Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to which countries his Department has gifted equipment costing less than £300,000 per gift in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not record centrally the gifts that it makes with a value less than £300,000. Consequently, details of these gifts could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Parliament is notified of any gifts above £300,000. Such gifts are typically of items of equipment we might provide to friendly countries.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office's Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance is generally considered to be a global standard for the screening of overseas activities for unintended human rights risk. It is a tool that allows the Government to assist countries struggling to protect human rights, while also ensuring that British assistance does not inadvertently worsen the situation. Officials are currently considering changes to the guidance, drawing on five years of experience of application to improve it further. We would like to make it easier for all parts of Government with a role to play overseas to collaborate to produce the best possible assessments of risk and the strongest possible mitigations of those risks. These changes will not in any way increase our level of tolerance of the risk of causing human rights violations. We will inform Parliament when Ministers have considered what changes might be made.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in response to his Memorandum on surveillance and oversight mechanisms in the United Kingdom, published in May 2016.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Following his visit to the United Kingdom from 17 – 22 January, Commissioner Muižnieks published his “Memorandum on surveillance and oversight mechanisms in the United Kingdom” on 17 May. The same day Her Majesty’s Government formally responded, detailing the necessity of surveillance powers and the ways in which the Government has bought world-leading oversight and transparency to these powers. The Government’s full response, which runs to 27 pages, can be found on the Commissioner's website here: http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/country-report/united-kingdom
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The table below shows the average hourly salary rates for all employees (Senior Civil Service and below) within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, I would note to the Hon. Member that such simple overall averages do not paint an accurate figure of our workforce and recruitment practices. The table therefore also includes a breakdown for each Foreign and Commonwealth Office grade.
| 2015 | 2016 | ||||
Grade | BME | Non-BME | Unknown | BME | Non-BME | Unknown |
A1 | 9.76 | 9.95 | 9.55 | 9.59 | 9.71 | 9.59 |
A2 | 11.14 | 11.07 | 11.09 | 11.18 | 11.09 | 11.07 |
B3 | 13.01 | 13.11 | 13.06 | 13.04 | 13.16 | 13.08 |
C4 | 15.06 | 15.15 | 15.36 | 15.39 | 15.64 | 15.64 |
C5 | 18.28 | 18.97 | 18.93 | 18.66 | 19.01 | 19.00 |
D6 | 25.75 | 24.91 | 25.30 | 26.49 | 25.86 | 26.00 |
D7 | 30.05 | 30.75 | 31.21 | 30.60 | 31.09 | 30.84 |
SMS1 | 36.48 | 36.48 | 37.61 | 36.45 | 36.63 | 36.20 |
SMS2 | 46.37 | 46.80 | 49.78 | 46.78 | 47.39 | 48.84 |
SMS3 |
| 64.79 | 70.00 | 60.94 | 66.32 | 66.45 |
SMS4 |
|
| 92.52 |
| 96.16 | 89.66 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall | 15.81 | 20.82 | 20.64 | 16.15 | 21.58 | 19.81 |
The Civil Service is changing, and our recruitment seeks to reflect the make-up and composition of our nation as a whole. Historically, BME staff were under-represented, both in terms of previous recruitment patterns and the number and proportion in higher grades. These factors have contributed to the differences in overall average salaries.
We are making progress - the proportion of BME staff in the Civil Service has risen from 9.2% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2015 - but we recognise that there is still more to do.
In March, the Government published its 2016 Talent Action Plan for the Civil Service. It provides a progress update on initiatives to increase diversity in the Civil Service, including cross-Government talent programmes aimed at under-represented groups.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/talent-action-plan-2016-removing-the-barriers-to-success
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aung San Suu Kyi, on human rights for the Rohingya.
Answered by Lord Swire
We remain deeply concerned about the plight of the Rohingya community. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the situation of the Rohingya with Aung San Suu Kyi during his conversation with her after the Burmese election in November. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), subsequently wrote to Daw Suu in December, again raising this issue. The Burma Resolution at the March Human Rights Council, which we co-sponsored, placed Rakhine as the central and most pressing human rights matter facing the incoming administration.
While the new Government has been in power for a few weeks only, we will continue to support and encourage Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy-led Government in making progress on this important issue.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with international partners on aid access to Madaya in Syria.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The UK is part of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG). The ISSG Humanitarian Task Force meets on a weekly basis to push for increased access across Syria, in line with relevant Security Council Resolutions. We have been pushing hard through these discussions for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach places in Syria, including Madaya. As a result, humanitarian convoys have reached 11 besieged areas, including Madaya - several inter-agency convoys have reached a total of 150,000 people in besieged areas. This is out of a total of 487,000 people in besieged areas.
However, progress is too slow. More needs to be done to provide for all those in need in Syria. We are also deeply concerned by reports of civilian deaths in Madaya because their medical evacuations were blocked. We are pressing for an end to the removal of medical equipment from convoys by the regime, the evacuation of critical medical cases and regular access to healthcare for besieged populations.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US and Russian counterparts on ensuring the Syrian High Negotiations Committee is involved in drafting Syria's new constitution.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has frequent discussions with his US counterpart about all aspects of the Syrian conflict including the involvement of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) in the political process. Most recently they spoke at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima on 10-11 April. The UK also continues to engage with Russia, including through visits of senior officials to Moscow. These countries are active members of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) which is committed to achieving a Syrian-led political solution to the conflict. Working alongside ISSG counterparts, we are supporting the UN-facilitated intra-Syrian negotiations currently underway in Geneva, where the HNC is representing the Opposition in negotiations on a political settlement. Discussions on a new Syrian constitution will need to take place in this forum.