Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many in-person meetings the Murder and Manslaughter Team have had with clients in each of the last three years.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not held centrally. When families would like to meet with the team in person, they will always do whatever is possible to arrange this.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) people and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed in the Murder and Manslaughter Team in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As of September 2025, there are six full-time staff in the Murder and Manslaughter team.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Sanctions imposed by the UK and its international partners are having deep and damaging consequences for Putin's ability to wage war. The UK alone has sanctioned more than 1,200 individuals and 120 entities and our restrictions on the Russian Central Bank have immobilised £275 billion, worth over 60% of Russia's foreign reserves. Russia is in recession and is expected to remain there next year. It will be Russia's longest recession for over 25 years. According to IMF forecasts, Russia's GDP will be 11% smaller in 2026 vs pre-invasion forecasts and won't return to its pre-invasion level until 2027 at the earliest.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to support peace and stability across Africa.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Foreign Secretary recently engaged on these issues with President Ruto and CS Mutua in Kenya, Prime Minister Abiy in Ethiopia, and FM Pandor during the South African State Visit. He raised the conflict in DRC with President Tshisekedi and Rwandan FM Biruta and exchanged views with President Hassan Sheikh on Somali security and stability. At the Münster G7 meeting, he underlined the importance of G7 partners supporting African-led solutions. The majority of FCDO ODA in Sub-Saharan Africa is spent in Fragile and Conflict Affected States. The UK contribution to UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa was £227.5m FY 2021/2.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to help improve food security around the world.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Sustainable food security remains a priority of our humanitarian and development work and is a key objective or our International Development Strategy.
The UK is working with our international partners to address the underlying causes of food insecurity; promote robust food systems in low-income countries and support life-saving action in famine risk areas.
We are also taking action to enhance the coherence of the international response, including through a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable. Further detail is set out in the Government's recent response to the International Development Committee's inquiry into food security. [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmintdev/767/report.html]
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the human rights of people in Bahrain.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Bahrain is a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country. The UK provides technical and practical assistance to the Government of Bahrain, helping to underpin human rights and other reforms in the Kingdom. Any training provided by or on behalf of the UK government complies with our domestic and international human rights obligations and is kept under regular review. We regularly raise human rights issues and individual cases with senior members of the Government of Bahrain, and continue to raise specific cases with senior interlocutors, as well as with the independent human rights oversight bodies.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that girls receive 12 years of quality education throughout the world.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Standing up for the right of every girl to 12 years of quality education is a priority for the UK Government. Between 2015 and 2020, the UK supported over 15 million children in gaining a decent education, of which 8 million were girls. 2021 is a year of UK leadership on the world stage. We have used our Presidency of the G7 to press for coordinated action on girls' education. In May, we secured G7 support for two, new ambitious global targets of getting 40 million more girls in school, and 20 million more girls reading by age 10 by 2026. We also agreed a declaration that prioritised girls' education in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and outlined the collective action that the G7 will take in helping achieve these global targets.
On 28-29 July, along with Kenya, the UK will host the Global Education Summit to raise vital funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). At the G7 Leaders' Summit, the Prime Minister secured a landmark commitment from the G7 to provide at least $2.7 billion to the Global Partnership for Education. This includes £430 million from the UK, which is an uplift of 15% from our current position as top bilateral donor, and our largest ever pledge to the GPE.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote international co-operation on tackling climate change.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are taking four key goals to governments across the world in order to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach. For our mitigation goal, countries are being asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets. For our adaptation goal, we are helping countries to adapt to protect communities and natural habitats. To increase climate finance, we are urging developed countries to deliver on their promise to raise at least $100 billion in climate finance per year, and we have committed to doubling our International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion over the next 5 years. Collaboration is our fourth goal, for which reaching agreement in the negotiations is our formal responsibility as the Presidency of COP26. Doing so will help deliver on our other three goals and demonstrate that the world is moving to a resilient, net zero economy.
In April, the UK hosted the first Ministerial meeting of the Forest, Agricultural Commodity and Trade Dialogue, under which 24 countries endorsed a joint statement of principles to work together to secure sustainable agricultural commodity production and protection of forests. The UK is also working to accelerate a transition to more sustainable land use practices through the COP26 Sustainable Agriculture Campaign, supporting action to align agricultural policies and support with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement targets.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in the Crimea.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Seven years on from Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, we continue to make clear to Moscow that Crimea is, and will remain part of Ukraine. Russia must withdraw forces and end illegitimate control.
Under UK leadership, G7 Foreign Ministers issued statements on 18 March, to mark the seventh anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and on 12 April, calling for de-escalation following Russia's build-up of military forces in Crimea and near the Ukrainian border. The Foreign Secretary has raised these matters directly with his counterparts, including on 17 June with Russian FM Lavrov.
We remain deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses experienced by minorities in Crimea, including Crimean Tatars. We have contributed nearly £700,000 this financial year to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, which monitors and documents human rights abuses in Crimea. We will continue to call for international monitoring missions to have access to Crimea, currently denied by Russia.
We welcome and support Ukraine's proposal to establish an International Crimean Platform. We are exploring what role we can play.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to enhance UK soft power overseas.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Integrated Review highlighted the UK's status as a soft power superpower and the importance of soft power in building positive perceptions of the UK, creating strong people-to-people links and familiarity with our values.
The FCDO is continuing to fund projects and programmes that support UK soft power, including the British Council, BBC World Service and our Chevening, Marshall and Commonwealth scholarships.
Our international leadership and determination to work as a force for good in the world is an important part of our soft power, as we are seeing through our hosting of the G7 and COP26, and our support for a globally accessible Covid-19 vaccine.