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.
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 their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Amanda Milling
Details of ministerial commercial travel is published quarterly on gov.uk. Please see the link below for the FCDO return. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fcdo-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings#full-publication-update-history
The latest data was published on 14 July with an accompanying Written Ministerial Statement made in both Houses of Parliament on 15 July:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-07-15/debates/2207152000007/GovernmentTransparencyAndAccountability#
Air travel costs for officials in financial year 2020-21 was £3.9m and for financial year 2021-22 was £7.4m. These figures are taken from the FCDO's financial systems and should exclude travel incurred by Ministers, and any non-air travel costs. These figures are for flights taken as part of duty travel; travel taken as part of staff members' overseas allowance packages are excluded as these costs are not split on the system between air travel and other types of travel.
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 many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We would ask you to please see the link below to our contract finder https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search. Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder. Publications include early engagement, future opportunities, and opportunities.
In relation to your request, part b) this information is not readily available/held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.