Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department takes to ensure that at least one official from her Department is present during all (a) meetings and (b) phone calls relating to Government business between Ministers and third parties.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is standard practice for FCDO Ministers holding meetings or telephone calls on government business to be routinely accompanied by their private secretary or another official, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her Department’s process is for (a) recording and (b) keeping minutes of all meetings relating to Government business.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Formal, structured meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted. It is expected that the general guidance that departments give to their staff will help officials make judgements as to what meetings need to be minuted, noting their Civil Service Code obligation to 'keep accurate official records.'
Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers at: https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/popapersguidance2009.pdf
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total value of contracts awarded by the former Department for International Development to Randox has been in each year since 2010.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The former Department for International Development have issued no contracts to Randox in the period 2010 to present.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the delivery of 100 million COVAX vaccines overseas by June 2022 is on target following the Government’s donation of 9 million COVAX vaccines in July 2021.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office is working closely with the Cabinet Office and UK Vaccines Task Force to ensure we meet our commitment to donate 100 million doses by June 2022. To date, we have donated 10.5m doses. At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021 the Prime Minister announced that we will be donating a further 20 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines before the end of the year in order to meet our 30 million target by the end of 2021. 80% of all our donations will go through COVAX.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is planning to take in respect of foreign leaders and officials found guilty of bribery, corruption or tax violations as a result of revelations in the Pandora Papers.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Through the network of overseas Posts, the FCDO is monitoring the consequences of several of the stories associated with the recent Pandora Papers leaks. We understand some investigations are being considered in some countries, but it is too early to say who, if anyone, might ultimately be found guilty of bribery, corruption or tax violations. Irrespective of this, the FCDO remains committed to fighting global corruption and illicit finance. Under our Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime established in April this year, the UK has so far imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 27 individuals from 10 countries for their involvement in serious corruption. We continue to fund the vital work of the National Crime Agency's International Corruption Unit, which has restrained, confiscated, or returned over £1.1billion of assets stolen from developing countries since 2006. And we continue to encourage countries everywhere, including through our ongoing Presidency of the G7, to take steps to improve beneficial ownership transparency, so that we can limit the role of anonymous shell companies, as highlighted by the Pandora Papers, in enabling international illicit finance.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Premier of the British Virgin Islands on closing potential tax loopholes as a result of revelations in the Pandora Papers.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) regularly share confidential information on beneficial ownership and tax with UK law enforcement and tax authorities. They provided information that made the UK's first Unexplained Wealth Order possible. The BVI have committed to work towards introducing a publicly accessible register of company beneficial ownership, along with the other Overseas Territories.
The BVI participate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Common Reporting Standard, which is an agreement to automatically exchange financial account information with other jurisdictions. This means that they supply information on account holders who are foreign tax residents. This reciprocal, automatic exchange of financial information addresses the secrecy that facilitates offshore tax evasion and provides evidence of tax non-compliance. The BVI are a member of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), signalling their commitment to fighting BEPS risks by implementing the BEPS minimum standards. They have also committed to implementing the OECD's two pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The UK is providing assistance and support ahead of BVI's evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government plans to donate 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccine doses to the world within the next year.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Prime Minister committed the UK to donate 100 million doses by June 2022. To date, we have donated 10.5m doses. At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021 the Prime Minister announced that we will be donating a further 20 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine before the end of the year in order to meet our 30 million target. 80% of all our donations will go through COVAX.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to brief (a) NATO, (b) G7 nations and (c) European allies on developments relating to AUKUS.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK will continue to engage NATO, G7, European, and other partners on defence and security matters, including the recent Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) agreement, through our regular bilateral and multilateral channels.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what provisions will form part of the AUKUS agreement to ensure that that agreement does not lead to potential future breaches of obligations in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We take our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) extremely seriously and remain strongly committed to full implementation of the NPT in all its aspects.
It is too soon to talk about specifics, but Australia has impeccable non-proliferation credentials and does not - and will not - seek nuclear weapons. All three AUKUS parties (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are committed to ensuring progress on this agreement will be consistent with our international obligations, including our respective safeguards obligations, which we will investigate in the 18 month programme of work.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will raise the matter of allegations of human rights abuses by members of the Chilean security forces since October 2019 with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course. We continue to monitor the situation in Chile since the unrest two years ago. The UK has expressed its concerns about allegations of human rights abuses by members of the security forces in talks with representatives of the Chilean Government. We welcome the acknowledgement by President Piñera and other Ministers that there have been human rights abuses, as well as their commitments that these allegations will be fully investigated, and if appropriate, perpetrators will be prosecuted.