Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

437367

registered interest
date	11/12/2015
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	Torture
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 his Department's Policy paper, UN Human Rights Council: United Kingdom 2017-2019 candidate, published on 9 December 2015, for what reason reference to the prevention of torture included in previous candidature policy papers was omitted from that policy paper.
tabling member constituency	Hammersmith
tabling member printed	Andy Slaughter
uin	19757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>Our UN pledges reflect our enduring commitment to promoting universal human rights. Our work to prevent torture globally is intrinsic to this. Our pledges renew the UK’s commitment to encourage the ratification and implementation of core UN human rights instruments - this includes the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and its Optional Protocol. As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the member for Witney (Mr Cameron) has said, “torture is always wrong”. We continue to call on all states to set up meaningful national preventative mechanisms to put an end to all use of torture and remain committed to torture prevention work globally as evidenced by the launch of the new edition of the Torture Reporting Handbook on 24 September.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 16/12/2015 17:43:52 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1516 label Biography information for Andy Slaughter

437154

registered interest
date	10/12/2015
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	Members: Correspondence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department's target is for time taken to respond to letters and emails from hon. Members; what the average time taken by his Department to respond to such letters and emails is; and how many such letters and emails received between 1 January and 30 September 2015 remained unanswered after eight weeks.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Mr Mark Hendrick
uin	19651
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers aim to respond to all correspondence from Honourable Members within 20 working days of receipt. However, due to the complex nature of certain items of correspondence, it is not always possible to meet this deadline.</p><p>FCO Ministers responded to around 81 per cent of correspondence from parliamentarians between 1 January and 30 September 2015 within 20 working days. During this period, FCO Ministers sent a total of 5702 letters to Members of Parliament, Peers and Members of the Public.</p><p>Detailed information on the average time taken to respond to correspondence is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 16/12/2015 16:48:41 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington previous answer version 35754 answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

436592

registered interest
date	09/12/2015
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	Israel: Palestinians
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have discussed, or have any plans to discuss, with the government of Israel, the impact of exit permit restrictions on inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank who seek medical treatment elsewhere.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL4426
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>While we have not discussed this issue with the Israeli authorities, we remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised the issue of freedom of movement with Israeli National Security Advisor Cohen on 2 November. Our Consul-General to Jerusalem also raised this issue with the Mayor of Jerusalem on 28 October.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 16/12/2015 14:00:35 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

436593

registered interest
date	09/12/2015
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	Egypt: Gaza
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to discuss with the government of Egypt the risk of salt-water infiltration into the agricultural land of the Gaza Strip resulting from the newly-constructed anti-tunnel canal.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL4427
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text We are aware of the construction of the anti-tunnel canal and of reports of a potential risk of salt-water infiltration into agricultural land in the surrounding area. We will continue to monitor the situation. answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 16/12/2015 14:24:41 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

436031

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	Genocide
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 7 December (HL4065), whether they are in the process of submitting evidence of genocide against Yazidis and Assyrian Christians to international courts, and if so, which ones; when the international courts last declared a genocide to have taken place; and when the international courts last initiated a trial for genocide, and against whom.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4327
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>We are not submitting any evidence of possible genocide against Yezidis and Christians to international courts, nor have we been asked to.</p><br /><p>The most recent occasion on which an international court found genocide to have occurred was on 10 June 2010, when the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted several of the accused in the Prosecutor v. Popović et al. case for either committing, conspiracy to commit, or aiding and abetting, genocide in and around Srebrenica and Žepa in 1995. These convictions were subsequently upheld by the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY on 30 January 2015.</p><br /><p>The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) initiated a trial against Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, two former Khmer Republic senior officials, which remains ongoing, and includes charges of genocide against the Cham and Vietnamese people. Evidence relating to the genocide charges began being heard on 7 September 2015.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 16/12/2015 14:05:36 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

436054

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	Afghanistan: Islamic State
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have on the extent to which Daesh is establishing and consolidating control of territory in Afghanistan, in particular in the east, and what action they plan to take to prevent that.
tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
uin	HL4350
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>The Daesh affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan which identifies as Islamic State in the Khorasan Province (ISKP) primarily consists of former Taleban. While ISKP has influence in the eastern province of Nangahar, it has not yet demonstrated any national presence. The Taleban see ISKP as a threat and there have been repeated clashes between the two groups in Nangahar. The UK, through our support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), provides Train, Advise and Assist support to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to help them tackle the extremist threat in Afghanistan. Together with our NATO partners we continue to monitor the situation closely.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 16/12/2015 14:04:55 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian

436060

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	Overseas Trade: Human Rights
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 7 December (HL Deb, col 1310), what assessment they have made of whether the statement that they "never allow issues about our economic relationship to get in the way of upholding international law and international humanitarian law" is consistent with the remarks in June 2014 by the then Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise, Michael Fallon, that "we should not allow" concerns about human rights "to get in the way of a very important trade relationship".
tabling member printed	Lord Singh of Wimbledon
uin	HL4356
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text As the first country to produce a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights we have advocated the view that the promotion of business and respect for human rights go hand in hand. We see these as mutually reinforcing. The degree of influence we have with a country, including on human rights issues, depends on many factors; as a general rule we have more influence with countries with whom we have a strong trade and investment relationship. answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 16/12/2015 14:01:36 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	4251 label Biography information for Lord Singh of Wimbledon

436248

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	Turkey
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Turkey on its commitment to (a) improving the human rights situation in that country and (b) meeting the criteria for entry to the EU.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	19111
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>We continue to monitor closely human rights developments in Turkey. British officials regularly raise human rights issues in their contacts with Turkish political leaders and officials at all levels. I discussed human rights and EU accession with my Turkish counterpart when he visited my constituency in August. We strongly encourage Turkey to continue work towards the full protection of fundamental rights, especially in the areas of women’s and minority rights, freedom of religion and freedom of expression. We welcome progress made thus far, and as the EU Commission highlights, further sustained work is needed to meet EU standards. The UK Government continues to support Turkey’s EU accession process and is working closely with Turkey, EU Member States, and European institutions on this. It is a positive sign that Turkey-EU relations have been reinvigorated following the successful Turkey-EU summit in Brussels on 29 November.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 16/12/2015 17:32:21 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

436249

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	Israel: Palestinians
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance the Government is providing to Israel to help prevent knife attacks by Palestinians on Israeli citizens.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	19112
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the urgent need to de-escalate the tensions. I discussed the recent violence with the Israeli Charge D’Affaires and officials from the Israeli Ministry of Defence on 24 November. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have also discussed the issue of the current violence with the Israeli Head of the Civil Department of the Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories on 24 November. However the Government is not providing any assistance to Israel specifically to help prevent knife attacks.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 16/12/2015 15:10:31 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

436251

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	Iran: Human Rights
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what account his Department takes of the human rights situation and reports of persecution on the basis of religious belief in Iran in setting its policy on changes to sanctions imposed on that country.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	19097
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2015 answer text <p>We continue to urge Iran to abide by its international commitments to ensure all Iranians enjoy the rights and freedoms they are entitled to. There has been no real improvement in the human rights situation, and in some cases, the situation appears to have worsened. As such, we have designated over 80 Iranians responsible for human rights violations under EU sanctions.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 16/12/2015 14:18:03 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon