Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of a network of “secret Chinese police stations” in the UK used by the government of China to identify political dissidents; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to shut them down.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.
Attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable.
The Security Minister made a statement on the issue of transnational repression to the House on 1 November. As he said to the House, reports of undeclared ‘police stations’ in the UK are of course very concerning and are taken extremely seriously. Any foreign country operating on UK soil must abide by UK law. This Government is committed to tackling this challenge wherever it originates. An internal review into transnational repression is underway and the House will be updated on progress in due course.
More broadly, we are driving forward work to protect the democratic integrity of the UK, including from threats of foreign interference, through the Defending Democracy Taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much of UK’s aid budget has been spent in China in the last three fiscal years; and how aid allocated to China in the last three fiscal years has been spent.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HMG Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is reported by calendar year. Spend in China was £51.7 million in 2021, £64.1 million in 2020, and £68.3 million in 2019, supporting UK policy objectives including on human rights, health and climate. Full details are available on the gov.uk page for Statistics on International Development in 'Data Underlying the SID.' FCDO cut aid programming in China by 95 per cent in Financial Year 21/22 and focused on open societies and human rights. Additional ODA that year met contractual exit costs of former programmes. Total ODA spend in China also includes non-programme activity, such as the ODA-eligible portion of the costs of UK diplomatic staff in China, Chinese Chevening scholars and the British Council's ODA-eligible activity.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the UK's drop to 18th place in the global rankings of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling corruption. Our Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017 - 2022 provides a framework to guide government anti-corruption policies and actions. As we finalise an updated Strategy we are reviewing and consulting on priority areas for UK action.
The Joint Anti-Corruption Unit (JACU), is a cross-Whitehall unit that sits in the Home Office.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many UK citizens are working as judges in Hong Kong.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government does not hold data on the number of UK citizens working as judges in Hong Kong.
The decision to withdraw serving UK judges from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal (CFA) was made by the President of the UK Supreme Court in March 2022.
We are aware that 6 retired UK judges remain as non-permanent judges on the CFA. As private citizens, it is for the individual legal practitioners to decide on their service overseas; the UK judiciary and legal profession are independent from the Government.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made to determine whether the app TikTok is being used on any government-issued mobile devices; and whether they consider the presence of the app on government phones to be a threat to national security.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office maintains a constant dialogue with departments on their security and data concerns. Departments are required to manage all applications and services on their networks, taking into account security and data protection risks.
Specific information on the use of any individual application is not routinely held centrally.
With regards to the threat to national security His Majesty’s Government does not comment on these matters.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many honours nominations were received for candidates of East and Southeast Asian origin in each of the last three years; and how many of those nominees received an honour.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Honours recipients are asked to anonymously complete a diversity monitoring form when they are offered their honour. The information collected is only used for statistical purposes to improve the diversity of the honours system.
As per the data collected, the below table outlines the number of nominees who received an honour in the last three years who declared themselves as Asian. There is a further breakdown of the numbers of nominees who declared their ethnic group listed on the diversity monitoring form (using the agreed list of ethnic groups from the 2021 census).
The Cabinet Office is unable to provide the data for all honours nominations received from nominees of East and Southeast Asian origin as honours are submitted to respective departments who carry out initial sifting ahead of submitting to the Cabinet Office. Therefore we do not hold the data for all nominations received.
| 2020 NY2020/BD2020 | 2021 NY2021/BD2021 | 2022 NY2022/BD2022 |
Total Asian | 167 | 162 | 175 |
Indian | 77 | 81 | 93 |
Pakistani | 34 | 32 | 43 |
Bangladeshi | 16 | 18 | 17 |
Chinese | 9 | 3 | 4 |
Other | 31 | 28 | 18 |
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) financial, and (2) training, support they are providing to British national (overseas) (BNOs) citizens born after 1997 to help them enter the UK job market.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The British National (overseas) (BNOs) Welcome Programme was launched in April 2021, providing a UK-wide support package that comprises an easily accessible universal offer and targeted support for those most in need. The universal offer is open to all BN(O) visa holders in the UK and includes a network of 12 virtual Welcome Hubs across the UK, funding for voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to deliver national and regional projects and a comprehensive Welcome Pack on GOV.UK.
The Programme also funds targeted support, provided by local authorities, on a demand-led basis for individuals requiring additional assistance in English language provision and destitution support. Although, the BN(O) visa has the 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF) condition attached, any BN(O) visa holder who finds themselves destitute or at risk of destitution may apply for their NRPF status to be lifted to allow them to access financial assistance.
The Programme also funds VCSE organisations at a national and regional level to provide employability support for BN(O)s visa holders. VCSE organisations have facilitated seminars, one to one coaching sessions and entrepreneur networking events to boost skills, confidence and provide interview practice to help BN(O) visa holders obtain employment in line with their experience. Furthermore, estimates are that over 60,000 individual instances of support by our funded VCSE organisations have been delivered over the first 5 months. The list of VCSE organisations funded by HMG can be found (attached) here.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of unpaid tax for the last three fiscal years; and what plans they have to recover that money.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The details requested by the Noble Lord are published annually in the HMRC Annual Reports and Accounts, copies of which are in the library and also online at GOV.UK. HMRC also publishes quarterly performance data which includes the debt balance at the end of each quarter.
Where customers don’t engage, refuse to pay, or where businesses have little chance of recovery, we have a responsibility to take prompt enforcement action to collect the tax due. It is in no one’s interests to allow unsustainable debt to build up unchecked.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China regarding allowing British lawyers to represent British citizens in Hong Kong courts.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Foreign Lawyers are permitted to practice in Hong Kong, provided they complete the relevant registration and entrance requirements. We are watching closely how the Chief Executive and Hong Kong authorities act to implement the 30 December interpretation of the National Security Law.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of attempts by the government of China to silence dissidents based in the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As a matter of longstanding policy, we do not comment on the detail of security assessments, however, we continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals' rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.
As you would expect, Home Office officials work closely with the FCDO and DLUHC as well as other government departments in ensuring that the UK is a safe and welcoming place for all who choose to settle here.