Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of applications to anchor in the British Indian Ocean Territory that were rejected in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK and is administered by the BIOT Administration. The FCDO does not hold a record of the number and proportion of rejected applications to anchor in the Territory.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many fishing logs have been inspected by Fisheries Protection Officers in the British Indian Ocean Territory in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK and is administered by the BIOT Administration. The FCDO does not hold a record of how many fishing logs have been inspected by Fisheries Protection Officers in BIOT in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many Fisheries Protection Officers are commissioned to patrol the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Answered by David Rutley
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK and is administered by the BIOT Administration. The FCDO does not hold a record of the number of Fisheries Protections Officers commissioned to patrol BIOT.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will publish the registered nationalities of vessels given permission to anchor in the British Indian Ocean Territory in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK and is administered by the BIOT Administration. The FCDO does not hold a record of the nationalities of vessels given permission to anchor in the Territory.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of anchor permits issued to vessels in the British Indian Ocean Territory in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is constitutionally distinct and separate from the UK and is administered by the BIOT Administration. The FCDO does not hold a record of the number and proportion of anchor permits issued to vessels in the Territory.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what mechanisms are in place to disrupt Hamas’ financial networks.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The UK, along with our G7 partners, is committed to taking action to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities. Hamas is a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, meaning it is a criminal offence in the UK to provide money or other property to the group. Since the 7 October attacks on Israel, the UK has also designated 19 individuals and entities in the senior leadership and financial networks of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), in close coordination with the US. This adds to the existing sanctions on Hamas and PIJ in their entirety. We have also used our new Iran sanctions powers to target Iranian financial support for Hamas. As the Foreign Secretary has said, our sanctions send a clear message that the UK is committed to ensuring there is no hiding place for those financing terrorist activities.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.
The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70 per cent since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68 per cent by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people killed in attacks in the north-central Plateau state in Nigeria in December 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The number of people killed in attacks in Plateau state, Nigeria, during December 2023, remains uncertain, particularly as not all attacks are reported to local authorities. The British High Commissioner has raised the recent attacks in Plateau with the Nigerian National Security Adviser, and the UK continues to monitor the situation closely. The UK is committed to supporting Nigeria to tackle the causes of intercommunal conflict, including through the Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria programme.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of aerial bombardments by Turkey in the northeast of Syria in the last 12 months.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The UK recognises Turkey's legitimate security interests in Syria but also the need to protect civilian lives and infrastructure, and to avoid destabilising activity. Security and stability in the region are essential to prevent worsening of the already serious humanitarian situation in northern Syria and enable the Global Coalition to continue the fight against Daesh. We continue to monitor the situation, but the UK is not in a position to provide a figure on the number of Turkish airstrikes in Northeast Syria over the last 12 months.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, for what reason the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Americas, Caribbean and the Overseas Territories) visited Antarctica.
Answered by David Rutley
I [Minister Rutley] have not visited Antarctica yet but will travel to the region at the end of December 2023. During the visit, I will see first-hand the impact of climate change on this unique environment. I will also have the opportunity to observe the world-class scientific work of the British Antarctic Survey. As the Minister with responsibility for the Polar Regions, the visit will also provide an opportunity to support and thank those who work in Antarctica for extended periods. This will be the first visit to Antarctica by an FCO/FCDO Minister since 2001.