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: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Government of India; and what steps she is taking to further the relationship between the UK and India.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Foreign Secretary is due to visit Delhi on 31 March, where she will meet the Minister of External Affairs and participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum. She will discuss bilateral and international issues, building on our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the 2030 Roadmap for India-UK future relations.
The Foreign Secretary previously visited Delhi and Mumbai on 22-23 October 2021. During this visit, the Foreign Secretary held bilateral consultations with the Minister of External Affairs and the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. She also visited HMS Queen Elizabeth, part of the UK Carrier Strike Group, in Mumbai. Discussions focussed on technology and infrastructure cooperation with India, alongside forging stronger UK-India security and defence links.
The Foreign Secretary engages regularly with her counterpart, India's Minister for External Affairs. This reinforces ongoing Ministerial and official level cooperation between our two governments including on people-to-people links, trade, defence, climate and health.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support her Department has provided to the Mozambique Government on combatting Islamist insurgency in that country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is playing a leading role in Mozambique as co-chair of the international crisis taskforce, a platform for high-level dialogue and coordination between the Mozambique Government and its international partners on key issues including COVID-19 and the insurgency in the north of the country. Bilaterally, the UK signed a Defence MOU with the Government of Mozambique in May 2019 and we continue to work in partnership to address security issues of mutual interest. UK Aid has also provided over £22 million in humanitarian support in Cabo Delgado province, ensuring that people displaced by the crisis have access to food, water, shelter and basic health. We welcome recent progress by Mozambican defence and security forces, with support from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda, to take back areas previously under insurgent control, and will continue to work with the Government of Mozambique to build long term peace and stability.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to hold talks with the government of Mauritius to discuss the next steps for the Chagos Islands, including the restoration of the right of Chagossians to return to and resettle the Islands.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In November 2016, the UK Government announced that resettlement of Chagossians could not be supported on the grounds of feasibility, defence and security interests, and cost to the British taxpayer. There remains no right of abode in BIOT.
The UK is currently delivering an approximately £40 million ($50 million) Chagossian Support Package, over a ten year period, to improve Chagossian livelihoods in the communities where they now live: in Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.
As close friends and Commonwealth partners we remain open to dialogue with Mauritius on issues of mutual interest, including BIOT and its Marine Protected Area (MPA). The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over BIOT, which we have held continuously since 1814.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in Mauritius regarding (a) its claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, (b) transfer of the Outer Islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius and (c) the right to return and resettle for the Chagossian community, following the recent scientific expedition under a Mauritian flag to those islands.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In November 2016, the UK Government announced that resettlement of Chagossians could not be supported on the grounds of feasibility, defence and security interests and cost to the British taxpayer. There remains no right of abode in BIOT.
The UK is currently delivering an approximately £40 million ($50 million) Chagossian Support Package over a ten year period, to improve Chagossian livelihoods in the communities where they now live: in Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.
As close friends and Commonwealth partners we remain open to dialogue with Mauritius on issues of mutual interest, including BIOT and its Marine Protected Area (MPA). The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over BIOT, which we have held continuously since 1814.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is providing support to the Government of Mozambique to fight the Islamist insurgency in that country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK has taken a leading role in Mozambique as co-chair of the international taskforce on the insurgency in Cabo Delgado. This taskforce is a forum for high-level dialogue and coordination between the Mozambique Government and its international partners in response to the insurgency. Bilaterally, the UK signed a Defence MOU with the Government of Mozambique in May 2019, and we continue to work in partnership to address security issues of mutual interest. UK Aid has also provided over £22 million in humanitarian support in Cabo Delgado, primarily through UN agencies, ensuring that people displaced by the crisis have access to food, water, shelter and basic health. We welcome recent progress by Mozambican defence and security forces, with support from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda, to take back areas previously under insurgent control, and will continue to work with the Government of Mozambique to build long term peace and stability.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the Irigwe Development Association that 24,000 voters from 16 communities in Plateau state, Nigeria, may not be able to vote in upcoming elections in the Bassa Local Government Area after being displaced by violence.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK Government remains concerned by insecurity across Nigeria. The Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean met with officials at the Independent National Electoral Commission, where she discussed the importance of free, fair and safe electoral process in Nigeria, including for the 2023 elections. The Minister also met with religious leaders and officials from the Plateau State peace-building agency, to discuss a range of issues, including social inclusion and the important of good governance and democracy. The Minister has asked officials to follow-up on the situation in the Bassa local government area.
We continue to raise insecurity and human rights in Nigeria with the Nigerian Government. Earlier this month, at the inaugural dialogue of the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership, the Minister for Africa held productive discussions with the Nigerian National Security Adviser on Nigeria's security situation. The Minister also raised rising insecurity and its impact on the Nigerian people during her recent visit with the Vice-President, Foreign Minister and several State Governors. Through our Security and Defence Partnership with Nigeria, the UK and Nigeria are working together to respond to shared threats, and to support Nigeria to tackle a range of security challenges.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking via the National Cyber Security Centre to advise on and ensure the cyber-resilience of (a) central Government and Public Agency IT systems, (b) UK companies and organisations and (c) critical national infrastructure from overt and covert hostile state threats.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issues strategic warnings, regular advisories and guidance, such as Active Cyber Defence, to individuals, organisations and government.
This is part of a broader approach to Cyber resilience as set out in the National Cyber Strategy. It includes £2.6 billion of fresh investment in cyber and legacy IT over the next three years, in addition to a commitment to invest in an overhaul of government cyber security and addressing legacy IT infrastructure so that government's critical functions are significantly hardened to cyber-attack by 2025 and all government organisations are resilient to known vulnerabilities and attack methods by 2030.
Our deterrence campaigns leverage the full range of UK capabilities (diplomatic, economic, covert and overt) to influence the behaviour of malicious cyber actors.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership Inaugural Dialogue Communique, published on 2 February 2022, whether the case of Nnamdi Okwu Kanu was raised during this Security and Defence Partnership dialogue.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As part of the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership Dialogue, I spoke with Nigerian Government representatives about a range of issues, including the case of Mr Kanu.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Tehran Times publishing a map of Israel with potential strike targets.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Our commitment to Israel's security is unwavering. Israel is an important strategic partner for the UK and we collaborate on issues of defence and security, which includes regular discussions with Israel on Iranian destabilising activity in the region.