuing to work as hard as we can to get more people out.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she will respond to urgent correspondence from the hon. Member for Harrow West dated 9 September 2021, case reference GT48885, on behalf of a British national constituent stranded in Afghanistan; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
A response to the Honourable Member's correspondence was issued on 27 September. The Government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for eligible individuals who wish to leave, and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan. We are in contact with British nationals and others who are eligible for resettlement in the UK, and are working urgently with neighbouring countries to ensure that at-risk Afghans have options for safe passage. We have evacuated around 8,000 British nationals to date. We are continuing to work as hard as we can to get more people out.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to reply to the urgent correspondence from the hon. Member for Harrow West of 3 September 2021, case reference GT48616, on behalf of the British children of a constituent, stuck in Afghanistan; and she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
A response to the Honourable Member's correspondence was issued on 27 September. The Government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for eligible individuals who wish to leave, and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan. We are in contact with British nationals and others who are eligible for resettlement in the UK, and are working urgently with neighbouring countries to ensure that at-risk Afghans have options for safe passage. We have evacuated around 8,000 British Nationals to date. We are continuing to work as hard as we can to get more people out.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential link between universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and protecting the environment.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The global climate crisis is a major threat to girls' education, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender equality. SRHR, including voluntary family planning, and girls' education have wide-ranging benefits for individuals and societies, including supporting their adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. The UK is a proud defender of SRHR and champion of the right of all girls to twelve years of quality education. The UK is committed to delivering an inclusive COP26 that advances gender equality within climate action and finance. Our recently published COP Presidency paper 'Priorities for Public Climate Finance' sets out gender-responsive climate finance as a UK priority, which we are championing through our COP26 and G7 presidencies.