Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question
To ask the President of COP26, if he will raise in discussions with the President of Chile, during the COP26 visit, the potential environmental effect of the President's financial involvement in the Dominga mining project.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The UK and Chile regularly discuss environmental issues. The UK has been pressing all leaders through a programme of regular engagement and events to commit to ambitious climate action to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will raise the matter of allegations of human rights abuses by members of the Chilean security forces since October 2019 with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course. We continue to monitor the situation in Chile since the unrest two years ago. The UK has expressed its concerns about allegations of human rights abuses by members of the security forces in talks with representatives of the Chilean Government. We welcome the acknowledgement by President Piñera and other Ministers that there have been human rights abuses, as well as their commitments that these allegations will be fully investigated, and if appropriate, perpetrators will be prosecuted.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she plans to have with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which countries and territories UK Defence and Security Exports has invited to attend the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London on 14 to 17 September 2021.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The following countries have received official invitations to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2021 from the Department for International Trade UK Defence and Security Exports Team:
Angola
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belgium
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
Mozambique
NATO
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
USA
Vietnam
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of UK investor concerns on conditions for investing in or providing financial services to Brazil as a result of the increasing deforestation in the Amazon.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government acknowledges reports of continued high rates of deforestation in the Amazon and understands that this may create concerns for UK investors. Many UK financial services firms are increasingly cognizant of the environmental impact of their activities, and the demand for investment products that avoid environmentally damaging activities such as deforestation is growing. The Government is committed to ensuring that UK investors have the tools, frameworks, and information necessary to make informed decisions about the sustainability of their investments.
In his July 2021 Mansion House speech, the Chancellor announced plans to introduce economy-wide Sustainability Disclosure Requirements for businesses and investment products to report on their impact on climate and the environment – and the risks and opportunities these pose to their business. This builds on and streamlines existing sustainability reporting requirements such as our commitment to fully mandatory economy-wide TCFD reporting, where the UK is already a world-leader. It will also include disclosures made under the UK green taxonomy, which will provide firms and investors a common definition for environmentally sustainable economic activities.
Furthermore, the Government will also work with the Financial Conduct Authority to create a new sustainable investment label so that consumers can clearly compare the environmental impacts of their investments for the first time.
More broadly, the UK is working to promote increased sustainability through the global financial system ahead of COP26 and beyond. For instance, the Government is encouraging global financial firms, including in Brazil, to commit to net zero through membership of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).
Lastly, the UK continues to encourage other governments to raise capital specifically to finance projects that tackle climate change and other environmental challenges. For instance, Mexico and Chile have issued several green and sustainable on the London Stock Exchange in recent years.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK scientists are working on (1) the James Webb Space Telescope, and (2) the Extremely Large Telescope European project under construction in Chile.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK’s role in James Webb Space Telescope, leading the Mid-Infrared Instrument known as MIRI, involved scientists, engineers, researchers and technicians from 46 organisations across the UK – supported by approximately £20M investment from UK Space Agency and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. At its peak, the instrument’s development programme was staffed by 25-30 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) per year. Approximately 360 UK scientists will be working with JWST scientific data following its launch in November 2021, through privilege access programmes for the first mission data, and guest observer programmes. When factoring in post docs and PhD students, who will support this research, this figure can be expected to effectively double.
We expect that when operational 200-400 UK researchers will seek time on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) to support their science programmes. During the current construction phase a large proportion of UK scientists are working under commercial contract and we do not have access to staffing within those. When it starts operating in late-2020s, UK scientists will be able to use ELT to study the earliest evolution of stars and galaxies and to characterise and image other planets, possibly like our own.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time UK armed forces personnel are currently deployed overseas, by country of deployment.
Answered by James Heappey
In addition to the 7,025 at sea in Ships and Submarines around the globe, figures for those deployed overseas on 22 Jul 2021, including in Defence Sections of Embassies, International Headquarters, permanent deployments, on UN Duties, on Operations, participating in international exercises, or in support of other Defence activity, are listed in the table below. This represents a snapshot as numbers are continuously changing. Some of these details have been withheld due to operational sensitivity, including our current presence in Afghanistan.
