Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps the Government is taking to work with EU countries to counter disinformation campaigns orchestrated by foreign state actors.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK works closely with international partners to counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) by hostile actors, including with the European Union and with some EU members States. This includes work to identify and respond to the diverse and evolving threat to our democracies from information manipulation. We work closely with countries across Europe to develop effective national security responses to FIMI; enable communication activities to challenge information manipulation; and support independent media and civil society organisations to build resilience to disinformation. We have sanctioned enablers of Russian disinformation and information manipulation including Russia state media and Kremlin-funded information operations globally, including in Europe.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department monitors the role of external state actors in influencing electoral outcomes in the EU.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
International partners, including in the EU, could be at risk of attempts by foreign states to interfere in elections. Collaboration with international partners, including in the EU, is an essential part of countering these risks. Through the UK's Defending Democracy Ministerial Taskforce, FCDO officials have engaged with partners, including Austria, Romania, and France, to share best practice and identify opportunities for future joint work to build resilience against interference in our democratic processes. FCDO regularly updates to the Taskforce's Ministerial meetings on key risks, learnings, and responses from international elections to inform the UK's election preparations. The UK will continue to engage with international partners.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase collaboration with (a) French, (b) German and (c) US overseas development agencies.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Our recent White Paper sets out the importance we place on partnerships to support development. The UK has longstanding and close development relationships with France, Germany and the USA. We are strengthening our partnerships through bilateral Strategic Development Dialogues, held with France in October 2023, Germany and the US in February and March 2024 respectively. They allow in-depth exchange at senior levels, and are designed to strengthen collaboration and identify joint areas of action.
Strategic Development Dialogues are underpinned by regular engagement overseas and between capitals at official and Ministerial levels. I personally met Minister Zacharopoulou at COP28, spoke with Minister Keul in February and met USAID Administrator Samantha Power in Washington in April.
Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will increase multi-year funding to support (a) the most food-insecure people in Sudan and (b) Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK provided £42.6 million in humanitarian aid to support people in Sudan in 2023-2024, including £12.2 million to UNICEF for nutrition activities and approximately £23 million to the Sudan Humanitarian Fund for multisector response, including a high proportion of food security interventions. We also helped those fleeing to neighbouring countries in 2023-24, with £7.75 million to support existing and new Sudanese refugees as well as vulnerable returnees and host communities in South Sudan and £15 million to those in Chad. In 2024/2025, UK ODA to Sudan will nearly double to £89 million, including funding to UNICEF to provide emergency and life-saving food assistance. The UK will also be working with the World Food Programme to assist in the provision of assorted food commodities to people in Sudan.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to the oral statement of 17 April 2024 on the Humanitarian situation in Gaza by the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how his Department called for a wholly independent review of the killing of the World Central Kitchen aid workers; and what (a) guarantees of independence and (b) investigatory powers he has sought.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As the Prime Minister said in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 2 April, the UK was appalled by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli airstrike on 1 April. The Prime Minister called for a thorough and transparent investigation into what happened. Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have stressed the importance of effective deconfliction.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure women and girls in Gaza have access to sanitary products.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have provided £4.25 million to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, to provide life-saving support to vulnerable women and girls in Gaza. This support is expected to reach about 111,500 women, around 1 in 5 of the adult women in Gaza. It will support up to 100 community midwives, the distribution of around 45,000 clean delivery kits and 20,000 menstrual hygiene management kits. These dignity kits include tampons, reusable pads and underwear. The Foreign Secretary met with the London representative of UNFPA on 28 March to discuss the needs of vulnerable women and girls in Gaza and I [the Deputy Foreign Secretary] met with UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem, on 16 April in Geneva.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support Sudanese Christians.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We will provide £89 million to support Sudan this year, mostly for humanitarian assistance. Exact budgets have not yet been allocated, but this will include support to protection activities for vulnerable people affected by the conflict. UK support will be providing nutrition, safe drinking water, medical care and shelter, as well as supporting protection services for those affected by Gender Based Violence. The UK funds and supports the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan (OHCHR), a UN body that plays a crucial role in monitoring and reporting on human rights violations including of any particular religious group.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the meeting between China and North Korea on 13 April 2024.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is clear that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) breaches of UN Security Council Resolutions, including its illegal ballistic missile launches and sanctions evasion, threaten global peace and stability. We are working closely with our partners to urge the DPRK regime to return to talks and take credible steps towards complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. Until then, we will continue to enforce sanctions against them. We urge North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, and for China to incentivise that path.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conflict in Myanmar; and whether he plans to take steps to oppose the coup authorities in that country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the coup in Myanmar. In February, we announced our eighteenth round of sanctions, targeting the Myanmar Security Force's access to finance, arms and equipment. We consistently use our role as penholder at the United Nations Security Council to maintain pressure on the military, including leading the first ever Security Council Resolution on the Myanmar crisis in December 2022. Since the coup we have provided almost £150 million in life-saving humanitarian assistance, emergency healthcare, education and support to civil society and local communities.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether Morocco is listed by the UN as the Administering Power of Western Sahara.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Morocco is not listed as the administering Power of Western Sahara on the United Nations' list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.