Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the Government supported proposals to close the youth department of the Council of Europe.
Answered by Mark Field
No decision has been taken to close the youth department of the Council of Europe. The suggestion to decouple the youth budget from the main budget is just one option proposed to manage the budget deficit in the organisation flowing from Russian non-payment and also as part of a wider drive for reforms and efficiency savings. It has yet to be discussed. The UK's priority is to protect the core functions of the organisation, including the court and the convention system.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Based on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) human resources management system, 41 FCO UK-based staff took sick leave related to stress in 2018. This does not include staff who were absent but no sick leave reason is recorded against them. This accounts for 0.85 per cent of FCO UK-based staff using our headcount figure as of 31 December 2018 (4,839). Sick leave for reasons related to stress in 2018 accounted for 10.5 per cent of total recorded sick days, and equated to 0.3 Average Working Days Lost per person. The cost to the paybill of all sick leave taken by FCO UK-based staff in 2018 was £3,386,787. Of this, the cost of sick leave taken for stress-related reasons was £355,898.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Since the Referendum, 65 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff have been transferred to work in other government departments or on other departmental briefs to support EU Exit preparations. Of these 30 have since returned to the FCO.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of whether the Assad Government is party to an agreement with the global coalition against Daesh on (a) the Tanf de-confliction zone and (b) the Coalition military presence within the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone was established by the US and Russia to prevent unintentional conflict. The Assad regime is not a party to that arrangement.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions the global coalition against Daesh has (a) used military force and (b) threatened to use military force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The British Government does not hold information on the number of times in which Coalition forces have threatened or used force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. The aim of the Deconfliction Zone is to prevent the need to use or threaten the use of force. The UK has no permanent ground forces at Al Tanf. As part of their support to the Global Coalition, UK air assets provide support to the Coalition in counter-Daesh operations in the vicinity of Al Tanf.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions UK military personnel have supported or taken part in operations by the Global Coalition Against Daesh in order to prevent forces loyal to the Assad government from entering the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The British Government does not hold information on the number of times in which Coalition forces have threatened or used force to prevent forces loyal to the Assad Government from entering the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. The aim of the Deconfliction Zone is to prevent the need to use or threaten the use of force. The UK has no permanent ground forces at Al Tanf. As part of their support to the Global Coalition, UK air assets provide support to the Coalition in counter-Daesh operations in the vicinity of Al Tanf.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the global coalition against Daesh supplies arms and ammunition to the Maghaweir al-Thowra force patrolling in the Tanf de-confliction zone; and whether the coalition (a) pays salaries to and (b) commands that force.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The US leads on providing support to Maghaweir al-Thowra, which is not a formal part of the Global Coalition command structure. It is not for the UK to comment on the nature or detail of the US' support.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the global coalition against Daesh fulfils its legal obligations towards civilians in the Tanf de-confliction zone.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
British armed forces fully adhere to international humanitarian law when conducting military operations. We expect all members of the Global Coalition to do likewise.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the validity of reports that civilians who left the Tanf de-confliction zone for humanitarian reasons have been executed by forces loyal to the Assad regime.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
We are aware of, but not in a position to confirm, reports of executions of civilians returning to regime-held territory from Rukban IDP camp within the Al Tanf Deconfliction Zone. We have been clear that any such movement should be safe, voluntary, well-informed and dignified. We have strongly supported the UN's calls for Russia and the Syrian regime to allow in humanitarian assistance to Rukban, to guarantee protection of rights for those wishing to return and to allow UN access throughout the return process.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps the Government plans to take with its allies in Syria to minimise the risk of a large scale assault and mass civilian casualties in Idlib.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
We are gravely concerned by the offensive launched by the Syrian regime and Russia in Idlib. We made this clear at an emergency session of the UN Security Council and warned that a full-scale offensive would risk a humanitarian catastrophe. We with the US, France and eight other countries issued a joint statement on 10 May and we released a further statement with France and Germany on 13 May. We will continue to call out the regime and its backers for their actions and to press all sides to return to the ceasefire agreed last September at Sochi.