Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support people facing food insecurity due to El Niño in (a) Colombia, (b) Ecuador, (c) Peru and (d) Bolivia.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is a significant contributor to global humanitarian pooled funds which are activated to respond to a humanitarian crisis such as those caused by El Nino. This includes the UN Crisis Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) and the NGO Start Fund.The UK is providing expertise through a multi-year Government-to-Government Agreement with Peru to support the reconstruction of the country's public service facilities following severe damage caused by El Niño flooding in 2017 and supporting Peru through the Start Fund and Save the Children in its humanitarian response to flooding caused by heavy rainfall and high sea temperatures in northern Peru in March this year. Since June 2023, the Start Fund has also provided £140,000 to support NGO responses to the health, water and food security impacts of drought in Colombia. These responses targeted assistance to thousands of people across the region.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the BGI Group (a) has or (b) has ever had contracts with his Department.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not have, nor has ever had, contracts with the BGI Group.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the ruling by the Appeal Court in Hong Kong on the banning of the song entitled Glory to Hong Kong.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are concerned about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, including freedom of speech, which is guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. As the then Foreign Secretary said in the foreword to the January - July 2023 Six-monthly Report, "the Hong Kong authorities have extended the application of the National Security Law beyond genuine national security concerns…to use legal routes to supress the song 'Glory to Hong Kong'". I raised the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong with Christopher Hui, Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 24 April during my visit to China.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department plans to take steps with (a) NGOs and (b) charities to tackle deficiencies in water (i) quality and (ii) access in South American countries due to El Niño.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is a significant contributor to global humanitarian pooled funds which are activated to respond to a humanitarian crisis such as those caused by El Nino. This includes the UN Crisis Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) and the NGO Start Fund. Since June 2023, the Start Fund has provided £750,000 across the region to support responses to water, health and food security impacts of drought, particularly in Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia, with these responses targeting around 25,000 people.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the cap on faith school admissions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
My Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced on 1 May 2024 that the department are consulting on faith designation reforms for new and existing free schools and special academies. This is available on Hansard at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-05-01/hcws437.
The consultation will run for seven weeks, closing on 20 June 2024. The department will then carefully consider all responses to the consultation and use them to inform the department’s recommendations for better meeting the policy objectives of faith schools.
The government’s response will be published on the GOV.UK website within twelve weeks following closure of the consultation.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department plans to take to investigate the recent MoD security breach.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The recent MoD security breach with the compromise of MoD payroll information is the work of malign cyber actors who compromised a contractor-run network entirely separate from the MoD core system. A specialist security review of the contractor and its operations is under way by the MoD. We cannot rule out a state or criminal actor at this stage. Investigations are ongoing and appropriate steps will be taken.
We consider every case on its merits and will not always name who was responsible for a specific incident. Should the UK Government choose to respond publicly, it will do so at a time of our choosing when we judge it is in the best interests of the UK to do so.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to vehicle tax for electric and low emissions vehicles from 1 April 2025 on the number of purchases of those vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From April 2025, electric and hybrid cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles. The anticipated impact is summarised in the Policy Costings document that was published alongside Autumn Statement 2022, and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6375caf8e90e072848403c47/Autumn_Statement_2022_Policy_Costings_.pdf (p. 24).
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Oral Statement of 24 April 2024, Official Report, column 939, if he will publish details of how his Department's increase in spending will be funded.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The uplift will be funded by providing Defence with a greater share of the Government's overall R&D budget, and by reducing headcount in the Civil Service to pre-pandemic levels by 2029-30.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with his Iranian counterpart on Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the death sentence of prominent and fearless artist Toomaj Salehi. Iran's deliberate attempts to silence dissenting voices are clear for all to see. We call for Mr Salehi's immediate release, and the release of all those who are unjustly detained by the Iranian regime. Mr Salehi's sentence is yet more evidence of unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression in Iran. Nine people associated with the "Woman Life Freedom" protests have been executed.
The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We condemn Iran's continued imposition of the death penalty on protesters and have sanctioned 94 Iranian individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022. We call on Iran to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the (a) adequacy of the transparency of the Chinese government on their handling of the covid-19 outbreak and (b) implications for his policies of the protest by Zhang Yongzhen.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of the protest made by Zhang Yongzhen. Clearly there are questions that still need to be answered about the origin and spread of COVID-19, not least so we can ensure we are better prepared for future pandemics. We are not going to rule anything out until a robust, transparent and science-led review has taken place. The UK continues to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its expert study of the origins of Covid-19. It is important that China and other countries cooperate fully with the researchers.