Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what upgrades and enhancements they have made to (1) staffing, and (2) facilities, at embassies in the EU27 nations since the EU referendum.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has created approximately 550 EU Exit roles in the UK and overseas. We have used these roles to strengthen our diplomatic network in the UK and across Europe so that we are better able to represent and promote British interests and engage with our European partners in support of a successful EU Exit. In addition, other staff are also engaged on EU Exit planning as part of their wider responsibilities. We continue to keep staffing levels under constant review to ensure that they are appropriate to deliver the Government's objectives.
We undertake regular reviews of our estate portfolio around the world. This is a continuing process to ensure the estate is fit for purpose and offers the best value for money in delivering Her Majesty's Government objectives. No major estates projects were undertaken because of the result of the referendum. A number of Posts have carried out small changes to their office layouts as well as routine maintenance.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made over the last three months to (1) the Iranian Ambassador in London, and (2) the government of Iran, about the reported targeting and harassment of BBC Persian Service journalists and their families.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Reports about harassment of BBC Persian staff and their families in Iran are deeply worrying. The Foreign Secretary specifically raised our concerns about harassment of BBC Persian staff and their families in Iran with his Iranian counterpart during his visit to Tehran on 9-10 December. Officials at the British Embassy in Tehran have also twice raised our concerns with the Iranian Government.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are giving to the government of Tunisia with a view to promoting democracy and rebuilding its economy, and in particular the creation of jobs for young people.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
In the financial year from April 2015 – March 2016, UK support to Tunisia doubled to around £7 million for programmes to support governance, economic reform (including job creation and entrepreneurship) and security sector capacity building. We expect this high level of support to continue in the coming year, reaching at least £8 million for projects including capacity building for democratic institutions and anti-corruption bodies, and support for financial sector reform and entrepreneurship. We continue to encourage Tunisia to set out its plans for its economic development and reform, and have particularly underlined the importance of creating jobs for young people.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the spending of British tourists going to Greece (1) in the United Kingdom and (2) in Greece.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
British nationals make around 2 million visits to Greece every year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not have data on the amount of money British tourists spend. The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises estimate that British tourists spend on average 1000 Euros per visit. Based on Bank of Greece data, 740 Euros out of the 1000 Euros is retained in Greece. They do not provide figures or estimates for expenditure in the UK by British tourists going to Greece.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of British tourists visiting Greece each year.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We estimate that there are approximately two million British visitors to Greece each year.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many United Kingdom nationals they have deployed on training and assistance projects in Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Since the beginning of 2014, 36 UK nationals have been deployed to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, nine to support the EU in Ukraine and two to represent the UK’s technical assistance programme and humanitarian support in Ukraine. Additionally, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has had a Special Defence Advisor based in the Ukrainian MoD since 2004.
The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), recently announced that the MoD would be providing further non-lethal support to Ukraine and up to 75 personnel would be based in Ukraine to deliver training and advice in logistics, medical, infantry and intelligence capacity building to the Ukraine Armed Forces. Some of these personnel are already based in-country to develop the training and numbers will increase as the elements of the training are delivered.
In addition the British Government is funding UK, Ukrainian and international experts to provide expert advice on economic and governance reforms in Ukraine through the £10million technical assistance programme to Ukraine.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of United Kingdom nationals working or living in Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We do not assess this. According to the Ukrainian authorities, there were 499 British nationals registered as working or living in Ukraine on 1 April 2014.
Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of United Kingdom nationals holidaying in Ukraine at any one time.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We do not regularly seek these figures and the number will vary year-round and according to the security situation. The most recent estimate was compiled for Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel Advice in 2013 when it was estimated that 82600 British nationals had visited Ukraine that year. In 2014 we provided consular assistance to approximately 90 British nationals in Ukraine.Asked by: Lord Radice (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many United Kingdom nationals are employed in Ukraine as part of the British Embassy.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
There were 17 UK based staff working in our Embassy in Kyiv on 28 February 2015. In addition, there are UK nationals working as local staff in the Embassy.