Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to support (a) human rights and (b) democracy in (i) sub-Saharan Africa and (ii) other countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is a long-standing supporter of an open international order based on respect for democracy and human rights. Globally, our work includes holding Russia to account over its actions in Ukraine and at home and China for its actions in Xinjiang province; and supporting the Human Rights Council and the Summits for Democracy. Across Africa, our human rights work has included support to media freedom in South Sudan, human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, and tackling child exploitation in DRC. We have also partnered to support democratic institutions: for example, the judiciary in Kenya, civil society in Nigeria, and the African Union (AU), through our £7 million AU Conflict and Governance programme.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his Czech counterpart on the purchase of artillery shells for Ukraine.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Foreign Secretary has discussed with his Czech counterpart how we can assist with their scheme. The UK will spend £245 million throughout the next year to procure and invigorate supply chains to produce urgently needed artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
We continue to engage in intensive bilateral and multilateral lobbying efforts to ensure Ukraine gets the military support it needs, leveraging the additional support we have announced this year to secure new commitments.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has participated in formal discussions with the Czech Republic on supporting its procurement of artillery shells for Ukraine.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK remains fully engaged with the international capability coalitions and numerous other partners to understand where further opportunities may exist to increase our support to Ukraine. To date the UK has provided over 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, and has committed to delivering 100s of thousands more this financial year, and a further investment of £245 million on artillery ammunition in 2024-25.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government plans to make a financial contribution to the Czech Republic scheme for the purchasing of artillery shells for Ukraine.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK remains fully engaged with the international capability coalitions and numerous other partners to understand where further opportunities may exist to increase our support to Ukraine. To date the UK has provided over 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, and has committed to delivering 100s of thousands more this financial year, and a further investment of £245 million on artillery ammunition in 2024-25.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting a visa waiver for Ukrainians visiting relatives and friends (a) displaced by the war in Ukraine and (b) temporarily resident in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Visit visas are an important part of securing the UK’s border.
Waiving visa requirements for a specific cohort of Ukrainian nationals would not be consistent with the purpose of the visa requirement. There is no obvious mechanism for delivering the utility of a visa application and biometric enrolment, which underpin the role visas play in securing our border, whilst also distinguishing a cohort of Ukrainian nationals who have the requirements waived. Identifying those individuals and enrolling their biometrics would require a process which would be, in practice, nearly identical to a visa application.
Ukrainians who want to visit relatives and friends in the UK can apply for a standard visitor visa, including multiple-entry visas. The UK has a visa application centre (VAC) in Kyiv, and a VAC network in neighbouring countries, enabling Ukrainians to access these services and apply for visas.
This is in no way a reflection on our support for Ukraine which remains, and will always remain, steadfast. The Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme remains open for new applications from those wishing to come to the UK, seeking temporary sanctuary from the conflict.
To provide future certainty, we recently announced the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, which is a new visa scheme for existing Ukraine scheme visa holders who have made the UK their temporary home. It will provide permission to stay in the UK for an additional 18 months and is due to open early in 2025.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many requests for consular support were made to each British Embassy or Consulate in 2023; and how many of those were responded to by officials within a period of 24 hours.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our consular staff endeavour to give appropriate and tailored assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, to British nationals overseas and their families in the UK who need support. In 2023, in addition to long running cases, we provided support to around 22,000 British nationals, see breakdown by Post in the table below. The FCDO reports publicly on consular delivery through the FCDO Outcome Delivery Plan [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-outcome-delivery-plan]. Publishing our transparency data is currently on hold while we embed a new Case Management system.
