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170394

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Azerbaijan
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 (a) human rights record of the government of Azerbaijan and (b) compatibility of that record with (i) membership of the EU and (ii) the European Convention of Human Rights.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Northfield
tabling member printed	Richard Burden
uin	218612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The UK is concerned about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and regularly raises these concerns with the government of Azerbaijan. As a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, and we regularly encourage Azerbaijan to implement its Council of Europe commitments. During Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe between May and November this year, the UK raised concerns about the deterioration of human rights. Azerbaijan has not expressed an interest in becoming a member of the EU. Nevertheless, human rights is a priority area for EU/Azerbaijan cooperation under the 2006 European Neighbourhood Action Plan.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 18/12/2014 15:32:51 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	301 label Biography information for Richard Burden

170398

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Written Questions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	218781
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not made any changes to its IT systems in response to the new Q&amp;A system and does not have any plans to do so in the immediate future. The FCO already has a very good record of responding to hon Members on time, with 99.7% of Named day and 98.6% of ordinary written questions answered on time in the 2013/14 session.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 05/01/2015 14:56:05 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

169831

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	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 has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	218475
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>The following table details spend on Taxis, First Class rail and Business Class air travel. Spend on First Class rail and Business Class air travel is through our contract with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) travel management company, Hogg Robinson Group plc. <br><br>Travel tickets booked directly by members of staff could only be collated at disproportionate cost. <br><br>2010/11: Taxis: £318,689; First Class Train: £38,081; Business Class Air: £4,785,512 <br>2011/12: Taxis: £329,042; First Class Train: £24,455; Business Class Air: £5,167,379 <br>2012/13: Taxis: £348,733; First Class Train: £19,724; Business Class Air: £6,103,300 <br>2013/14: Taxis: £403,856; First Class Train: £1,590; Business Class Air: £5,421,348 <br>2014- October ’14: Taxis: £135,174; First Class Train: £313; Business Class Air: £2,952,555 <br><br>FCO Policy is that public transport should be used whenever possible. <br><br>Like all Government Departments, the FCO ensures we use taxpayers' money very carefully to help reduce the overall costs of Government. Staff are therefore only allowed to use taxis in exceptional circumstances: when public transport is not available, or when their line manager agrees that taking a taxi will help keep a staff member safe during unsocial hours. In addition to approver checks, expense claims are subject to retrospective audit checks. <br><br>FCO staff travelling by air are required to book the lowest fare possible, subject to budget holder approval Business class travel may be used when it is the more cost-effective option, if staff are required to work immediately upon arrival or on medical grounds. <br><br>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> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 05/01/2015 14:58:56 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

169835

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Staff
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 staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.
tabling member constituency	Bishop Auckland
tabling member printed	Helen Goodman
uin	218308
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 11th November 2014 to PQ 213758. answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 18/12/2014 15:24:43 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1484 label Biography information for Helen Goodman

169836

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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: Armed Conflict
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 he is taking to guarantee the safety of HM embassy staff in Yemen.
tabling member constituency	Leicester East
tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
uin	218330
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a longstanding policy of not disclosing details of our security arrangements, policies, or incidents so as not to give a potential advantage to would-be attackers. We do however take security seriously, closely monitor the threats to our mission in Yemen and manage the risks through a range of mitigation measures.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 18/12/2014 15:23:38 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

169967

registered interest
date	11/12/2014
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	Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	218505
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>Before 2012/13 fraud data was published within the HM Treasury Fraud Report or estimated in the National Fraud Authority Annual Fraud Indicators. From 2012/13 figures on fraud and financial <strong>error </strong>have been provided to the Cabinet Office as part of the Quarterly Data Summary returns, for Central Departments, and all Arms Length Bodies who receive over £100m public funding per annum.</p><p>The reported cost of fraud and error for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is set out in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Department</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>Agency</p></td><td colspan="4"><p>NDPB</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>FCO</p></td><td><p>FCO Services</p></td><td><p>Wilton Park</p></td><td><p>British Council</p></td><td><p>Great Britain China Centre</p></td><td><p>Westminster Foundation for Democracy</p></td><td><p>Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/2014</p></td><td><p>£1,405</p></td><td><p>£12</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£163</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/2013</p></td><td><p>£1,115</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£168</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/2012</p></td><td><p>£944</p></td><td><p>£15</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£21</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/2011</p></td><td><p>£3,423</p></td><td><p>£202</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£17</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/2010</p></td><td><p>£11,596</p></td><td><p>£22</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£33</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£0</p></td><td><p>£2</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p /> <p>To note, there has been a supplier mandate fraud at the FCO this year amounting to £980k. This has been reported to Parliament and the National Audit Office.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 18/12/2014 17:59:43 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

