Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she had on workers' rights and forced labour during her November 2021 visit to Malaysia.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK takes the issue of forced labour very seriously. The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has been working with the Malaysian Government, manufacturers and industry bodies, civil society and the National Human Rights Commission to improve labour conditions and build capacity on social compliance auditing.
During her visit to Malaysia on 8 November, the Foreign Secretary and her counterpart, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin, agreed to launch a UK - Malaysia Strategic Dialogue. The Strategic Dialogue will look to enhance discussions with Malaysia on a broad range of bilateral issues including those related to trade and investment and human rights.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Sefton Central of 18 March 2021, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Malaysian Government's investigation into the involvement of Brightway Holdings in modern slavery.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Government has not made an assessment of allegations of Brightway Holdings involvement in modern slavery in Malaysia nor of the Malaysian Government's investigations of the company, which are still ongoing.
The UK is committed to ending modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking worldwide by 2030. In Malaysia, NHS Supply Chain works with suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) to increase awareness of the issues and risks that can exist in supply chains and to provide guidance around managing labour standards and adherence to NHS Supply Chain's Supplier Code of Conduct.
The UK has funded projects in Malaysia through the Home Office's Modern Slavery Innovation Fund (£248,000 in 2020/21), including responsible recruiting in public sector supply chains, workers representation and partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 ability of UK citizens to travel abroad during the covid-19 outbreak in order to register the birth of surrogate babies and accompany them to the UK.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The FCO are assisting commissioning parents who have surrogacy arrangements overseas. We appreciate that Covid-19 has brought new challenges to what can already be a difficult and complex process. Our Embassies are liaising closely with the relevant Ministries of Foreign Affairs to support commissioning parents entering countries to collect children born through surrogacy. The FCO is also working with the Home Office and Her Majesty's Passport Office to temporarily expedite applications for Emergency Travel Documents for children born through surrogacy who have been affected by travel restrictions, where the nationality requirements and other mandatory checks have been met.
We continue to advise against non-essential international travel at this time, due to the risk of travel restrictions and transport availability changing at short notice. We encourage commissioning parents who decide they need to travel to sign up to Travel Advice email alerts for their destination country, and to follow relevant social media accounts to see our latest advice