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1471683

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Sri Lanka: Economic Situation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of the amount of foreign exchange from UK tourism and migrant workers on the economy of Sri Lanka in the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21169
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">We are closely monitoring the economic situation in Sri Lanka, including foreign exchange data reported by Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan authorities. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was a key export sector for Sri Lanka, making up almost 30% of total export revenues. However, Sri Lanka's tourism receipts declined by almost 80% in 2020 and fell by a further 60% in 2021. The UK is a key contributor to Sri Lanka's tourism sector. It has been among the top three source markets in the past three years, placed as the second major country of origin for tourists in Sri Lanka in 2019 and 2020, and third in 2021. Remittances from overseas workers have also been an important contributor to Sri Lanka's economy in the past three years, worth around 8% and 9% of Sri Lanka's total GDP in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Despite initially remaining constant in 2020, remittances fell by over 20% in 2021, down to their lowest levels since 2011.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The UK recognises the difficult economic situation and welcomes the start in-depth discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reforms needed to bring the economy back to a sustainable path. The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe on 30 May, and underlined the UK's continued support for the people of Sri Lanka during their current economic difficulties.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are closely monitoring the economic situation in Sri Lanka, including foreign exchange data reported by Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan authorities. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was a key export sector for Sri Lanka, making up almost 30% of total export revenues. However, Sri Lanka's tourism receipts declined by almost 80% in 2020 and fell by a further 60% in 2021. The UK is a key contributor to Sri Lanka's tourism sector. Remittances from overseas workers have also been an important contributor to Sri Lanka's economy in the past three years, worth around 8% and 9% of Sri Lanka's total GDP in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Despite initially remaining constant in 2020, remittances fell by over 20% in 2021, down to their lowest levels since 2011.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The UK recognises the difficult economic situation and welcomes the start in-depth discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reforms needed to bring the economy back to a sustainable path. The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe on 30 May, and underlined the UK's continued support for the people of Sri Lanka during their current economic difficulties.</ins></p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 28/06/2022 13:49:21 question first ministerially corrected 29/06/2022 08:37:13 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford previous answer version 9471 answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471680

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Sri Lanka: Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of food security in Sri Lanka.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21166
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>We are closely monitoring the economic situation in Sri Lanka, particularly as it relates to food insecurity. We will be working to support the UN and its agencies in their coordinated response based on the UN's recent joint Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan, launched on 9 June. This has called for $47.2 million USD to provide life-saving assistance to 1.7 million people who are most at risk and need immediate support. The HNP Plan includes $13.94 million USD to support food security and $16.8 million USD to support agriculture and livelihoods.</p><p>The UK Government recognises the difficult economic situation and welcomes the start of in-depth discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reforms needed to bring the economy back to a sustainable path. The World Bank has announced over $400 million USD in assistance to provide economic as well as health sector support, with the UK being a major donor to the UN and World Bank.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 28/06/2022 13:39:59 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471681

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Sri Lanka: Economic Situation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the human development and social economic indicators of Sri Lanka in comparison to other SE Asian countries.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21167
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>The UK is closely monitoring the political, security, and economic situation in Sri Lanka, including the impact on livelihoods. We continue to encourage a peaceful, democratic, and inclusive approach to resolving the current political and economic challenges. The most recent available data (2020) for Sri Lanka indicates that it performs well against South Asia neighbours on high-level human development and social economic indicators, particularly infant mortality rates. However, the available data does not capture the severity of the current economic crisis and impact of recent economic shocks such as Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the floating of the Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) and Sri Lanka's debt default in May 2022. We have not made a recent assessment comparing Sri Lankan indicators to those in South East Asian countries.</p><p>We recognise the difficult economic situation and welcome the start of in-depth discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reforms needed to bring the economy back to a sustainable path. UK economic support is through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and United Nations (UN), as underlined by the Prime Minister when he spoke to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe on 30 May.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 28/06/2022 13:41:28 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471682

