Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of (a) ordinary and (b) named-day written questions their Department answered on time in 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Of the PQs received in 2022, the FCDO responded to (a) 82 per cent of Ordinary PQs and (b) 83 per cent of Named day PQs on time.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of international peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
At this time, the UK Government has not made an assessment on the adequacy or effectiveness of the Russian 'peacekeeping' forces, although we are aware of the terms of their deployment, as set out in the Trilateral Ceasefire Agreement of 2020. Our view is that any deployment of international observers should follow recognised and accepted international norms. We have been clear that there can be no military settlement to this conflict. As such, we welcome the continued efforts of international partners, including the recent deployment of EU and OSCE Monitoring Missions, to support stability and security in the region.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in Azerbaijan on the persecution of the Armenian population in Nagorno Karabakh.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
I [Minister for Europe] spoke to Azerbaijani FM Bayramov on 17 September and met the Azerbaijani Ambassador on 9 November. In both of these engagements, I highlighted the need for all outstanding matters between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be settled by peaceful negotiation. Following the recent closure of the Lachin Corridor, the UK's Representative at the UNSC reinforced these messages. If the UK Government sees clear evidence of persecution of any ethnic group in the region, we will raise our concerns directly with the state in question, and in appropriate multilateral fora.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in South African on support for Ukraine following Russia's invasion.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign Secretary has spoken with his South African counterpart three times since being appointed in September 2022, most recently during the State Visit on 22-23 November. On each occasion they discussed a range of issues, including the situation in Ukraine. I [Minister Mitchell] welcome President Ramaphosa's calls for urgent diplomacy to bring an end to the conflict. But an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and ceasefire are required to create the conditions for dialogue.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to apply immediate sanctions on all steel that is melted and poured in Russia, regardless of whether it has been re-rolled in a third country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government do not speculate on specific future sanctions, as to do so could reduce their impact. We will continue the pressure against Putin and his regime, until Ukraine prevails or Putin ends his war of choice. We have already prohibited the import, acquisition, supply and delivery of certain iron and steel products from Russia on 14 April 2022, and the measures were extended on 15 July to include ancillary services relating to the trade in these products.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps their Department is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to (a) written parliamentary questions and (b) correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of written parliamentary questions and correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. All departments have access to regular training led by the Parliamentary Capability Team through the Government Campus.
Following the significant increase in numbers since 2020, the FCDO has an ongoing focused programme of work to streamline processes and improve response times to tackle the high volume. Annual and Quarterly data on MP/Peer letter performance, published on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers shows the FCDO has improved from 50% on time in 2021 to 72% so far this year. The latest House of Commons Procedure Committee report published in July 2022 records the FCDO improvement in answering ordinary written parliamentary questions from 87% for 2019-21 Session to 94% for 2021-22, and similarly for named day written parliamentary questions from 84% to 89%.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many new enquiries her Department's MP Urgent Enquiries inbox handled in each month in from January 2021 to May 2022; what steps her Department is taking to manage the (a) performance and (b) case management of those teams; what steps she is taking to oversee the performance of the Urgent Enquiry inbox; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The FCDO does not have a specific MP Urgent Enquiries inbox. All MPs use the FCDO correspondence mailbox which is monitored during working hours. MPs can also refer urgent issues via the MP hotline.
Between January 2021 and May 2022 the FCDO correspondence mailbox handled 18,435 pieces of MPs' correspondence. This figure does not include all correspondence about the Afghanistan crisis, given the exceptionally high volume received over a short period last year. MPs' correspondence on Afghanistan received by 12 September 2021 was not recorded on central systems. The data below reflects MPs' correspondence received after 12 September.
The FCDO correspondence mailbox is managed internally through a robust performance system working to Cabinet Office guidance on timeliness. All correspondence is normally handled through our case management system.
Month | No. of MP correspondence |
Jan 2021 | 762 |
Feb 2021 | 1245 |
Mar 2021 | 1261 |
Apr 2021 | 943 |
May 2021 | 1310 |
Jun 2021 | 1061 |
Jul 2021 | 688 |
Aug 2021 | 2102 |
Sept 2021 | 1869 |
Oct 2021 | 1120 |
Nov 2021 | 1071 |
Dec 2021 | 758 |
Jan 2022 | 637 |
Feb 2022 | 821 |
Mar 2022 | 1244 |
Apr 2022 | 724 |
May 2022 | 819 |
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many new enquiries her Department’s MP hotline teams dealt with in each month in 2021; what steps her Department takes to manage the (a) performance and (b) case management of teams that deal with those enquiries; what steps she is taking to oversee the performance of those hotlines; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The FCDO has an 24/7/365 consular hotline for MPs to raise cases involving their British national constituents who are overseas and in need of consular assistance. The MP's consular hotline handled 1,839 calls during 2021 with an average time to answer calls of less than 30 seconds.
2021 | Calls handled |
January | 77 |
February | 111 |
March | 120 |
April | 55 |
May | 65 |
June | 53 |
July | 82 |
August | 844 |
September | 202 |
October | 93 |
November | 67 |
December | 70 |
Total | 1839 |
The Consular hotline for MPs is staffed using FCDO consular staff, and their performance is overseen within Consular Directorate. The MP hotline, along with the telephone lines for members of the public, are managed internally through a robust performance system with ambitious Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 counterpart in the US Government on the implications of any decision by its Supreme Court to reverse the Roe vs Wade judgment.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
This is a matter for the US courts and it would not be appropriate for a foreign government to lobby an independent court process. The UK supports women's reproductive rights globally, including the right to access safe and legal abortion.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking with international counterparts to open safe humanitarian corridors from Zaporizhia Oblast and southern Ukraine to (a) Moldova, (b) Romania and (c) Bulgaria.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
As the Foreign Secretary made clear in the house on 28 February, we have called on Russia to enable humanitarian access and safe passage for civilians to flee the violence. We have worked tirelessly with partners to ensure the demand for Russia to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law is clear. We have committed to £120 million in humanitarian support to Ukraine both for support inside the country and to those who have crossed its borders.