Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme to (a) further European countries and (b) South and Central American countries.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We remain open to negotiating Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories. However, as each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal agreement which also provides benefit to UK nationals, with the detail negotiated and agreed between the relevant parties, we are unable to disclose the status of negotiations as they occur. Further details of additional YMS agreements will be announced once they are concluded.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 indigenous communities in Latin America.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK regularly engages with indigenous leaders and civil society organisations across Latin America, including through our embassies and Ministerial visits. For example, in Brazil we are supporting local and indigenous people in the Amazon through International Climate Finance (ICF) programmes and have invested nearly £120 million of ICF since 2012, benefitting 19,593 families so far. In Colombia, our Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programme has provided £69 million in support of peace agreement implementation, security, and stability in Colombia since 2015, and continues to prioritise funding interventions to protect indigenous communities.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she is taking steps to help improve trade relations with Guatemala.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is working to enhance trade with Guatemala through effective implementation and utilisation of the UK-Central America Association Agreement. Trade between the UK and Guatemala increased by 6% between 2021 and 2022. The agreement includes annual committees that allow us to address market access issues. Recently, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jonathan Knott, visited Guatemala in September to champion UK trade, including UKEF support for UK businesses to help develop major projects in the country.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his G7 counterparts on the engagement of Caribbean countries with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The OECD has a well-established Regional Programme which includes countries of the Caribbean (the Latin America & Caribbean Regional Programme - LACRP). The UK is co-chair of the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) Working Group at the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and is in regular contact with G7 members on the breadth of issues that affect the region.
In 2022 the UK, Belize, Fiji and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) launched a new `Friends of SIDS' group that will also link to wider issues of concern in the Caribbean. That group will work to promote the recommendations of the Call to Action on SIDS Access to Finance.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will list the specific benefits that have accrued to (1) the UK music industry, and (2) musicians, as a result of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
HM Government is working with every sector to seize the economic and political opportunities arising from our departure from the European Union – ensuring that our laws, regulations, and policies are helping to boost growth, drive innovation, and increase the competitiveness of the United Kingdom. We are developing trade deals with priority markets – something we could not do while a member of the European Union – focusing on alleviating trade barriers to enhance the movement of goods, global sales of services, and a forward-thinking intellectual property framework.
We are already delivering on some of the key opportunities for the UK music industry and musicians. Recent analysis shows that the fastest-growing recorded music markets are outside the EU, in Latin America and Asia – driven by the rapid growth of streaming. The Department for International Trade delivers an export programme for music, focusing on these priority markets, with upcoming trade missions to the USA, Australia, India, China and Japan, and the British Music Embassy at ‘South by Southwest’ in Austin, Texas.
The Government recognises that the way musicians work in and with the European Union has changed that now we are no longer a member of it. The Government is committed to supporting the sector to adapt to these new arrangements, and has worked with sector representatives and directly with Member States to clarify what this entails.
In addition, the Government continues to provide export support for the UK’s creative industries through a range of export support programmes, including the successful Music Export Growth Scheme and the International Showcase Fund, designed to introduce successful UK music projects across the globe, in Europe and beyond.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication of Government procurement card spending over £500 for July 2022, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the leisure activities for which Puckrup Hall was paid £6,568 on 20 July 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This was for 13 rooms between 25 and 29 July at the Hilton Puckrup Hall for a Department for International Trade Latin America & Caribbean (LATAC) Trade Mission. The event provided an opportunity to promote UK companies to buyers and technical experts from the LATAC region.
Expenditure was subject to normal controls.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to form long-lasting partnerships with (1) Latin American, (2) Asian, and (3) African, countries.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to working with partners in Latin America, Asia and Africa, including to foster long-term stability and trade, address drivers of conflict, call out human rights abuses and violations, promote democracy and tackle climate change. In his foreign policy speech on 12 December, the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the UK's commitment to working with developing countries in continents around the world, and to making a sustained effort to revive old friendships and build new ones, reaching beyond long-established alliances. In the last year, the UK has offered guarantees to allow almost £5 billion of extra multilateral finance for the developing world, as well as a reliable source of infrastructure investment through the British Investment Partnerships, through UK Export Finance, and through the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure. We are negotiating and signing free trade deals and Mutual Recognition Agreements, and demonstrating our long-term commitment to the Indo Pacific, including by joining the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement as soon as possible.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to protect UK intellectual property holders from unlicensed use of their IP globally.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Counter-Infringement Strategy sets out its ambitions for intellectual property (IP) enforcement internationally.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) works with multilateral bodies including the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to improve the prevention of, and enforcement action against, infringement of IP.
The IPO also works bilaterally with countries including China, Brazil, and India, across North America, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Its IP Attaché Network supports UK businesses and improves IP protection in key export markets.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for Development and Africa on 14 November that he was "pleased to confirm new UK Government funding to the Global Family Partnership FP2030", whether they will provide a breakdown of that funding.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK plays a leading role in advancing voluntary family planning globally, as part of our longstanding commitment to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights. New UK funding to the Global Family Planning Partnership 'FP2030' will accelerate country leadership in regions including North, West, and Central Africa; East and Southern Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean.
We are not able to give a yearly funding breakdown until ODA funding allocations are confirmed over the Spending Review period.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure (a) family planning and (b) sexual and reproductive health and rights are funding priorities for in-country programmes.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and will continue working with other countries to protect gender equality in international agreements. Most recently, the UK co-led a cross-regional joint statement on SRHR, delivered at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Third Committee for Human Rights, signed by 71 countries.
At the 2017 Family Planning Summit, the UK publicly committed to spend an average of £225 million on family planning each year to 2022. The UK has exceeded this commitment, spending an average of approximately £246 million every year between April 2017 and March 2022. New UK funding to the Global Family Planning Partnership 'FP2030' prioritises in-country programmes in regions including North, West, and Central Africa; East and Southern Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean.