Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
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 North)
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 North)
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 North)
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 North)
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 North)
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.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of the expenditure of the Turks and Caicos Islands government was spent on health and health-related debts in the last five financial years for which records are available.
Answered by David Lidington
The Turks and Caicos Islands government is responsible for its own budget, including expenditure on health and health-related debts and how it makes this information available.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much income the Turks and Caicos Islands government derived from (a) tourism and (b) fisheries in the last five financial years for which figures are available.
Answered by David Lidington
The Turks and Caicos Islands government is responsible for deciding how to raise revenue from tourism and fisheries and how it makes this information available.Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many commercial fishing licences have been sold to UK-registered vessels to fish in the waters of Ascension Island in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Lidington
Fisheries management is a devolved issue and as such is the responsibility of the Ascension Island Government. A pilot commercial fishery was set up in October 2010. Data from before this period is unavailable. From 2010-2013 no commercial fishing licences had been sold to UK-registered vessels to fish in the waters of Ascension Island.Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the annual operating budget of the Turks and Caicos Islands government Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs has been in each year since 2007.
Answered by David Lidington
The Turks and Caicos Islands government is responsible for its own budget, including how much it apportions to the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs and how it makes this information available.