Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many requests for consular support were made to each British Embassy or Consulate in 2023; and how many of those were responded to by officials within a period of 24 hours.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our consular staff endeavour to give appropriate and tailored assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, to British nationals overseas and their families in the UK who need support. In 2023, in addition to long running cases, we provided support to around 22,000 British nationals, see breakdown by Post in the table below. The FCDO reports publicly on consular delivery through the FCDO Outcome Delivery Plan [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-outcome-delivery-plan]. Publishing our transparency data is currently on hold while we embed a new Case Management system.
COUNTRY | 2023 |
Afghanistan | 22 |
Albania | 63 |
Algeria | 23 |
Angola | |
Argentina | 34 |
Armenia | 8 |
Australia | 414 |
Austria | 92 |
Azerbaijan | 12 |
Bahrain | 48 |
Barbados | 113 |
Belarus | 6 |
Belgium | 152 |
Bolivia | 12 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 12 |
Botswana | 15 |
Brazil | 88 |
Bulgaria | 166 |
Cambodia | 112 |
Cameroon | 30 |
Canada | 181 |
Chile | 21 |
China | 143 |
Colombia | 73 |
Congo (Democratic Republic) | 22 |
Costa Rica | 39 |
Croatia | 114 |
Cuba | 29 |
Cyprus | 441 |
Czechia | 141 |
Denmark | 88 |
Dominican Republic | 67 |
Ecuador | 13 |
Egypt | 383 |
Estonia | 19 |
Ethiopia | 104 |
Fiji | 21 |
Finland | 49 |
France | 1027 |
Georgia | 27 |
Germany | 662 |
Ghana | 85 |
Greece | 936 |
Guatemala | 43 |
Guinea | |
Guyana | 17 |
Hong Kong SAR | 110 |
Hungary | 131 |
Iceland | 17 |
India | 360 |
Indonesia | 196 |
Iraq | 46 |
Ireland | 104 |
Israel | 39 |
Italy | 411 |
Ivory Coast | |
Jamaica | 179 |
Japan | 167 |
Jerusalem | 61 |
Jordan | 71 |
Kazakhstan | 14 |
Kenya | 146 |
Kuwait | 30 |
Kyrgyzstan | |
Laos | 29 |
Latvia | 20 |
Lebanon | 34 |
Liberia | |
Lithuania | 23 |
Luxembourg | 10 |
Madagascar | |
Malawi | |
Malaysia | 138 |
Malta | 106 |
Mauritius | 14 |
Mexico | 207 |
Moldova | 13 |
Mongolia | 6 |
Montenegro | 33 |
Morocco | 222 |
Myanmar (Burma) | 8 |
Namibia | 9 |
Nepal | 21 |
Netherlands | 287 |
New Zealand | 127 |
Nigeria | 74 |
Norway | 149 |
Oman | 50 |
Pakistan | 376 |
Panama | 17 |
Paraguay | |
Peru | 58 |
Philippines | 283 |
Poland | 242 |
Portugal | 524 |
Qatar | 96 |
Romania | 89 |
Russia | 28 |
Rwanda | 7 |
Saudi Arabia | 166 |
Senegal | 21 |
Serbia | 29 |
Seychelles | 11 |
Sierra Leone | 15 |
Singapore | 105 |
Slovakia | 38 |
Slovenia | 17 |
South Africa | 195 |
South Korea | 40 |
Spain | 4143 |
Sri Lanka | 86 |
St Lucia | 21 |
Sudan | 34 |
Sweden | 110 |
Switzerland | 157 |
Taiwan | 22 |
Tajikistan | 6 |
Tanzania | 36 |
Thailand | 1383 |
The Gambia | 48 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 40 |
Tunisia | 75 |
Turkey | 947 |
Uganda | 52 |
Ukraine | 56 |
United Arab Emirates | 658 |
United States | 1649 |
Uruguay | 10 |
Uzbekistan | 8 |
Venezuela | |
Vietnam | 188 |
Zambia | 22 |
Zimbabwe | 26 |
NB We do not publish data where figures are 5 or below to comply with GDPR
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress he has made in negotiations of a new international, legally binding plastics treaty.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The United Nations Environment Assembly Resolution 5/14 set an ambitious timetable for the agreement of a new international, legally binding plastics treaty by end of 2024. The fourth round of negotiations (INC-4) will take place in Ottawa from 23 – 29 April which will continue discussions on the draft treaty text.
The UK is a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of over 60 countries calling for an ambitious and effective treaty. The UK has been a vocal proponent of a strong and comprehensive agreement that covers the whole lifecycle of plastics, including restraining and reducing the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels, promoting a circular economy for plastic, managing plastic waste in an environmentally sound and safe manner, and preventing and reducing releases of plastics into the environment.
The Government is committed to securing an agreement on the text by the end of the year and is working closely with other Parties and stakeholders to facilitate progress at INC-4. In particular, the UK co-led with Brazil an informal, technical work programme to support continued dialogues on how to identify chemicals and polymers of concern, and problematic plastic products within the treaty.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the letter they received from the government of Brazil in 2011 that sought a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK, and a copy of their response to that letter.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions received diplomatic correspondence from the Brazilian government in 2011 and DWP officials met with officials at the Brazilian Embassy in London to discuss the request. There was no further action.
