Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There is no record of any such discussions.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what funding her Department has directly or indirectly provided to organisations for the purposes of advocacy in Venezuela in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 15 May 2025 to Question 50066. He can find details of all programmes supported in Venezuela on the GOV.UK Development Tracker (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/).
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West
Since July 2024, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has had no staff seconded from Hakluyt.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of their Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West
Since July 2024 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has had no staff seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute or (d) Labour Together.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff his Department has seconded from Palantir since July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not seconded any staff from Palantir into the FCDO since July 2024.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law in the context of it's recent military activity in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are monitoring the situation closely and continue to call on Israel to uphold their obligations to peace, stability, and security under international law. The Israeli government has stated that their presence in the Golan Heights buffer zone is defensive, limited and temporary - and we expect them to adhere to this commitment It is longstanding UK policy that the Golan Heights are occupied territory, and we do not recognise Israel's annexation of them. We oppose the construction of illegal settlements.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of Russia’s compliance with international humanitarian law in the context of it's military activity in Ukraine.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are fully committed to holding Russian forces to account for any violations of international humanitarian law that have been committed in Ukraine. Established accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court's investigations and Ukrainian domestic judicial processes are investigating allegations of atrocity crimes. The UK, US and EU established the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, specifically to support Ukraine in its efforts to document, investigate and prosecute such crimes.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government recognises the Golan Heights as Syrian territory.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our position remains clear: The Golan Heights are occupied territory and we do not recognise Israel's annexation of them. We continue to call on Israel and all actors to uphold their obligations to peace, stability and security under international law.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on whether the Israeli Defence Force has committed a breach of international law in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO's International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Cell undertakes regular assessments of Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law, as well as aspects of its record of compliance in order to meet our legal obligations under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). Our assessments have raised concerns about possible breaches of IHL in the areas of humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees. The UK's robust export licensing criteria state that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. Given our conclusions on 2 September, we suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in the Gaza.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by David Rutley
We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the FCDO have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.
Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.