Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the oil tanker FSO Safer on (a) the environment, (b) the economy and (c) the humanitarian situation in Yemen in the event that the tanker was to fragment or capsize.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
UK funded assessments have outlined the catastrophic effects of an FSO SAFER incident. A oil spill has the potential to be four times larger than the Exxon-Valdez and cause up to $20 billion in damages. It would shut down the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef, cutting off life-saving humanitarian aid to Yemen for months, pushing the country even further towards famine. An oil fire would expose 8.4 million people to dangerous air pollution and put 14.9 million at risk of losing their crops.
The UK has kept this issue on the international agenda. We welcome the agreement between the Houthis and the UN on 24 November on the scope of the UN assessment mission, to which we have contributed £2.5 million. The UN estimates it will be able to begin the mission in early February. We are also supporting the development of comprehensive UN contingency plans should a leak occur. We regularly engage with the Houthis at senior levels to press them to facilitate the UN mission and avert a disaster.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of reports by human rights lawyer, Emma Reilly, of the UN sharing the names of Uyghur dissidents with the Chinese Government.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is aware of these reports and has made enquiries into them. We note that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said it stopped the practice of occasionally confirming the names of UN Human Rights Council participants to States in 2015 and does not believe that it has resulted in harm to any participants.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the (a) Chinese and (b) Russian Ambassadors to the UK on support for the creation of new Marine Protected Areas around Antarctica.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Antarctic Treaty, its Protocol on Environmental Protection and the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have indefinite durations.
Three large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals are under consideration by the CAMLR Commission, in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula. The UK is co-sponsor of the first two and has contributed significant scientific input to the ongoing development of the latter. There was little opportunity to discuss the MPA proposals at this year's CAMLR Commission meeting, which was held virtually between 27 and 30 October. Nevertheless, around three-quarters of the Commission members spoke positively about making progress on further MPA designations. Russia and China continued to express their reluctance to agree the MPA proposals. Many Commission members, including the UK, have spoken directly to Russia and China and will continue to do so, both through their CCAMLR delegations and directly via diplomatic posts, to press for progress on the designation of MPAs in the CCAMLR area.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made for the implications for his policies on the revision of the Antarctic Treaty of the decision by China and Russia to refuse the creation of new Marine Protected Areas around Antarctica.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Antarctic Treaty, its Protocol on Environmental Protection and the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have indefinite durations.
Three large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals are under consideration by the CAMLR Commission, in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula. The UK is co-sponsor of the first two and has contributed significant scientific input to the ongoing development of the latter. There was little opportunity to discuss the MPA proposals at this year's CAMLR Commission meeting, which was held virtually between 27 and 30 October. Nevertheless, around three-quarters of the Commission members spoke positively about making progress on further MPA designations. Russia and China continued to express their reluctance to agree the MPA proposals. Many Commission members, including the UK, have spoken directly to Russia and China and will continue to do so, both through their CCAMLR delegations and directly via diplomatic posts, to press for progress on the designation of MPAs in the CCAMLR area.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he will have with his (a) Chinese and (b) Russian counterparts on the creation of Marine Protected Areas around Antarctica before the next round of talks on the revision of the Antarctic Treaty.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Antarctic Treaty, its Protocol on Environmental Protection and the Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have indefinite durations.
Three large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals are under consideration by the CAMLR Commission, in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula. The UK is co-sponsor of the first two and has contributed significant scientific input to the ongoing development of the latter. There was little opportunity to discuss the MPA proposals at this year's CAMLR Commission meeting, which was held virtually between 27 and 30 October. Nevertheless, around three-quarters of the Commission members spoke positively about making progress on further MPA designations. Russia and China continued to express their reluctance to agree the MPA proposals. Many Commission members, including the UK, have spoken directly to Russia and China and will continue to do so, both through their CCAMLR delegations and directly via diplomatic posts, to press for progress on the designation of MPAs in the CCAMLR area.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has to help improve (a) water and (b) hygiene infrastructure in developing states.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Improving water, sanitation and hygiene is necessary to meet the UK ambition to end preventable deaths by 2030. The UK continues to fund the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene interventions across the globe, including responding to outbreaks of disease such as COVID-19, cholera and ebola.
UK funding has meant that over 62.6 million people across 30 countries have gained access to drinking water or a toilet since 2015. Action on hygiene, particularly hand and surface hygiene, is particularly important in the COVID-19 response and recovery. The UK Government's partnership with Unilever seeks to improve hygiene in 37 countries in response to the pandemic.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a breakdown of the expenditure of the £75 million announced as part of the partnership between Government and airlines to repatriate stranded British travellers during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Government has committed up to £75 million to help thousands of British travellers return home and this work is ongoing. A proportion of this commitment has been spent to date across the repatriation effort - not only directly on the transport required to get people home - including charter flights to the UK - but also the costs of ground transport and internal flights to get people to the departure airport. As with all spend, we are committed to ensuring value of money for the taxpayer. Work continues to help British travellers get home, and we are retaining the capacity and capability to stand up further charter flights if necessary. Provision of a detailed breakdown at this point would impact ongoing and future tenders for charter flights and include currently commercially sensitive information.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of the UK's Overseas Territory Blue Belt marine protected areas have published and are implementing marine protected area management plans.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's Overseas Territories Blue Belt initiative is on track to deliver over 4 million square kilometres of protected ocean during this year. Of the Marine Protected Areas which have been designated to date, St Helena and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have adopted and published Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Management Plans. The British Indian Ocean Territory has developed an internal conservation plan which guides activities. The South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf MPA, in British Antarctic Territory waters, is managed through the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Ascension Island and Pitcairn are in the process of developing their Management Plans, with the support of the Blue Belt team.