Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason income tax on St Helena is levied at higher rates than on other British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The St Helena Government is responsible for its public finances and therefore sets its own income tax rates.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps help prevent the depopulation of St Helena.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is actively supporting St Helena towards financial self-sustainability. A thriving island population is central to that. The FCDO works in partnership with the St Helena Government to invest in key areas such as education and tourism, helping to maintain the population and attract new visitors and revenue to the island.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government of Mauritius will assume responsibility for asylum seekers arriving in the Chagos Islands once the agreement has been ratified by Parliament.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Once the UK's agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago comes into force, Mauritius will take responsibility for any migrants who may arrive on the islands in the future. The deal will close a dangerous, illegal migration route. Up until the deal is in force, St Helena will accept any migrants arriving in the Chagos islands pursuant to an arrangement we made with them in October 2024.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to publish a deadline for the implementation public registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the Falkland Islands and St Helena committed to join Montserrat and Gibraltar in implementing fully public registers by April 2025.
Other OTs, including the British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks & Caicos Islands, agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest, by June 2025. The details of this commitment are set out in the JMC communique published on gov.uk. We are working with OT Governments to ensure proposals for the registers meet the requirements agreed at the Joint Ministerial Council.
Our expectation is that all OTs will ultimately implement registers that are fully accessible to the public.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help improve mutual twinning arrangements between local authorities and the British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Jim McMahon
With the support of funding from the UK Government, Hampshire County Council is twinned with Anguilla and St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and Suffolk County Council is twinned with Montserrat. These partnerships are focused on learning and support in children and adults social care and education.
Links between local authorities in the United Kingdom and with British Overseas Territories are principally a matter for those authorities themselves. However, the Government recognises that such links, as well as those between local authorities in the United Kingdom and abroad more generally can be beneficial to those authorities, bringing with them learning and best practice from all over the world as well as creating and deepening ties between people and communities. The Government is therefore supportive of more and better such links.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help improve sea access infrastructure on St Helena.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provided approximately £4.79 million in funding through the St Helena Economic Development and Investment Programme for the construction of a new port and cargo handling facilities at Rupert's Bay. The FCDO has also funded two new roads better connecting Rupert's Bay to Jamestown. The new facilities will allow for cargo operations to be moved from the current port at Jamestown, opening the waterfront for tourism purposes.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
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 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, for what reason the migrants temporarily relocated to the UK were not relocated to St Helena.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Memorandum of Understanding with St Helena signed on 15 October 2024 only applies to migrants who arrive on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) after that date. The then existing group of migrants on BIOT were not included within the arrangement.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of relocating to St Helena asylum seekers who have travelled to the UK by small boat across the English Channel.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The specific purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding with St Helena was to deal with the risk of further migrants attempting to travel to the British Indian Ocean Territory, prior to the sovereignty agreement with Mauritius being formally completed. There are no plans to extend that agreement beyond its current remit.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
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 16 December 2024 to Question 18968 on Asylum: Sri Lanka, what accommodation is available on St Helena to house migrants; what the maximum capacity is of this accommodation; how much funding will be provided for this accommodation; whether people with granted applications will remain on the island; whether his Department made an assessment of the views of local people; and if he will publish an Impact Assessment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government of St Helena is responsible for determining what accommodation should be provided to any migrants transferred, and is currently exploring options. We understand that initially they plan to use an existing facility as temporary accommodation while more suitable longer-term housing is matched to the make-up of any migrant cohort. Funding requirements have not yet been determined.
Immigration is the responsibility of the St Helena Government, which will be responsible for processing any applications for protection or settlement. The Government of St Helena is also responsible for any local consultation and impact assessments. The UK Government continues to work in partnership with the Government of St Helena and as agreed in the MOU between both parties the UK will continue to provide the additional training, expertise and funding required to ensure the Government of St Helena is able to respond if any migrants do arrive on BIOT.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of allowing Sri Lankans based on Diego Garcia to the UK on the number of people who will begin to attempt to reach the UK via Diego Garcia; and whether any of the 60 Tamil migrants recently arrived have made applications for family to join them.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Diego Garcia has never been a suitable long-term location for the migrants who have arrived there and this Government has worked hard to find a solution that protects both their welfare and the integrity of British territorial borders.
We have now closed down any risk of opening a new route, with any future arrivals to Diego Garcia to be relocated to St Helena until Mauritius takes responsibility for the island. Following this, we have temporarily relocated a small number of migrants, including children and their families, to the UK due to their acute welfare needs, and the lack of any suitable amenities on the island, including healthcare, to address those needs.
In line with normal practice, we will not comment further on those individual cases.