Asked by: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to initiate international discussions to implement regulations comparable to the Geneva Conventions for the use of artificial intelligence in warfare.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK's current view is that existing International Humanitarian Law, including the Geneva Conventions, provides a robust and adaptable framework for the conduct of hostilities, including the use of AI-enabled capability. The UK believes that discussions should focus on norms of use and measures aimed at promoting the lawful design and responsible use of AI in the military domain. There are already a number of international discussions and processes examining these issues in which the UK is actively involved, and we keep these matters under regular review.
Asked by: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding support they give to the British American Security Information Council; and for what purposes.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office allocated £49,874.00 to the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) in Financial Year 2018 to 2019. This supported a project on 'Foregrounding Nuclear Responsibilities', which aims to foster international understanding and constructive dialogue among moderate nuclear and non nuclear-armed states on the responsibilities of nuclear weapons possession and disarmament. We also provided £7,281.44 to BASIC in Financial Year 2017 to 2018 for a research paper and two private roundtables, in order to inform the international conversation on Nuclear Security Assurances and support the rules-based international system and institutions.
Asked by: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the United Kingdom contribution to NATO's civil budget in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The figures for the last 5 years for which they are available are in the table below:
DATE (UK FINANCIAL YEAR) | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
UK CONTRIBUTION TO NATO CIVIL BUDGET (£GBP) | 21,304,775.80
| 22,629,075.15
| 19,213,066.08
| 19,391,543.64
| 18,438,652.39
|
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Civil Budget ceiling has been maintained at Zero Nominal Growth for the last five years, with the exception of pensions. The UK contribution to the civil budget each year takes account of other variables: monthly amendments to account for changes in the official exchange rate between the pound and the Euro; NATO adjustments to the call for contributions from Allies to allow for an offset of income received by NATO such as bank interest and for under spends on the budget; and adjustments in the percentage contribution attributable to the UK, which are calculated biannually on the basis of countries’ Growth National Income, and on the number of NATO members contributing.
Asked by: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many copies of the NATO Fact Sheet "Russia's top five myths about NATO" have been circulated (1) in the United Kingdom, and (2) to members of both Houses of Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government has not circulated any North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) fact sheets in the UK or to Members of Parliament or the House of Lords. However, we do commend them to all Members as an excellent resource, and I attach NATO’s “Russia’s top five myths about NATO” fact sheet to this answer and am placing a copy of it in the Library of the House. This and other fact sheets are freely available on NATO’s website. NATO’s own figures show that around 7700 UK-based users have accessed its “NATO-Russia relations: the facts” webpage, while many thousands more have engaged with its content via social media. Additionally, since the start of the Russia/Ukraine crisis the Government has regularly exposed Russian myths through social media, including promoting NATO’s myth busting content. We will look for further opportunities to bring such valuable info to the attention of this House.
Asked by: Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent on publicising NATO and its role in the United Kingdom for each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.