We do not publish another country’s diplomatic correspondence or the content of negotiations without their consent.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding her Department and its predecessor Department allocated to the (a) Turkish-British Chamber of Commerce, (b) British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, (c) British Chamber of Commerce in Brazil, (d) UK-India Business Council, (e) Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce and (f) British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade and the former Department for International Trade have not provided any funding to the Chambers of Commerce requested except for the UK-India Business Council. The funding provided to it is as follows:
Year | Spend |
2013 (October-March inclusive) | £441,344.54 |
2014 | £3,428,243.20 |
2015 | £2,269,682.03 |
2016 | £1,955,098.94 |
2017 | £1,499,191.33 |
2018 | £1,311,455.20 |
2019 | £1,059,669.00 |
2020 | £828,695.00 |
2021 | £1,115,025.00 |
2022 | £270,835.00 |
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he plans to meet the President of Argentina within the next six weeks.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary met President Milei at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and spoke to Milei in November 2023. I [Minister Rutley] met Milei at his inauguration. The Foreign Secretary also met with Foreign Minister Mondino at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Brazil in February. Statements from these meetings are available on gov.uk. Future ministerial meetings will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders were removed from the country through a prison transfer agreement each year since 2010; and if he will list which countries were they removed to.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity. Where appropriate, the Government will also seek to permanently remove foreign criminals from the UK via the Early Removal Scheme once they have served the minimum required of their sentence. This is our best performing removal scheme with 5,262 Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) having been removed between January 2019 and June 2022.
The Home Office removed 16,676 foreign national offenders since January 2019 to September 2023. Published figures show that FNO returns have increased in the latest 12-month period (ending September 2023) by 19% when compared to previous 12-month period.
Our new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania entered into force in May 2023 and we have signed a new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with the Philippines. We are looking to negotiate new Prisoner Transfer Agreements with key EU Member States and wider-world countries
Foreign national offender removals via Prisoner Transfer Agreements since 2010:
Year: | Removals: |
2010 | 46 |
2011 | 33 |
2012 | 41 |
2013 | 44 |
2014 | 34 |
2015 | 57 |
2016 | 99 |
2017 | 107 |
2018 | 111 |
2019 | 136 |
2020 | 81 |
2021 | 73 |
2022 | 50 |
2023 | 33 |
Countries or Territories we have removed foreign national offenders to via Prisoner Transfer Agreements since 2010:
Albania | Denmark | Latvia | Slovakia |
Austria | Ecuador | Lithuania | Slovenia |
Belgium | Estonia | Macedonia | Spain |
Bermuda | France | Malta | Sri Lanka |
Bolivia | Germany | Montenegro | St Helena |
Brazil | Ghana | Netherlands | Sweden |
Bulgaria | Gibraltar | Nigeria | Switzerland |
Canada | Greece | Norway | Turkey |
Cayman | Hungary | Pakistan | Ukraine |
Chile | India | Poland | Vietnam |
Croatia | Ireland | Portugal | Iraq |
Cyprus | Israel | Romania |
|
Czech Republic | Italy | Saudi |
|
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Armed Forces personnel are deployed to (a) Guyana, (b) South America and (c) the Caribbean.
Answered by James Heappey
For force protection reasons we cannot provide precise numbers of deployed personnel in this case, including the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB), and on the Falkland Islands and Ascension Island through British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI). Defence’s permanent presence across these areas is also provided by our resident Defence Attaché sections based in: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Jamaica. These teams also have non-residential responsibility for a range of other countries in the region with Guyana falling under our Caribbean team. Additionally, the Royal Navy have a persistent maritime presence in the South Atlantic and the Caribbean through two Offshore Patrol Vessels.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adoption of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management following the collapse of the Fundão Dam near Mariana in Brazil in 2015.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Business & Trade's (DBT) Responsible Mining Team in Brazil have promoted best practice on tailings dams since 2016. They led a mission to the UK in November to build on work to implement the Global Industrial Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and have organised roundtables in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote the GISTM in Brazil. UK Ministers for the Americas and Europe have highlighted work to improve safety measures around tailings dam management, including in October in a meeting with the law firm representing victims of the Mariana Dam incident and at a Westminster Hall Debate in June.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to promote international safety standards for tailings dams following the collapse of the Fundão Dam near Mariana in Brazil in 2015.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Business & Trade's (DBT) Responsible Mining Team in Brazil have promoted best practice on tailings dams since 2016. They led a mission to the UK in November to build on work to implement the Global Industrial Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and have organised roundtables in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote the GISTM in Brazil. UK Ministers for the Americas and Europe have highlighted work to improve safety measures around tailings dam management, including in October in a meeting with the law firm representing victims of the Mariana Dam incident and at a Westminster Hall Debate in June.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to avert a regional escalation of the hostilities in Israel and Gaza.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since Hamas' abhorrent terrorist attacks on 7 October, the Prime Minister, the former Foreign Secretary and myself as Minister of State; Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, have all visited the region and spoken to counterparts from more than 20 countries as part of extensive diplomatic efforts to prevent regional escalation and to sustain the prospect of peace and stability in the Middle East. This includes the former Foreign Secretary's travel to the region in October where he met leaders in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, his calls with counterparts from Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Brazil, and Australia and his meetings with regional counterparts in Riyadh on 9 November.
The UK is seized with the increasing the scale and delivery of life saving humanitarian aid to Gaza and continues to work with our regional partners on preventing the conflict spreading in the region, and oppose any attempts by malign actors to cause further escalation. As part of our close engagement with Israel, the UK has urged the government to take tangible steps to stop settler violence against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, which we strongly condemn. We are also clear that to prevent further conflict and terrorism, there must be a political solution to the conflict: the delivery of a two-state solution which provides justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.