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 attachment file name title
tabling member	label

Search

449832

registered interest
date	02/02/2016
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	Diplomatic Service: Languages
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of total postings and how many ambassadors have held Operational level (C1) examination passes in the official language of the country to which they were posted in each year since 2006.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	25453
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>We appointed 53 Ambassadors in 2015. Of these 24 were appointed to speaker slots and 10 have an Operational level C1 examination pass. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. To provide statistics for the years 2006-14 would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:13:56 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449839

registered interest
date	02/02/2016
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	Diplomatic Service: Languages
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the duration of ambassadorial postings (a) where HM Ambassador is a speaker of the official language of the country to which he is posted (b) where HM Ambassador's primary foreign language is not that of the country to which he is posted.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	25452
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>The majority of Heads of Mission have a tour length of three or four years, unless they are posted to a hardship or conflict post where the tour may be shorter. Around 100 Heads of Mission roles require language skills and are designated “speaker slots”.</p><p>We offer language training to Heads of Mission where this is required. The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis. It is essential that all our Heads of Mission have the necessary skills, including languages, to do their jobs. Many of our Heads of Mission will return to Posts where they have existing language capability, in these cases we will provide top up or refresher training. Our Head of Mission Appointment Boards take into account language skills as part of the overall assessment of suitability for a role. In some cases the best candidate may not already speak the language and for these roles we will provide longer training to reach the requisite level. We encourage all those who have undergone language training to maintain their language skills throughout their careers.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:09:01 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449962

registered interest
date	02/02/2016
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: Languages
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 officials in his Department have undertaken Foreign and Commonwealth Office language classes in each year from 2006.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	25525
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text In 2014 there were 255 officers in full time language training with an additional 332 officers and/ or spouses attending part time language classes. In 2015 there were 332 officers in full time language training and 767 officers/spouses following part time language classes. To provide statistics for the years 2006-2013 would incur disproportionate costs. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 10/02/2016 14:07:50 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449969

registered interest
date	02/02/2016
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: Languages
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23665, in which 33 different languages his Department has Operational Level (C1) examination pass speakers employed in the last five years up to the end of 2015.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	25483
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2016 answer text <p>Records show that up until the end of 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had officers with a C1 pass in the following languages:<br>Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin, Pashtu, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.</p><p>The FCO Language Centre was re-opened in September 2013 to renew the focus and investment in languages as a core diplomatic skill to ensure that we get the right people with the right skills in the right jobs to deliver our foreign policy objectives. The Language Centre gives us a strong platform to grow our language skills as an organisation and develop a pipeline of talent to fill language slots on a continuous basis.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 09/02/2016 14:15:35 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449970

registered interest
date	02/02/2016
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: Languages
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23665, how many (a) Arabic speakers with an Operational level (C1) examination pass and (b) Mandarin/Cantonese speakers there were employed in his Department in each year since 2006.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	25484
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text <p>Records from the last five years show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has 51 officers who have a current Operational Level (C1) Arabic pass and 44 officers with a C1 pass in Mandarin/ Cantonese. We only record current C1 passes, valid for five years after the date of the exam, and therefore do not have pre-2010 data.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 10/02/2016 14:09:34 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

449184

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Neighbourhood Plans
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Neighbourhood Development Orders have been approved by referendum in each year since and including 2012; where those referendums were held; and what development each referendum authorised.
tabling member printed	Lord Greaves
uin	HL5694
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>The Department does not undertake formal monitoring of Neighbourhood Development Orders, however we are aware of four Neighbourhood Development Orders that have passed referendum since 2012, including three Community Right to Build Orders. Details are set out in the attached table.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 11/02/2016 12:45:03 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford attachment 1 file name 160211 PQ HL5694 Neigbourhood Development Orders.docx title Neighboorhood Development Orders
tabling member	2569 label Biography information for Lord Greaves

448668

registered interest
date	28/01/2016
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	Sri Lanka: Terrorism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16355, how his Department monitors the situation of detainees in Sri Lanka held under its Prevention of Terrorism Act 1978.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Joan Ryan
uin	24811
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text The British High Commission in Colombo is in regular contact with government officials, Tamil National Alliance MPs, and civil society representatives about the situation of detainees held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. We also work on this issue with other diplomatic missions, the EU and UN bodies. answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 04/02/2016 12:45:59 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	166 label Biography information for Joan Ryan

448669

registered interest
date	28/01/2016
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	Sri Lanka: Terrorism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what further steps he intends to take to encourage the Sri Lankan authorities to review the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1978.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Joan Ryan
uin	24812
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>I visited Sri Lanka from 14 to 17 January when I discussed a wide range of issues with the government of Sri Lanka, including the need for it to fulfil its commitment to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Officials at the British High Commission in Colombo will continue to encourage progress. We are also working closely with our international partners to encourage the government to address this concern. The EU issue was raised during the EU-Sri Lanka Human Rights Working Group discussions in Colombo on 19 to 22 January.</p> answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 04/02/2016 16:01:35 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	166 label Biography information for Joan Ryan

448670

registered interest
date	28/01/2016
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	Sri Lanka: Land
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 assessment he has made of the effects of the steps the government of Sri Lanka has taken to return land currently controlled by the military to civilians.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Joan Ryan
uin	24813
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>Since President Sirisena came to power in January 2015, there have been welcome moves to return some military occupied private land to civilians. However, much remains to be done.</p><p>We continue to encourage further land returns, a process the UK is contributing to through our support for demining in the north of the country. During my visit to Sri Lanka on 14 to 17 January I met with resettled families in the north seeing for myself the progress that has been made as well as the challenges that remain.</p> answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 04/02/2016 16:03:00 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	166 label Biography information for Joan Ryan

448671

registered interest
date	28/01/2016
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	Sri Lanka: 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 recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the steps the Sri Lankan authorities have taken to implement the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Joan Ryan
uin	24814
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2016 answer text <p>During my visit to Sri Lanka on 14 to 17 January I was able to see for myself the progress that Sri Lanka has made in implementing its commitments to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution as well as the considerable challenges that remain. There have been some encouraging developments such as the return of some military occupied land, the deproscription of Tamil diaspora organisations and the release on bail of some long-term Tamil detainees held under anti-terrorism legislation. There is still much to be done and the UK is committed to supporting Sri Lanka to fulfil all of its UNHRC commitments. We welcome Sri Lanka’s engagement with the UN. The High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit shortly to inform his assessment of Sri Lanka’s progress, which he will present to the UNHRC in June.</p> answering member constituency East Devon answering member printed Mr Hugo Swire question first answered 04/02/2016 16:04:15 answering member 1408 label Biography information for Lord Swire
tabling member	166 label Biography information for Joan Ryan