Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the (a) amounts and (b) recipients of Information Services expenses in excess of £5,000 in the last full financial year.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We do not recognise "information services" as a category of expenditure.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the (a) budgets and (b) recipients in excess of £10,000 in 2018-19 for programmes to support (i) human rights, (ii) good governance, (iii) international security, (iv) tackle illicit drugs and (v) anything else.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) departmental policy programme advances our foreign policy interests overseas, including in areas such as human rights, reform of the international system and a wide-range of other priority policy areas. The objectives of the Official Development Assistance-eligible aspects of the policy programme is published on the FCO's pages of gov.uk including the indicative budgets and actual spend. In addition we also publish details of departmental spending over £25,000 on a monthly basis on gov.uk, which includes expenditure under our departmental policy programme.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Philippines on the protection of religious groups in that country.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK is committed to the promotion of human rights, including freedom of religion and belief. Whilst we have not had specific discussions with the Philippine Government on religious freedom, we have regular discussions on human rights, including our concerns about the conduct of the "war on drugs" and the situation of human rights defenders. This included the UK/Philippines High Level talks that took place on 19th November.
The UK believes places of religious worship are sites for peace and reflection. The terror attacks on the Catholic Cathedral on the island of Jolo on 27 January and on a mosque in Zamboanga on 30 January go against the very essence of this.
Last week the Foreign Secretary launched a review into what more the FCO network can do to support religious freedoms for Christians around the world.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 budget for consular activities not based in embassies and high commissions by country in 2018-19.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
In Financial Year 2018-19, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Consular Directorate has allocated £829,200 for partnerships with 18 non-governmental organisations, charities and safe houses in the UK and overseas. These organisations provide specialist assistance, information and support to British nationals abroad that the FCO cannot provide. In addition, £240,000 has been allocated for individual projects to help British nationals abroad.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 security situation in the Philippines following recent terrorist attacks in that country.
Answered by Mark Field
The security situation in Sulu province remains tense and the FCO continue to advise against all travel to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups.
The UK works with the Philippines Authorities on a range of bilateral priorities including on counter terrorism.
I issued a statement on 27th January condeming the recent attack in Sulu Province. The UK stands with the Philippines against terror and hatred.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the annual budget for Wilton Park Executive Agency for 2018-19 is.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) budget for Wilton Park in 2018-19 consists of £500,000 core funding, £1.4 million in Official Development Assistance, and £250,000 in capital funding. In addition, FCO Directorates provide discretionary spending on individual events, coming to just over £900,000 for 2018-19. Wilton Park's total turnover for the year will be just under £6 million, with the rest coming from other sources.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many hospitality and facilities expenses exceeded £5,000 in the last financial year; and who the recipients of that hospitality was.
Answered by Alan Duncan
In the Financial Year 2017-18 Government Hospitality in Protocol Directorate organised 37 events whose costs amounted to £5000 or more. The events were hosted to mark the following occasions:
NSA Farewell Reception |
Commercial Courts Dinner |
Somalia Conference Welcome Reception |
Somalia Conference Catering |
Ukraine Conference Catering |
FCO Leadership Conference |
DIT Reception |
FS Summer Reception |
World Hydrography Day Recption |
P3+3 Libya Conference |
International Shipping Week Reception |
ASEAN 50th Anniversary Reception |
Belvedere Forum Reception |
Central European FM and PD Meeting and Lunch |
DIT Investors Dinner |
Wardrop Dialogue Reception |
Remembrance Sunday |
Defence Council Reception |
Civil Service Awards |
OTD Conference |
OTD JMC Reception |
HMRC Peoples' Awards |
IMO 30th Anniversary Reception |
DIT Christmas Reception |
UK China P2P Dialogue |
FS Christmas Reception |
UK-Japan FM and Defence Lunch |
UK-France Summit Lunch |
UK-France Summit Reception |
Education World Forum Reception |
Baltic Reception |
Belvedere Forum |
Patient Safety Conference Reception |
St David's Day Reception |
UKTI Security Policing Reception |
UK - KSA Social Inclusion Dinner |
FS Hosted Commonwealth Reception |
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will set out his Departments operations with a budget of more than £500,000 in (a) strategic programmes, (b) bilateral programmes and (c) FCO services in the 2018-19 financial year.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We publish details of departmental spending over £25,000 on a monthly basis on gov.uk, which includes expenditure under our departmental policy programme and expenditure to FCO Services.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the annual budget is for each embassy and high commission in 2018-19.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Compiling figures on such a basis can only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 counterparts in (a) China and (b) Canada on diplomatic relations between those countries.
Answered by Mark Field
The Foreign Secretary spoke to his counterpart Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland of Canada on 20 December and there have been regular contacts with Canada at official level since then. In a statement on 21 December, the Foreign Secretary expressed confidence that Canada was conducting a fair and transparent legal proceeding with respect to Ms Meng Wanzhou, the Chief Financial Officer of Huawei. He also expressed concern at suggestions of a political motivation for the detention of two Canadian citizens by the Chinese government, and called for them to be treated in a fair, unbiased and transparent manner. We have discussed the matter with Chinese officials in London and will continue to monitor the situation through our Embassy in Beijing and High Commission in Ottawa.