Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he will respond to the correspondence of 7 April 2022 from the hon. Member for Rhondda on the UK's sanctions regime.
Answered by Jesse Norman
We are grateful to the Honourable member for bringing this matter to our attention and for re-sending this correspondence on 15 June, of which we had no record of receiving previously. We apologise for the delay and will work to expedite a response.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2022 to Question 34834 on Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Disclosure of Information, when she plans to respond to the Subject Access Request FCDO reference DPR 2022/08995 submitted to her on 17 March 2022.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's Information Rights Unit continues to review and assess the large amount of information returned in our searches. We hope to be able to respond by the end of September.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the maternal mortality rate in South Africa.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK does not provide direct support to help reduce maternal mortality in South Africa. The UK has, however, provided £7.5 million since 2020 to support health system strengthening including through knowledge exchange between health experts in both countries. This is helping South Africa to put in place the building blocks to achieve its goal of universal access to good quality healthcare and to reduce morbidity and mortality rates.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she will respond to the Subject Access Request, FCDO Ref: DPR2022/08995, submitted to her on 17 March.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is continuing to review and process a large amount of information that was returned in our searches. We must review all information returned to assess whether it is personal information and, if so, whether any exemptions such as the personal data of third parties apply. Our Information Rights Unit has recently been able to allocate additional resources to help with all such cases, however given the large quantity of information in this case, it is unlikely that we will be in a position to respond before September.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to reply to the letter of 7 April 2022 from the hon. Member for Rhondda on the UK Sanctions regime.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The FCDO does not have a record of receiving this correspondence. We have asked the Honourable Member's office to resend the letter.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what Russian banks (a) have and (b) have not yet been sanctioned by the UK.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
In close coordination with our allies, we are introducing the largest and most severe economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced, including asset freezes on 16 major banks, a prohibition on clearing for Sberbank, and the removal of selected banks from SWIFT. The banks currently sanctioned represent the majority of the Russian banking sector. The UK Sanctions List, published by the FCDO on GOV.UK, is the comprehensive list of persons or ships designated. Additionally, there are entities listed in Schedule 2 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which are covered by sectoral financial measures.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will introduce economic sanctions on Russian shipping.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
UK Government ministers have signed legislation banning all ships that are Russian owned, operated, controlled, chartered, registered or flagged from entering British ports since 1 March 2022. These measures also include powers to detain Russian vessels already in port and to direct them out of British ports, as well as ensuring that anyone sanctioned by the UK can no longer register a vessel - and will have any existing registrations terminated - in the UK.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much the evacuation of Nowzad cost the Government in expenditure of time and money.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The FCDO was not involved in the evacuation from Kabul by private charter flight of Nowzad's animals. After the end of Operation Pitting, FCDO officials provided some support to the departure of Nowzad staff from Afghanistan for the UK via Pakistan.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many UK nationals remain in Afghanistan as at 14 September 2021.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As the Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa stated in the House on 15 September, it remains difficult to put a precise number on the number of UK nationals remaining in Afghanistan. We have evacuated over 8000 British nationals to date and we believe that the vast majority of UK nationals who wanted to leave and had valid documentation were evacuated. Since then, more UK nationals have sought assistance and more than 4,200 individuals as of today have signed up to the FCDO's "Register your Presence in Afghanistan". We are working to verify how many of these are British nationals and are continuing to look at all possible avenues to ensure that any British Nationals are able to leave safely if they wish to.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what provisions the UK is putting in place for consular services for people in Afghanistan either in country through another nation state or out of country.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Four Rapid Deployment Teams have been deployed to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to reinforce our Embassy staff to process arrivals from Afghanistan and provide consular assistance on travel documentation and transport to support the return of British nationals to the UK. We continue to work closely with international partners, including the Qatari authorities, to get as many remaining British Nationals as possible out of Afghanistan.