Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to meet the Government's target of protecting 30 per cent of world oceans by 2030.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Joining the Global Ocean Alliance indicates that countries will support a new global target of protecting at least 30% of the global ocean within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030 at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties (COP15) in Kunming, China in October 2020 (30by30). This target would replace the current 10% target agreed in Aichi in 2010.
The UK-led Global Ocean Alliance is currently made up of Belgium, Belize, Costa Rica, Finland, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Palau, Portugal, Seychelles, Sweden and Vanuatu. Many other countries have also expressed their support for the 30by30 target.
English waters have 177 MPAs covering 40% of English seas. The UK has 357 MPAs protecting 25% of UK waters spanning almost 220,000 km2. Furthermore, the Overseas Territories Blue Belt Programme is on track to deliver 4 million km2 marine protection around the UK Overseas Territories by 2020.
Globally, the World Database on MPAs, a joint project of the UN Environment Programme and the International Union for Nature Conservation, shows the percentage of the ocean covered by protected areas at 7.91%.
To increase the proportion of the global ocean that is in MPAs, the Government is working with supportive countries and NGOs to encourage other countries to join the Global Ocean Alliance and thereby increase the possibility that the 30by30 target will be adopted later this year in Kunming.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the world's oceans that are in marine protected areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Joining the Global Ocean Alliance indicates that countries will support a new global target of protecting at least 30% of the global ocean within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030 at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties (COP15) in Kunming, China in October 2020 (30by30). This target would replace the current 10% target agreed in Aichi in 2010.
The UK-led Global Ocean Alliance is currently made up of Belgium, Belize, Costa Rica, Finland, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Palau, Portugal, Seychelles, Sweden and Vanuatu. Many other countries have also expressed their support for the 30by30 target.
English waters have 177 MPAs covering 40% of English seas. The UK has 357 MPAs protecting 25% of UK waters spanning almost 220,000 km2. Furthermore, the Overseas Territories Blue Belt Programme is on track to deliver 4 million km2 marine protection around the UK Overseas Territories by 2020.
Globally, the World Database on MPAs, a joint project of the UN Environment Programme and the International Union for Nature Conservation, shows the percentage of the ocean covered by protected areas at 7.91%.
To increase the proportion of the global ocean that is in MPAs, the Government is working with supportive countries and NGOs to encourage other countries to join the Global Ocean Alliance and thereby increase the possibility that the 30by30 target will be adopted later this year in Kunming.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to encourage members of the Commonwealth to share the same goals in tackling anthropogenic climate change and global warming.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Climate change has long been of concern to the Commonwealth and the majority of member states continue to advocate for ambitious action on climate change today. Small and vulnerable states – which account for almost 60% of the Commonwealth – face an existential threat from climate change and associated natural disasters.
This concern has been reflected in Commonwealth statements as early as the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment in 1989. Under UK chairmanship at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, leaders reaffirmed their commitments under the Paris Agreement. We would expect the Commonwealth to play a major role in ensuring that a UK-hosted COP26 would be a success.
The Government is now using its diplomatic network to support mitigation and adaptation across the Commonwealth. For example:
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which international partners the British Army Training Support Unit Belize has offered training to in the last year.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The British Army Training Support Unit Belize is not offered to other nations for their use, but the Army does seek to facilitate any requests for such use that may be made. Within the last year, the United States, the Netherlands and Norway have used the facilities. Currently, the same three nations are planning to train there in the coming year.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which international partners the British Army Training Support Unit Belize has offered to provide training for in the next year.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The British Army Training Support Unit Belize is not offered to other nations for their use, but the Army does seek to facilitate any requests for such use that may be made. Within the last year, the United States, the Netherlands and Norway have used the facilities. Currently, the same three nations are planning to train there in the coming year.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic means the UK has within the Commonwealth to help countries tackle climate change.
Answered by Mark Field
Climate change has long been of concern to the Commonwealth. This concern has been reflected in Commonwealth statements as early as the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment in 1989. Under UK chairmanship at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, leaders reaffirmed their commitments under the Paris Agreement. The Government is now using it's diplomatic network to support mitigation and adaptation across the Commonwealth. For example:
· In Asia, Malaysia has confirmed its interest in partnering with the UK to develop an emissions calculator. The calculator is an open source energy and emissions tool developed by the UK to allow countries to explore and develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
· In Africa, the UK has provided £500,000 to support the Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub based in Mauritius. The Hub will help small and vulnerable countries access international sources of finance to support adaptation and mitigation.
· In the Caribbean, the UK is helping four countries – Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Lucia – to prepare detailed disaster risk profiles to aid efforts to increase their resilience to natural disaster. This work builds on existing support from the World Bank and is expected to be extended across the region over the next year.
