Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on reports of the closure of a Baha’i-run elder care centre in Karaj, Iran.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of reports indicating that Baha'i owned businesses are being targeted for closure, including reports of the attempted closure of a care centre in Karaj, Iran. We remain concerned about the continued harassment and mistreatment that the Baha'i and other minority groups face.
We support the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran's assessment that discrimination against the Baha'is in Iran is legally sanctioned by a lack of constitutional recognition and the absence of other legal protections for adherents of this faith. We regularly call upon Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to protect freedom of religion or belief.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what preparations his Department is making for the UK leaving the EU without an agreement; and how much funding has been allocated to those preparations.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We remain focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible. As part of this, we continue to prepare for all Brexit scenarios. We are continuing to make sensible decisions about the timing and pace at which some of this work is progressing. This includes working closely with our overseas network and other Government Departments to put in place a range of mitigations to minimise any disruption in the event of no deal.
The Treasury has allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as £412 million over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (Autumn Statement 2016); £286 million of additional funding for 2017/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 2017/18); over £1.5 billion for 2018/19 (Supplementary Estimates 2018/19); and over £2 billion for 2019/20 (Main Estimates 2019/20). This funding is to cover all exit scenarios and is in addition to departmental efforts to reprioritise from business as usual toward preparations for the UK's departure from the EU. Work on no-deal exit preparations cannot be readily separated from other EU exit work, given the significant overlap in plans in many cases. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also received £5.6 million of additional funding in 2018/19, for no-deal civil contingency planning.
We continue to keep advice on how people should prepare updated on gov.uk/euexit.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April to Written Question 245704, whether the UK Government plans to send experts to (a) to determine whether the Chunnakam power plant in Northern Sri Lanka was responsible for pollution in that area and (b) assist in the cleanup process in that area.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of the challenges Sri Lanka faces around water management and quality. We understand that an investigation has determined that the power plant was responsible for pollution in the area, but investigations to determine the extent of pollution in the area are ongoing. We are making enquiries about the progress of the compensation scheme.
Staff at the British High Commission in Colombo are in contact with relevant officials locally to ensure that UK concerns are registered. This is not an issue on which the UK provides technical or other assistance in Sri Lanka.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assurances he has received from the Saudi Government that the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group has not been active in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We do not comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will review the UK's strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia as a result of that country's use of detention as a means of political repression.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK and Saudi Arabia have a longstanding bilateral relationship based on a number of pillars including defence; security; trade and investment; shared concerns about regional issues and energy security.
We are concerned by use of detention as a means of political repression in Saudi Arabia. We raise concerns regularly and freely, using a range of Ministerial and diplomatic channels, including our Ambassador and Embassy team in Riyadh.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ask his Emirati counterpart to establish an urgent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of UAE prisoner of conscience Alia Abdel Nour, who passed away from breast cancer in Tawam hospital on 4 May 2019.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to answer of 12 March 2019 (PQ 228081). We are aware of reports regarding the death of Alia Abdel Nour. Our close relationship with the United Arab Emirates allows us to discuss important issues and where the UK has cause for concern, we raise these concerns at official and Ministerial level.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the Government supported proposals to close the youth department of the Council of Europe.
Answered by Mark Field
No decision has been taken to close the youth department of the Council of Europe. The suggestion to decouple the youth budget from the main budget is just one option proposed to manage the budget deficit in the organisation flowing from Russian non-payment and also as part of a wider drive for reforms and efficiency savings. It has yet to be discussed. The UK's priority is to protect the core functions of the organisation, including the court and the convention system.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Based on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) human resources management system, 41 FCO UK-based staff took sick leave related to stress in 2018. This does not include staff who were absent but no sick leave reason is recorded against them. This accounts for 0.85 per cent of FCO UK-based staff using our headcount figure as of 31 December 2018 (4,839). Sick leave for reasons related to stress in 2018 accounted for 10.5 per cent of total recorded sick days, and equated to 0.3 Average Working Days Lost per person. The cost to the paybill of all sick leave taken by FCO UK-based staff in 2018 was £3,386,787. Of this, the cost of sick leave taken for stress-related reasons was £355,898.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Since the Referendum, 65 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff have been transferred to work in other government departments or on other departmental briefs to support EU Exit preparations. Of these 30 have since returned to the FCO.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of whether the Assad Government is party to an agreement with the global coalition against Daesh on (a) the Tanf de-confliction zone and (b) the Coalition military presence within the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone was established by the US and Russia to prevent unintentional conflict. The Assad regime is not a party to that arrangement.