Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with other European countries about welcoming refugees from Ukraine.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has engaged in recent weeks with our Allies, including Poland, Slovakia and Turkey. Our Embassies in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Turkey and Bulgaria are in regular contact with their host governments. The Foreign Secretary and FCDO Ministers have engaged with a range of partners, including international and multilateral organisations about Russian aggression towards Ukraine.
The UK stands ready to provide emergency humanitarian assistance as needed. We are providing financial and technical assistance to partners on the ground, to ensure the system is prepared to support those in Ukraine who may need it most. We are calling on other donors to step up and provide immediate support now, so that the system is prepared to support those who need it, including planning to meet the humanitarian needs of people displaced across borders.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that the UK’s NATO defence and security obligations are fulfilled to counter the threats from Russia.
Answered by James Heappey
NATO is the cornerstone of UK and Euro-Atlantic security, and our support for the Alliance is ironclad. NATO is a defensive Alliance, and remains open to dialogue with Russia. But Russia's current actions pose the most serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security, and so we must also adjust our posture to strengthen deterrence and defence across the Euro-Atlantic area. The UK is the largest European defence spender within NATO, a position strengthened by our recent increase of over £24 billion over the next four years. The UK spends 2.29% of its GDP on Defence, and 24.3% of this goes towards major equipment and associated research and development. This exceeds the respective 2% and 20% targets laid out within NATO's Defence Investment Pledge. In addition to meeting the 2% guideline every year since its introduction in 2006, our relative spending as a proportion of GDP is also the 4th highest amongst all 30 Allies.
At this time of unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine, we are bolstering support for our Eastern European Allies in line with our commitments to collective security through NATO. We are doubling the number of our defence personnel in Estonia, and have sent further Typhoon jets to Cyprus to supplement NATO patrols over Eastern Europe. HMS Trent is currently conducting patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean alongside NATO Allies, and will soon be joined by a Type 45 Destroyer. This is all in addition to the 350 Royal Marines we have sent to Poland, and the 1,000 military personnel we have placed on standby to assist in any humanitarian response to events in Ukraine. We have also deployed humanitarian experts to NATO Allies Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the (a) balance of and (b) level of input from (i) Open Society Foundation and (ii) other NGOs on BBC World's coverage of (A) Poland and (B) Hungary.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the vital role that the BBC, including the World Service, plays across the globe. However, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government and the government cannot intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations, including its editorial decisions.
The BBC has a duty to deliver impartial and accurate news coverage and content under its Royal Charter. It is for the BBC Board to ensure the quality of all BBC’s content, and that BBC output meets the highest standards the public expects.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has received any representations from the Open Society Foundation on the governments of (a) Poland and (b) Hungary.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not received any representations from or been provided with any information from the Open Society Foundation about Poland or Hungary.
The UK has a long track record of supporting democracy and inclusive governance. We are committed to working with partners and allies across the world, including civil society, to support more open, inclusive and accountable governance. And, we are working with friends and allies to build a network of liberty, to promote democracy and freedom across the globe.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the British embassies in Warsaw and Budapest have made representations to the governments of Poland and Hungary regarding information provided by the Open Society Foundation.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not received any representations from or been provided with any information from the Open Society Foundation about Poland or Hungary.
The UK has a long track record of supporting democracy and inclusive governance. We are committed to working with partners and allies across the world, including civil society, to support more open, inclusive and accountable governance. And, we are working with friends and allies to build a network of liberty, to promote democracy and freedom across the globe.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to provide UK citizens with expert volunteer humanitarian assistance in (a) Ukraine, (b) Poland, (c) Slovakia, (d) Romania and (e) Hungary.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
As of 8 March, 2 million people are known to have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR [link: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine]. These numbers will continue to rise. The UK government has so far pledged £395 million of aid, which includes £220 million of humanitarian assistance, some of which will go to countries neighbouring Ukraine. Our humanitarian support will help partners stand up their responses to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, creating a lifeline for Ukrainians with access to immediate assistance. HMG will also match-fund the public's first £25m of donations to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, our largest ever aid-match contribution.
In addition to the humanitarian assistance already mentioned, the UK has deployed humanitarian experts to Poland, Moldova and Romania to provide logistics, advice and analysis of the refugee situation, and a medical assessment team to Romania and Moldova to assess options for rapidly deploying UK Emergency Medical Team (UKEMT) capabilities.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she last spoke to representatives of (a) the governments of (i) Poland, (ii) Slovakia, (iii) Hungary, (iv) Romania, (v) Moldova, (vi) Turkey, (vii) Bulgaria, (b) UNHCR, (c) IOM and (d) ICRC on contingency plans for supporting internally displaced persons, or refugees crossing or attempting to cross international land or maritime borders in the event of conflict in Ukraine.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK is one of the largest humanitarian and development donors globally. We are in constant dialogue with other donors and the humanitarian agencies at the country-level, at HQ-level, and in New York and Geneva, and urge all parties to continue to co-ordinate closely. We stand ready to provide further assistance as needed.
Our Embassies in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Turkey and Bulgaria are in regular contact with their host governments, the Foreign Secretary and FCDO Ministers have engaged with a range of partners, including those listed, as well as international and multilateral organisations about Russian aggression towards Ukraine. We continue to work closely with our Allies, partners and relevant international organisations and stand ready to provide further assistance as needed.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent findings by scientists at Eotvos Lorand University and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hungary that the COVID-19 outbreak may have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has not made an assessment. The United Kingdom supports a timely, transparent, evidence-based, and expert-led study into the origins of COVID-19.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the forthcoming Hungarian parliamentary elections on 3 April 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of Hungarian civil society organisations' request to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Right for the deployment of a full-scale election observation mission.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The UK is committed to building a Network of Liberty that will put us at the heart of economic, diplomatic and security partnerships. Promoting democratic values is a key part of this, and election observation allows us to support democracies and strengthen democratic electoral processes around the globe, including in the OSCE region.
We are considering our approach for the Hungarian General Election. Diplomatic observers from our British Embassy in Budapest observed the Hungarian elections in 2018 and 2014, and our Embassy will continue to work energetically with civil society groups in Hungary ahead of the elections this year. We are clear that independent election monitoring is vital for credible and inclusive elections.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many exercises the RAF have completed over the past three years; and what information his Department holds on where those exercises took place.
Answered by James Heappey
The RAF have completed 31 exercises, defined as collective training with Joint and Multinational elements, since November 2018. These exercises took place in France, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Oman, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States of America.