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445948

registered interest
date	19/01/2016
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether trade union groups based abroad will be eligible to bid for funding from the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	23162
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2016 answer text <p>Any individual or organisation can apply to the fund. All parties that submit bids are subject to due diligence checks to ensure they have the capacity/ability to deliver their proposed project in line with the funds objecitves. This applies to all Foreign and Commonwealth Office programme funds. Bids will be rigorously assessed against the criteria set out in our programme guidance and strategy, available online.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 22/01/2016 13:50:47 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

443718

registered interest
date	11/01/2016
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Information Officers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many press and public relations staff are employed by his Department; how many of those employees are paid more than (a) £50,000 and (b) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was in press and public relations by his Department in the most recent year for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	21966
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2016 answer text <p>The Communication Directorate employs 86 full-time employees in London on press and public relations, including promotion of the UK overseas. This number does not include Communication Directorate staff who work solely on functions other than press and public relations (e.g. internal communications, service transformation etc.).</p><p>The FCO also employs staff in press and public relations roles abroad, but as these details are not held centrally this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.</p><p>i) The number of press and public relations employees who earn more than £50,000 in the FCO is: 18</p><p>ii) The number of press and public relations employees who earn more than £100,000 in the FCO is: 0</p><p>iii) The total expenditure on the central communication function (not including staff costs) by the FCO in 2014/15 was: £1,883,791</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 14/01/2016 17:27:04 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

439398

registered interest
date	17/12/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Travel
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on (a) travel, (b) first or business class flights for officials, (c) first or business class flights for Ministers, (c) first class train travel for officials and (d) first class train travel for Ministers in 2014-15.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	20687
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2016 answer text <p>The FCO ensures value for money in all its expenditure to help reduce the overall costs of Government. Staff are expected to find alternatives to overseas travel where possible, including by making use of video conferencing facilities.</p><p>Where travel is necessary, FCO policy is that staff should ensure maximum efficiency, remembering that it is public money being spent. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, FCO officials may fly business class only if the flying time is ten hours or longer.</p><p>All FCO staff are directed to use standard class for rail travel unless there are exceptional circumstances e.g. illness, disability or where first class facilities are essential for working while travelling. In these exceptional circumstances, prior line management approval must be given.</p><p>In 2014-15 the FCO’s spend on air and train travel originating in the UK and booked through the Government’s nominated travel agency in the UK totalled £10,879,831 and £365,145 respectively.</p><p>For comparison, in 2009-10 the equivalent figures were £14,503,576 and £328,184 respectively. This represents a 25% reduction in expenditure on air travel and a 11.3% increase on train travel since 2009-10.</p><p>In 2014-15 the figures break down to £6,838 on first class flights (exceptions were made to ensure attendance at the funeral for a Head of State and for officials to attend crucial talks on Libya), £4,501,110 on business class flights, £6,371,883 on economy and premium economy flights, £3,057 on first class rail travel and £362,088 on standard rail travel.</p><p>For comparison, in 2009-10 the figures break down to £11,852 on first class flights, £11,307,923 on business class flights, £3,183,801 on economy and premium economy flights, £195,447 on first class rail travel and £132,737 on standard rail travel.</p><p>It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of expenditure on either air or rail travel by Ministers and by officials: disaggregating the class of travel from all the individual journeys taken by ministers and officials could only be carried out at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 11/01/2016 17:58:54 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

439399

registered interest
date	17/12/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Information Officers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) UK Trade and Investment, (b) FCO Services, (c) Wilton Park, (d) the British Council, (e) the Great Britain-China Centre, (f) the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and (g) the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, (h) Government Communications Headquarters and (i) the Secret Intelligence Service; how many of those employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	20605
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2016 answer text <p>The number of press and public relations staff employed in each organisation is <br>as follows:</p><p><br>FCO Services: 0.5 full-time equivalent <br>Wilton Park: 0 <br>The British Council: 7 <br>The Great Britain-China Centre: 0 <br>The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: 0 <br>The Westminster Foundation for <br>Democracy: 0</p><p>i) The number of press and public relations employees who <br>earn more than £50,000 in each organisation is as follows:</p><p>FCO Services: 0 <br>Wilton Park: 0 <br>The British Council: 1 <br>The Great Britain-China <br>Centre: 0 <br>The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: 0 <br>The Westminster <br>Foundation for Democracy: 0</p><p>ii) No press and public relations employee <br>earns more than £100,000 in any of the organisationslisted above.</p><p>iii) <br>The total expenditure on press and public relations by each organisation in <br>2014/15, excluding staff costs, is as follows:</p><p>FCO Services: £21,312</p><p>Wilton Park: Nil <br>The British Council: £126,041 <br>The Great <br>Britain-China Centre: Nil <br>The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: Nil</p><p>The Westminster Foundation for Democracy: Nil</p><p>It is long standing government policy not to publish Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) expenditure or staff figures to the requested level of detail. However, other data on the intelligence agencies' expenditure and staff numbers are normally published in the annual reports of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.</p><p>Across Government the government communications profession saved £330 million for taxpayers last year compared to 2009 to 2010 - by making its campaigns more cost effective. This means the government reduced communications spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 11/01/2016 15:27:40 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

