Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will update their business risk advisory system regarding forced labour in the Uyghur region in China, in light of the conclusions of the Uyghur Tribunal, published on 9 December 2021.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our overseas business risk guidance on Xinjiang was last updated in August 2021. It makes clear the extensive evidence of human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang, including the use of forced labour, and urges UK companies to take appropriate steps to ensure their operations do not directly or indirectly contribute to these violations. We continue to keep the guidance under constant review.
Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's investment of (1) effort, and (2) resources, into the advancement of the Middle East peace process.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We firmly believe a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue. That is why we support steps to increase understanding and dialogue between the parties that can help create the conditions for meaningful negotiations. We will continue to fund peacebuilding projects focused on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's response to Freedom of Information Request FOI2021/07873, dated 23 June, how the disclosure of funding allocated to the advancement of the Middle East peace process would "potentially damage" international relationships.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Following an internal review, the international relations exemption has now been withdrawn and information will be released shortly.
Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they do not list (1) the Norwegian Refugee Council, or (2) other partners, on their Development Tracker website as receiving funding, despite that information being publicly available elsewhere.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Development Tracker presents information on partners who have received funds from Her Majesty's Government (HMG) in multiple ways depending on how the funding is reported by both the Government department and the implementing partner.
From information reported by the FCDO and other government departments, partners who have received funding are listed as implementing partners on country pages [1] and on project pages [2]. Projects relating to specific partners can also be viewed using Development Tracker's search function [3].
When partners publish data reporting that the UK has been a funder, they will appear on the Partners tab of a Development Tracker project page. There may therefore be instances where the Norwegian Refugee Council or other partners who receive funds from HMG are not listed within the partners tab as they have not referred to HMG as a funding organisation.
[1] For example, on the South Sudan country page, the Norwegian Refugee Council is listed here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/countries/SS/
[2] For example, the Norwegian Refugee Council is listed here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-204019
[3] For example, search for Norwegian Refugee Council as shown here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/search?query=Norwegian%20Refugee%20Council&inclu deClosed=0