Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will undertake a review of its explosive ordinance policies.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government's Global Mine Action Programme has been funding clearance and risk education for over a decade, including in Africa, protecting lives and livelihoods, and supporting our broader humanitarian and development goals. In addition, the Foreign Secretary recently announced a further £4 million in funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service to help clear the estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions which have been preventing the safe passage of aid into Gaza. Future allocations to demining activity will be announced in the usual way in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025.
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for Financial Year 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with regards to the Prime Minister's announcement on the 15th April 2025 to spend £120M in emergency aid Sudan, a) which governmental budget this originates from and b) which budgetary line emergency humanitarian aid appears under in the FCDO annual report and accounts published on the 31st March 2025.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £120 million Sudan allocation announced in April 2025 is funded from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.
Humanitarian ODA allocations are included in country programme budgets, as set out in the FCDO annual report and accounts (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025). Additional emergency humanitarian support comes from the crisis reserve, which is also set out in the FCDO annual report and accounts.
Data on ODA spend for 2020 to 2024 is published in Statistics on International Development (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-oda-spend-2024), including breakdowns by country and region.
Figures for 2025 and 2026 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their official policy to omit mention of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai when ministers discuss the UK-Hong Kong bilateral relationship in the press.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
On the contrary, ministers and officials regularly raise the continued detention of Jimmy Lai, and China's obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in interviews with the media, statements to Parliament, public speeches, the government's Six-monthly Reports to Parliament on Hong Kong, and discussions we have with our Chinese counterparts. For example, the Foreign Secretary raised Jimmy Lai's case both in her working dinner with G7 foreign ministers in Canada on 11 November, and a phone call with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on 6 November.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much total spend, and predicted spend in Sudan, originating from the FCDO ODA budget for bilateral aid there was, and will be, in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £120 million Sudan allocation announced in April 2025 is funded from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.
Humanitarian ODA allocations are included in country programme budgets, as set out in the FCDO annual report and accounts (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025). Additional emergency humanitarian support comes from the crisis reserve, which is also set out in the FCDO annual report and accounts.
Data on ODA spend for 2020 to 2024 is published in Statistics on International Development (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-oda-spend-2024), including breakdowns by country and region.
Figures for 2025 and 2026 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what conversations she has had with her international counterparts on (a) the impact of global aid cuts to humanitarian aid and (b) the impact those cuts will have on landmine disposal.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government's Global Mine Action Programme has been funding clearance and risk education for over a decade, including in Africa, protecting lives and livelihoods, and supporting our broader humanitarian and development goals. In addition, the Foreign Secretary recently announced a further £4 million in funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service to help clear the estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions which have been preventing the safe passage of aid into Gaza. Future allocations to demining activity will be announced in the usual way in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a global programme supporting civilian victims of landmines.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government's Global Mine Action Programme has been funding clearance and risk education for over a decade, including in Africa, protecting lives and livelihoods, and supporting our broader humanitarian and development goals. In addition, the Foreign Secretary recently announced a further £4 million in funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service to help clear the estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions which have been preventing the safe passage of aid into Gaza. Future allocations to demining activity will be announced in the usual way in due course.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of reducing humanitarian aid funding in Africa on landmine disposal.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government's Global Mine Action Programme has been funding clearance and risk education for over a decade, including in Africa, protecting lives and livelihoods, and supporting our broader humanitarian and development goals. In addition, the Foreign Secretary recently announced a further £4 million in funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service to help clear the estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions which have been preventing the safe passage of aid into Gaza. Future allocations to demining activity will be announced in the usual way in due course.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote and encourage private investment in Ukrainian agri-processing through UK Export Finance and British International Investment.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
At the 2023 Ukraine Recovery Conference, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced expansion of British International Investment's (BII) remit to support private sector investment in Ukraine. BII has worked with the European Bank of Reconstruction to establish the Ukraine Investment Platform to facilitate co-investment in Ukraine from G7 and European countries including in infrastructure, financial services and agriculture. BII's investment in Ukraine to date includes providing trade finance to local banks to support trade flows of critical goods and supporting a leading Ukrainian agribusiness producer to help it maintain and expand exports to over 70 countries, benefitting more than 2,000 small retail stores and 2,500 farmers. UK Export Finance (UKEF) has made £3.5 billion of financial capacity available to support Ukraine throughout the war, supporting national priority projects for the Government of Ukraine. UKEF's financing has directly enabled Ukraine to access world-class UK defence, infrastructure, and energy capabilities.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have raised any concerns regarding the National Security Strategy of the United States of America, dated November, in discussions with that country’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The US remains the UK's most important defence and security ally. The Foreign Secretary met the US Secretary of State in Washington DC on 8 December to discuss cooperation on issues vital to our shared interests and security, and UK ministers and officials are in regular dialogue with their US counterparts on a wide range of areas.