Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an estimate of the number of seriously ill people who are unable to leave Yemen for treatment by air from Sana’a International Airport since the war in Yemen began and Saudi Arabia closed the airspace.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are aware that information about individuals wishing to leave Yemen via Sana'a International Airport has in the past been shared by the Houthis with the UN. However, due to restrictions in place, it is not possible to verify the accuracy of the information. The UK continues to lobby the parties to end restrictions on humanitarian access across Yemen.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has held recent discussions with her counterparts in Oman in order to seek their best endeavours in trying to persuade the Houthis to agree to a ceasefire in their military advance towards Marib.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
UK Ministers engage regularly with their regional counterparts to encourage progress towards both a political solution and an end to the humanitarian suffering in Yemen. We welcome Oman's diplomatic efforts. The Foreign Secretary and I discussed Yemen with Omani Foreign Minister Sayd Badr and wider GCC Foreign Ministers in December 2021.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the humanitarian implications of the longstanding blockade of containers destined for the port of Hodeidah; and what recent discussions she has held with her counterparts in (a) the Government of Saudi Arabia and (b) the Government of Yemen on removing these restrictions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK engages regularly with the Governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and with the UN to press for the swift release of fuel ships from the Coalition Holding Area. HMA Sana'a last raised the issue at the meeting of Yemen Quad Ambassadors on 14 December.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has held with her counterparts in (a) the Government of Saudi Arabia and (b) the Government of Yemen on unconditionally (i) removing restrictions on the importation of fuel into Hodeidah; and what discussions she has had with those Government on opening up Sana’a International Airport for direct international flights for aid workers, journalists, humanitarian aid and seriously ill people.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK engages regularly with the Governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and with the UN to press for the swift release of fuel ships from the Coalition Holding Area. HMA Sana'a last raised the issue at the meeting of Yemen Quad Ambassadors on 14 December.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what specific assistance his Department is providing to Nepal in response to the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK Government is one of the leading donors to Covax, committing £548m to the scheme, which will provide more than a billion vaccines to developing countries including doses for almost a fifth of Nepal's population. The UK has funded a new £180,000 duplex oxygen generation plant at the Nepal Police Hospital in Kathmandu to help address oxygen shortages to treat COVID19 patients. On 19 and 20 May Lord Ahmad held meetings with Foreign Minister Gyawali and the Nepalese Ambassador to discuss what further support the UK could offer.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether any progress has been made on facilitating prisoner exchanges between the respective parties in the Yemen conflict.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, informed the UN Security Council on 19 February that progress has been made towards releasing the first batch of prisoners and we welcome this. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have also already released small numbers of prisoners as signs of goodwill while discussions continue on a broader exchange of prisoners. We welcome these steps – a key confidence building measure – and have seconded a UK expert to the UN to support the UN’s work to facilitate the prisoner exchange agreement.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department has taken to secure the release of prisoners held by Houthi authorities in Sana’a in Yemen that are members of the Baha’i community reportedly imprisoned on grounds of their faith.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We continue to follow the treatment of the Baha’is in Yemen closely, including through meeting representatives of the Baha'i in the UK and lobbying the relevant authorities. We continue to call on the parties to the conflict for the human rights of all Yemenis to be respected and the UK Ambassador last raised this directly with the Houthi Spokesperson on 5 February.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to the letter of 31 January 2019 from the hon. Member for Glasgow Central, addressed to the Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, on the matter of a constituent, Mr Soofi.
Answered by Mark Field
A response was sent on 20 February, eight working days before the Cabinet Office 20 day target.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to the letter of 12 October 2018 from the hon. Member for Glasgow Central addressed to the Rt Hon Mark Field MP, Minister of State, on the matter of a constituent, Ali Soofi.
Answered by Mark Field
A response was sent on 25 October, 11 working days before the 20 day target as published in the Cabinet Office annual correspondence report.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) pass and (b) fail rates are for the International English Language Testing System by (i) country and (ii) test centre.
Answered by Mark Field
The British Council have advised that there are no set percentage pass or fail rates for the International English Lanugaue Testing Sytem (IELTS) exams. It is up to the organisations who accept the tests to decide their entry score requirements.
IELTS is an independent organisation and is jointly owned by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Assessment.