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1126998

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Overseas Trade: The Gambia
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they are  taking to increase the amount of trade between the UK and The Gambia.
tabling member printed	Lord German
uin	HL15759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>As the Prime Minister set out during her visit to Africa last Summer, the Government is committed to seeing a step change in our relationship with Africa in order to drive forward trade and investment. The Africa Trade Services Unit was set up to act as the single point of contact for UK companies exporting to Africa. The Unit responds to all Africa trade enquiries, including those related to Gambia, and can support UK companies through the delivery of trade services.</p><p> </p><p>The UK remains committed to ensuring developing countries can reduce poverty through trading opportunities. The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018 enables the UK to put in place a trade preferences scheme for developing countries that maintains the same level of access as the EU's Generalised Scheme of Preferences, which will grant duty-free, quota-free access to Least Developed Countries, including The Gambia.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/05/2019 11:48:36 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4163 label Biography information for Lord German

1127012

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Pollinators
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) highlight the importance to the planet of bees and other pollinators such as butterflies and bats, and (2) protect pollinator species.
tabling member printed	Lord Pendry
uin	HL15773
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Protecting pollinators is a priority for this Government. The Government supports two major events to raise awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators and encourage people to take action.</p><p> </p><p>Firstly, our ‘Bees’ Needs’ campaign, which we run with a number of partners. In July 2018, with the generous support of our hosts, Shaftesbury PLC, we put on a week long event in Carnaby Street (renamed ‘Carnabee’ Street for the week) to raise awareness of the steps we can all take to protect pollinators. With immense gratitude to our hosts Shaftesbury PLC, this event will be repeated this year from 8 to 14 July.</p><p> </p><p>Defra also organises, in partnership with the Green Flag Awards, an annual Bees’ Needs Champions Awards to recognise and celebrate examples of exemplary initiatives undertaken by schools, local authorities, universities, community groups and bee farmers to support pollinators.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is taking a range of other steps to protect pollinator species. In 2014 we published a ten year National Pollinator Strategy, setting out how the Government, conservation groups, farmers, beekeepers and researchers can work together to improve the status of the 1,500 or so pollinating insect species in England.</p><p> </p><p>We are also creating habitat for pollinators. In 2015, we introduced new and simple wildlife ‘packages’ within Countryside Stewardship to make it easier for farmers to provide flower rich margins or pollen and nectar plots on fields to support wild pollinators.</p><p> </p><p>The Government also recently announced £60,000 to develop pollinator habitat mapping and is supporting largescale projects to bring landowners and conservationists together to provide habitat in Devon and Hampshire. Natural England, our statutory nature conservation adviser, continues to work with a range of landowning and NGO partners to support the recovery of threatened species such as the barberry carpet moth, shorthaired bumblebee and chequered skipper butterfly.</p><p> </p><p>We are supporting monitoring work. In collaboration with research institutes and volunteer organisations, we have established a pollinator monitoring and research partnership to gather further data and improve our understanding of the status of pollinators and pollination services in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>We are taking steps to reduce pressures on pollinators. We have implemented science led restrictions on neonicotinoids based on scientific evidence that they carry risks to pollinators. We continue to tackle threats from invasive species, such as the Asian hornet, and protect honey bees from pests and diseases through the National Bee Unit’s nationwide team of bee inspectors.</p><p> </p><p>We are safeguarding honey bee health. Collaboration has been a central tenet of the work by the Government and Bee Inspectors to protect honey bee health. Along with beekeeping associations, the Government has carried out a decade of work under the Healthy Bees Plan, drafted in 2009 as a means of sustaining our honey bee population. We will be reviewing this work this year and using valuable lessons from this to develop our future strategy.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 21/05/2019 15:04:18 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	457 label Biography information for Lord Pendry

1126700

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Lifeboats
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Sugg on 4 February (HL Deb, col 1324), what evidence they received that (1) the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) decision to downgrade the New Quay lifeboat capacity was based on extensive research of incident reports and consideration of local concerns, and (2) the RNLI carries out a coastal safety review every five years; and whether they will publish the evidence they hold in relation to both issues.
tabling member printed	Lord Harries of Pentregarth
uin	HL15717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is an independent charity which declares a lifeboat service to Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) and has advised HMG of their decision to downgrade the New Quay Lifeboat based on the evidence they have collated. HMG has not been provided with copies of the RNLI’s evidence which remains their intellectual property.</p><p> </p><p>The RNLI has also advised HMG of their continuous coastal safety reviews which they carry out to evaluate their own assets on a five-yearly basis. Again, as an independent charity, the RNLI are not required to provide HMG with the written evidence of such reviews and has not done so.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Vere of Norbiton question first answered 21/05/2019 14:51:02 answering member 4580 label Biography information for Baroness Vere of Norbiton
tabling member	3813 label Biography information for Lord Harries of Pentregarth

1126702

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
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	Guatemala: War Crimes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make representations to the government of Guatemala about the risks of the bill proposing to grant amnesty to those who have committed war crimes; and whether, in any such representations, they will emphasise the need to protect the justices of the Constitutional Court and other judges against threats and intimidation.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL15719
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>​We welcome the fact that the proposed amendments to the National Reconciliation Law, which would have signified a worrying trend towards impunity from serious crimes, lacked sufficient backing in the Guatemalan Congress on 13 March. The UK supported a statement by the local donors' coordination group G13 on 13 March and an EU statement on 26 March condemning the proposed amendments, reiterating support for Guatemala's democratic institutions and calling on the Guatemalan government to respect the independence of the constitutional court. Through our Embassy in Guatemala City, we continue to raise our concerns about the rule of law, human rights and institutional independence with the Guatemalan government.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 21/05/2019 14:01:57 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1126723

