Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the UK’s future approach to the import of fur and fur products was discussed during her Department’s negotiations of the rollover free trade agreements signed with (a) the Central America trade association, and (b) the Cariforum trade bloc.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare. There are restrictions on some skin and fur products, which cannot be legally imported into the United Kingdom. These include fur from cats and dogs, seal skins and products from commercial hunts. Legislation has prohibited farming of animals for their fur since 2000 in England and Wales, and 2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Once our future relationship with the EU has been established, we will have the opportunity to consider further steps we could take in relation to fur sales – and our commitment to tackling the illegal wildlife trade more generally.
For continuity trade agreements, it is important to be clear that these are the EU’s trade agreements that we are simply seeking to replicate in order to secure continuity for British businesses, but foreign partners should be under no illusion that HM Government is clear in its commitment to protect endangered species and uphold our animal welfare standards.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the terms of the UK-Central America association agreement permit a ban on the import of fur and fur products from (a) El Salvador, (b) Nicaragua and (c) Panama.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare. There are restrictions on some skin and fur products, which cannot be legally imported into the United Kingdom. These include fur from cats and dogs, seal skins and products from commercial hunts. Legislation has prohibited farming of animals for their fur since 2000 in England and Wales, and 2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Once our future relationship with the EU has been established, we will have the opportunity to consider further steps we could take in relation to fur sales – and our commitment to tackling the illegal wildlife trade more generally.
For continuity trade agreements, it is important to be clear that these are the EU’s trade agreements that we are simply seeking to replicate in order to secure continuity for British businesses, but foreign partners should be under no illusion that HM Government is clear in its commitment to protect endangered species and uphold our animal welfare standards.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 September 2020 to Question 91694 on overseas aid: poverty, in which countries the bottom billion poorest people live.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
There is no internationally recognised definition of the "bottom billion", and as such identifying countries least able to escape poverty is an inexact science. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) analysis finds that today, about 62 per cent of the poorest billion people live in Africa, by 2045 it will have risen to around 85 per cent with the rest distributed around Middle East and North Africa, and Central America. DRC, Nigeria, Niger, Mozambique, Uganda, Madagascar and Sudan alone are expected to account for 50 per cent of the world's poorest billion. Similarly, the poorest billion people are projected to increasingly live in the current set of fragile countries owing to their weak growth and economic transformation. FCDO analysis looking at the bottom billion suggests it includes 55 countries with a combined population of 1.2 billion in 2019.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the purpose is of the £15 million of UK aid that has been allocated to tackle the covid-19 pandemic through the World Food Programme; when that funding will be spent; how that funding will be spent; and what guidance she has (a) issued and (b) received on the proportion of that funding which will be allocated to NGOs and civil society organisations.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK Government’s funding to the World Food Programme (WFP), is in support of its global COVID-19 appeal. WFP is setting up a platform of services to enable the health and humanitarian communities (including NGOs) to deliver support to the most vulnerable populations. So far, 39 NGOs have used WFP’s cargo and passenger services.
WFP has established eight international strategic consolidation hubs to support global movement of cargo. These hubs will be connected to regional staging areas in East, West and Central Africa, Central America, Asia and the Middle East.
WFP is setting up air transport links between strategic hubs and regional staging areas to ensure the predictable and sustained movement of life-saving humanitarian and medical cargo.
WFP operates passenger air services to ensure that humanitarian and medical staff are not restricted by commercial transport closures and can reach the areas where they are most needed.
Due to the increased risk of exposure to COVID-19, worldwide movement restrictions and the grounding of commercial transport systems, WFP also set up global medical evacuation services for the whole humanitarian community.
The WFP appeal is for USD $965 million; this is 9% funded with $85 million in confirmed contributions, of which the UK has contributed 22%.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the Defence and Security Organisation's key markets are for 2019-20; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade’s Defence and Security Organisation has identified the following key markets for 2019-20 with defence and security opportunities:
Africa
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belgium
Canada
Central European Network (Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria)
France
Germany
India
Indonesia
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latin America (Columbia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Panama, Argentina, Mexico)
Malaysia
New Zealand
Netherlands
Nordic Baltic Network (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia)
Oman
Philippines
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government with which countries they (1) have made trade agreements since 1 January, and (2) are currently engaged in trade negotiations.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
HM Government launched negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United Kingdom and the United States of America on 5th May 2020. We plan to launch negotiations with Japan this month and with Australia and New Zealand shortly after. We also continue to work to secure continuity agreements with all remaining countries that had a trade agreement with the EU on 31st January 2020. To date, HM Government has signed 20 agreements with 48 countries.
Agreements Signed to Date:
• Switzerland
• Liechtenstein
• Iceland, Norway
• Israel
• the Palestinian Authority
• Chile
• the Faroe Islands
• Eastern and Southern Africa states (Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe)
• The Pacific states (Fiji and Papua New Guinea)
• A series of CARIFORUM countries?(Barbados, Belize, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, The Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago)
• Andean countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
• Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama)
• South Korea
• Lebanon
• Tunisia
• SACU+M
• Georgia
• Morocco
• Jordan
• Kosovo
Agreements yet to be Signed
• Algeria
• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzigovina
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Cote d’Ivoire
• East African Community (EAC)
• Egypt
• Ghana
• Mexico
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Serbia
• Singapore
• Ukraine
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he has taken to negotiate a free trade deal with Honduras.
Answered by George Hollingbery
As we leave the EU, the Government is seeking to replicate the effects of the EU’s existing trade agreement with Central America, which includes Honduras. We are working together with Central American partners to ensure that we are prepared for all possible scenarios.
Discussions are on-going and the Government will inform Parliament as soon as our discussions have concluded, ahead of ratification.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government has taken since signing the Amsterdam Declaration in 2015 to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodity chains.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government’s 25-Year Environment Action Plan outlines our ambition to reduce deforestation caused by the UK’s imports of agricultural commodities and has established an industry-led Task Force to advise Government on how to achieve that goal.
Internationally, the UK has been an active member the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, providing funding to support analysis and coordination. Through our bilateral programme, we have developed the Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use programme, which runs from 2015-2023, with current committed funding of £113 million from DFID and BEIS. It was designed to accelerate progress on delivery of the Amsterdam Declaration commitments, and operates in Southeast Asia, East Africa, West and Central Africa (with DFID support), and in Latin America (with BEIS assistance). The programme is pioneering new approaches which both promote economic growth and livelihoods and protect forests. It currently has a portfolio of public-private partnerships that aim to bring up to 1.4 million hectares of land under sustainable management and mobilise up to £350m of private investment.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the countries currently hosting cloud-based data as contracted by his Department.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department's procurement system does not have a separate category for cloud-hosting contracts nor any central means of consistently identifying the countries in which data is held.
However, where the Department has entered hosting arrangements, let by the Department’s Technology Service, we have verified that Departmental data is held in the following countries:
- United Kingdom;
- Republic of Ireland;
- Netherlands; and
- United States of America.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to build on existing trade relationships with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Department for International Trade works extensively throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (LatAC) to strengthen the UK’s trade and investment relationships. Last year Joanna Crellin was appointed as LatAC Trade Commissioner, and in March hosted a LatAC Roadshow in several UK regions to promote trade opportunities to UK companies. The Prime Minister has also appointed four Trade Envoys to promote bilateral trade and investment in LatAC.
The UK has concluded trade continuity agreements with Chile and 11 Caribbean countries, which will allow us to continue trading on preferential terms when we leave the EU, and we are in advanced stages of negotiation with the Andean Community and Central America Association. We also utilise other bilateral trade policy tools such as the Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee.