Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department (a) logs and (b) registers potential concerns raised by (i) other governments and (ii) international bodies on UK responsibilities toward (A) refugees and (B) asylum seekers.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We engage regularly with other governments and international organisations on matters relating to refugees and asylum seekers. The FCDO ensures that any potential concerns are actioned via effective and well-established channels.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the fundamental rights of (a) women and girls and (b) children following changes to the Somali constitution lowering the age of maturity; and whether he has made representations to the Somali government on that issue.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Proposed changes in the Somali constitution to lower the age of maturity have been delayed. This followed extensive engagement by the UK and others in the international community. The UK is closely following the on-going constitutional review process in Somalia and we have encouraged the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to ensure the process has broad based support amongst the Somali people, civil society, and marginalised groups. In addition, we continue to regularly raise human rights concerns with our Somali partners.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what discussions he has had with international partners on the (a) release of Evan Gershkovich and (b) use of imprisonment as a bargaining tactic.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Evan Gershkovich's detention illustrates Russia's disregard for media freedom. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have called for his immediate release. As a US national, the US Government is providing Mr Gershkovich with consular support. The UK remains in close contact with the US and has raised his case at the OSCE on several occasions, most recently on 21 March. The UK condemns the use of detention for diplomatic leverage and, working with like-minded partners, we remain determined to deter and combat this practice.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department has held recent discussions with the European Commission on a derogation for the UK from the EU Entry/Exit System.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government engages with the European Commission on a range of border issues, including the EU Entry/Exit System. We continue to engage on manging its impacts, including plans for public communications.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent clashes between protestors and police in Georgia; and what discussions he has had with international partners on the protection of civil liberties in that country.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK is committed to supporting a vibrant civil society in Georgia, which is an essential attribute of a healthy democracy. We are aware of the recent demonstrations in Georgia against the proposed law on transparency of foreign influence and are monitoring developments. We are working closely with international partners to raise our concerns regarding the re-introduction of this law, and the Minister for Europe highlighted our concerns to the Georgian Ambassador when they met on 18 April.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he plans to support the draft UN resolution tabled by Rwanda, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina on declaring 11 July as an international day of reflection and remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK is proud to support the draft resolution. The atrocities that took place at Srebrenica were a genocide, as confirmed by the International Courts. We must never forget the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to reduce over-crowding in HMP Wandsworth.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In prisons where we have crowding in place, a rigorous cell certification process is undertaken that ensures the use of cells is subject to a formal assessment of safety and decency.
We continue to pursue the package of longer-term measures the Lord Chancellor announced on 16 October 2023 to reform the justice system and address the prison capacity challenges. The measures include: the extension of the Early Removal Scheme to deport Foreign National Offenders (FNOs), introducing a presumption to suspend sentences of 12 months or less, curtailing the licence period for IPP sentences and extending the use of Home Detention Curfew. On 11 March, the Lord Chancellor announced the next steps in our plan, to allow us to go further and faster in removing FNOs. This includes expediting prisoner transfers with our priority partners, such as Albania, and the creation of a new taskforce across the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to change the way we process FNO cases radically.
To meet pressing demand, we are building c.20,000 modern, rehabilitative prison places – the biggest prison build programme since the Victorian era. We have already delivered c.5,900 of these, including through our two new 1,700 places prisons, HMP Five Wells and HMP Fosse Way, and c.590 Rapid Deployment Cells across 11 sites. By the end of 2025, we are on track to have delivered around 10,000 places in total.
The Government will continue to monitor the evolving situation with demand for prison places carefully, so that we can make sure we have the right approaches in place to maintain the capacity required for a safe and effective criminal justice system.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what support is available to media organisations to (a) detect and (b) counteract foreign disinformation.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of information threats to national security seriously, and the UK has a strong record of working closely with a wide range of different stakeholders to tackle these risks.
We recognise the invaluable role of a free and independent press in providing accurate and reliable information. Government works to complement the efforts of our independent press sector through a number of initiatives to counter disinformation.
For example, in 2022 the Government provided the BBC World Service with £4.1m emergency funding to help it to continue to bring independent, impartial and accurate news to people in Ukraine and Russia and counter disinformation in the face of increased propaganda from the Russian state. The Government has also directly sanctioned Russia-backed state media organisations who spread disinformation, helping to prevent the most prolific and harmful sources of disinformation from spreading propaganda to UK audiences online.
The Government has also recently passed the Online Safety Act (OSA), which includes the Foreign Interference Offence as a priority offence. This will require social media companies to take action against a wide range of state-sponsored disinformation and interference targeted at the UK. Ofcom will produce guidance for providers on how they should fulfil these duties. The consultation for this guidance closed in March 2024 and Ofcom is currently finalising these codes, due to come into force at the end of 2024.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps the Government plans to take through its role as penholder for Sudan at the UN Security Council to encourage international partners to support an immediate ceasefire in Sudan; and what assessment he has made of the impact of continued conflict on (a) the humanitarian situation in Sudan and (b) regional stability.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK uses its position as penholder at the UN Security Council on Sudan to increase pressure on the warring parties. On 8 March, the UNSC adopted UK-drafted Resolution 2724 calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and unhindered humanitarian access. On 27 February, we called for the Council to convene for a closed consultation responding to SAF withdrawing permission for the movement of aid into Sudan from the Adre border crossing. On 20 March, we also highlighted the OCHA White Note's clear warning that obstruction of humanitarian access is resulting in people in Sudan starving. On 19 April, the UK also called for an open briefing on the situation to mark the one-year point in the conflict at the UNSC.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he had discussions with his Lebanese counterpart on the efforts of Christian schools in that country to counter Islamic extremism.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to defending, promoting and strengthening Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and partnering with Lebanon in the shared fight against terrorism. Since 2016, the UK has provided over £6 million in funding to the Tripoli and Beirut-based MARCH, which promotes social cohesion and combats violent extremism, supporting vulnerable youth to become positive actors in their communities. The Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, and the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on FoRB, Fiona Bruce MP, continue to maintain close relationships with religious leaders across Lebanon.