Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2024 to Question 18492 on European Court of Human Rights, whether he considers the International Criminal Court to be a foreign court.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The clue is in the name.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps his Department has taken with the United Nations to help tackle (a) drug-resistant tuberculosis and (b) antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The department actively contributed to the High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis held at the UN General Assembly last September, at which Lord Ahmad represented the UK. The UK's current £1billion commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will support treatment for 41,800 people with Multi-Drug Resistant TB.
The UK funds major programmes and research to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and strengthen health, water, sanitation, and hygiene systems. The High-Level Meeting on AMR is an excellent opportunity to catalyse global progress, set high ambitions across the One Health spectrum, and promote equitable access to and stewardship of antimicrobials.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an automatic voter registration system for elections.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Individual Electoral Registration (IER), introduced in 2014, brought registering to vote into the 21st century by making it possible to register to vote online in as little as three minutes. It also ensured that every individual had control and ownership over the process.
The UK Government has no plans to reassess its policy with regards to automatic voter registration, as to do so would risk undermining the principle of individuals taking ownership of registering to vote.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Glasgow North of 13 March 2024, for what reasons he considers the European Court of Human Rights to be a foreign court.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Because it is based in Strasbourg.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason Israeli military planes have used UK airports on each occasion since 7 October 2023.
Answered by James Heappey
It is standard practice for the Ministry of Defence to routinely authorise requests for limited numbers of allies and partners to overfly the UK and use UK air bases. For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the MOD does not offer comment or information relating to foreign nations’ military aircraft movements or operations.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on the persecution of Christians in that country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly condemns violence and persecution against Christians in Pakistan. The former Foreign Secretary raised the persecution of religious communities, including attacks against the Christian community in Jaranwala, with Pakistan's Prime Minister, Anwaral Haq Kakar on 25 September. On 21 August, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia wrote to Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, urging the Government to ensure the safety of the Christian community following the attacks in Jaranwala. Lord Ahmad also raised the issue with Foreign Minister Jilani when they met on 13 September and in his meeting with the Pakistani High Commissioner on 6 September.
Alongside our diplomatic engagement, UK programmes seek to address the challenges faced by religious minorities in Pakistan. Our Aawaz II programme brings together community leaders and minority representatives to promote tolerance and reduce violence, and our Hate Speech and Disinformation programme works is working to protect marginalised communities from hate speech online.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent (a) violence against and (b) the persecution of Christians in Pakistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly condemns violence and persecution against Christians in Pakistan. The former Foreign Secretary raised the persecution of religious communities, including attacks against the Christian community in Jaranwala, with Pakistan's Prime Minister, Anwaral Haq Kakar on 25 September. On 21 August, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia wrote to Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, urging the Government to ensure the safety of the Christian community following the attacks in Jaranwala. Lord Ahmad also raised the issue with Foreign Minister Jilani when they met on 13 September and in his meeting with the Pakistani High Commissioner on 6 September.
Alongside our diplomatic engagement, UK programmes seek to address the challenges faced by religious minorities in Pakistan. Our Aawaz II programme brings together community leaders and minority representatives to promote tolerance and reduce violence, and our Hate Speech and Disinformation programme works is working to protect marginalised communities from hate speech online.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help provide humanitarian support following the recent outbreak of cholera in Malawi.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK was a key partner during Malawi's worst ever cholera outbreak in 2022/23, disbursing emergency funds, deploying an Emergency Medical Team and leveraging additional funding from other donors in support of the Government of Malawi's response. Although numbers are much reduced this cholera season, The BHC Lilongwe team continues to monitor the data and work with Ministry of Health and development partners to support the response and mitigate the risk of another outbreak. This includes recent new funding for resilience and preparedness activities in affected districts through our bilateral health programme, as well as pulling in support from a Centrally Managed health security programme (TDDAP2) to build the capacity of Malawi's health system and institutions to prevent, detect and respond to health emergencies such as cholera.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the total lifetime cost of the Trident renewal programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Dreadnought submarine programme remains within overall budget and on track for the first of class, HMS Dreadnought, to enter service in the early 2030s.
Inflation has remained higher than expected for an extended period and had an adverse impact on the cost forecasts for this programme when compared to the forecasts from a year earlier.
As the programme is in its preliminary phases, it is too early to provide cost estimates for the replacement warhead programme.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of recent trends in inflation rates on (a) the total lifetime cost of and (b) expenditure over the next five financial years on the Trident renewal programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Dreadnought submarine programme remains within overall budget and on track for the first of class, HMS Dreadnought, to enter service in the early 2030s.
Inflation has remained higher than expected for an extended period and had an adverse impact on the cost forecasts for this programme when compared to the forecasts from a year earlier.
As the programme is in its preliminary phases, it is too early to provide cost estimates for the replacement warhead programme.