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Written Question
Commonwealth: Cybercrime
Friday 22nd February 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 January 2019 on Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting: Update on delivery, HCWS1247, which Commonwealth member states are supported by his Department and the World Bank to deliver national cyber security reviews; what funding he has allocated to that programme; and when those reviews will report.

Answered by Alistair Burt

​Following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April 2018, the UK will fund at least ten national cyber security capacity reviews before the next Heads of Government meeting in 2020. The ten member states currently planned for a review are: Nigeria, the Gambia, Mauritius, Lesotho, Botswana, Cameroon, Namibia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. £0.7 million has been currently set aside from the Commonwealth 18-20 Fund and the UK Prosperity Fund for these reviews.


Written Question
Commonwealth: Offences against Children
Friday 22nd February 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement of 14 January 2019 on Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting: Update, HCWS1247, which member states will receive training on tackling online child exploitation; what funding he has allocated to that training; and when that training is planned to be completed.

Answered by Alistair Burt

In support of commitments made at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the UK has allocated £2 million to projects which tackle online child sexual exploitation. The Home Office is supporting work in Sri Lanka to build the evidence base, protect those at risk, and strengthen the co-ordination and implementation of efforts amongst multiple authorities and law enforcement agencies. The Home Office is also working with the African Union (AU) to strengthen regional and national capacity to address online child sexual exploitation, including in nine Commonwealth countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda. The project will also build capacity in several non-Commonwealth members of the AU.


Written Question
Armed Conflict: Schools
Friday 13th July 2018

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the letter from the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 24 April 2018 to schools that participated in the Safe Schools Declaration, what steps he is taking to encourage international partners to endorse that Declaration.

Answered by Mark Field

The UK is actively encouraging international partners to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration at both official and ministerial level. I was pleased to see the recent endorsements of the Declaration by Germany and by Djibouti. At a UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict on 9 July, the UK called upon all UN Security Council members and UN member states to endorse the Declaration. We will continue to make representations to countries who have yet to endorse the Declaration.


Written Question
LGBT People: Young People
Thursday 12th July 2018

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how the Government is supporting young LGBT+ people in line with the Safe Schools Declaration.

Answered by Mark Field

The UK is fully committed to the promotion and protection of LGBT rights. The Safe Schools Declaration is a humanitarian pledge to protect all children, students and education personnel in schools and educational facilities from attack during armed conflicts and protracted crises. The Government is in the process of implementing the Declaration and its supporting guidelines. The Declaration and its guidelines do not make specific reference to matters relating to LGBT persons.


Written Question
Cyprus: Politics and Government
Tuesday 11th July 2017

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help facilitate a negotiated solution to the dispute over the status of Cyprus.

Answered by Alan Duncan

The UK continues to be a strong supporter of a settlement to reunite Cyprus. I am disappointed that the Conference on Cyprus in Switzerland ended without agreement. We are encouraging all the parties to reflect on the outcome and consider next steps.


Written Question
UK Trade with EU
Tuesday 18th October 2016

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role his Department has taken in discussions with the EU on UK membership of the single market after the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by Alan Duncan

.The Department for Exiting the European Union is the lead department for such matters. As the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) said to the Foreign Affairs Committee last week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Exiting the European Union are working closely together to get the best possible deal for the British people.


Written Question
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Pay
Monday 29th February 2016

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of his Department were in each of the last five years.

Answered by Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays salaries according to a fixed banding structure. Pay rates, including hourly rates, for each band are the same for male and female employees.

The average hourly earnings for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK based staff, taken as a snapshot on the 31st of December each year, are:

Female

Male

Full-time

Part-time

2015

£18.63

£22.58

£20.83

17.98

2014

£18.33

£22.19

£20.54

17.74

2013

Data not yet available

2012

Data not yet available

2011

Data not yet available

Average earnings and average salaries are determined by a number of factors – length of service, levels of performance, promotions, type of work etc but a key factor is the distribution of staff throughout the FCO grading structure.

Further information on average salaries of staff is available on pages 6, 10 and 11 of the FCO Diversity & Equality report 2015.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450587/FFFCO827_Equality_Report_2015_v5.pdf


The figures do not include local staff directly employed by our embassies and missions overseas. To obtain this data would incur disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Wildlife: Smuggling
Thursday 5th November 2015

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will undertake a review into how his Department advises British citizens on the ethical rating of nations in line with performing to international standards on the illegal wildlife trade.

Answered by James Duddridge

The UK plays a leading role in encouraging countries to take action to stop poaching of endangered species and to reduce demand for illegal wildlife products. For example, the UK drafted both the London Declaration from the London Conference on IWT in 2014 and the Kasane Statement from the Botswana Conference of March 2015 to push countries into committing themselves to ambitious actions to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. A review was compiled for the Botswana Conference showing progress by countries on the commitments to action agreed at London. These documents have been made publicly available on www.gov.uk.


Written Question
Sustainable Development: Public Appointments
Thursday 5th November 2015

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will work with his international counterparts to request that the UN Secretary General appoint a Special Envoy for Sustainable Development.

Answered by James Duddridge

Effective follow up and implementation of the now-agreed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is one of the UK’s top priorities at the United Nations. We continue to discuss this with the UN Secretary General, the wider UN system, and Member States. It would need to be clear what value any new UN special envoy would add to existing UN activity before the UK advocated such an idea, over and above existing sustainable development activities.


Written Question
Wildlife: Smuggling
Thursday 5th November 2015

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many diplomatic staff whose work includes tackling the illegal wildlife trade are based in (a) China, (b) Vietnam, (c) Laos, (d) Malaysia, (e) Botswana, (f) Mozambique, (g) Gabon, (h) South Africa, (i) Thailand and (j) India.

Answered by James Duddridge

The numbers requested of diplomatic staff whose work includes illegal wildlife trade are as follows:

China - 5
Vietnam- 3
Laos- 2
Malaysia – 1
Botswana -2
Mozambique- 2
Gabon -2
South Africa -2
Thailand- 2
India -1

In most cases our diplomatic staff in these Posts spend a proportion of their overall time on this issue and are supported by locally engaged staff who also work on tackling illegal wildlife trade.