Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 recent military skirmishes on the Himalayan border between India and China; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Prime Minister commented in Parliament on 24 June that we are monitoring the situation closely and that we encourage both India and China to engage in dialogue. The status of the India-China border is a bilateral issue and we welcome the call between Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Jaishankar on 17 June, the meeting between Army Commanders on 22 June, and the agreement that both sides would take steps to de-escalate.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he and his Ministers have made representations to their counterparts in the US on the issue of police brutality in that country following the murder of George Floyd; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has been clear that the death of George Floyd was appalling, inexcusable and deeply distressing. We hope and trust that justice will be done. The violence we've seen in the US around this is very alarming. We've been clear that people must be allowed to protest peacefully. Our Embassy in the US has raised the issue of the protests with the US Administration and have explained the very strong interest in this issue among the British public.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
From the 2019 Civil Service People Survey, 2,855 employees in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated that they had caring responsibilities. This is from 11,466 respondents (85% of the organisation). Data on caring responsibilities previous to 2019 is not held centrally and to compile it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what estimate she has made of the number of LGBTQ+ people being given conversion therapy in 2020 in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
According to the Government’s 2017 National LGBT Survey which surveyed over 100,000 LGBT people across the UK, 2% of respondents said they had undergone conversion therapy, and a further 5% of respondents said they had been offered it.
The Government takes this issue very seriously and fundamentally disagrees with any attempt to forcibly change someone’s sexuality. I am working with colleagues across Government on this issue, and we will outline plans to end its practice in due course.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has held discussions with his US counterpart on the release of Michael White by Iran; what lessons his Department can apply from that case in relation to release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The release of Michael White is a matter for the US Government; we should not draw parallels between the different circumstances in each case. The permanent release of all arbitrarily detained dual nationals in Iran and their return to their families in the UK remains our top priority. While the further extension of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release is a welcome step, we continue to urge the Iranian Government to make it permanent so she can return to her family in the UK. We continue to raise their cases at the most senior levels, and discuss them at every opportunity with our Iranian counterparts. Our Ambassador in Tehran consistently raises all of our dual national detainees with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.