Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2014, Official Report, column 735W, on the South Pacific, what his Department is projected to spend on the Senior Pacific Police Leadership Programme in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Swire
I refer the Hon Member to my reply of 3 July (Official Report, column 735W). I have asked officials to update his office directly when a decision on funding is reached.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of recent trends in the level of use of forced labour in Chin state, Burma.
Answered by Lord Swire
The Burmese government has taken welcome steps towards the elimination of forced labour, as noted in the Resolution adopted at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. However, we recognise that forced labour continues to be a problem in Chin State and elsewhere in Burma. We urge the government to continue its co-operation with the UN and International Labour Organisation to ensure this practice is eliminated once and for all.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of (a) the value of the Senior Pacific Police Leadership Program; and (b) the effect of the level of investment in the program by his Department.
Answered by Lord Swire
The aim of the Senior Pacific Police Leadership Programme (SPPL), which ran in 2013, was to improve leadership skills, promote ethical policing practices and reinforce the rights of women in the Pacific. The programme was run in partnership with Australia and New Zealand and was well received by the students and their respective governments.
Twenty-one senior police officers from 15 Pacific Island Countries took part - and it was designed to complement larger scale assistance being provided by our allies in the region.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £23,000 on the SPPL programme. We believe that the SPPL programme has had a positive impact, and helped improve police leadership in the countries which participated. Feedback from our partners in those countries, and from our New Zealand partners who hosted the programme, suggests that the SPPL programme provided a quality of training that would not otherwise be available in the region.