COUNTRY | Personnel |
ALBANIA | 1 |
ALGERIA | 2 |
ARGENTINA | 2 |
AUSTRALIA | 200 |
AUSTRIA | 2 |
BAHRAIN | 193 |
BANGLADESH | 1 |
BARBADOS | 3 |
BELGIUM | 280 |
BELIZE | 67 |
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA | 3 |
BRAZIL | 2 |
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | 734 |
BULGARIA | 1 |
CAMEROON | 17 |
CANADA | 295 |
CHAD | 1 |
CHILE | 2 |
CHINA | 5 |
COLOMBIA | 3 |
CROATIA | 5 |
CURACAO | 2 |
CYPRUS | 3,272 |
CZECH REPUBLIC | 18 |
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO | 4 |
DENMARK | 4 |
DIEGO GARCIA | 43 |
DJIBOUTI | 4 |
EGYPT | 4 |
ESTONIA | 716 |
ETHIOPIA | 2 |
FALKLAND ISLANDS | 843 |
FIJI | 1 |
FINLAND | 1 |
FRANCE | 83 |
GEORGIA | 34 |
GERMANY | 585 |
GHANA | 3 |
GIBRALTAR | 516 |
GREECE | 53 |
INDIA | 8 |
INDONESIA | 2 |
IRAQ | 152 |
IRELAND | 1 |
ISRAEL | 4 |
ITALY | 196 |
JAMAICA | 2 |
JAPAN | 5 |
JORDAN | 215 |
KAZAKHSTAN | 2 |
KENYA | 617 |
KOSOVO | 36 |
KUWAIT | 84 |
LATVIA | 19 |
LEBANON | 4 |
LITHUANIA | 2 |
MALAYSIA | 7 |
MALI | 442 |
MEXICO | 2 |
MOLDOVA | 1 |
MOROCCO | 2 |
NEPAL | 69 |
NETHERLANDS | 116 |
NEW ZEALAND | 6 |
NIGERIA | 53 |
NORTH MACEDONIA | 3 |
NORWAY | 49 |
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES | 6 |
OMAN | 235 |
PAKISTAN | 13 |
POLAND | 164 |
PORTUGAL | 27 |
QATAR | 134 |
ROMANIA | 175 |
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | 1 |
SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA | 23 |
SAUDI ARABIA | 142 |
SENEGAL | 6 |
SERBIA | 1 |
SEYCHELLES | 1 |
SIERRA LEONE | 2 |
SINGAPORE | 9 |
SLOVAKIA | 1 |
SLOVENIA | 11 |
SOMALIA | 63 |
SOUTH AFRICA | 2 |
SOUTH KOREA | 7 |
SOUTH SUDAN | 5 |
SPAIN | 37 |
SRI LANKA | 1 |
SWEDEN | 3 |
THAILAND | 2 |
TUNISIA | 4 |
TURKEY | 46 |
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS | 15 |
UGANDA | 2 |
UKRAINE | 436 |
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | 141 |
UNITED STATES | 1,053 |
UZBEKISTAN | 1 |
VIETNAM | 2 |
ZAMBIA | 6 |
ZIMBABWE | 1 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16051, aside from Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which of the 60 other non-EU countries with which the UK has signed continuity trade agreements are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Belize
Dominica
Faroe Islands
Grenada
Kiribati
Liechtenstein
Maldives
Nauru
Nicaragua
Palestinian Authority
Papua New Guinea
St. Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sierra Leone
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16051, aside from Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which of the 60 other non-EU countries with which the UK has signed continuity trade agreements are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Belize
Dominica
Faroe Islands
Grenada
Kiribati
Liechtenstein
Maldives
Nauru
Nicaragua
Palestinian Authority
Papua New Guinea
St. Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sierra Leone
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the News release of 1 July 2021 by Police Scotland entitled Royal College of Defence Studies makes visit to SPC Tulliallan, which 22 countries comprised the delegation from the Royal College of Defence Studies that visited the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan on 30 June 2021.
Answered by James Heappey
The RCDS course member visit to the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan on 30 June 2021 comprised delegates from the following 21 nations; Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Chile, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UAE, the UK, and the USA.