Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As of 31 December 2019, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) employed 112 apprentices, of whom 62 work for our Trading Fund, FCO Services. We expect a further 51 staff to enrol on an apprenticeship by 31 March 2020.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2019 to Question 233007 on Ilois: Finance, on what dates were the visits organised by the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration between 2000 and 2016 to allow Chagossians access to their homeland; and how many Chagossians participated in each of those visits.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Between 2000 and 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded a total of 10 visits, involving 164 Chagossian participants, to the British Indian Overseas Territories. A breakdown is included below:
Year | Month | Number of Chagossians |
2006 | September | 56 |
2008 | February – March | 8 |
2008 | November | 6 |
2009 | October - November | 18 |
2010 | (dates not available) | 7 |
2011 | March | 12 |
2011 | June | 4 |
2011 | November | 15 |
2013 | October – November | 20 |
2015 | April – May | 18 |
2016 | (no visits) | 0 |
On 16 November 2016, I announced the UK's decision to fund a package to improve support for Chagossians. This included an expanded programme of visits to the British Indian Oceans Territories.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2019 to Question 230807 on Ilois Finance, how many visits £312,899.37 has financed, and how many Chagossians have to date (a) expressed interest but not yet participated and (b) participated in those visits from (i) Seychelles, (ii) Mauritius, (iii) the UK and (iv) other countries.
Answered by Alan Duncan
76 Chagossians have participated in five Heritage Visits to date which have been funded by the Support Package. This breaks down by country:
Seychelles: 7
Mauritius: 18
UK: 51
Other countries: 0
There have been 156 initial expressions of interest who have not participated in a Heritage Visit. Not all went onto complete questionnaires, and of those who did, not all met the requirements to participate in a Heritage Visit.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Chagos Conservation Trust has returned any unspent funds that were provided by his Department for the purposes of the Chagossian Outreach Programme; and how much in total (a) was and (b) remains to be provided for that programme.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Chagos Environmental Outreach Project (later named Connect Chagos) ran from March 2012 to December 2015. In total just over £330,000 was provided by the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration to the Chagos Conservation Trust and Zoological Society for London for the delivery of the programme. At the end of the programme, an underspend of £16,745 was reported. The British Indian Ocean Territory Administration is in discussions with the Chagos Conservation Trust about options for the use of this underspend. No additional funding remains to be provided.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2018 to Question 170339 on Ilois Finance, how much of the £40 million fund for Chagossians has been allocated to date; to whom that funding has been allocated; and for what purposes that money has been allocated.
Answered by Alan Duncan
£312,899.37 of the £40 million fund has been spent to date, largely on implementing an expanded programme of Heritage Visits for Chagossians to the British Indian Ocean Territory. Officials are continuing work to identify areas for broader support package funding. The bulk of the funding will be allocated once we have a clear assessment of need, and an agreed mechanism for effectively and fairly disbursing funds in collaboration with the Chagossian communities in the UK, Seychelles and Mauritius.