Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to sanction Russia by excluding them from the SWIFT international payments system.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Following discussions between the UK and international partners, the EU announced on 2 March that 7 Russian banks would be removed from SWIFT on 12 March. UK pressure was instrumental to this decision. This measure on already sanctioned entities, in concert with the US and the EU, will ensure that these Russian banks will no longer be able to use SWIFT to transact with banks in any country, regardless of whether that country has imposed sanctions on Russia.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the time taken to sanction named Russian oligarchs.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The amendments to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (the Sanctions Act) in the Economic Crime Bill, to streamline the current legislation, will ensure the Government can designate groups of individuals more quickly, and enable the UK to align rapidly with designations imposed by our allies. An urgent designation procedure will enable the Foreign Secretary to swiftly designate individuals, entities and categories of persons designated by the EU, US, Canada, Australia and others.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to impose sanctions to restrict the transfer of money in and out of Russia in the form of cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has announced the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions Russia has ever seen. Acting in concert with our allies, our measures will deliver a devastating blow to Russia's economy and military for years to come. We will also introduce a further Economic Crime Bill to enact the full set of reforms to Companies House, as well as new measures on anti-money laundering; seizing cryptocurrencies; and tackling the abuse of corporate structures used to facilitate crime.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a travel ban on President Putin and Sergey Lavrov.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have already imposed sanctions on Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov to cut them off from the privilege of access to doing business with the UK. We are coordinating with our allies to ensure as strong a package as possible to create maximum impact - nothing is off the table.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to convene a multi-nation conference to respond (1) practically, and (2) financially, to the humanitarian issue in Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan. We understand that the UN will be organising an international pledging conference in the coming months, which we fully support. It is important that donors across the world step up to this challenge, including by responding to the UN's call for additional funding.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reinstate 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product for Overseas Development Assistance to address migrant displacement.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to returning to spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on official development assistance (ODA) when the fiscal situation allows and has provided a clear measure for this. The two key tests are (1) When we are not borrowing to support day-to-day spending. That means when the current budget is in surplus. (2) When underlying debt is falling. This is measured by Public Sector Net Debt (excluding the Bank of England) as a percentage of GDP. When these tests are met then the Government will increase ODA spending above 0.5% of GNI to 0.7% of GNI. On 13 July, the Government provided members of Parliament the opportunity to debate its proposed course of action and pathway back to 0.7. The House voted clearly with a majority of 35 votes to approve the approach set out in the Treasury's 12 July Written Ministerial Statement. Improving economic forecasts show that HMG may meet its test to return to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on aid in the final year of this Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the open routes to Kabul airport remain safe to travel through.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible. We aim to bring out hundreds of British nationals, diplomats and Afghan interpreters a day. We are in close contact with our partners and allies about the security situation, including working with the US to help ensure the security and viability of the airport.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the research published by Ageing Better as part of their Who is at risk of missing out? project in relation to the inequalities between older BAME and white communities.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
This Government is committed to tackle prejudice, racism and discrimination - and to improve the quality of data and evidence about the types of barriers faced by people from different backgrounds to help drive effective and lasting change. That is why we have established a new Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. This cross-government commission will examine all aspects of continuing racial and ethnic inequalities in Britain.
In addition, following the publication of the report ‘COVID 19: Review of disparities in risks and outcomes’, Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch was asked by the Prime Minister to act on its findings. As part of this the Cabinet Office’s Race Disparity Unit is working closely with academics, scientists and analysts, to establish emerging data patterns and trends in regards to the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority communities.
Factors that are being considered include age and sex, occupation, obesity, comorbidities, geography, and ethnicity.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the recent Higher Education Statistics Agency statistics which suggest that gender and race inequalities are established immediately after university graduation.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is disappointing to see the disparities shown in the HESA Graduate Outcome Data publication, but it highlights why collecting this information is so important. To tackle these gaps the Government is focused on ensuring equality of opportunity exists for everyone.
To help us do this the Government has established an independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which will examine ethnic inequalities across the whole population in the UK, and report by the end of this year.
To tackle income and employment disparities we are ensuring more women are equipped to enter STEM careers, where some jobs have higher than average wages, and we are encouraging flexible working, so parents are not held back. The Government is also doubling the number of front line staff at job centres, providing an extra £32m to recruit extra careers advisers and providing £17m for work academies in England to help make sure those looking for employment are offered the support they need to fulfil their potential.