Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish legal advice he received on the seizure of Russian central bank assets.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK are continuing to pursue all lawful routes to make Russian assets available to support Ukraine's reconstruction. As part of this, it is important that Ministers are able to obtain full and frank legal advice in confidence to properly test a range of policy options. On this basis, we do not intend to publish any legal advice Ministers may receive on the seizure of Russian central bank assets.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps to seek admission to the US-EU Trade and Technology Council.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is not seeking admission to the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) but continues to work closely with key partners, including the EU and US, on our shared trade and technology priorities, advancing UK interests and exploring further areas for cooperation where mutually beneficial.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) economic and (b) financial sanctions have been imposed on Chinese nationals in the last five years.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has imposed asset freezes on six Chinese nationals in the last five years.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the benefits of the international work of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; and if he will take steps to support that alliance in the future.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted global health and immunisation. The UK Government is committed to supporting efforts to get routine immunisation back on track and has invested £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems as a core part of restoring immunisation services.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Pakistan on ensuring timely Provincial elections in Punjab, in line with the Constitution and orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
We respect Pakistan's democratic process and do not interfere in its domestic political affairs. The timing of elections is a matter for the Government of Pakistan, to be resolved through democratic and constitutional means.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 168 of his Department's annual report and accounts 2021 to 2022, published on 19 July 2022, in which institutions the £14,794 million of callable capital is subscribed.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
When an IFI agrees a capital increase, it is comprised of some paid-in capital and some callable capital.
As of 31 March 2022, the FCDO had provided £14,794 million of callable capital to the following institutions:
Institution | Callable Capital |
African Development Bank (AfDB) | £2,573.0m |
Asian Development Bank (AsDB) | £2,258.6m |
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) | £93.2m |
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) | £1,209.2m |
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) | £57.2m |
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) | £8,602.8m |
Total | 14,794.0m |
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has received guidance on the permissibility of treating donations of Special Drawing Rights as Overseas Development Assistance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
· The UK does not donate Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), but has led in lending SDRs to International Monetary Fund (IMF) Trusts that support vulnerable countries. The UK scores Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in line with international rules set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
· The DAC conducted a review of the ODA scoring of SDR loans in 2022, which concluded that SDR loans to the IMF should no longer be scored as ODA, noting that countries that previously scored ODA on SDR loans, did so in accordance with interpretation of the DAC guidance at the time. His Majesty's Government is adopting the new DAC approach in our reporting from 2022.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the (a) most recent value and (b) change in value over the last 12 months of the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government regularly hosts events to bring together stakeholders from across the country and around the world. The wine cellar is used by all government departments and is maintained to deliver events at a lower cost. The overall value of wines used was outlined in the Bi-Annual Report on the GH Wine Cellar, placed in the Library of the House.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-hospitality-wine-cellar-bi-annual-statement-2018-to-2020/government-hospitality-wine-cellar-bi-annual-report-2018-to-2020
The value of wine stocks in financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22 will be published in the next Bi-Annual Report on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar 2020-2022, to be published in early 2023.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to policy paper entitled Build Back Better: our plan for growth, published March 2021, what projects his Department contributed to as part of that policy initiative; and what public spending has been committed to those projects.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Under the Government's Places for Growth programme (PfG), the FCDO plans to support an additional 500 roles based in Abercrombie House, our joint HQ in East Kilbride. These roles will cover the full range of FCDO's work - corporate, development and diplomatic - at all grades.
Following the Autumn Budget announced by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, FCDO will be launching detailed Business & Country Planning and Workforce Planning exercises in the New Year. This will help to determine the FCDO's future workforce requirements from 2023-24 onwards, taking into account Ministerial priorities, and delivering our FCDO transformation. This process will help to identify what proportion of FCDO workforce budget is to be allocated to this programme.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department's forecast is of (a) the total FTE and (b) the change in FTE complement for each of his embassies and consulates in the Indo-Pacific region, broken down by (i) embassy and (ii) consulate for each year in the next five-year period.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have doubled the number of British High Commissions across the Pacific Island Countries over the past three years. The UK now has six High Commissions in the Pacific including: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu. The UK also opened the UK Mission to ASEAN in 2019 to strengthen UK-ASEAN engagement. Since achieving ASEAN Dialogue Partner Status, the UK Mission to ASEAN has expanded with further roles planned by March 2023.
We have increased resourcing in a number of key Missions including Canberra, Jakarta, and Singapore.
In addition, a significant and increasing number of FCDO roles both at Headquarters and across the global network, involve an element of China policy. This shift in focus and resource has been underway for a number of years. The FCDO dedicated an additional £3 million in 2020/21 and a further £3 million in 2022/23 to increase our capability on China, including a significantly expanded China Department and new China-related roles in the overseas network.
Following the Autumn Budget announced by the Prime Minister and Chancellor, FCDO ODA allocations are being worked through and will be published in due course. FCDO will also be launching detailed Business & Country Planning and Workforce Planning exercises in the new year. This will help to determine the FCDO's future workforce requirements from 2023-24 onwards, taking into account Ministerial priorities, and delivering our FCDO transformation.
The actual FCDO Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend has been published in Annex A within the Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022) and 2020-21 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021). ODA is measured on a calendar year basis. Provisional UK ODA figures are published annually in spring, with final figures in autumn. Final data for 2021 was published on 23 November 2022 (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development)