Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170339 on Ilois: Finance, how much of the £40 million fund for Chagossians has been allocated to date; to whom that funding has been allocated; and for what purposes that money has been allocated.
Answered by Alan Duncan
£230,134.19 of the £40m fund has been spent to date, largely on implementing an expanded programme of Heritage Visits for Chagossians to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The bulk of the funding will be allocated once we have a clear assessment of need, and an agreed mechanism for effectively and fairly disbursing the funding, in collaboration with the Chagossian communities in the UK, Seychelles and Mauritius.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of whether the £40 million fund for Chagossians has addressed the needs of those citizens residing in the UK.
Answered by Alan Duncan
In November 2016 the Government agreed to fund a package of approximately £40 million to improve the lives of Chagossians in the communities in which they now live. We are engaging with the UK Chagossian community to identify the constraints and barriers experienced by them to inform our ongoing assessment of needs. We will continue to work with Chagossian communities to identify and develop programmes which will make the biggest improvement in the life chances of Chagossians who need it most. Ministers remain committed to meeting the objectives of this package.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
Answered by Alan Duncan
As of 31 January 2018, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) employed 73 apprentices, of whom 35 work for our Trading Fund, FCO Services. This is 1.35% of the total of FCO and FCO Services UK based staff worldwide, and 2% of our staff working in the UK. We plan to increase the number of apprentices in 2018.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when and how his Department first became aware of Secretary of State for International Development's meetings with Israeli Government Ministers and officials between 13 and 25 August 2017.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is longstanding practice under successive Governments that we do not routinely disclose information relating to internal discussion and advice. My right hon. Friend the member for Witham (Ms Patel) resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on 8 November. I refer the Hon Member to the exchange of letters between my right hon. Friend and the Prime Minister on her resignation; and to the statement issued by my right hon. Friend on 6 November, a copy of which is available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when and how the British Embassy in Israel became aware of the meeting involving the Secretary of State for International Development and Israeli Government Ministers and officials and in Israel in August 2017.
Answered by Alistair Burt
It is longstanding practice under successive Governments that we do not routinely disclose information relating to internal discussion and advice. My right hon. Friend the member for Witham (Ms Patel) resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on 8 November. I refer the Hon Member to the exchange of letters between my right hon. Friend and the Prime Minister on her resignation; and to the statement issued by my right hon. Friend on 6 November, a copy of which is available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, published in June 2016, if he will support an investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court into violations of human rights by the government of Eritrea that may amount to crimes against humanity.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We share the concerns of the Commission of Inquiry regarding human rights in Eritrea. The UN Human Rights Council in June adopted a resolution responding to the findings of the Commission's report. This resolution set out steps needed to improve the human rights situation in Eritrea.
We are taking steps to support implementation of this resolution. We have made clear to the Government of Eritrea the tangible improvements we want to see, including amending its national service system, fully implementing its own constitution and releasing those arbitrarily detained.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with (a) UK companies and (b) the Malawian government on oil exploration around Lake Malawi.
Answered by James Duddridge
Our High Commissioner to Malawi met a representative of UK oil exploration firm Surestream, who are now a minority shareholder of an exploration licence for one of the oil exploration blocks in Lake Malawi, on 29 February. Last month the High Commissioner also discussed with the Malawi Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining his desire for assistance to develop legislation and agreements that would conform to global good governance standards and protect Malawi's national interests.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken through the Commonwealth to promote abolition of the death penalty in all Commonwealth States.
Answered by David Lidington
The Government supports a moratorium on use of the death penalty across the Commonwealth and works diplomatically and by means of projects to promote abolition in individual Commonwealth countries. Some Commonwealth member states are steadily moving towards abolition. Relatively few persist with carrying out executions and several are contemplating legislative reform. Fiji abolished the death penalty altogether in 2015.Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what projects his Department has funded in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to promote abolition of the death penalty.
Answered by David Lidington
With regard to projects funded in 2015/16, I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 14 January 2016 to the Rt Hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Matthew Offord). (21301).
https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/27418
Decisions on the allocation of the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy in 2016/17 have not yet been taken.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will re-introduce its strategy for abolition of the death penalty.
Answered by David Lidington
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given by my noble friend Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 25 January 2016 in reply to The Marquess of Lothian’s question (HL5007). https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/28566