Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to seeking a United Nations Security Council-backed arms and ammunition embargo on South Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK is currently working with other Security Council members to secure an effective UN Security Council sanctions resolution for South Sudan.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and other interested parties to include in peace talks in South Sudan representatives of all communities in South Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have consistently encouraged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to ensure the peace process in South Sudan is inclusive. We have supported events to facilitate wide participation, including the IGAD-led civil society symposium in June. We have also called on the Government of South Sudan to ensure all parties to the talks are represented.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan remains focused on protecting civilians, including preventing sexual violence, and that it has sufficient capacity and resources to fulfil that mandate.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, we regularly engage with partners in New York to ensure that the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has clear tasking and sufficient resource to implement its mandate. We believe UNMISS’s mandate should continue to focus on the protection of civilians, including preventing sexual violence and will press for this during negotiations on the renewal of UNMISS’s mandate that are underway. Our Embassy in Juba also engages regularly with UNMISS’s leadership on these issues.Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many child victims of human trafficking were interviewed in 2013 by competent authority staff, as opposed to specialist interviewers.
Answered by Lord Bates
"There were 450 potential victims of trafficking who were minors at the time of exploitation referred into the National Referral Mechanism in 2013. These referrals were considered by UK Visas and Immigration and the UK Human Trafficking Centre.
The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) do not conduct interviews with potential victims of trafficking. Interviews may take place with other agencies, for example the Police or Social Services, however UKHTC does not keep a record of who conducts the interviews, or when the interviews take place.
UK Visas and Immigration do conduct interviews where appropriate. Information on the training received by the staff involved in interviewing is not collated centrally and establishing this would incur disproportionate cost. However, all UKVI staff undertaking interviews with children must have undertaken specialist training. In addition, staff may also have received Competent Authority training which includes a two day specialist training course. All reasonable grounds and conclusive ground decisions are taken by trained Competent Authority staff."
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals on domestic worker visas have been identified as victims of human trafficking offences in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Northover
The Home Office does not collect the information that has been requested. However, domestic workers who are abused or exploited, regardless of their immigration status, can receive care and support in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals on domestic worker visas have sought assistance as victims of human trafficking through the National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Baroness Northover
The Home Office does not collect the information that has been requested. However, domestic workers who are abused or exploited, regardless of their immigration status, can receive care and support in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what auditing steps they have taken since 2010 to ensure that public bodies and publicly-funded projects are not using forced or trafficked labour in their own supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Northover
We do not hold central information on the number of audits commissioned or auditing steps taken regarding publically funded projects, as these would be a matter for individual contracting authorities to commission.
All suppliers are required to comply with UK law, including relevant human rights and employment rights law. Social, environmental and ethical issues are taken into account in the procurement process, where relevant and proportionate.
In particular, EU procurement rules require contracting authorities to exclude suppliers that have been convicted of certain offences, and allow authorities to exclude suppliers for grave professional misconduct. The new EU procurement Directives, which are currently being transposed into UK law, update the mandatory exclusion offences to explicitly include offences of "trafficking in human beings".
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many audits of supply chains have been undertaken to ensure that public bodies and publicly-funded projects are not using forced labour through their supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Northover
We do not hold central information on the number of audits commissioned or auditing steps taken regarding publically funded projects, as these would be a matter for individual contracting authorities to commission.
All suppliers are required to comply with UK law, including relevant human rights and employment rights law. Social, environmental and ethical issues are taken into account in the procurement process, where relevant and proportionate.
In particular, EU procurement rules require contracting authorities to exclude suppliers that have been convicted of certain offences, and allow authorities to exclude suppliers for grave professional misconduct. The new EU procurement Directives, which are currently being transposed into UK law, update the mandatory exclusion offences to explicitly include offences of "trafficking in human beings".