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 recent estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Treasury has allocated over £4.2 bn in additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:
This funding is to cover all exit scenarios, and is in addition to departmental efforts to reprioritise from business as usual toward preparations for the UK's departure from the EU. Work on no-deal exit preparations cannot be readily separated from other EU exit work. The Department is preparing for all eventualities and the resources available to support preparations are kept under constant review.
The FCO also received £5.6m additional funding in 2018/19 for no-deal civil contingency planning.
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, whether his Department made any representations to the Bahraini authorities calling for the reinstatement of citizenship for Bahraini citizens previously convicted of crimes related to political dissent, before the Kingdom of Bahrain reinstated the citizenship of 551 people on 21 April 2019.
Answered by Mark Field
We welcome this positive declaration of the reinstatement of citizenship for 551 Bahrain citizens on 21 April.
We regularly raise our concerns about the issue of revocation of nationalities where it leaves a person stateless at a senior level with the Government of Bahrain.
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, if he will request that the Egyptian Government release Ahmed Saddouma from prison.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.
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, whether the Egyptian Government has (a) responded to any inquiries by his Department on Ahmed Saddouma, (b) indicated whether it considers Mr Saddouma a juvenile and (c) provided any guarantees that Ahmed Saddouma will not receive a death sentence.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.
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 implications for its policies of reports by the human rights group Reprieve that Egypt has issued preliminary death sentences to at least 10 juveniles since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.
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 UK Government has made of the legal basis of the sentencing to death of Ahmed Saddouma in Egypt.
Answered by Mark Field
It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.
Our Embassy in Cairo has raised with the Egyptian authorities our concerns about Article 122 of the Child Law, which allows certain juveniles to be tried as adults, as well as the case of Ahmed Saddouma. The Egyptian authorities have told us they are looking into this and similar cases, in addition to our wider concerns about Article 122. We have also engaged with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on this issue; our Embassy arranged for Reprieve to brief representatives of other EU Member States in Cairo on this subject last year.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2019 to Question 236249 on Syria: Detainees, what his Department's policy is on the transfer of UK nationals detained in North East Syria to Iraq for prosecution in Iraqi domestic courts.
Answered by Mark Field
Any decision in relation to the continued detention, transfer or prosecution of detainees is ultimately a matter for authorities under whose jurisdiction the individuals are detained. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We have human rights concerns relating to the trials in Iraq’s domestic courts of Iraqi nationals suspected of support for Daesh: we regularly raise these concerns, including our opposition to the death penalty, with the Iraqi authorities.
The UK will continue to work closely with international partners in addressing the issues associated with foreign terrorist fighters and in the pursuit of justice of those who have participated in terrorism overseas.
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 the level of risk of (a) the death penalty and (b) torture for UK nationals transferred to Iraq from North East Syria.
Answered by Mark Field
Any decision in relation to the continued detention, transfer or prosecution of detainees is ultimately a matter for authorities under whose jurisdiction the individuals are detained. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We have human rights concerns relating to the trials in Iraq’s domestic courts of Iraqi nationals suspected of support for Daesh: we regularly raise these concerns, including our opposition to the death penalty, with the Iraqi authorities.
The UK will continue to work closely with international partners in addressing the issues associated with foreign terrorist fighters and in the pursuit of justice of those who have participated in terrorism overseas.