Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the level of energy and climate change policy staffing resources his Department requires to host the COP26 UN Climate Conference in 2020.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
COP26 will require a whole-of-government effort, including strong diplomatic engagement. Both UK-based and locally-engaged staff across the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's network will continue to hold climate change diplomacy as a personal priority, and it will remain a Priority in our Embassies and High Commissions. We will be increasing our network of climate attaches.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full time equivalent staff worked on climate change and energy in (a) his Department's UK-based offices and (b) embassies, high commissions and other overseas posts in each year from and including 2010 to 2019.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) works actively across the international climate and energy agenda in partnership with the work of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and other government departments. Some of the functions previously filled by FCO staff are now delivered by officials in these departments, for example, international climate change strategy and policy.
Climate Change and Energy (CCE) work is a network-wide priority, so forms part of a wide range of officers' work, including Heads of Mission and staff at all levels. The time allocated varies widely from a very small part of an officer's time to full time work on CCE.
The table below shows numbers of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) FCO staff working on CCE issues. Staffing figures rely on individual staff members' recording of their activities.
Financial Year | FTE FCO Staff working in London | FTE FCO Staff working overseas | Total |
2009/10 | 69.175 | 264.951 | 334.126 |
2010/11 | 47.493 | 204.508 | 252.001 |
2011/12 | 48.278 | 166.218 | 214.496 |
2012/13 | 43.840 | 169.939 | 213.779 |
2013/14 | 44.897 | 156.699 | 201.596 |
2014/15 | 41.482 | 162.824 | 204.306 |
2015/16 | 31.937 | 148.539 | 180.476 |
2016/17 | 18.77 | 111.86 | 130.63 |
2017/18 | 11.505 | 97.019 | 108.524 |
2018/19 | 10.19 | 96.712 | 106.902 |
2019/20 | 19.59 | 109.067 | 128.657 |
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many officials are employed in (a) his Department's London offices and (b) the UK's global diplomatic network work on climate security.
Answered by James Duddridge
As of January 2016 149 full-time equivalent staff resource was spent on our Climate Change/Low Carbon Economy/Energy Security work across our network of 268 offices in 168 countries. Of these, 72 staff were working full-time on Climate Change and Energy issues.
As of June 2016 nine full-time equivalent staff in London work directly on climate change issues.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office allocation of resource is kept under regular review as staff and local priorities change, so there is a quite regular flux in numbers and locations. For example, in the run up to COP21, there was an increase in Ministerial and network engagement related to the Paris negotiations, to build support for a successful agreement.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Department for Transport on the proposal to develop a work plan to define the shipping industry's fair share in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the International Maritime Organisation meeting on 18 to 22 April 2016.
Answered by James Duddridge
Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are in regular contact with Department for Transport counterparts who lead for the UK at international negotiations to reduce emissions from the global aviation and shipping sectors. All countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts towards 1.5°C. International negotiations on how the global shipping sector can contribute to this are at an early, technical stage.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged on work related to climate change in (a) posts around the world and (b) London.
Answered by James Duddridge
a) As of 1 August 2015 (last available figures for overseas posts) 85.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff resource was spent on climate change/low carbon economy/energy security issues in 16 priority posts overseas supported by an additional 17 FTE staff in seven other G7 and multilateral posts.
b) As at 20 November 2015 16 FTE staff in London work directly on climate change issues.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to remove the climate diplomacy function of his Department in response to the UNFCCC Paris COP 21.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Government takes the risk posed by climate change very seriously, and the UK remains a global leader on climate change action. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris COP21 will aim to keep the goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 2 degrees within reach, but is not the end game. Whatever the outcome of COP21, the Government will continue to engage with international partners on climate policy issues, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will work closely with Department of Energy and Climate Change, Department for International Development and other relevant departments to this end.
Demonstrating the UK’s commitment to climate action, the Prime Minister announced at the UN General Assembly on 27 September that the government will provide a further £5.8 billion from the existing 0.7% official development assistance (ODA) budget to the UK’s International Climate Fund in the next spending round, between April 2016 and March 2021.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department plans to continue funding for the next round of the UK Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund (Darwin Plus).
Answered by Lord Swire
We remain committed to Darwin Plus, which was established under the Overseas Territories White Paper and is co-funded by Defra, DFID and FCO. We are also committed to funding the 27 live projects announced at the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council Meetings in November 2013 and December 2014. These are mostly two-year projects. Funding decisions for the next spending round will be taken after the General Election.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which Asian companies purchased commercial fishing licences in Ascension Island's waters in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Duddridge
Fisheries management is a devolved issue and as such is the responsibility of the Ascension Island Government. We have consulted the Ascension Island Government regarding this information. It would not be appropriate to provide the names of companies which purchased commercial fishing licences as this information is held in commercial confidence by the Ascension Island Government. All existing fishing licences expired at the end of 2013 and the Ascension Island Government are not issuing any new fishing licences until a decision has been made on the future management regime.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the international radio call sign was for commercial fishing vessels licensed in the waters of Ascension Island in 2013.
Answered by James Duddridge
Each vessel has a unique radio call sign which is displayed on the outside of the vessel. The call signs for the commercial fishing vessels licensed in Ascension waters in 2013 were:
7KME, 8KIT, BH3040, BH3125, BH3138, BH3200, BH3300, BH3315, BH3338, BH3353, BH3356, BH3358, BI2158, BI2315, BI2328, BI2331, BI2342, BI2429, BI2443, BI2488, BI2554, BI2559, BI2561, BI2563, BI2566, BI2567, BZ8US, BZJQ, BZLQ, DUTG-6, JIRS, JISH, JKBT, JQEC, JRJD.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a list of all operators who obtained commercial fishing licences from the Ascension Island government between 2010 and 2013.
Answered by James Duddridge
Fisheries management is a devolved issue and as such is the responsibility of the Ascension Island Government. We have consulted the Ascension Island Government regarding this information. The Fisheries Department has advised that as part of licensing conditions the full legal name and address of the owner, operator and charterer of each vessel was provided to AIG who hold this information in commercial confidence. All vessels are checked under the ICCAT record of vessels to confirm the vessel was registered to ICCAT and have registration numbers and were flagged to an ICCAT-registered State.