437937

registered interest
date	14/12/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Trade Unions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which trades union groups have received (a) funding and (b) other support from his Department in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	19918
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2015 answer text <p>There are three trade unions with agreed rights to represent employees in the FCO/FCO Services:</p><br /><p>Public and Commercial Services (PCS): Public and Commercial Services Union</p><br /><p>First Division Association (FDA): known as the Diplomatic Service Association (DSA) a section of the FDA</p><br /><p>Prospect: representing technical employees and other specialists.</p><br /><p>In compliance with the Facility Time Framework the FCO submits Quarterly Returns to the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office publish the statistics annually, listing the individual departments.</p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/418380/Annex_A_-_Facility_Time_Figures_Q1_2014-Q4_2014_Overall.ods’</p><br /><p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not make any payments to trade unions in the UK. Members of staff who belong to a trade union pay their own subscriptions, which are either deducted from their salaries and paid to the relevant union or paid directly by the staff in the form of direct debits. The FCO provides office facilities to its union representatives and meets day-to-day running costs within the rules of public expenditure, set out in FCO guidance. The details of the cost of facilities provided over the last five years are not held centrally and to provide these would incur disproportionate cost. In terms of support provided to the trade unions overseas, this information is not held centrally. Collating it would mean contacting all of our posts overseas, which would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 22/12/2015 16:41:08 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington previous answer version 36402 answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

436261

registered interest
date	08/12/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Religious Freedom
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps UK embassies are taking to promote religious freedoms.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	19279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2015 answer text <p>Through our network of Embassies and High Commissions, the Government regularly urges governments across the world to protect the right of all individuals to practise their religion or belief free from persecution or discrimination.</p><p>We promote this freedom bilaterally by raising individual cases with governments and by seeking to influence them to remove discriminatory legislation or practices. We also promote religious freedom in multilateral fora by working together with our international partners</p><p>For example, in Burma, we have raised our deep concern at the rise of hate speech and religious intolerance with the Burmese authorities and will continue to do so, both publicly and in private. We have supported a number of projects, including developing relationships between Burmese youth and different religious communities, and arranging exchanges between activists on religious freedom in Burma and Indonesia. In Iraq, we are funding a project to prevent intolerance and violence towards religious communities by strengthening the ability of youth and civil society to advocate the right to freedom of religion or belief.</p><p>Promoting freedom of religion or belief is a priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Programme. Since 2011, 35 projects have been funded in 12 countries.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 14/12/2015 17:34:38 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

424972

registered interest
date	29/10/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Counter-terrorism and Syria
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the 2013 Lough Erne G8 Leaders' Communiqué, published on 18 June 2013, what progress has been made on implementing the commitments in paragraph (a) 5, (b) 6 and (c) 7 of that document; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	14088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2015 answer text ISIL now poses a significant threat to regional and international peace and security. The UK continues to work closely with our G7 partners, including as part of the Global Counterterrorism Forum and Counter-ISIL coalition; with governments across the Middle East and North Africa, building their ability to counter radicalisation, tackle terrorist threats and reduce the number of individuals seeking to join terrorist groups in Syria, Libya and elsewhere; and at the UN, where we have co-sponsored a number of important Security Council Resolutions. On kidnap for ransom there has been significant progress: in January 2014, the UK sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2133, which built on the Lough Erne Leaders’ Communiqué and reinforced the international consensus not to make concessions to terrorist kidnappers. Since the resolution was adopted, we have continued to encourage other states to abide by this international commitment. We have also continued to strengthen our own domestic legislation in line with the Lough Erne commitments. On Syria, the UK continues, with G7 partners, to support efforts to resume political talks, based on the implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué. To address the significant humanitarian crisis, the UK has supported the adoption of UN Security Council Resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191 (which call for the protection of civilians and unhindered delivery of aid to those most in need) and has now pledged over £1.1 billion in support. In Libya, the UK has continued to support UN efforts to reach a lasting political agreement. The UK Special Envoy to the Libyan Political Transition, Jonathan Powell, and the UK diplomatic network are working hard with key Libyan interlocutors and international partners. Most recently, the UK co-hosted a meeting with the UN in London on 19 October, to discuss how the international community will support a new unity government in Libya. answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 06/11/2015 15:06:46 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson