Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what (a) staff and (b) legal resources have been committed to the International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Process Cell in his Department.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO currently has a small bespoke capability, including legal resources, to look specifically at international humanitarian law issues in the context of the Israel/Gaza conflict. This is part of a larger team in the UK and across our overseas network actively delivering the Government's goals of ending the conflict and reaching a lasting peace.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will publish the findings of each assessment by the International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Process Cell in his Department of Israel’s compliance with such law.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Legal advice to Ministers and policy assessments related to it are confidential. We therefore do not publish the International Humanitarian Law Cell's assessments of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL). It is for Ministers to decide what to say publicly about each assessment.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to section 8.2 of the UK strategic export controls annual report 2022, published on 19 July 2023, HC1681, which countries the 157 end-use cases where non-listed items were prevented from leaving the UK and brought within export controls were destined for; what those items were; and how many items were affected.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not put the detail you have requested in the public domain because its disclosure may prejudice operational detection and prevention capabilities.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy for strategic export controls annual reports to provide separate figures for voluntary disclosures and seizures in relation to (a) strategic export restrictions and (b) trade sanctions.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC will take this request away for consideration.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether Bytedance would be required to divest ownership of TikTok under the terms of the provision on Foreign power acquisition of news media organisations added by the Government to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The new terms introduced in our amendments to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC) are based on the Enterprise Act 2002, and will therefore only apply to newspapers and news magazines given the unique role these publications play in contributing to the health of our democracy by providing accurate news and information, helping to shape opinions and contributing to political debate.
These changes would not cover online news providers or online intermediaries, including social media platforms such as TikTok.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16678 on Department for Business and Trade: Supply Estimates, for what reason she has not provided the explanatory memorandum on her Department's supplementary estimates to the Business and Trade Committee; and when she plans to do so.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade’s Supplementary Estimates Explanatory Memorandum was sent to the chair of the Business and Trade Committee on Friday 15th March 2024.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much and what proportion of the funding for Post Office redress schemes has been allocated to fund the Group Litigation Order scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no fixed allocation of funding for Horizon scandal redress payments. Each redress claim is considered on its merits and the Government is committed to ensuring all necessary funding is available to pay all claims as soon as they are agreed.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Supplementary Estimates, published on 27 February 2024, HC 500, how she plans to spend the additional £1.09 billion requested by her Department for the Post Office; and whether this sum includes the £123 million already settled with sub-postmasters by the Post Office.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £1.09 billion requested by the Department for Post Office related matters as part of Supplementary Estimates for 23/24 is split by £338.4 million Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL), and £752.4 million non-cash Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).
The £338.4 million RDEL includes funding for redress to postmasters, investment costs to replace the Horizon IT system, delivery of the Horizon IT Inquiry and compensation schemes, Post Office’s corporation tax liabilities and the Group Litigation Order redress scheme.
The increase of £752.4 million AME budget is due to the expected increase in the provision for likely future costs relating to Post Office redress schemes. The forecast for the outstanding estimated liability is updated and agreed with HM Treasury on an annual basis.
This detail is shortly to be published in the Explanatory Memorandum for the Department.
Funding drawn down by the Department at the Supplementary Estimate relates only to value of expected redress settlements within this Financial Year, as well as other payments outlined above, and not to total amounts paid out to postmasters to date.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish an explanatory memorandum in relation to her Department’s supplementary estimates for 2023-24.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Yes, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade will publish an explanatory memorandum in relation to the Department’s Supplementary Estimates for 2023-24.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will confirm whether (a) Simon Blagden declared his relationship with Larkspur International to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) before his appointment to its advisory board, (b) UKHSA vetted Larkspur International before his appointment and (c) he supplied UKHSA with a list of Larkspur's clients.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Simon Blagden did not make a declaration of his relationship with Larkspur International to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) at the time of his appointment as he did not assess there to be any potential conflict of interest. This was compliant with the declaration policy in place. He did declare political donations as required and no conflict of interest was identified through the standard appointments process which precluded his appointment to the UKHSA Advisory Board.
Simon Blagden is an unpaid, associate non-Executive member of the Advisory Board, appointed by the Board. A review of the Conflicts of Interest policy was undertaken by the Government Internal Audit Agency in 2022 and did not raise any concerns with Mr Blagden’s declarations. UKHSA has since chosen to adopt a more stringent policy than the Government standard, requiring declaration of all interests whether they present a potential conflict or not. Under this new policy Mr Blagden has formally declared his relationship with Larkspur International.