Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law in the context of it's recent military activity in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are monitoring the situation closely and continue to call on Israel to uphold their obligations to peace, stability, and security under international law. The Israeli government has stated that their presence in the Golan Heights buffer zone is defensive, limited and temporary - and we expect them to adhere to this commitment It is longstanding UK policy that the Golan Heights are occupied territory, and we do not recognise Israel's annexation of them. We oppose the construction of illegal settlements.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of Russia’s compliance with international humanitarian law in the context of it's military activity in Ukraine.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are fully committed to holding Russian forces to account for any violations of international humanitarian law that have been committed in Ukraine. Established accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court's investigations and Ukrainian domestic judicial processes are investigating allegations of atrocity crimes. The UK, US and EU established the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, specifically to support Ukraine in its efforts to document, investigate and prosecute such crimes.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government recognises the Golan Heights as Syrian territory.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our position remains clear: The Golan Heights are occupied territory and we do not recognise Israel's annexation of them. We continue to call on Israel and all actors to uphold their obligations to peace, stability and security under international law.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on whether the Israeli Defence Force has committed a breach of international law in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO's International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Cell undertakes regular assessments of Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law, as well as aspects of its record of compliance in order to meet our legal obligations under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). Our assessments have raised concerns about possible breaches of IHL in the areas of humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees. The UK's robust export licensing criteria state that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. Given our conclusions on 2 September, we suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in the Gaza.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by David Rutley
We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the FCDO have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.
Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on taxi cabs for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Total taxi travel spend for those financial years is listed below:
FY 2020 - £1,989,134
FY 2021 - £ 1,072,219
FY 2022 - £1,312,289
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Total rail travel spend for those financial years are in the table below.
FY2020 - 2305799
FY2021 - 157608
FY2022 - 773084
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The FCDO spend on agency staff is contained in the published FCDO Annual Report and Accounts:
Financial Year | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
Temporary Staff Costs | £12,086,112 | £25,679,267 | £39,575,855 |
The figures provided are inclusive of both the cost of the contingent labourer and the agency fee for provision of their services.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.
Answered by Amanda Milling
FCDO consultancy spend in financial years 2021-22 and 2020-21 was £5.7 million and £2.7 million respectively. Total FCO plus DFID spend for 2019-20 was £3 million.
More detailed information can be found on a contract by contract basis at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Contracts Finder records details of contracts worth over £10,000 with the government and its agencies.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.