Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with her Chilean counterpart on political stability in that country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We have a close and longstanding bilateral relationship with Chile. This includes cooperation on the pandemic and global health issues, human rights, science, defence and security. The Minister for the Latin America attended the inauguration of President Boric on 11 March and had a number of productive meetings with the new government, including Foreign Minister Andrea Urrejola. The Prime Minister spoke to President Boric on 26 April.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in Latin America on the legalisation of same-sex marriage in their respective country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is a champion for the human rights of LGBT+ people. Ministers and our overseas missions work closely with partners to champion LGBT+ equality and inclusion, adopting new laws and policies that better protect LGBT+ people from violence and discrimination.
In December 2021, the UK celebrated adoption of same-sex marriage legislation in Chile - the eighth country in Latin America to support equal marriage. We look forward to welcoming representatives from Latin America to the Safe To Be Me conference on LGBT+ equality in June.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the Preference Utilisation Rates are in total for UK trade with (a) Costa Rica, (b) El Salvador, (c) Guatemala, (d) Honduras, (e) Nicaragua, (f) Panama, (g) Chile and (h) Cote d’Ivoire for each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
Data up to the end of January 2020 is publicly available, but no comparable data is available for after this period.
Exports analysis 2017-19: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/159047.htm
Imports analysis 2017-19: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/159046.htm
Eurostat preference utilisation data for all periods 2000 to end January 2020: Easy Comext, Adjusted extra-EU imports since 2000 by tariff regime (DS-059281).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of (a) the reduction in global coal use since 2010 to date and (b) progress made in meeting the target of 80 per cent reduction by 2030.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The International Energy Agency estimates that coal use remains modestly above 2010 levels, with continued very low growth to 2024. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from global coal use remains a key Government priority. For example, the UK’s COP26 Energy Transition Campaign helped secure a 190-strong coalition of countries and organisations at COP26, including coal power phase out commitments from Poland, Vietnam, Egypt, Chile and Morocco, building on the Government’s co-leadership of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. The Government has committed to phasing out unabated coal generation in Great Britain by October 2024. Coal power generation in this country has declined from almost 40% of our electricity supply in 2012 to less than 2% in 2020.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she will seek membership of the Digital Economy Partnership agreement; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The United Kingdom has no current plans to seek membership of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. Current members include New Zealand, Singapore and Chile.
Of these, the United Kingdom is currently finalising her Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand and her Digital Economy Agreement with Singapore. Both will include forward-leaning digital provisions. Finally, the United Kingdom-Chile relationship will be enhanced through the roadmap recently agreed at the United Kingdom-Chile Association Council.
The United Kingdom will continue to develop her position as a world-leader in digital trade, as showcased by the G7 Digital Trade Principles agreed under her Presidency and in the ground-breaking aforementioned agreement with Singapore.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the value has been of defence exports to Chile in the last 20 years, by export.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Although defence and security export statistics by region are published annually on GOV.UK. they do not separately identify data relating to individual countries.
For the period, 2001 to 2020, the value of UK defence exports to Latin America are estimated at around £1.56Bn.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she (a) has had or (b) is scheduled to have with the Government of Chile on the protection of the rights of women and minorities.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK Government is committed to promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals, including the rights of women and minorities in Chile, and across Latin America. Our embassy in Santiago regularly raises the protection of the rights of women and minorities with the Chilean government. We also work in partnership with Chilean authorities, civil society, and businesses in supporting efforts to strengthen gender equality through UK-Chile commercial trade links, and addressing gender based violence.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason Chile was only removed from the red travel list on 8 October 2021.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Decisions on red list assignment and associated border measures are taken by ministers, who take into account the UKHSA risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors. Chile remained on the red list until 10 October 2021 due to the ongoing detection of variants of concern in the country.
Given the success of the vaccination programme in the UK and the latest evidence of variants across the world, including the fact that the Delta variant is now dominant in many countries as it is in the UK, Chile was removed from the red list on 11 October 2021.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question
To ask the President of COP26, if he will raise in discussions with the President of Chile, during the COP26 visit, the potential environmental effect of the President's financial involvement in the Dominga mining project.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The UK and Chile regularly discuss environmental issues. The UK has been pressing all leaders through a programme of regular engagement and events to commit to ambitious climate action to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will raise the matter of allegations of human rights abuses by members of the Chilean security forces since October 2019 with the President of Chile during his visit to Glasgow for COP26.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Foreign Secretary's meetings during COP26, and the agendas for those meetings, will be finalised in due course. We continue to monitor the situation in Chile since the unrest two years ago. The UK has expressed its concerns about allegations of human rights abuses by members of the security forces in talks with representatives of the Chilean Government. We welcome the acknowledgement by President Piñera and other Ministers that there have been human rights abuses, as well as their commitments that these allegations will be fully investigated, and if appropriate, perpetrators will be prosecuted.