Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria the Government uses to distinguish between the political and military wings of Hezbollah.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Government distinguishes between those parts of Hizbollah which are involved in Lebanese politics (and that maintains a social welfare network that encompasses education and health services) and those which are actively concerned in terrorism (and are responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of terrorist attacks). The activity an individual in Hizbollah is engaged in will contribute to what part of the organisation they belong to.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the state pension will be included in the pensions dashboard when it launches in 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As announced on 19th October 2017, DWP is leading a feasibility study, working with industry, consumer-facing organisations and the regulators to explore the key issues and determine a path towards implementation for the Pensions Dashboard. The results of this feasibility study will be published shortly.
Government remains committed to ensuring that State Pension forms part of the Pensions Dashboard. Until State Pension information is available on a dashboard, people can access the online ‘Check your State Pension’ service through GOV.UK to get a forecast of their State Pension, where they can get information about how they may be able to improve it, and view their National Insurance contribution record.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the timeframe for consultation and implementation of new regulations for the provision of a pensions dashboard.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is carrying out a feasibility study exploring a range of issues associated with the delivery and implementation of a pensions dashboard. As part of this we are considering how to ensure that consumer interests are safeguarded and their information protected.
The Department is working closely with the regulators –The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority to explore these issues and determine a path towards implementation. We expect to publish our initial findings in March 2018.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on making the provision of pensions dashboards a regulated activity.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The DWP is leading a feasibility project to consider a range of issues that need to be determined in order to deliver the pensions dashboard.
Pensions dashboards would involve access to personal information about pensions. Therefore, we would need to ensure that appropriate governance is in place so that the information on a pensions dashboards is presented and used in a way that is in the customer’s best interest.
The DWP is working with other government departments, industry, consumer facing organisations and the regulators – The Pensions Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority – to carry out the feasibility work, and is expected to publish its findings in March 2018.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which types of pension scheme will be required to provide information to the pensions dashboard in 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As announced on 19th October 2017 the DWP is leading a feasibility study, working with industry, consumer-facing organisations and the regulators to explore the key issues and determine a path towards implementation for the pensions dashboard.
As part of the feasibility study, the Department is considering how best to ensure the widest possible participation of pension schemes to meet the user need and ensure the dashboard is a success. To inform the study, the Department is looking at the experiences of other countries as well as taking into account the views from different parts of the UK pensions industry. The feasibility report is expected to be published in March 2018.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to protect charities and charitable trusts from fraud.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Commission is responsible for overseeing a program of counter-fraud activities, aimed at both raising awareness of fraud risks to charities and improving their resilience to fraud. The purpose of this work it to ensure charities have the knowledge and tools to prevent fraud from happening in their organisations in the first place.
In addition to publishing detailed guidance for charities, the Commission facilitates the ‘charities against fraud’ coalition, a cross-sector group of nearly 40 stakeholders. The Commission has jointly run two fraud awareness weeks with the Fraud Advisory Panel in 2016 and 2017, which included a national conference on the issue. In 2017 the Commission helped to deliver the first ever national charity fraud awards to help raise awareness of good practice in this area.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the governments of Ukraine and Russia on the implications for security in that region of the Ukrainian Parliament’s declaration of 18 January 2018 that Russia is an aggressor state.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Russia's territorial aggression in the Donbas and Crimea, and its broader efforts to undermine and destabilise Ukraine, represent a fundamental challenge to the rules-based international order and a threat to regional security. We make this clear in discussions with both Ukrainian and Russian interlocutors. It is for the Ukrainian government to determine how it organises its response to this aggression.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on Turkish military action against the YPG in northern Syria.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK recognises Turkey's legitimate interest in the security of its borders. We are closely following developments in Afrin in north-western Syria. Both the Foreign Secretary and Minister Burt have been in contact with Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu over the past days to urge them to avoid any escalation in violence and to seek to protect civilians. It remains in our shared interest to focus on achieving a political settlement that ends the war and suffering, and provides stability for all Syrians and the wider region.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the value of the Government's funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency has been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The amount of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in each calendar year since 2013 is given in the table below. This data is published each year in the Statistics for International Development (SID) publication. Figures for 2017 will be released next year.
The UK remains firmly committed to supporting UNRWA and Palestinian refugees across the Middle East and we have so far provided around £50 million in the 2017/18 financial year.
(£ millions) | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Bilateral ODA through Multilateral | 18.4 | 29.1 | 30.0 | 21.0 |
Core Multilateral ODA | 22.9 | 36.6 | 34.0 | 33.4 |
Total UK ODA to UNRWA | 41.4 | 65.7 | 64.0 | 54.4 |
Source: Statistics for International Development 2013-2016
ODA figures are produced only on a calendar year basis in line with the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, Development Assistance Committee definitions.
Bilateral ODA through multilateral is funding to multilateral organisations for specific programmes or for specific countries. Core multilateral ODA describes un-earmarked funds from national governments which are pooled with other donors’ funding and disbursed as part of the core budget of the multilateral organisation.
Asked by: Paul Masterton (Conservative - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Uganda on that government’s possible reintroduction of the death penalty; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Development)
The death penalty was never abolished in Uganda and it remains on the statute books for 28 crimes. However, no civilian executions have been carried out since 1999 and none under court martial since 2002. The British Government continues to urge the Government of Uganda not to implement death sentences and to move towards a formal moratorium. We have taken note of President Museveni's comments and will monitor developments in country.