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Department for International Trade
answering dept id	202
answering dept short name	International Trade
answering dept sort name	International Trade
hansard heading	Trade Agreements
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government with which countries, in order of priority, they wish to conclude trade deals post-Brexit; and what estimate they have made, if any, of the likely timescale of concluding such deals.
tabling member printed	Baroness Quin
uin	HL15740
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Our priority is to be in a position to begin formal negotiations with key partners after we leave the EU, and to then make progress towards substantive agreements, so long as such agreements work for the whole of the UK. We have completed public consultations on potential future free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and on the UK’s potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We plan to publish Government responses for each of the four consultations before any formal negotiations begin.</p><p>Trade agreements vary in shape, scope and form, and there is no “average” timeframe for completion. For example, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada took seven years to negotiate, the China-Switzerland FTA took two, but the USA-Jordan FTA negotiations only four months. The Government is clear that its objective is to negotiate the best possible FTAs for the whole of the UK, in the interests of business and consumers.</p><p>While we are looking to forge new agreements, the Government is also seeking continuity for our existing EU trade agreements as we leave the EU. A list of all signed trade continuity agreements is available on the GOV.UK website.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/05/2019 11:09:23 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	518 label Biography information for Baroness Quin

1126737

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
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	Abdullah Öcalan
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey in relation to the Kurdish hunger strikers who are campaigning for the end of the solitary confinement in which the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan is being held on the island of Imrali in contravention of European and international law.
tabling member printed	Lord Wigley
uin	HL15754
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>​The British Government has raised Mr Öcalan’s case with the Turkish authorities a number of times. The Minister for Europe and the Americas raised the issue most recently with the Turkish Ambassador on 13 May. While strongly condemning the ongoing violence perpetrated by the PKK, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, we have encouraged the Turkish authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture following their visit to Imrali prison. In this regard, I welcome the fact that Mr Öcalan was granted access to two lawyers on 2 May. I also note the comment made by Mr Öcalan, via his lawyers, that individuals should not pursue these hunger strikes to the point of serious illness or death.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 21/05/2019 15:45:21 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	547 label Biography information for Lord Wigley

1126296

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
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	Burkina Faso: Churches
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the deaths of six people during a church service in Burkino Faso on 12 May, and other recent attacks on churches; what ideology they believe motivated those attacks; and who they believe was responsible.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL15656
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The British Government is appalled by the murder of six people in Burkina Faso during a Sunday Church service on 12 May and other recent attacks on civilians peacefully practicing their faith. We are deeply concerned at the deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso, which is spreading from the north to the east of the country, and the increasing instability in the wider Sahel region.</p><p>The identity of the attackers is not confirmed and there have been no claims of responsibility. The UK is committed to work with Burkina Faso and international partners to help tackle instability and protect freedom of religion or belief for all.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 21/05/2019 13:47:11 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1126298

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
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	Sudan: Politics and Government
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the request of the former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi that the UK help Sudan to create a modern democracy and support the handing over of Field Marshall Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL15658
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The UK has received no official request from Mr al-Mahdi, although we are aware of reports of the request in the media. Since Bashir's removal on 11 April, the UK has made clear public statements calling for all sides to engage in an inclusive dialogue that leads to a swift and peaceful transition to civilian rule. The UK has called for a transition to a political system that is inclusive, supported by a sound constitutional basis that is respectful of human rights and the rule of law and that ensures accountability for the crimes committed by members of the former regime. The UK strongly supports the mission of the International Criminal Court; due legal process must be followed. We continue to engage with national and international actors, articulating the UK's readiness to work with Sudan's people in order to make the political transition a success.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 21/05/2019 13:59:21 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1126303

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
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	Iraq: Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that some 45,000 children in Iraqi displacement camps are without civil ID documentation; and what representations they intend to make to the government of Iraq to ensure that those children are not excluded from Iraqi citizenship and society in the future.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Coventry
uin	HL15663
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>​We are aware of the media reports regarding children without documentation in Iraqi displacement camps, although we cannot verify the numbers cited. We recognise the vulnerability of these children and the risks of them being excluded from Iraqi citizenship and society in the future. We continue to raise these concerns with the Iraqi authorities including the importance of formal recognition of all children. We were pleased to hear of the Government of Iraq's initiative to address the status of children born of rape to Yezidi women and hope this will soon be reflected across the country.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 21/05/2019 14:00:03 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4266 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Coventry

1126311

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Glyphosate
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effects of using glyphosate on wildlife, including birds and insects; and what research, if any, they are undertaking into the impact of using glyphosate.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL15671
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The effects of glyphosate on wildlife have been carefully assessed as part of the regulatory process for pesticides. The effects of glyphosate itself were considered by the EU when deciding whether to approve the substance. UK regulatory scientists participated in the assessment made by the European Food Safety Authority and agreed with its conclusions. The Government therefore supported the decision at the end of 2017 to continue the approval of glyphosate.</p><p> </p><p>All products containing glyphosate are individually authorised and the Government will not authorise products for which the scientific assessment suggests that there may be unacceptable effects on wildlife.</p><p> </p><p>Decisions on glyphosate are based on regulatory studies which companies are required to commission to support their applications. Relevant published data is also considered. The Government is not carrying out its own research on the environmental impact of glyphosate use because a comprehensive evidence base is already available.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble grouped question UIN HL15672 question first answered 21/05/2019 15:08:28 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham