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Written Question
Zambia: Cholera
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help provide humanitarian support following the recent outbreak of cholera in Zambia.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK is providing £670,000 towards the International Federation of the Red Cross emergency appeal, which is operating to support the Government of Zambia Cholera Response Plan. We have also deployed a two-member UK Emergency Medical Team and a three person UK Public Health Rapid Support Team who are providing support to the response. These teams have joined the existing UK Health Security Agency team in Zambia, which has developed a close partnership with Zambian health authorities since 2019, helping to build technical capability and strengthening public health systems.


Written Question
Ethiopia: Famine
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Ethiopia.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need. We have already increased our humanitarian support this financial year to £74 million. This includes a £23 million contribution to the Productive Safety Net Programme that will reach a further 350,000 people living in extreme poverty across Ethiopia. Additionally, the UK recently announced £100 million of funding that includes providing lifesaving nutritional support.


Written Question
Gaza: Children
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing support for unaccompanied children in Gaza.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

From our £60 million of committed aid, we have provided targeted support for children through our £5.75 million contribution to UNICEF. Our funding is supporting their work to amongst other things, assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support.

The UK is a founding member and key donor to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. ECW is supporting education preparedness work in Gaza. We continue to support the wider delivery of education in Gaza, including through NGOs, UN partners, the World Bank, and the Global Partnership for Education.


Written Question
Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Gaza.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.

Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.

We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.


Written Question
Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the continued supply of aid to Gaza.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.

Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.

We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.


Written Question
Armed Conflict: Gender Based Violence
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls in conflict zones.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

As a global leader on action to address conflict-related sexual violence, the Government has committed £60m to our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative since launch in 2012. The Government has also sanctioned 13 perpetrators for conflict-related sexual violence since 2022. At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, the UK announced a further £2m funding to refugee and women-led organisations working to tackle Gender-Based Violence in crisis.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has separate qualifying criteria for entitlement to support for Afghan refugees who were employed (a) directly by the Government or British Council and (b) employed by an organisation funded by the Government or British Council.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Eligible at-risk Afghan Nationals, who were directly employed by the British Government and British Council, and those working for programmes funded by the British Government and British Council who supported the UK effort in Afghanistan, are both being considered for resettlement if they applied for the MOD-led Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme. The eligibility criteria for ARAP is set out on gov.uk. Any offer of resettlement will be contingent on security screening and provision of biometric information. We continue to work, including with likeminded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan, on resettlement issues and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.


Written Question
Afghanistan: Refugees
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has separate qualifying criteria for entitlement to support for Afghan refugees who were employed (a) directly by the Government or British Council and (b) by an organisation funded by the Government or British Council.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Eligible at-risk Afghan Nationals, who were directly employed by the British Government and British Council, and those working for programmes funded by the British Government and British Council who supported the UK effort in Afghanistan, are both being considered for resettlement if they applied for the MOD-led Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme. The eligibility criteria for ARAP is set out on gov.uk. Any offer of resettlement will be contingent on security screening and provision of biometric information. We continue to work, including with likeminded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan, on resettlement issues and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans.


Written Question
Academic Technology Approval Scheme
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle delays in processing applications for the Academic Technology Approval Scheme.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

So far in 2022 we have received over 49,000 ATAS applications, of which only 824 remain beyond their target processing time. In order to process these numbers, staffing has been increased and a significant IT upgrade is underway.

ATAS continues to be an essential tool to prevent sensitive UK technology from reaching military programmes of concern.


Written Question
Colombia: Homicide
Friday 15th July 2022

Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer to the Question from the hon. Member for City of Durham on 21 June 2022, Official Report, column 695, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Colombian government’s investigation of the (a) killing of civilians and (b) actions of the military in Alto Remanso in Putumayo on 28 March 2022.

Answered by Vicky Ford

The British Government remains concerned for conflict-affected communities that continue to be affected by violence in Colombia. We look to the Colombian authorities to investigate fully reports of human rights violations, and take appropriate action against those found to be responsible for any violations, including members of the Armed forces.

Colombia is an Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Human Rights Priority Country and UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise human rights issues, as well as specific cases of concern, with the Colombian Government. Most recently, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon discussed human rights and the security situation in Colombia in his meeting with President Duque on 12 April. I [Minister Ford] also discussed human rights concerns with Vice-President and Foreign Minister Ramírez on 10 February.