Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for the regional security of the Balkans of the (a) meeting between the President of Serbia, the President of Republika Srpska and Patriarch Porifirije and (b) planned joint Easter Assembly between Serbia and Republika Srpska.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Following the 18 March meeting between Serbian President Vucic, the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, President Vucic announced an Easter Assembly in Serbia on 5-6 May, with participants from Serbia and ethnic Serb communities across the region. A similar initiative was held in 2017. We are following developments closely. We encourage Serbia, and all involved, to promote good neighbourly relations across the region, and to avoid divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. The Prime Minister's Western Balkans Envoy did so most recently during his 8 April visit to Belgrade.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which Department the new counter-extremism centre of excellence will sit under.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The new counter-extremism centre of excellence will be housed within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
DLUHC is working with the Home Office, as well as several other Government departments, to tackle extremism head-on. The new centre of excellence will act as a world-leading authority on best practice, data and research and provide leadership for departments’ operationalisation and implementation of the new extremism definition, cross-government standards and extremism-related due diligence process. It will also become home to new counter-extremism assessment and analytical functions and capabilities.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the new counter-extremism centre of excellence will take to collaborate with the (a) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and (b) Home Office on existing counter terrorism (i) programmes and (ii) operations.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The new counter-extremism centre of excellence will be housed within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
DLUHC is working with the Home Office, as well as several other Government departments, to tackle extremism head-on. The new centre of excellence will act as a world-leading authority on best practice, data and research and provide leadership for departments’ operationalisation and implementation of the new extremism definition, cross-government standards and extremism-related due diligence process. It will also become home to new counter-extremism assessment and analytical functions and capabilities.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and (b) representatives of higher education institutions on the potential impact of such institutions' collaboration with Chinese higher education bodies linked to the People's Liberation Army on national security.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government takes the risk of foreign interference in our higher education (HE) sector extremely seriously, regardless of its source. The department has made it clear that it will not accept collaborations that compromise national security. The department recognises concerns about interference in the HE sector and regularly assesses the risks facing academia, working with partners across government. The department will continue to take steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our HE sector, helping to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research.
The ‘Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023’ will ensure that universities in England have the tools they need to deal with interference with, and threats to, freedom of speech and academic freedom. The Act will enable the Office for Students to monitor the overseas funding of registered HE providers and their constituent institutions and student unions, and to take appropriate action.
The department expects Confucius Institutes at UK universities to operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to the government's values of openness and freedom of expression. The department has taken action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK.
The ‘Integrated Review Refresh’, published in 2023, committed to launching a review of legislative and other measures designed to protect the academic sector, to identify what more the government could or should be doing. This is currently underway and is led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This will include an assessment of the risks to research security as a result of collaboration with international bodies.
The department also works with the sector to improve HE providers’ overall resilience and economic security. The department has encouraged Universities UK to publish a number of guidelines and case studies to enable HE providers to assess risks associated with international collaboration.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department plans to introduce a national monitoring system to track land being developed for ground mounted solar.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has no current plans to introduce such a system.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the supply chains of UK solar companies do not include Uyghur slave labour.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to tackling the issue of forced labour in supply chains, including the mining of polysilicon used in the manufacture of solar panels.
The Solar Taskforce is considering this issue as a priority, taking forward the actions needed to develop resilient and sustainable supply chains.
The solar industry has developed and implemented the Solar Stewardship Initiative which will ensure a responsible and transparent solar value chain.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made for the implications of his Department's policies of reported irregularities in the Serbian parliamentary elections held on 17 December 2023.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK contributed a strong contingent to the combined international mission observing last month's Serbian Parliamentary elections, alongside support for local election observation. The UK shares concerns over serious election irregularities. Serbia should investigate these swiftly and effectively, including addressing allegations of election-related violence, and implement the recommendations of the International Election Observation Mission. We hope for swift central government formation to make early progress, including on normalisation of relations with Kosovo.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department plans to take steps with the US and Norway to undertake election monitoring in South Sudan before the South Sudanese elections in December 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK, and Troika (US, UK and Norway) have been engaged in South Sudan's peace process since the signing of the revitalised peace agreement in 2018. We collectively urge the Government of South Sudan to implement the terms of the Agreement, including free and fair elections. Our Joint Troika Statement on Sudan and South Sudan on 27 June emphasised the urgent need for the Government of South Sudan to make enough progress to allow elections to happen. The UK also funds the placement of technical experts in both the ceasefire and peace agreement implementation monitoring mechanisms, which play an important part in South Sudan's Peace Agreement and help hold the parties to their commitments.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many National Security Council meetings at Ministerial level there have been since 1 September 2023.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he had discussions with his counterparts in the EU on the UK rejoining the EUFOR peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina before it was renewed on 2 November 2023.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The former Foreign Secretary spoke regularly with his EU counterparts about European security, including peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). While the UK has not sought to re-join European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) Operation Althea, we recognise EUFOR's vital importance to BiH's peace and security, and worked closely with international partners to secure the renewal of its mandate in the UN Security Council. We continue to support security and stability in BiH through our bilateral contributions, including support to the BiH Armed Forces. Personnel from the First Royal Anglian are currently in BiH, training with their Bosnian counterparts.