Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the alleged use of artificial intelligence software in the conflict in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Ministers and senior officials regularly raise with their Israeli counterparts a range of issues related to the conflict.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the statement by Amnesty International UK and other NGOs entitled UK Groups say Government’s Public Position on Weapons Licences to Israel is at odds with what the Government has Admitted in Litigation, and Calls for an Explanation, as Rafah Braces for Further Atrocities, published on 28 February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, and we will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with those Criteria. We regularly publish data on export licensing decisions on the dedicated gov.uk site: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data].
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
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 scale of damage to UK-funded projects in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Given the ongoing conflict, we are not able to provide this assessment at this time. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza.
We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We are pushing to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes. We continue to call for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to be respected and civilians to be protected.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many meetings he has had with the Israeli Ambassador since 13 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We continue to engage closely and regularly with a range of senior Israeli officials. Since the outbreak of the conflict on 7 October, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely has had two meetings with Foreign Office Ministers. The Ambassador spoke with Lord Ahmad, Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, on 10 October. She also attended a meeting on 24 October between former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and the families of those taken hostage by Hamas.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what percentage of his Department's staff were based overseas in 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This information is published in the FCDO Annual Report and Accounts, the 2022-23 report can be found on gov.uk. I refer the Honourable Member to page 144(140) of the report: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1170838/Foreign-Commonwealth-and-Development-Office-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.pdf]
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new independent complaints mechanism for British International Investment.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment (BII) has an effective complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/] that allows external parties to report alleged breaches of the Policy on Responsible Investing (PRI). If deemed eligible, complaints will be investigated, and where appropriate, BII will enable access to remedy.
The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism is under the direction of the Head of Compliance. Decisions required under the Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are made independently of the departments involved in pre-investment due diligence and post-investment monitoring of environmental, social and business integrity issues. The Head of Compliance has a reporting line to the Board's Audit & Compliance Committee.
FCDO undertakes periodic reviews of BII's assurance processes and recommends actions to improve their robustness, and monitors implementation of these. Any significant issues reported to FCDO regarding BII are notified to FCDO's Internal Audit and Investigations Department.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what humanitarian assistance his Department has provided to Myanmar in each financial year since 2021-22.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has provided approximately £120 million to support the people of Myanmar. This has included life-saving assistance responding to the conflict and displacement, support for emergency health care and education and supporting civil society. We also recently announced an additional £2 million to support the Cyclone Mocha response.
Breakdown of ODA figures:
From 01 Feb 2021 to 31 Mar 2022: we provided £8 million
In financial year 2021/22: we provided £49.5 million
In financial year 2022/23: we provided £57.3 million
In financial year 2023/24: our allocated budget is £30.1 million (we have spent £5.13 million so far).
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of (a) aviation fuel, (b) armaments and (c) financial services sanctions on Myanmar.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have led international efforts to put pressure on the military regime and reduce its access to revenue, arms and equipment. On 27 March, the UK announced its fifteenth round of sanctions, designating those who profit from the supply of aviation fuel and military equipment to the Myanmar Armed Forces. We will continue to impose a cost on the military regime's actions, working closely with our partners in the US, Canada and the EU to ensure a strong, coordinated and targeted response.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many permanent staff in his Department work on policies relating to Myanmar.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Approximately 120 - 150 permanent members of staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, based in the UK and at the British Embassy in Yangon, work on policies relating to, or support our embassy in Myanmar.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of investments in private healthcare providers by British International Investment on (a) people living in poverty and (b) women and girls.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment's (BII) investments are scrutinised by independent evaluators through the FCDO-BII Evaluation and Learning Programme.
Each sector evaluation includes analysis of the poverty alleviation and gender impact. Recommendations for improving impact and BII responses are published on FCDO's and BII's website. A multi-sector evaluation is currently under way, which includes a review of BII's healthcare portfolio.
In addition, BII commissions and publishes its own case studies, evaluations, and evidence reviews to help better understand the impact of its investments. Relevant case studies and evaluations include the impact of access to finance for healthcare facilities in Kenya [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/news-insight/insight/articles/what-is-the-impact-of-improved-access-to-finance-for-healthcare-facilities-in-kenya/] and investing for impact in India [https://assets.bii.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/06212044/Investing-for-impact-in-India_BII.pdf].