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 Amnesty International report published on 13 May “On my campus, I am afraid": China's Targeting of Overseas Students Stifles Rights; and what action they are taking with allies to protect Chinese and Hong Kong students studying abroad who are subject to intimidation and surveillance from Chinese agents.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s International Education Strategy and its recent update make clear that the internationalisation of the higher education (HE) sector cannot come at any cost. Universities must ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risk.
The department recognises concerns about overseas interference in the HE sector and regularly assess the risks facing staff and students.
The Integrated Review Refresh, which this government published in March 2023, sets out in clear terms the UK’s policy towards engagement with China and Chinese entities.
Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK, or on campuses abroad, will not be tolerated. This is an insidious threat to democracy and fundamental human rights.
The department passed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 to further protect the UK’s campuses from interference and other threats to lawful freedom of speech. The Act strengthens existing freedom of speech duties placed upon HE providers in England and creates new routes of redress if these duties are breached.
The department has made the Commencement Regulations to ensure the main provisions of the Act are in place for 1 August 2024.
Where providers are operating campuses abroad, they must take, and should already be taking, reasonably practicable steps to secure freedom of speech within the law on those campuses.
HE providers are independent autonomous organisations and therefore responsible for ensuring they have adequate governance and risk management procedures in place when accepting donations. The department expects the HE sector to be alert to risks when collaborating with any international partners.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders living in the community were convicted of each (a) offence group and (b) specific offence.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Iran on stopping the execution of Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
FCDO is aware of Mr Ghahremani's case. We continue to call on Iran to establish a moratorium on executions, including at the UN General Assembly last year. We have sanctioned 94 individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022, including the Prosecutor General and Deputy Prosecutor General who are responsible for Iran's application of the death penalty. We continue to call for the release of all those who are unjustly detained in Iran.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the government of Rwanda’s apparent refusal to allow staff of Human Rights Watch into the country for (1) UK-Rwanda relations, and (2) the UK-Rwanda asylum partnership.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO recognises the importance of organisations like Human Rights Watch and the work that they do. Our High Commissioner in Rwanda has spoken with the individual concerned and, along with other international partners, discussed the incident with the Rwandan government. The Monitoring Committee, agreed as part of the UK-Rwanda Treaty, will have the power to set its own priority areas for monitoring and have unfettered access for the purposes of completing assessments and reports.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, how much official development assistance the UK has provided (a) bilaterally and (b) multilaterally to Cuba since 2010.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The table below shows (in £ thousands) UK's total bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided for Cuba from 2010-2022 (the latest year for which data has been published). The UK publishes further details of programme funding on DevTracker. The UK also spends ODA in the form of unearmarked contributions to multilateral organisations and there is bilateral spend to programmes which benefit multiple countries or regions. Some of this may benefit Cuba but it is not possible to provide a specific breakdown.
The UK has a long standing policy of engagement with Cuba. Our relationship allows us to collaborate positively in areas of mutual interest and to talk frankly on matters where our views differ.
Year | Total UK Bilateral ODA to Cuba (£ thousand) |
2010 | 250 |
2011 | 166 |
2012 | 1,449 |
2013 | 1,096 |
2014 | 3,957 |
2015 | 1,329 |
2016 | 2,688 |
2017 | 4,351 |
2018 | 4,650 |
2019 | 2,090 |
2020 | 1,837 |
2021 | 1,476 |
2022 | 561 |
Source: Statistics for International Development
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, how much aid he has given to organisations providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza since October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We committed over £100 million in 2023-24. This funding was mainly allocated and delivered through partners; for example: £8.25 million to the World Food Programme, £13.75 million to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Pooled Fund, £7.75 million to the Red Cross/Crescent Movement, £12.22 million to UNICEF, £2.75 million to Emergency Health Response, £1.35 million to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, £1.5 million to WHO.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, how many officials in his Department are stationed on the British Antarctic Territory as of 20 May 2024.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There are no officials stationed in the British Antarctic Territory. The Territory has no permanent population and is administered by officials in London. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) operates three research stations in the BAT and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) manage the historic base, post office and museum at Port Lockroy.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, which human rights issues Ministers raised with their Saudi counterparts during the Great Futures conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 14 and 15 May 2024.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UK ministers regularly raise human rights concerns with the Saudi authorities where appropriate. We will continue to raise human rights with the Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels, including via Ministers and the British Embassy in Riyadh.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2024 to Question 7549 on Hamas: Audio Equipment, what steps his Department is taking to help support Israel to remove Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is doing all it can to reach a long-term solution to this crisis by calling for the immediate release of all hostages, the removal of Hamas' capacity to launch attacks against Israel, Hamas no-longer being in charge of Gaza, the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza accompanied by an international support package, and a political horizon to a two-state solution.
The Prime Minister has spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu several times, most recently on 30 April. The Foreign Secretary spoke with Foreign Minister Katz on 13 May. He also visited Israel with German Foreign Minister Baerbock on 17 April, met G7 partners in Italy immediately afterwards, and has spoken with leaders and counterparts in the OPTs, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran in recent weeks.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will have discussions with the UN on the recently released footage of Palestinians firing from inside an UNRWA compound in eastern Rafah.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK takes allegations of neutrality violations extremely seriously. With regards to this specific incident, UNRWA has said that while it cannot verify the authenticity or the content of this video, it is likely that it is from an UNRWA warehouse in Rafah that was evacuated during the week of 6 May following forced displacement orders from the Israeli authorities. UNRWA has condemned the use of UN facilities by any party to the conflict for military and fighting purposes.