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.
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.
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.
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.
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 estimate he has made of the number of acts of criminal damage or violence undertaken in the pas de Calais region against vehicles owned by UK companies or citizens since July 2014; and what representations he has made to French authorities on that matter.
Answered by David Lidington
Policing in the Pas de Calais region is a matter for the French authorities. The UK Government therefore does not hold details on the number of acts of criminal damage or violence undertaken in the Pas de Calais region. I and my Ministerial colleagues regularly discuss matters of law and order in the region with our French counterparts. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Ms May), was in Paris on 2 July to meet her French counterpart, M Cazeneuve, the Interior Minister. Law and order was among the topics they discussed.