169496

registered interest
date	10/12/2014
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	Private Military and Security Companies
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 contracts his Department has held with private security companies in each year since 2008; what the cost of those contracts was; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Bridgend
tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
uin	218225
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text <p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) continues to have a number of centrally awarded security contracts with private security companies (PSCs), covering our key conflict zone requirements including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.</p><p>These contracts are widely used by other Government Departments and continue to be retendered every 3-5 years. The current contracts are:<br>Afghanistan – guarding<br>Iraq (Baghdad) – guarding<br>Iraq (Erbil) – guarding<br>Libya – guarding<br>Somalia – guarding<br>Yemen – guarding<br>Various conflict zones – Overseas Security Managers and Analysts</p><p>Expenditure against these contracts is as detailed below:<br>2008/2009 £52.5 million<br>2009/2010 £49.5 million<br>2010/2011 £41.6 million<br>2011/2012 £50.4 million<br>2012/2013 £48.9 million<br>2013/2014 £45.4 million</p><p>These details are limited to these contracts and do not include local contracts let by our overseas Posts. Data for these could only be collected at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 15/12/2014 17:29:19 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon

169510

registered interest
date	10/12/2014
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	The Gambia: Commonwealth
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Commonwealth Secretary-General about Gambia's return to the Commonwealth; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	218001
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text The UK has had no discussions with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, about The Gambia’s return to the Commonwealth. The decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth was an executive decision taken solely by Gambian President Jammeh. Although the Commonwealth Secretary-General has publicly stated that The Gambia’s return would be welcomed, President Jammeh has made it clear that he will not reverse his decision. If The Gambia did decide to return to the Commonwealth, it would need to make a formal application to the Secretary-General. answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 15/12/2014 14:08:59 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

168827

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Legal Costs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) legal and (b) other costs have been incurred by the Government in association with (i) investor-state dispute case brought by Eurotunnel against the UK and French governments in 2003, (ii) in the investor-state dispute brought by Mr Ashok Sancheti against the Government under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty and (iii) any other such cases since 1994; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	217934
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>Legal and other costs relating to work done within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on specific cases are not recorded separately.</p><p>We do not hold detailed records dating back so far so complete records of costs for external legal spending, for example for instructing Counsel, are no longer held for these cases. However, the Department scrutinises external spending carefully, in order to ensure that costs are kept as low as possible.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 16/12/2014 16:32:46 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

168935

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Staff
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 has spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	217777
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) departmental spend in these categories in the last five years is set out in the table below.</p><p>2010/2011: Consultancy: £19.2m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £5.2m<br>2011/2012: Consultancy: £12.0m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £4.3m<br>2012/2013: Consultancy: £3.5m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £5.8m<br>2013/2014: Consultancy: £1.5m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £6.2m<br>2014/2015: Consultancy: £1.2m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £3.4m</p><p>Since March 2010, the provision of contingent labour/temporary staff in the FCO has been provided by Hays Specialist Recruitment as part of a managed service for the provision of temporary labour. Under the current government; a Cabinet Office freeze on management consultancy has led to all governmment departments driving down consultancy costs. This reflected in the steady reduction in consultancy spend from 2011 onwards; our spend on consultancy in 2013/14 was 92% lower than in 2010/2011.</p><p>It is not possible to specify over this period how many people have been employed; their contract lengths and their equivalent civil service salary band without incurring disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 16/12/2014 18:06:32 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell