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1133804

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Commonwealth Secretariat: Reform
	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 progress made in reforming the Commonwealth Secretariat.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16555
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>At CHOGM 2015, Heads of Government mandated the Secretary-General to convene a high-level group (HLG) to review the full governance arrangements of the Commonwealth Secretariat to ensure that its governance is streamlined and integrated in order to improve oversight, efficiency and transparency. This mandate was reiterated by Heads at CHOGM 2018, who asked Foreign Ministers to make decisions in response to the HLG's findings. Reform and strengthening of the Commonwealth Secretariat is a priority for our period as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. We have worked with member states and the Commonwealth Secretariat to support the fulfilment of the mandate set by Heads.</p><p>An HLG, convened by the Secretar- General, first met shortly before CHOGM 2018. Since then, the HLG has submitted two reports. The first - covering roles and responsibilities, funding, and arrangements for the appointment of Secretaries-General - was submitted in early September 2018, and discussed by Foreign Ministers when they met in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. At that meeting, Foreign Ministers instructed the Commonwealth Secretariat Board of Governors (of which the UK Commonwealth Envoy is a member) to agree recommendations in the light of that report by 30 November 2018. The Board fulfilled that instruction, unanimously agreeing a set of recommendations through a thorough, transparent and inclusive process. At the end of December 2019, the HLG produced a second report, focused on the Secretariat's collaboration with accredited Commonwealth organisations and other partners. Through a further thorough, transparent and inclusive process the Board of Governors unanimously agreed a set of recommendations in response to that second HLG report.</p><p>The Foreign Secretary, as current Chair of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers, has recommended that they adopt the recommendations. A few of them have some outstanding questions. We hope that those can be resolved, and the recommendations adopted, soon. Once implemented, they will make a significant difference to the effective governance and operation of the Commonwealth Secretariat and its collaboration with member states and Commonwealth organisations.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 04/07/2019 13:29:10 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1133817

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Bahrain: Politics and Government
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis their Human Rights and Democracy report, published on 5 June, “welcomed continuing progress in and commitment to the democratic process” in Bahrain following its elections in November 2018; and what account that report took of (1) the government of Bahrain's ban on all political opposition from electoral participation in, and (2) condemnation by the United States Congress and the parliaments of the UK, the EU, Ireland and Italy, of those elections.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL16568
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>Bahrain held parliamentary elections for the fifth time in November. The British Government takes note of a number of information sources on Bahrain and we continue to encourage Bahrain to ensure all elections are fair, transparent and inclusive.​</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 04/07/2019 13:30:25 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1135446

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Bahrain: Technical Assistance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their decision to suspend the issuance of new export licences for the sale of arms to Bahrain, whether they intend to impose a similar moratorium on the technical assistance programme to Bahrain in view of reports of human rights abuses in that country.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL16767
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2019 answer text <p>Following the Court of Appeal judgement in a Judicial Review into the Government’s decision-making process for granting export licences to Saudi Arabia, Her Majesty's Government will not be issuing new licenses to Saudi Arabia and its Coalition partners for the sale of arms destined for use in the conflict in Yemen. The Government is currently considering the implications of the Review. The judicial review judgement is not about whether the Government has made the right decisions in granting export licences but concerns the rationality of the process used to reach those decisions.</p><p>Under the UK technical assistance programme within the Integrated Activity Fund, each project goes through a rigorous compliance process before commencement. All projects are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure that the training provided by or on behalf of the British Government complies with our domestic and international human rights obligations.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 10/07/2019 11:25:14 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1133819

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Yemen: Integrated Activity Fund
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 18 June (HL16049), whether Yemen was (1) considered as part of the original Gulf Strategy, and (2) a recipient of funding from the Gulf Integrated Activity Fund in 2015; and if not, on which date, and on what basis, they decided to include Yemen in the budget for the 2019–20 financial year.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL16570
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Noble Lord to the corrected answer to question HL16049.​</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 04/07/2019 14:51:17 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1134334

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	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	Israel: Nuclear Weapons
	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 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) SIPRI Yearbook 2019, Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security, published on 17 June, which claims that Israel has between 80 and 90 nuclear warheads.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Tonge
	uin	HL16619
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>Israel has not declared a nuclear weapons programme. The British Government has consistently called on Israel to join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state and to upgrade its arrangement to a full scope Comprehensive Safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 04/07/2019 13:32:53 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	200 label Biography information for Baroness Tonge

1135691

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	Christian Michel
	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 India to ensure that a trial date is set for Christian Michel following his arrest in July 2018 and subsequent extradition to India in December 2018.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Couttie
	uin	HL16784
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Mr Michel's case is currently working its way through the Indian judiciary system. The British Government cannot interfere in the judicial process of another country, just as we would expect India to respect the UK's legal process. That said, we encourage all states to ensure that their domestic laws meet international human rights standards.</p><p>It is the responsibility of Mr Michel's legal team to ensure that a trial date is set. We have not made any representation to the Government of India about remarks made by Prime Minister Modi, but we have encouraged Mr Michel to seek advice from his legal team on this issue. Our staff in India continue to visit him and check his welfare. We are also supporting the family and in contact with the Indian authorities regarding his case.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon grouped question UIN HL16785 question first answered 15/07/2019 14:43:47 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4583 label Biography information for Baroness Couttie

1135692

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	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	Christian Michel
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) Christian Michel receives a fair trail when such a date is set, and (2) that any evidence used in such a trial is accurate; and what representations they have made, if any, to the government of India about the impact of remarks made by Prime Minister Modi during the recent elections about Christian Michel’s case.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Couttie
	uin	HL16785
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>Mr Michel's case is currently working its way through the Indian judiciary system. The British Government cannot interfere in the judicial process of another country, just as we would expect India to respect the UK's legal process. That said, we encourage all states to ensure that their domestic laws meet international human rights standards.</p><p>It is the responsibility of Mr Michel's legal team to ensure that a trial date is set. We have not made any representation to the Government of India about remarks made by Prime Minister Modi, but we have encouraged Mr Michel to seek advice from his legal team on this issue. Our staff in India continue to visit him and check his welfare. We are also supporting the family and in contact with the Indian authorities regarding his case.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon grouped question UIN HL16784 question first answered 15/07/2019 14:43:47 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4583 label Biography information for Baroness Couttie

1135447

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Bahrain: Sentencing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Middle East on 18 June (HC264373), whether the training provided by the UK to a delegation from the government of Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior on alternative sentencing was delivered as part of their technical assistance programme to that country; and on which dates that training was delivered.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL16768
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>No training on alternative sentencing was provided to the delegation from the Ministry of Interior when they conducted a study visit to the UK on the 14-15 March. The study visit was a part of the technical assistance that the UK is providing the Government of Bahrain.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 11/07/2019 11:31:30 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1133803

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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	Commonwealth: Diplomatic Service
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government which countries the UK Commonwealth Envoy has visited since the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16554
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>Since taking up the role in June 2018, the UK Commonwealth Envoy has visited the following Commonwealth countries: Rwanda, Kenya, India, Barbados, Saint Lucia, South Africa and the Seychelles. The Commonwealth Envoy has called on all Commonwealth High Commissioners in London, and is in regular contact with them (including at frequent meetings of the Commonwealth Secretariat Board of Governors and Executive Committee).</p><p>Outside of the Commonwealth he has travelled to New York: for a Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers' Meeting, a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting and other Commonwealth-related meetings; Dubai, for Commonwealth meetings at the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and to consolidate Commonwealth members' support for the re-election of the British Deputy Secretary General of the ITU; and to Addis Ababa, for a UN conference on implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (for which the UK is supporting several Commonwealth countries), and to discuss Commonwealth-African Union collaboration.</p><p>He has also visited: Brussels, to meet the Ambassador of a Commonwealth government which is not represented in London; and Geneva, for a Commonwealth Health Ministers' Meeting, discussions with the International Trade Centre (which is implementing the UK-funded She Trades Commonwealth Project) and the ITU (re the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation), a discussion with Commonwealth member representatives about increasing collaboration, and to visit the Commonwealth Small States Office, to which the UK has provided specific financial support.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 04/07/2019 13:28:31 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1135452

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Jamal Khashoggi
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Goudie on 27 June, what repercussions the UK has indicated to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would follow should international judicial norms not be followed in all matters relating to the death of Jamal Khashoggi.
	tabling member printed	Viscount Waverley
	uin	HL16773
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>The British Government condemns Jamal Khashoggi's killing in the strongest possible terms. The Government remains clear that anyone found responsible must be held fully accountable. The ongoing Saudi judicial process is an important element in the process to establish accountability. We expect it to proceed in line with internationally recognised legal standards. The UK attends the trial as part of a group of international observers. We attend all trials of international concern where host governments permit us to do so. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on an ongoing legal process.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 11/07/2019 11:32:03 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	1744 label Biography information for Viscount Waverley