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Sri Lanka: Politics and Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Samurdhi programme in Sri Lanka.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21168
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>The UK recognises the economic challenges that Sri Lanka is facing. We continue to monitor the economic situation in Sri Lanka closely, including the impact economic issues are having on food security and livelihoods. The existing social protection systems, including the Samurdhi programme, provide essential support to the most vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka and will be crucial at this difficult time.</p><p>The Sri Lankan authorities have taken a number of measures to help support the public, including an economic relief package of Rs. 200bn ($1bn) announced in January 2022. This package includes a Rs. 5000 ($25) monthly allowance for public sector employees, pensioners and disabled soldiers. Under the scheme, Rs. 1000 ($5) has been allocated to the beneficiaries of the government's largest welfare programme 'Samurdhi', and a number of taxes and levies have been removed from essential foods and medicines. The Government of Sri Lanka agreed on May 2 to provide a special three-month cash allowance from May to July worth Rs. 13.36 billion to 3.34 million families affected by the current economic crisis, with funding from the World Bank of which the UK is a major donor. We regularly discuss economic policy with the Sri Lankan Government and encourage efforts to improve economic growth and protect vital economic interests such as key industries, commodities, employment and livelihoods.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 28/06/2022 13:46:02 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471685

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Transport for London: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to introduce a new funding model for Transport for London.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21171
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government’s extraordinary funding settlements recognise the reliance of London’s transport network on fare revenue, and Government is committed to compensating TfL for loss of fare revenue as a result of the pandemic. Since the onset of the pandemic, Government has provided TfL with close to £5 billion of emergency funding support, through settlements agreed in May 2020, October 2020, June 2021 and February 2022.</p><p>In addition to these emergency funding settlements, the 2021 Spending Review settlement for London provides over a billion pounds of capital investment per year, in line with previous funding.</p><p>In accordance with the 25 February 2022 extraordinary funding agreement, Government is considering a longer-term settlement for TfL for a period of 1-3 years in a way that is fair to the national taxpayer and provides value for money.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison question first answered 28/06/2022 09:43:14 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471688

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Internet: Older People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of people over the age of 60 who are unable to access online services.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21173
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>Earlier this year, it was reported that Ofcom's Media Literacy Tracker Computer-assisted telephone Interviewing survey found that of the 3,143 respondents, 26% of the 75+ did not have internet access at home and 8% of those 65-74 also did not have access.</p><p>It is research like this that is behind the government's focus on building a world-leading digital economy that works for everyone. DCMS is responsible for coordinating HMG digital inclusion policy, and aims to ensure that as many people as possible, no matter their age, have internet access and a base level of digital skills.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 28/06/2022 15:44:38 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1472131

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	22404
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters, including whether an organisation is under consideration for proscription.</p><p>The Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 28/06/2022 13:17:45 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471876

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the Government's progress towards ratification of Article 44 of the Istanbul Convention in respect of serving members of the UK’s armed forces serving overseas in foreign sovereign states.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21174
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>On 17 May 2022 the Home Secretary made a Written Ministerial Statement which confirmed that the UK is ready to proceed to ratification of the Istanbul Convention, and on the same day the Foreign Secretary laid the Convention as a Command Paper, alongside an Explanatory Memorandum, before Parliament.<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-of-europe-convention-on-preventing-and-combating-violence-against-women-and-domestic-violence-ms-no32022" target="_blank"> Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence [MS No.3/2022] - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p>Under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, unless either House has by 29 June 2022 made a resolution that the Convention should not be ratified, we will proceed to ratify the Convention, and we aim to do so by the end of July 2022. The ratification will apply to all parts of the Convention, with the exception of two reservations which we are making, one of them on aspects of Article 44, concerning our ability to prosecute UK nationals and residents for crimes committed overseas when the act done was not an offence in the country where it was committed.</p><p>More detail on that reservation can be found in paragraphs 9.2-9.9 of the Explanatory Memorandum. The UK’s compliance with Article 44 (subject to the reservation) is enabled by domestic legislation, principally in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which applies to members of the UK’s armed forces as well as to other UK nationals and residents.</p> answering member constituency Redditch answering member printed Rachel Maclean question first answered 28/06/2022 15:08:13 answering member 4668 label Biography information for Rachel Maclean
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1471686

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Immigration Controls: Airports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with his EU counterparts on reducing passenger waiting times at immigration checkpoints at airports.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	21172
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2022 answer text <p>Some UK and EU airports are facing similar problems this summer in addressing excessive waiting times at both arrival and departure as passenger demand rapidly recovers. My officials have been discussing these matters, including potential disruptions arising from summer traffic peaks at the border, with their EU counterparts to understand the situation more fully and to encourage sharing of experience and best practice amongst the industry.</p> answering member constituency Witney answering member printed Robert Courts question first answered 28/06/2022 09:47:34 answering member 4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord