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, with reference to the oral evidence by Fawzia Koofi to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 October 2023, Q3, HC 1888 of Session 2022-23, how much UK aid has been allocated to women-led organisations based in Afghanistan in each of the last two financial years for which information is available; and if he will take steps to ensure that the procedures for applying for UK aid are simplified for women-led organisations based in Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Afghanistan is one of FCDO's largest bilateral aid programmes this financial year, with a planned £100 million budget. Since April 2021, the UK has disbursed over £600 million in aid for Afghanistan. We remain committed to ensuring that at least 50 per cent of people reached are women and girls. We achieved this in 2021-2022 and are on track to do so in 2022-2023. Through the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, our support contributes to a $20 million project to support civil society and NGOs with a focus on women-led organisations. FCDO officials regularly engage with Afghan women and women's groups to ensure that we are aligned in the design and delivery of our programmes.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 support (a) evidence-gathering, (b) accountability and (c) international justice processes in relation to allegations of breaches of international law in (i) the Ardamata area of El Geneina and (ii) in other areas of Sudan since 1 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK condemns in the strongest terms increasing reports of atrocities being committed across Sudan, particularly in Darfur, and remains committed to ensuring those responsible for these heinous crimes are held to account. We are supporting the essential work of the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan (OHCHR) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in investigating and documenting the atrocities taking place in Sudan. The UK is funding the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), a research body which is gathering open-source evidence about the ongoing fighting in Sudan; this financial year, we have provided £600,000 to CIR's Sudan Witness Project. The UK also initiated, alongside Germany, US and Norway, a resolution to establish an independent Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan; a resolution that was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in October. This will support future accountability efforts in Sudan, including in relation to Darfur.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will (a) take steps with stakeholders to understand the (i) circumstances which led to Southern Water cutting off water supplies to households in the Waterside area of New Forest East constituency during the evening of Thursday 2 November 2023, (ii) reasons for which the water supply was not resumed until the morning of Sunday 5 November and (iii) reasons for the lack of advance warning to customers, (b) make an assessment of the adequacy of support given by Southern Water to vulnerable customers whose water had been cut off and (c) make it her policy to require water companies to increase their resilience levels to ensure they can deliver water to customers during periods of similarly heavy rainfall in the future.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 2 November, the effects of Storm Ciaran were seen at Testwood Water Treatment Works in Hampshire. The heavy rainfall and consequent flooding impacted water quality, which meant that it was not possible for the Treatment Works to effectively treat the volume of water needed to maintain supplies. This included to properties in the Waterside area of the New Forest. Southern Water attempted to minimise the impact but as soon as it become apparent that supply would be affected, notifications were provided to customers, through their website and social media.
Once flooding reduced, Southern Water increased supplies slowly to safeguard safety and drinking water quality standards. Customers had water supply restored gradually over the course of Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 November. Arrangements were put in place to support those customers off supply, including the opening of three bottled water stations, and regular deliveries to vulnerable customers.
Throughout the water supply outage, my officials engaged closely with Southern Water to ensure steps were taken to resolve the incident as soon as possible. I was regularly briefed on the emerging situation and ensured that Southern Water was supporting customers in the impacted area, particularly those who are vulnerable.
And on 8 November, I met with Lawrence Gosden, CEO Southern Water, to consider what lessons could be learned from this water supply incident and the actions Southern Water are taking avoid future interruptions at Testwood Water Treatment Works. The company is also providing a detailed report to the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who will carry out a full assessment on the event.
Ensuring a plentiful supply of water is a government priority with our Plan for Water, published in April 2023, setting out how we will enhance water supply infrastructure and improve resilience to drought as well as managing water demand. Earlier this year, regional water resources groups and water companies, including Southern Water, consulted on their draft Water Resource Management Plans. Within their plans, water companies must consider all options, including demand management and water resources infrastructure for at least the next 25 years.
Water companies are also using the £469 million made available by Ofwat in the current Price Review period (2020-2025) to investigate strategic water resources options, that are required to improve the resilience of England’s water supplies. Ofwat also recently announced that water companies are bringing forward £2.2 billion for new water infrastructure delivery, over the next two years, with £350 million worth of investment in water resilience schemes.
Where a company does not meet their performance expectations, Ofwat, the independent water regulator, will take decisive regulatory action. For example, due to underperformance in 2022-23 across several areas, including on supply interruptions and customer satisfaction, draft decisions by Ofwat will mean Southern will return over £42 million to its customers in the 2024-25 financial year.