COUNTRY | 2023 |
Afghanistan | 22 |
Albania | 63 |
Algeria | 23 |
Angola | |
Argentina | 34 |
Armenia | 8 |
Australia | 414 |
Austria | 92 |
Azerbaijan | 12 |
Bahrain | 48 |
Barbados | 113 |
Belarus | 6 |
Belgium | 152 |
Bolivia | 12 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 12 |
Botswana | 15 |
Brazil | 88 |
Bulgaria | 166 |
Cambodia | 112 |
Cameroon | 30 |
Canada | 181 |
Chile | 21 |
China | 143 |
Colombia | 73 |
Congo (Democratic Republic) | 22 |
Costa Rica | 39 |
Croatia | 114 |
Cuba | 29 |
Cyprus | 441 |
Czechia | 141 |
Denmark | 88 |
Dominican Republic | 67 |
Ecuador | 13 |
Egypt | 383 |
Estonia | 19 |
Ethiopia | 104 |
Fiji | 21 |
Finland | 49 |
France | 1027 |
Georgia | 27 |
Germany | 662 |
Ghana | 85 |
Greece | 936 |
Guatemala | 43 |
Guinea | |
Guyana | 17 |
Hong Kong SAR | 110 |
Hungary | 131 |
Iceland | 17 |
India | 360 |
Indonesia | 196 |
Iraq | 46 |
Ireland | 104 |
Israel | 39 |
Italy | 411 |
Ivory Coast | |
Jamaica | 179 |
Japan | 167 |
Jerusalem | 61 |
Jordan | 71 |
Kazakhstan | 14 |
Kenya | 146 |
Kuwait | 30 |
Kyrgyzstan | |
Laos | 29 |
Latvia | 20 |
Lebanon | 34 |
Liberia | |
Lithuania | 23 |
Luxembourg | 10 |
Madagascar | |
Malawi | |
Malaysia | 138 |
Malta | 106 |
Mauritius | 14 |
Mexico | 207 |
Moldova | 13 |
Mongolia | 6 |
Montenegro | 33 |
Morocco | 222 |
Myanmar (Burma) | 8 |
Namibia | 9 |
Nepal | 21 |
Netherlands | 287 |
New Zealand | 127 |
Nigeria | 74 |
Norway | 149 |
Oman | 50 |
Pakistan | 376 |
Panama | 17 |
Paraguay | |
Peru | 58 |
Philippines | 283 |
Poland | 242 |
Portugal | 524 |
Qatar | 96 |
Romania | 89 |
Russia | 28 |
Rwanda | 7 |
Saudi Arabia | 166 |
Senegal | 21 |
Serbia | 29 |
Seychelles | 11 |
Sierra Leone | 15 |
Singapore | 105 |
Slovakia | 38 |
Slovenia | 17 |
South Africa | 195 |
South Korea | 40 |
Spain | 4143 |
Sri Lanka | 86 |
St Lucia | 21 |
Sudan | 34 |
Sweden | 110 |
Switzerland | 157 |
Taiwan | 22 |
Tajikistan | 6 |
Tanzania | 36 |
Thailand | 1383 |
The Gambia | 48 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 40 |
Tunisia | 75 |
Turkey | 947 |
Uganda | 52 |
Ukraine | 56 |
United Arab Emirates | 658 |
United States | 1649 |
Uruguay | 10 |
Uzbekistan | 8 |
Venezuela | |
Vietnam | 188 |
Zambia | 22 |
Zimbabwe | 26 |
NB We do not publish data where figures are 5 or below to comply with GDPR
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with car manufacturers on levels of disruption to supply chains for (a) temperature sensors and (b) other spare parts for electric vehicles since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
HMG understands the concerns of the Automotive industry regarding the potential impact of the invasion on its business operations and supply chains worldwide. The Department for Business and Trade ministers regularly meet with sector bodies and auto manufacturers to discuss a variety of automotive related trade issues, including an understanding of any direct and indirect impacts on UK operations.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release of 11 December 2023 entitled British minehunting ships to bolster Ukrainian Navy as UK and Norway launch maritime support initiative, whether the two Sandown Class minehunters procured by Ukraine through UK Export Finance have arrived in Ukraine.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
It would not be appropriate to discuss specifics of the vessels transiting to Ukrainian waters.
The Ukrainian crew of the vessels are currently undergoing training around UK waters, which has included participation in a multinational Mine Counter Measures exercise. The Royal Navy will continue to support these efforts and remains ready to assist with the transit of the vessels to Ukrainian waters, when appropriate.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department is taking steps through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative to help support Ukrainian officials to investigate alleged acts of sexual violence by Russian forces since 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK is working with Ukrainian authorities to hold those responsible for gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, in Ukraine to account. The UK has committed up to £6.2 million to enhance Ukraine's domestic capacity for war crimes investigations and to help embed international guidelines and best practice into the work of Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators, including on survivor-centred approaches. This assistance has been largely delivered through projects via the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine, established with the US and EU, and deployments of UK experts, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Team of Experts.
Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the return of Ukrainian children unlawfully deported by the Russian authorities.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
We call upon Russia to cease these deportations immediately and return all Ukrainian children. In June 2022, we sanctioned the Russian Children's Rights Commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, and in June 2023, we announced new sanctions against 10 Russian officials and one entity involved. We have provided funding to the International Criminal Court and support to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The UK is also now a member of the 'International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children'. We are determined to hold to account those responsible for forcibly deporting and attempting to indoctrinate Ukrainian children.