· In the Pacific, the UK has pledged £1.2 million to support the establishment in Fiji of a Regional Nationally Determined Contribution Hub. The centre has been established in partnership with Australia, Germany and New Zealand, to help Pacific Island Countries implement national climate change policies and frameworks in response to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which nationalities were able to use e-passport gates in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018 and (d) to date in 2019; and which nationalities are planned to be able to access e-passport gates in 2020.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Eligibility to use ePassport gates is currently limited to UK/EU/EEA and Swiss nationals aged 12 and over using an ePassport, and adult members of the Registered Traveller Service (RTS). From this summer, nationals from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States of America will also be routinely eligible to use the ePassport gates.
In respect of RTS, in January 2016, it was open to eligible nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, United States of America, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region only), Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
In November 2016, RTS was expanded to include eligible nationals from Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Guatema-la, Honduras, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay.
A further expansion of RTS took place in October 2017 to include eligible nationals from Andorra, Bahamas, Botswana, Holy See (Vatican City), Ma-cao (Special Administrative Region of China), Maldives, Monaco, Namibia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago.
We keep the border under regular review and will monitor the impact of the recently announced expansion of eligibility before considering any further expansion to additional nationalities.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to review the UK Visas and Immigration guidelines on English language testing for English-speaking Commonwealth countries.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
There are a number of ways individuals seeking to come to the UK for work study, or to join family can prove their level of English. National of the following countries do not need to prove their level of English:
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• USA
Alternatively, individuals who have obtained a degree which is equivalent to a UK bachelor’s or master’s degree or a PhD which was taught or researched in English to a required level would also be considered to have proved their level of English.
Under the family Immigration Rules, a person is exempt from proving their level of English if the applicant is over the age of 65 at the time of making the application or the person has a disability – a physical or mental condition – or there are exceptional circumstances which prevent them from meeting the requirement.
The Government keeps all of its guidelines under regular review.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many occasions his Department has invited home-country officials to interview asylum seekers; and what the nationality of those officials was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We have a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits by assessing all evidence provided by the claimant against published country information. In line with our legal duty of confidentiality, we do not disclose information about asylum claims to an individual’s home country. We do not facilitate interviews with representatives from an asylum seeker’s home country whilst their claim is being considered.
Only after an individual’s asylum claim is refused, may it become necessary, as with foreign national offenders and those without a legal basis for remaining in the UK, to confirm their identity and nationality with the receiving country and to obtain a travel document to facilitate a voluntary or enforced return.
It is a requirement of some foreign governments to interview such individuals to confirm identity/nationality and to agree to issue a travel document. These interviews are coordinated in a number of ways based on the circumstances of the person’s case and the particular process for re-documentation stipulated by the receiving foreign government. These include ad-hoc interviews for individuals and regular interview exercises with UK based officials from diplomatic missions, and central government officials visiting the UK.
The number of occasions these activities took place is not held in a format that is reportable.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of countries whose officials have conducted interviews;
Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Liberia, Malaysia, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Tunisia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their response to the International Development Committee’s report Definition and administration of ODA (HC 1011), whether any middle-income country on the World Bank’s list may be eligible for UK Official Development Assistance (ODA); and which of those countries are currently in receipt of UK ODA.
Answered by Lord Bates
The OECD DAC determines which countries are ODA eligible based on World Bank GNI per capita data. The list of ODA eligible countries consists of all low and Middle-Income countries except for those that are members of the G8 or the European Union. The UK provided bilateral ODA through a range of government departments to the following middle-income countries in 2016:
Middle Income Countries (Lower & Upper) in Receipt of 2016 bilateral UK ODA | ||
Albania | Gabon | Nicaragua |
Algeria | Georgia | Nigeria |
Antigua and Barbuda | Ghana | Pakistan |
Argentina | Grenada | Panama |
Armenia | Guatemala | Papua New Guinea |
Azerbaijan | Guyana | Paraguay |
Belarus | Honduras | Peru |
Belize | India | Philippines |
Bolivia | Indonesia | Serbia |
Bosnia-Herzegovina | Iran | Seychelles |
Botswana | Iraq | South Africa |
Brazil | Jamaica | Sri Lanka |
Cameroon | Jordan | St. Helena |
Cape Verde | Kazakhstan | St. Lucia |
Chile | Kosovo | St.Vincent & Grenadines |
China | Kyrgyz Republic | Swaziland |
Colombia | Lebanon | Syria |
Congo, Rep. | Libya | Thailand |
Costa Rica | Malaysia | Tunisia |
Cote d'Ivoire | Maldives | Turkey |
Cuba | Mauritius | Turkmenistan |
Dominica | Mexico | Ukraine |
Dominican Republic | Moldova | Uruguay |
Ecuador | Mongolia | Uzbekistan |
Egypt | Montenegro | Venezuela |
El Salvador | Montserrat | Vietnam |
Fiji | Morocco | West Bank & Gaza Strip |
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) | Namibia |
|
Source: Statistics on International Development 2017