Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to publish the impact assessment for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill before the commencement of the Committee of the Whole House debate on the Bill on 13 July.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Bill provides specific powers to make new laws where we are disapplying the EU regime and where such laws are considered appropriate. The full details of the new regime will be set out in regulations alongside and under the Bill.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much overseas aid her Department has allocated to (a) India and (b) Pakistan in each year between 2015 and year end 2022; and what amount will be allocated to (a) India and (b) Pakistan over the next five years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) brought together the Department for International Development (DFID) and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 2 September 2020. As the principal distributor of Official Development Assistance (ODA), these figures represent DFID expenditure until 2019, after which they represent FCDO expenditure.
Year | Department | ODA to India | ODA to Pakistan |
2015 | DFID | £150.391m | £351.379m |
2016 | DFID | £54.209m | £423.927m |
2017 | DFID | £47.691m | £366.579m |
2018 | DFID | £40.345m | £291.457m |
2019 | DFID | £15.417m | £259.770m |
2020 | FCDO | £49.097m | £179.059m |
Since 2015, the UK has given no financial aid to the Government of India. Instead, our development partnership with India is based on sharing skills, expertise, and development capital investments that help the poor and generate returns on our investment; our work reduces poverty, tackles climate change, and creates new partners and markets for the UK. To date £80.2 million of our ODA investment has been returned to HMG.
Between 2014 and 2019 Pakistan was the single largest recipient of bilateral UK aid. There has since been a downward trend in ODA funding to Pakistan from the high point of 2016 to reflect Pakistan's lower middle-income status.
FCDO will publish further details on our ODA spending in 2021 when this spending is finalised and will publish annual ODA spending statistics as these are finalised over the next five years. We are unable to provide projected future ODA allocations.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what mechanisms exist to (a) suspend or (b) remove a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Answered by Vicky Ford
There is no mechanism to suspend or remove a permanent member specifically from the UN Security Council (UNSC). Suspension or expulsion of any Member State from the United Nations itself requires a decision of the UN General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Any permanent member of the UNSC can therefore veto its own - or others' - proposed suspension or expulsion.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release of 6 March 2019 entitled Foreign Secretary appoints Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, what steps (a) Ministers of his Department and (b) British diplomats in Libya have taken to encourage the Libyan authorities to engage constructively with (i) those victims and (ii) their representatives since the publication of that press release; on what dates those representations were made to those authorities on that issue; and what the outcome has been of that work.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government set out its position on Mr Shawcross's report on compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism in a Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 March. The Written Ministerial Statement notes the clear practical difficulties in obtaining compensation from Libya for Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, and that the conflict, political instability and economic instability that have prevailed in Libya for most of the last ten years since the fall of the Qadhafi regime present particular challenges. Nonetheless, the UK has consistently pressed the Libyan authorities to address the Libyan State's historic responsibility for the Qadhafi regime's support for the IRA, and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 20 May 2020 to Question 38548 on Libya: IRA, and of 20 October 2020 to Question 105446 on IRA: Libya, what steps he has taken to consider the Shawcross report in detail since May 2020; on what dates he has discussed the Shawcross report with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since October 2020; and what the outcome has been of each of those discussions.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
Mr Shawcross was commissioned to write an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Ministers across Government are carefully considering Mr Shawcross's report in order to do justice to the important and sensitive issues it covers, giving due respect to victims.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 8 April 2019 to Question 239852 on Libya: IRA, what the finalised terms of reference were for the work undertaken by William Shawcross as Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
Mr Shawcross was commissioned to write an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Ministers across Government are carefully considering Mr Shawcross's report in order to do justice to the important and sensitive issues it covers, giving due respect to victims.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff contributed to the work undertaken by William Shawcross as Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism; and what the cost to the public purse is of that work.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
Mr Shawcross, supported by a senior adviser and acting in an independent capacity, produced an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Mr Shawcross and his senior adviser were appointed within Government guidelines for Ministerial appointments and specialist contractors. The FCDO provided secretariat and logistical support.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, on (a) what date and (b) for what reason he decided to begin referring to the report on Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism produced by William Shawcross as an internal scoping paper.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
Mr Shawcross was commissioned in 2019 to produce an internal scoping report on the issue of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Libyan Investment Authority and (b) his counterparts at the UN on the potential variation of the terms under which Qadhafi-era assets are frozen in the UK.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
Libyan assets in the UK were frozen in 2011 under UN Security Council Resolution 1973, at the request of the Libyan authorities. We are not aware of any formal request by the Libyan Investment Authority to the UN to vary the terms under which assets are frozen. No recent discussions have taken place.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether William Shawcross, the Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, has submitted his report on the feasibility of calculating the number of people affected and the compensation due to those people from the Libyan Government.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Home Secretary
The UK is committed to supporting the victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism. That is why in March 2019 the former Foreign Secretary appointed William Shawcross as the UK's Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Mr Shawcross has now submitted his report. Ministers will consider the report in detail once the current need to focus on the Covid-19 crisis has abated.