Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have investigated reports that China lobbied for the removal of references to Taiwan from material used in schools in connection with GCSE examinations.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The content of textbooks is a matter for individual publishers. The department does not play a role in prescribing or authorising the books that schools can use. It is for schools to determine what curriculum resources they use, and to use their judgement in assessing their content.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the application by China to situate its embassy in a new site in London is expected to be determined; and whether they anticipate any delay to that process, and if so, why.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The planning application for a proposed new Chinese Embassy is currently with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The timing of determining the application is a matter for them as the local planning authority. No further comment can be made in respect of this, or any prospective scheme, as to do so may prejudice any future decision the Deputy Prime Minister in her role as Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government may need to make should this application come before her in the future.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what consideration has been given to allowing the Ambassador of China to visit the House of Lords parts of the parliamentary estate.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In September 2021, in response to Chinese government sanctions being placed upon Members of both Houses of Parliament, Mr Speaker and the Lord Speaker determined that the Ambassador of China would no longer be permitted access to the Parliamentary Estate. The decision of the Speakers remains unchanged.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his planned timetable is for the audit of the UK-China bilateral relationship; and what topics that audit will consider.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government will bring a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK's relations with China, driven by the national interest. We will co-operate where we can, including on global net zero, health and trade; compete where we have different interests; and challenge where we must, to protect our national security and values. An audit of the UK's relationship with China will improve the UK's capability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities. A timeline for the audit is to be determined.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy in relation to the provision of development aid to entities within China; and what is the total of UK aid provided to the China in the past 10 years.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Total UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend to China between 2014-2022 was £356.6 million, including FCDO ODA spend such as Chevening scholarships and British Council activity. In a Written Ministerial Statement in April 2021, the FCDO committed to cut ODA funded programmes in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year, which it delivered. Final data for 2023 UK ODA spend will be available when the next Statistics for International Development is published on 26 September 2024.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the independence of the UK higher education sector has been compromised by a reliance on funding from China.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The government has made significant strides to protect our values against those who do not respect the UK’s fundamental rights and freedoms, or whose strategic intent is hostile to UK interests. The department has committed, in the Integrated Review Refresh, to review the full set of legislative and other provisions designed to protect our academic sector, in order to identify what more the department could or should be doing.
The department recognises the potential for overseas interference in our higher education (HE) sector and we are committed to ensuring ways to increase transparency, improve HE providers’ overall resilience and economic security, whilst respecting the autonomy of universities.
A key part of the department’s International Education Strategy is diversification. Our universities must ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding, whether that is from a single organisation or a single country. The Office for Students, the regulator of HE in England, monitors the risk of over-reliance on overseas income at a sector level.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to pages 4 and 5 of the report entitled China: The top ten priorities for early Labour government action published by the Coalition on Secure Technology and the Council on Geostrategy China Observatory in September 2024, what steps he is taking to tackle the threat to UK national security posed by the use of Chinese-manufactured cellular Internet of Things modules.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The security of the UK is a top priority for the government. We are taking robust action to ensure new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act requires manufacturers, importers and retailers to ensure IoT products meet minimum security requirements. In telecoms specifically, we have been working to promote a more open, innovative, and diverse technology supply chain and to strengthen our legislative frameworks. The Government is taking a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will improve the UK’s capability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses through an audit of the UK’s relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report entitled China: The top ten priorities for early Labour government action published by the Coalition on Secure Technology and the Council on Geostrategy China Observatory in September 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government will bring a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK's relations with China, driven by the national interest. We will co-operate where we can, including on global net zero, health and trade; compete where we have different interests; and challenge where we must, to protect our national security and values. We will improve the UK's capability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses through an audit of the UK's relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report entitled China: The top ten priorities for early Labour government action published by the Coalition on Secure Technology and the Council on Geostrategy China Observatory in September 2024, what steps he is taking to (a) tackle vulnerabilities, (b) redirect critical economic supply chains and (c) otherwise reduce dependencies.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Building economic security is fully compatible with a push for growth. In an age of insecurity, a more resilient economy is essential to avoid geopolitical or climatic shocks leading to economic damage on the living standards of working people. Enhancing economic security helps safeguard longer-term growth, and strengthening and securing global supply chains is essential to the UK's future economic resilience.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to audit NHS supply chains to ensure that no medical (a) garments and (b) equipment are sourced from (i) Xinjiang and (ii) other regions with widespread reports of forced labour and human rights abuses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom is committed to tackling the issue of Uyghur forced labour in supply chains, and is taking robust action. We have introduced new guidance on the risks of doing business in Xinjiang specifically in section 6.2 of the guidance, enhanced export controls, and announced the introduction of financial penalties under the Modern Slavery Act. This guidance is available at the following link:
The Procurement Act, which received Royal Assent in 2023, will enable public sector contracting authorities to reject bids and terminate contracts with suppliers which are known to use forced labour themselves or anywhere in their supply chain.
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations that supply goods and services and have a total turnover over £36 million to publish a transparency statement annually, to set out what steps they have taken to ensure that modern slavery is not occurring in their supply chains.
The Department has pledged to put an end to modern slavery in the National Health Service by meeting my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s duty to assess and mitigate modern slavery risk in NHS supply chains. New regulations will require public bodies procuring goods or services for delivering health services in England to assess the risk of modern slavery and implement reasonable steps to procurement and contracting activities, with a view to eradicating the use of goods and services tainted by modern slavery.