Asked by: Lord Massey of Hampstead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to establish specific enforceable benchmarks, sanctions, or funding conditions linked to Palestinian Authority curriculum reform in the 14 months since signing the UK–Palestinian Memorandum of Understanding.
Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK-Palestinian Memorandum of Understanding sets out the Palestinian Authority's (PA) commitment to reform. The PA is undergoing a multi-year curriculum reform in which textbooks are systematically being updated to meet the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) standards. We welcome initial progress since 2018 to strengthen alignment of PA textbooks with UNESCO recommendations but, we are clear that further progress is needed. We regularly engage the Palestinian Authority on the implementation of these commitments.
Asked by: Lord Massey of Hampstead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK's exposure to sanctions evasion by hostile state actors as a result of Iranian-backed companies and financial service providers that rebrand or restructure in order to evade sanctions.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington
The UK has a robust sanctions enforcement regime in place, and - while it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases - we will continue to investigate and take action against any individuals and entities, including hostile state actors, involved in any unlawful attempts to circumvent our sanctions regime.