Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will bring forward proposals to enable Kosovan citizens to use Kosovo drivers licences in the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Holders of driving licences issued in Kosovo who become resident in or are visiting Great Britain can drive cars and motorcycles for up to one year from the date they arrive. To continue driving after this period Kosovan drivers must apply for a provisional driving licence and pass both a theory and practical driving test.
The UK does exchange driving licences with certain countries but Kosovo is not currently a designated country. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has received a request from the Embassy of Kosovo to consider a possible reciprocal driving licence exchange agreement and will provide the necessary information to progress this.
Driver licensing is devolved in Northern Ireland. The DVLA will keep the Department for Infrastructure informed of progress with the exchange agreement.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the Preference Utilisation Rates are in total for UK trade with (a) Egypt, (b) Faroe Islands, (c) Georgia, (d) Ghana, (e) Israel, (f) Jordan, (g) Kenya, (h) Kosovo, (i) Lebanon and (j) Liechtenstein for each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
Data up to the end of January 2020 is publicly available, but no comparable data is available for after this period.
Exports analysis 2017-19: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/159047.htm
Imports analysis 2017-19: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/159046.htm
Eurostat preference utilisation data for all periods 2000 to end January 2020: Easy Comext, Adjusted extra-EU imports since 2000 by tariff regime (DS-059281).
Asked by: Earl of Dundee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to lead new initiatives to sustain (1) trade, and (2) economic growth, in (a) Bosnia and Herzegovina, and (b) the Western Balkans.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Government has signed Trade, Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, supporting jobs and economic growth, allowing us to build on our trade and investment relationships. UK Export Finance is also an important part of our offer to the region, providing competitive financing for large infrastructure projects.
With Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are working to secure a Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement that will ensure preferential terms of trade between the UK and Bosnia and Herzegovina and promote stability and prosperity in the region. We are keen to conclude this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Earl of Dundee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the international community to invite Bosnia and Herzegovina's adjacent states to join NATO interventions, particularly (1) Croatia, and (2) Slovenia.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK remains committed to ensuring peace and upholding international law in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Slovenia is a member of EUFOR, has personnel at NATO HQ in Sarajevo, and contributes to NATO's KFOR mission in Kosovo. Croatia also has military personnel in KFOR. In recent weeks, there have been a range of productive discussions on the Western Balkans in multilateral fora, including at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Riga, which the Foreign Secretary attended.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the prospects of a settlement in relation to Kosovo and Serbia.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We continue to believe that a settlement between Kosovo and Serbia is both possible and essential. The UK supports the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, with the aim of a comprehensive and sustainable normalisation agreement to the benefit of both countries' people. We welcome the recent interim agreement reached under the Dialogue on the car number plate issue, and encourage both sides to maintain their commitment to the Dialogue process.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have held bilateral discussions with the governments of Kosovo and Serbia to help de-escalate tensions between the two countries.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK supports the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, with the aim of a comprehensive and sustainable normalisation agreement to the benefit of both countries' people. During the recent period of heightened tension, the UK, alongside international partners, held bilateral discussions with the Governments of Kosovo and Serbia to help de-escalate tensions and encourage the resolution of issues through the EU-facilitated process. We welcome the news of an interim agreement on the licence plate issue and encourage both sides to find a permanent solution that ensures freedom of movement.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the searches conducted by the Taliban on 15 September within predominantly Tajik and Hazard districts of Afghanistan on the safety of members of those communities.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I underscored the UK’s commitment to protecting the human rights of all Afghan people when I addressed the UN Human Rights Council on 24 August. This commitment extends to all ethnic and religious groups, including individuals from the Hazara community. On 10 September, the UK, joined a multicountry statement with the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance to reaffirm our concern for all religious minorities in Afghanistan, including from the Hazara community, and called for adherence to human rights obligations. The UK Government co-signed this statement alongside the US, Australia, Albania, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia.
I note a recent Amnesty report highlighted alleged human rights abuses directed against the Hazara in Ghazni province in July. We will continue to press the Taliban to uphold human rights, including those of minority and vulnerable groups such as the Hazaras, and to protect the gains made over the last twenty years. We have said we will judge them on actions, not words. To help us to do this more effectively, we have established an internal human rights tracking mechanism to track Taliban behaviour to inform our engagement. Additionally, we regularly engage with the UN, which has a mandate to monitor and report on human rights in Afghanistan, as well as human rights organisations who are playing an important role in highlighting abuses and violations on the ground.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat that the Taliban pose to religious minorities in Afghanistan, with specific reference to the Hazaras.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I underscored the UK’s commitment to protecting the human rights of all Afghan people when I addressed the UN Human Rights Council on 24 August. This commitment extends to all ethnic and religious groups, including individuals from the Hazara community. On 10 September, the UK, joined a multicountry statement with the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance to reaffirm our concern for all religious minorities in Afghanistan, including from the Hazara community, and called for adherence to human rights obligations. The UK Government co-signed this statement alongside the US, Australia, Albania, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia.
I note a recent Amnesty report highlighted alleged human rights abuses directed against the Hazara in Ghazni province in July. We will continue to press the Taliban to uphold human rights, including those of minority and vulnerable groups such as the Hazaras, and to protect the gains made over the last twenty years. We have said we will judge them on actions, not words. To help us to do this more effectively, we have established an internal human rights tracking mechanism to track Taliban behaviour to inform our engagement. Additionally, we regularly engage with the UN, which has a mandate to monitor and report on human rights in Afghanistan, as well as human rights organisations who are playing an important role in highlighting abuses and violations on the ground.
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: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much bilateral official development assistance they expect to provide to Kosovo in 2021/22.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Annual country-level allocations will be published in the FCDO's 2021 Annual Report later this year, and programme-level funding is regularly updated on DevTracker.
Final country data is published in the Statistics for International Development each year, and spend for 2021 will be published in this document in autumn 2022.