Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 13th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

Absolutely. YMCA and the Prince’s Trust have a role to play, and indeed more than 15,000 charities in Britain have working with offenders as one of their objectives. The third sector has so much to offer, and, in renegotiating and redesigning probation contracts, we must make it much easier for charities and the third sector to engage in them and bring their skills and knowledge.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

2. What progress he is making on family court reform.

HMP Birmingham

Debate between Rory Stewart and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Prisoners who are at leisure to consume and trade Spice would benefit from penal servitude with hard labour. Will the Minister bring it back?

[Rory Stewart]

No.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

I think we ought to be very careful with that kind of language. There are currently about 85,000 prisoners within the estate, so having 1,000 extra prisoners in Wales is not the creation of England’s penal colony.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

If that prison is built, will the Minister ensure that its chaplaincy avoids the extraordinary carrying-on that has recently been reported at HMP Brixton?

[Rory Stewart]

I would like to take this opportunity not to get drawn into the individual case of Brixton, which I am looking at personally, but to pay tribute in general to the work of the chaplaincy—that is the Christian chaplaincy, the Jewish chaplaincy and the five imams I met recently at Belmarsh Prison who are doing extraordinary work with the Muslim community.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

So what exactly has happened at the chaplaincy at HMP Brixton?

[Rory Stewart]

That is a brilliant question. The answer is that I am still trying to get to the bottom of it and I cannot provide an answer to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 21st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

15. When a Minister of his Department last visited Bangladesh.

[The Minister for Africa (Rory Stewart)]

Ministers regularly visit Bangladesh, with which we have a very special relationship. I have had the pleasure of visiting, as have my right hon. Friends the Ministers for the Middle East, and for Asia and the Pacific, who visited Bangladesh on 27 and 28 September.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

Is the Minister satisfied with the level of support we are providing for the Rohingya?

[Rory Stewart]

More support can always be provided for the Rohingya. The situation is horrifying: nearly 600,000 refugees—Burmese citizens, we should emphasise —driven out of their homes by horrific actions provoked largely by the Burmese military. We are providing £47 million of assistance, which makes the UK the largest bilateral donor, and we have just sent experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict to the camps in Bangladesh, but there is always more to be done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Desmond Swayne

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

We believe very strongly that reform should be done with other member states and as part of a coalition. As the hon. Gentleman has pointed out, the multilateral development review has pointed to issues where we think further reform is needed, but the United Nations is central to Britain’s response around the world. In fact, we are contributing £1.6 billion this year in our work with the United Nations, addressing some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What success has been had in recruiting Gulf states to work through the UN system and in encouraging them to support our UN reform agenda?

[Rory Stewart]

Clearly, Gulf states, which are increasingly large parts of the economy of the world, are central to humanitarian response. There have been significant contributions from the Gulf—from Saudi, UAE and Qatar—and the Secretary of State continues to encourage those contributions, particularly those that address the famines in the horn of Africa.