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Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Recruitment
Friday 10th February 2023

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department has spent on headhunters in each of the last three years.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

In 2022, the FCDO spent £49,599 on agencies to support the recruitment of UK specialist resource. The spend for 2021 was £79,332; and for 2020 was £120,659.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Redundancy Pay
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in their Department in each year since 1 January 2016 to 8 November 2022.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave Government. This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.

Individuals may waive the payment to which they are entitled. That is a matter for their personal discretion, but this approach has been taken in the past. Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027301/Salaries_of_Members_of_Her_Majestys_Government_-_Financial_Year_2021-22_-_Publication.pdf


Written Question
Development Aid: Health Services
Thursday 8th September 2022

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will take steps to help ensure investment in universal and comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is prioritised within the upcoming Women and Girls strategy.

Answered by Vicky Ford

A Women and Girls Strategy would build on the May 2022 International Development Strategy, which framed our work on women and girls through the 3Es (Educating girls, Empowering women and girls, and Ending violence against women and girls). It included a strong commitment to drive progress on universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights.


Written Question
National Bank Trust
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason the Government has not imposed sanctions on the National Bank Trust.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Written Question
Nepal: Coronavirus
Thursday 27th May 2021

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to relieve the covid-19 humanitarian situation in Nepal.

Answered by Nigel Adams

On Thursday 27th May, the FCDO sent 260 ventilators and 2,000 visors (worth £550,000) in response to a request for medical supplies from the Government of Nepal. Moreover, since the beginning of the pandemic, British Embassy Kathmandu has helped Nepal respond to COVID-19 by reprioritising over £40 million of its aid budget. This support has included the construction of an oxygen plant in a Kathmandu hospital; technical advice to local government on managing the impact of COVID-19; water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to support around 300,000 people; safe spaces for women in isolation centres; cash and voucher assistance for the most vulnerable; and nutrition support for pregnant and lactating women. On 19 May Lord Ahmad discussed with Foreign Minister Gyawali how the UK could continue to support Nepal's fight against the second wave of COVID-19. The UK is also a leading donor to COVAX, having committed £548 million to the scheme. COVAX has allocated 2,000,000 vaccine doses to Nepal, of which 348,000 have already been delivered.


Written Question
India: Companies
Tuesday 20th April 2021

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the effect of retrospective tax legislation on UK companies seeking to do business with that country.

Answered by Nigel Adams

Supporting UK companies to do business in India is a priority for HMG. The UK is the second fastest growing investor in India over the last ten years and bilateral investments support over half a million jobs in each other's economies. Retrospective tax legislation is an internal matter for the Indian authorities.


Written Question
Development Aid: Expenditure
Tuesday 13th October 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

What steps he is taking to ensure (a) parliamentary and (b) independent scrutiny of Official Development Assistance spending.

Answered by James Duddridge

This Government is fully committed to independent and parliamentary scrutiny. In August, the Foreign Secretary announced our commitment to maintaining the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI). He also announced a departmental review to make ICAI even more effective, leveraging what works and producing even more practical recommendations.


Written Question
Overseas Aid
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

What his policy is on maintaining the statutory target to spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance.

Answered by Wendy Morton

We are committed to spending 0.7% of GNI on aid and development; this is a manifesto commitment and is enshrined in law. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have been firm that development will be at the heart of the new FCDO, working hand in hand with diplomacy. Development assistance provided by the UK aims to tackle the great challenges of our time, transform lives of the world’s poorest, and make the world a healthier, safer and more prosperous place for everyone. This allows us to shape the world around us for the better and help keep us safe. As an example of what UK ODA has achieved, since 2015 more than 33 million people have been reached by our humanitarian programmes, including at least 13 million women and girls. The FCDO brings together expertise from DFID and the FCO to ensure we place our world-class development programmes at the heart of our foreign policy. Supporting the poorest countries to become self-sufficient is firmly in line with British values and our own national interest.


Written Question
Brunei: LGBT People
Tuesday 2nd April 2019

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific made representations to the Government of Brunei on the whipping and stoning to death of LGBT+ people during his visit to that country in August 2018.

Answered by Mark Field

I raised UK concerns about hudud punishments during my visit to Brunei Darussalam in August 2018. More recently I raised these issues on Friday 29 March in a letter to the Deputy Foreign Minister. Additionally the British High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan regularly discusses the introduction of the Sharia Penal Code with the Government of Brunei.

We will continue to encourage and work with the Bruneian Government, as with many other countries, to remove corporal and capital punishment from their statutes. We will also urge them to take steps to decriminalise and pass laws to protect LGBT people from all forms of discrimination.

The UK believes in the right to live with dignity, free from violence or discrimination irrespective of a person's sexual orientation. The International community must uphold the universality of human rights; the criminalisation of same-sex relations is wrong.

The UK is committed to combating discrimination and violence against LGBT people throughout the Commonwealth and ensured that last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Communique included the most progressive language yet on LGBT rights, complimented by an historic speech from the Prime Minister, and backed up with major programme spending on gender equality and LGBT rights.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice has been updated to alert British citizens of the introduction of the new local laws in Brunei and we continue to lobby against the use of such punishments.


Written Question
Mediterranean Sea: Rescue Services
Thursday 13th December 2018

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Italian counterpart on the Italian Government's policy towards search and rescue ships in the Mediterranean.

Answered by Alan Duncan

​Her Majesty's Government has discussed policy towards search and rescue ships in the Mediterranean with the Government of Italy, both bilaterally and in co-operation with EU partners to find a sustainable solution to the issue.