Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in his Department are working on issues related to the Chagos Islands.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It would be difficult to assess how many officials are working on these issues, given that we do not record and measure the amount of time spent on any one topic where an official covers a range of matters.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department has supplied to the British embassy in Moscow to enable people involved in the (a) arrest, torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky and (b) fraud he uncovered to be identified when visa applications are assessed.
Answered by David Lidington
The Home Office works closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and other government departments to identify individuals whose presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good, including on the basis of human rights abuses. Details of individuals who are banned from entering the UK are included on the UK watch list which means that Entry Clearance Officers and Border Force officials are able to refuse visas or deny entry. It is Government policy not to discuss specific information held on watch lists as to do so would not be in the interests of border and national security.
The FCO cooperates with the Home Office on the availability of independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses. Where our Posts abroad have identified individuals that should be refused entry to the UK on the basis of human rights abuses they will refer such cases to the Home Office for consideration.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the criteria used to draw up the (a) UK, (b) US and (c) UN sanctions lists.
Answered by Lord Swire
There are over 30 sanctions regimes at either EU or UN level. Sanctions regimes are designed to combat a range of issues including: proliferation, terrorism and human rights issues. Criteria for each regime are therefore very different and crafted to meet the specific ends of the sanctions regime. The EU implements all UN sanctions and in doing so will reflect the criteria agreed at UN level. However, where the EU implements its own sanctions regime or goes further than UN sanctions (e.g. on Iran or Syria), the criteria are set by the EU. US sanctions criteria for their own domestic measures vary from regime to regime and may be different from the UN or EU criteria. UK sanctions lists replicate UN / EU lists except in relation to counter-terrorism sanctions where, in addition to implementing UN / EU sanctions, the Treasury can freeze domestically the assets of those believed to have been involved in terrorist related activity, where this is necessary for public protection from terrorism, under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing Act 2010.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the UK has not applied sanctions to all individuals on the US and UN sanction lists.
Answered by Lord Swire
The UK implements all sanctions agreed at the UN. These sanctions are implemented via the EU. The UK is responsible for implementation for the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The US has its own domestic legislation by which it can introduce sanctions. This is an entirely separate process to the UN. The UK would not implement US domestic sanctions, although there may be individuals that the US designates which are also listed under UN sanctions.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 29 October 2013, Official Report, column 411W, on Zimbabwe: pension payments, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that British nationals in Zimbabwe receive their pensions.
Answered by Mark Simmonds
We continue to pursue a resolution to this issue. I have personally written to both Finance Minister Chinamasa and the responsible Minister for Pensions, Minister Goche. I also raised the issue during a meeting with the Zimbabwean Ambassador in London on 30 June. We are in regular contact with the Director of Pensions, with whom officials last met on 12 June. Our Ambassador regularly raises the issue with interlocutors, including most recently on 4 June with the Finance Minister Chinamasa. She also wrote to the Zimbabwe Civil Service Commission in December 2013; we await a response. We remain in regular contact with the interested parties, including the Overseas Service Pensioners Association (OSPA) and the Federal Pensioners Association in Harare.