Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the situation in Sudan.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
On 7 April the EU spokesperson released a statement, which we fully support, on behalf of the EU High Representative calling for the Sudanese authorities to commit to a peaceful, credible, legitimate and inclusive process that will allow Sudan to carry out essential reforms. We continue to engage with EU counterparts bilaterally and in EU fora to shape an international response that delivers credibly the demands of the people of Sudan for a more inclusive and swift move to civilian rule.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the censoring of website and news outlet Charter 97 by Belarusian authorities; and what support his Department provides to independent news sources in Belarusian society.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK is concerned about the restrictive practices imposed on independent media in Belarus. We continue to raise this issue as part of our ongoing bilateral dialogue with Belarus about human rights and democracy. Our Ambassador in Minsk most recently raised these issues with the Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister in a meeting on 19 February 2019. The UK joined EU partners in raising concerns about the situation of Charter 97 during the EU-Belarus Human Rights dialogue on 17 July 2018. The UK is committed to the promotion of media freedom. The British Embassy in Minsk is working with NGOs in Belarus to implement projects to train independent journalists, build a media start-up accelerator, and arrange visits to share best practice with media counterparts in the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking with his overseas counterparts to tackle the distribution of disinformation in (a) Ukraine, (b) Belarus and (c) the Baltic States.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We have a regular dialogue with international partners on the challenge posed by hostile state disinformation, including to align donor support in this field. The Foreign Secretary discussed disinformation at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 21 January in the context of the European Commission's ambitious Action Plan Against Disinformation. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's own dedicated Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme aims to protect national security by countering disinformation directed at the UK and its Allies from Russia. It funds projects in a number of different countries that seek to enhance independent media, support civil society organisations that expose disinformation and share good practice with partner governments. Media plurality, institutional resilience and public awareness provide strong defences against disinformation, whatever the source, and sit at the heart of our efforts. In particular, we are supporting a new Open Information Partnership of European Non-Governmental Organisations, charities, academics, think-tanks and journalists which are working to respond to manipulated information in the news, social media and across the public space.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the his Department's Integrated Activity Fund in Bahrain .
Answered by Mark Field
All programming is subject to governance arrangements and evaluation to ensure it continues to deliver in line with objectives.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel have been suspended or reprimanded as a result of incidents and alleged incidents of domestic abuse in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Suspension in the Armed Forces is not a form of punishment. It tends to be related to a role or employment – for example, if an incident occurred as a result of a breach of codes of practice, then an individual may be suspended from that role while the incident is investigated.
Domestic abuse is a very important issue and we treat allegations of domestic abuse very seriously. In July 2018, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) launched its first strategy to tackle domestic abuse within the Armed Forces and defence civilian communities. The strategy builds on existing work by the Armed Forces in this area, such as providing specialist training to welfare staff, and included the launch of a campaign to raise awareness of the issue. The MOD is a member of the cross-Government Violence against Women and Girls working group.
The estimated numbers of Service personnel recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration system (JPA) with a reporting category titled ‘Domestic Abuse’ and awarded a sanction as a result of Major Administrative Action (MAA) are shown in the table below:
Date of Sanction | MAA with Sanction Awarded |
2015 | 15 |
2016 | 25 |
2017 | 30 |
2018 | 30 |
2019 (to date) | ~ |
Source: JPA Discipline (single Service estimates)
Note: figures are rounded to the nearest 5. “~” indicates a figure less than 5.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the UK’s diplomatic relations with Belarus.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK has steadily increased its engagement with Belarus since the release of political prisoners and consequent lifting of the majority of EU Restrictive Measures in February 2016. UK engagement is focused on building regional stability in Europe's Eastern Neighbourhood and on encouraging Belarus' closer participation in the international rules-based system. This includes encouraging Belarus to show greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. We also continue to promote the economic, commercial and cultural links between our countries. I met President Lukashenka and Foreign Minister Makei respectively in September 2017 and in March 2018.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to promote (a) human rights and (b) press freedom in Belarus.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK remains concerned about the human rights situation in Belarus. We continue to urge Belarus to show greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including media freedom. Our Ambassador in Minsk raised these issues most recently with the Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister in a meeting on 19 February 2019. Our Embassy subsequently attended the trial of the editor of the independent online media outlet, tut.by. The UK also joined EU partners in raising human rights concerns during the EU-Belarus Coordination meeting on 12-13 December 2018. Through the Global Britain Fund, our Embassy funds a number of Human Rights projects, including support for Non-Governmental Organisations advocating a moratorium on the death penalty and support for the growth of independent media in Belarus.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to (a) protect (i) military personnel and (ii) their spouses and children in relation to domestic abuse and (b) ensure the protection of people reporting that abuse.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Our policy and processes for dealing with Domestic Abuse are kept under regular review, and have featured in the current review into the Service Justice System.
We already have an exceptionally robust Domestic Abuse policy. However, we are not complacent and will be considering recommendations about who should deal with cases, how they should be recorded, provision of training and adoption of best practice. The recommendations from the Gateshead Community Safety Board Domestic Homicide Review into the death of Miss Alice Ruggles have a bearing on this, and will, of course, be considered very carefully.
On the specific questions relating to the current monitoring, reporting and recording of domestic abuse incidents across the three Services, we are still collecting that data, and I will write to the hon. Member with a full response in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what monitoring his Department undertakes on reports of domestic abuse in (a) his Department and (b) each of the armed services.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Our policy and processes for dealing with Domestic Abuse are kept under regular review, and have featured in the current review into the Service Justice System.
We already have an exceptionally robust Domestic Abuse policy. However, we are not complacent and will be considering recommendations about who should deal with cases, how they should be recorded, provision of training and adoption of best practice. The recommendations from the Gateshead Community Safety Board Domestic Homicide Review into the death of Miss Alice Ruggles have a bearing on this, and will, of course, be considered very carefully.
On the specific questions relating to the current monitoring, reporting and recording of domestic abuse incidents across the three Services, we are still collecting that data, and I will write to the hon. Member with a full response in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) charities and (b) other support services his Department engages with in order to provide support to military personnel and their families affected by domestic abuse.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Our policy and processes for dealing with Domestic Abuse are kept under regular review, and have featured in the current review into the Service Justice System.
We already have an exceptionally robust Domestic Abuse policy. However, we are not complacent and will be considering recommendations about who should deal with cases, how they should be recorded, provision of training and adoption of best practice. The recommendations from the Gateshead Community Safety Board Domestic Homicide Review into the death of Miss Alice Ruggles have a bearing on this, and will, of course, be considered very carefully.
On the specific questions relating to the current monitoring, reporting and recording of domestic abuse incidents across the three Services, we are still collecting that data, and I will write to the hon. Member with a full response in due course.