Government and regulators will continue to closely monitor Southern Water’s Performance and will not hesitate to hold them to account if they fall short.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are offering each of the British Overseas Territories in building cyber-resilience, broken down by territory.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since 2019 HMG has been working with British Overseas Territories to build cyber resilience. Cyber risk reviews have been completed in six British Overseas Territories (Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St Helena and Turks and Caicos Islands) with two more scheduled this financial year. The UK has also established an Overseas Territories cyber community which provides access to expertise and specialist training from the UK.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of 3 February 2022 by the then Minister for the Middle East, North Africa and North America in the adjournment debate on Kazakhstan: Anti-corruption Sanctions, Official Report column 574, whether he plans he has to impose sanctions on (a) Timur Kulibayev, (b) Dinara Nazarbayeva, (c) Arvind Tiku, (d) Dariga Nazarbayeva, (e) Kairat Sharipbayev, (f) Nurali Aliyev, (g) Karim Massimov, (h) Aigul Nuriyeva, (i) Vladimir Kim, (j) Eduard Ogay, (k) Kenes Rakishev, (l) Sauat Mynbayev, (m) Alexander Mashkevich, (n) Patokh Chodiev, (o) Bulat Utemuratov, (p) Bolat Nazarbayev, (q) Akhmetzhan Yesimov, (r) Kairat Boranbayev, (s) Nuram Nigmatulin, (t) Baurzhan Baibek, (u) Marat Beketayev, (v) Alexander Klebanov, (w) Yakov Klebanov, (x) Kairat Satybaldy and (y) Samat Abish.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Illicit finance and corruption undermine our interests and values. The UK is fully committed to working with the Government of Kazakhstan to take actions needed to tackle corruption. We provided training last year to build the capacity and resilience of Kazakh financial institutions and we receive continued cooperation from the government on this issue.
The UK Government does not comment on possible future sanction designations. To do so could reduce the impact of the designations.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his oral contribution of 3 February 2022 on Kazakhstan: Anti-corruption Sanctions, Official Report, column 574, whether he plans to impose sanctions on Bergey Ryskaliyev.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Illicit finance and corruption undermine our interests and values. The UK is fully committed to working with the Government of Kazakhstan to take actions needed to tackle corruption. We provided training last year to build the capacity and resilience of Kazakh financial institutions and we receive continued cooperation from the government on this issue.
The UK Government does not comment on possible future sanction designations. To do so could reduce the impact of the designations.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the change in the cost of visa fees for students from 4 October 2023 on the (a) financial sustainability and (b) resilience of higher education institutions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The UK is home to some of the world’s top universities, who benefit from strong international ties. We have educated 55 current and recent world leaders and have four out of the top 10 universities globally.
The Government has been successful in delivering our International Education Strategy ambition of hosting at least 600,000 students per year by 2030 for the last two years, and fully expects that the UK will continue to be an attractive destination for international students.
The Government is increasing fees across a range of immigration routes, including for people coming here to live, work and study. It is the Government’s policy that those who use and benefit most from the immigration system should contribute towards the cost of operating the system, reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. This will in turn, allow more funding to be prioritised elsewhere in the Home Office.
Our visa fees are broadly competitive when compared with the fees charge by comparative countries globally and there is little evidence that fee increases to date have significantly affected demand on work, study and tourism routes.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report of the National Audit Office entitled, Environmental Sustainability Overview: Department for Education, published on 28 June 2023, what steps she is taking to support schools that are not included in the School Rebuilding Programme to become net zero carbon in operation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In November 2021, the Department published a new zero carbon and climate resilient specification, for use on all new and refurbished school and college buildings. As well as being used on the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP), the specification sets a wide range of performance and construction standards, including environmental above those required in building regulations. This includes design specifications so that buildings can be adapted for a 2°C rise in average global temperatures and future proofed for a 4°C rise, to adapt to the risks of climate change, including increased flooding and higher indoor temperatures. This is also available for use by responsible bodies and others who are encouraged to follow its minimum standards.
The Department is also currently testing a range of approaches to operating schools at zero carbon; improving energy efficiency, and resilience to the effects of climate change; as well as using ultra-low carbon construction methods, that can be used to retrofit existing buildings, including the replacement of high carbon intensity heat sources.
The Department works closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to help schools and colleges access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037. Information on the Scheme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-sector-decarbonisation-scheme.
From October 2022, up to £635 million over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years has been made available through Phase 3b of the scheme for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings.
Schools and those responsible for school buildings are also provided with guidance on sustainability, managing energy and water use and minimising waste in the Good Estate Management for Schools manual. This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the publication of the National Semiconductor Strategy on 19 May, when they expect to make a decision on the level of financial support that will be offered to underpin the competitiveness of the semiconductor manufacturing sector; and what discussions they have had to inform this decision and with whom.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Semiconductor Strategy sets out the government’s plan to build on the UK’s strengths to grow our sector, increase our resilience and protect our security.
We will announce plans in the autumn to further support the competitiveness of the semiconductor manufacturing sector that is critical to the UK tech ecosystem or our national security.
The Government’s new Semiconductor Advisory Panel met on 14 September and informed the Government’s approach. The panel is representative of the UK’s semiconductor industry, and the ecosystem that supports it. In an independent capacity, experts from British titans such as ARM, IQE and PragmatIC sit on the panel, as well as representation from venture capital, academia and the RaspberryPi Foundation.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial support they are providing to countries in Africa to help combat climate change on that continent.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is working closely with African partners to fight climate change, boost resilience and help those whose lives are most impacted. The UK supports initiatives, such as contributing towards the African Development Bank's Climate Action Window (£200 million) and South Africa's Just Energy Transition ($1.8 billion). At the Africa Climate Summit (4-6 September) the Minister for Climate and the Environment, The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, reaffirmed the Government's commitment to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance, with approximately 40 per cent of this being spent on Africa. Minister Mitchell also announced projects worth £49 million to help African countries manage the impact of climate change and improve the lives of women, farmers and at-risk communities.