Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the implications of his policies of the (a) number of executions, (b) reported increase in the number of women executed, (c) execution of people who were juveniles at the time of their alleged crimes and (d) offences which resulted in the imposition of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in 2023.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and circumstances. The UK raises the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia through a variety of interlocutors. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, continues to regularly raise the death penalty with the Saudi authorities, particularly where there are allegations regarding people who may have been juveniles at the time of their alleged crimes. Additionally, in January, the UK also recommended the total abolishment of the juvenile death penalty in Saudi Arabia at the UN Human Rights Council.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether additional support will be provided for Trading Standards to enforce the proposed generational ban on tobacco sales.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year. That is why we are introducing legislation to create the first smokefree generation, making it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
To ensure the law is enforced, the Government is providing an additional £30 million per year for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, to support work to tackle illicit and underage sales. The Government will also introduce a £100 fixed penalty notice for the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products. This will support Trading Standards to take quicker and more proportionate enforcement action against the irresponsible retailers who allow underage sales. We will continue to work closely with local trading standards and businesses to provide guidance on implementing and enforcing the Smokefree Generation policy.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Nigeria in connection with the case of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. We will continue to raise Mr Sharif-Aminu's case as he appeals his sentence. In April 2023, officials raised Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, and other blasphemy cases, with the Executive Secretary of Nigeria's National Human Rights Council. Most recently, in August 2023, the British High Commissioner handed over a letter from Fiona Bruce MP, the PM's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, on Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to the Kano State Governor and discussed the case with him. More broadly, we raise Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) and the rights of those accused of blasphemy with Nigeria bilaterally and in multilateral forums including at Nigeria's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in January.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia regarding the recent executions in 2022 and 2023 in that country which were allegedly based on political background or affiliation to the Shia sect.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK's opposition to the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We regularly raise concerns about its use and Saudi Arabia is a FCDO Human Rights Priority Country, in part because of the continued use of the death penalty. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon regularly discusses a wide range of human rights issues with the Saudi authorities, including on interfaith and the death penalty.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of child cruelty offences in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for a range of child cruelty offences, from the year ending June 2011 to the year ending June 2023, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023.
This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the following offences:
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalties for:
A consequence of increasing the maximum penalty for causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult to life imprisonment is that offenders sentenced to 7 years or more for that offence will spend two thirds of their sentence, rather than half, in custody.
Partly as a result of these measures, average custodial sentence length for child cruelty offences has increased by 79.9% since 2010.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of whether the death sentences given to six people in Ghana in January 2024 will be carried out; and whether he has had recent discussions with his Ghanaian counterpart on this issue.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and congratulates Ghana for its recent abolition of the death penalty for ordinary crimes. We encourage Ghana to sign the second optional protocol on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which abolishes capital punishment for all crimes, including treason which relates to the recent sentencing. Ghana has not carried out an execution since 1993, but courts have continued to hand down death sentences. I [Minister Mitchell] raised the recent sentences with the Vice President and leaders of the Foreign Affairs Committee during my recent trip to Ghana.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of Bahrain concerning its use of the death penalty.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Bahrain is well aware of the UK's long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, in all countries, as a matter of principle. During Bahrain's Universal Periodic Review in November 2022, the UK recommended an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and has continued to discuss this with the Government of Bahrain, most recently on 20 December 2023.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Saudi Arabia on the (a) adequacy of the trial and (b) use of the death penalty in the case of (i) Abdullah al-Derazi and (ii) Jalal Labbad in that country.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to monitor the cases of the young men, including Abdullah al-Derazi and Jala Labbad, who allegedly committed their crimes as minors and are at risk of execution. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon has raised these cases with the Saudi authorities as a priority. During Saudi Arabia's Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council on 22 January, the UK Government recommended that Saudi Arabia abolish the juvenile death penalty and conduct thorough investigations into individuals who may have been minors at the time of their alleged crimes.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his counterpart in Iran on the imminent execution of Reza Rasayi.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HMG opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. At the 78th UN General Assembly, we co-sponsored the Iran Human Rights Resolution, calling for Iran to establish a moratorium on executions. We condemn Iran's continued imposition of the death penalty on protesters and have sanctioned 94 Iranian individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022. We will continue to pressure Iran on its application of the death penalty.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 196343 on Abbas Deris, what recent discussions he has had with his Iranian counterparts on the imprisonment of Abbas Deris.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HMG opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. At the 78th UN General Assembly, we co-sponsored the Iran Human Rights Resolution, calling for Iran to establish a moratorium on executions. We condemn Iran's continued imposition of the death penalty on protesters and have sanctioned 94 Iranian individuals or entities for human rights violations since September 2022. We will continue to pressure Iran on its application of the death penalty.