Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2021 to Question 65499 on India: Arrests, whether she has made representations to the Indian Government on the recent arrest of three Indian Muslim students for cheering Pakistan in the T20 world cup.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The FCDO engages with India on the full range of human rights matters, and we raise our concerns with the Government of India where we have them. We look to India to uphold all freedoms and rights guaranteed in its strong constitution, and by the international instruments to which India is a party.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the scale of human rights violations in Kashmir; and what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the 2020 Human Rights and Democracy Report with respect to Kashmir.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We recognise that there are human rights concerns in both India-administered-Kashmir and Pakistan-administered-Kashmir. We encourage all states to ensure domestic laws are in line with international standards. Any allegation of human rights violations or abuse is deeply concerning and must be investigated thoroughly and transparently. We have raised our concerns with the Governments of India and Pakistan.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Indian Government on the recent arrest of three Indian Muslim students for cheering Pakistan in the T20 world cup.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We look to India to uphold all freedoms and rights guaranteed in its strong constitution, and by the international instruments to which India is a party. Where we have concerns, we raise them directly with the Government of India, including at ministerial level. The UK engages with India on the full range of human rights matters, including freedom of religion or belief, working with Union and State Governments to build capacity and share expertise to promote human rights for all.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What recent assessment she has made of the human rights situation in Kashmir.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We recognise there are human rights concerns in both India-administered-Kashmir and Pakistan-administered-Kashmir and have raised these concerns with both governments. The continued use of some temporary restrictions is worrying: we are clear on the importance of rights being respected. The UK welcomes reports that some detainees have been released and calls for all remaining political detainees to be released. The UK condemns recent killings of civilians in Kashmir.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for the aviation industry beyond September 2021.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was designed as a temporary economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. After running for nineteen months, the scheme closed on 30 September 2021. To date, it has succeeded in supporting 11.7 million jobs across the UK, with employer claims totalling £69.3 billion.
As the economy has reopened, the jobs market has recovered, vacancies are at record highs and the success of the Government’s vaccine programme has allowed us to lift almost all restrictions. That is why it is right that the Government continues to wind down its temporary pandemic support, while continuing to support businesses to invest in the recovery and supporting people into new jobs.
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances the aviation industry has faced as a result of Covid-19. The aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), and grants for research and development.
Thanks to the rollout of the UK's vaccination programme, the Government has been able to relax the rules on our international travel programme. A new system for a safe and sustainable return to travel has been set out, which separates countries into a red list and the rest of the world. On Monday 11 October 2021, England's red list was reduced to just seven countries, with 47 countries coming off the red list.
From 24 October 2021, fully vaccinated passengers with an authorised vaccine and most under 18s arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper lateral flow test, instead of a PCR test, on or before Day 2 of their arrival into the UK. They will not need to self-isolate or take a pre-departure or day eight test.
Eligible travellers vaccinated in over 100 countries and territories including Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey, will not need to self-isolate, nor complete pre-departure testing and day eight testing requirements on arrival to the UK from non-red list countries and territories, like UK vaccinated adults. Anyone who tests positive will need to take a confirmatory PCR test which can be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.
The Government is focused on fully reopening international travel as soon as it is safe to do so and will further review England's international travel policy in the new year.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of ending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the aviation industry.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. The scheme closed at the end of September, striking the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns. This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have otherwise been around 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.
Furthermore England has relaxed the rules on international travel, which will support the recovery of the aviation industry. A new system for a safe and sustainable return to travel has been set out, which separates countries into a red list and rest of world. As of Monday 11 October, England’s red list was reduced to just 7 countries, with 47 countries coming off the red list. Passengers fully vaccinated with an authorised vaccine arriving in England from non-red countries or territories will only need to take a day two test and will not need to self-isolate or take a pre-departure or day eight test. From 24 October fully vaccinated passengers arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper lateral flow test, instead of a PCR test, on or before Day 2 of their arrival into the UK. Anyone who tests positive will need to take a confirmatory PCR test which can be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.
Eligible travellers vaccinated in over 100 countries and territories including Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey can avoid self-isolation, pre-departure testing and day eight testing requirements on arrival to the UK from non-red countries and territories, like UK vaccinated adults.
The Government recognises the particular challenges the aviation industry has faced as a result of Covid-19. The aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) and grants for research and development.
The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. We continue to engage closely with sectors across the economy, including the aviation, travel and tourism industries, to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to develop, and (2) to build support for, a regional counter-terrorism programme in Central Asia; from where they will seek to build support for any such programme; and what assessment they have made of their ability to build any such support in the absence of cooperation with the Taliban to counter international terrorist threats from (a) Al-Qaida, (b) ISIS, and (c) related splinter groups.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We must prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a haven for terrorism, including from Al-Qaida and ISIS, and an exporter of instability.
We will continue to convene partners both bilaterally and through the G7, the UN Security Council, and NATO and we expect that NATO will continue to have a role in fighting terrorism. We will work with our partners to use all levers at our disposal to disrupt terrorist groups' access to resources. This will include leading an international approach to prevent and deter Foreign Terrorist Fighters travelling to Afghanistan and effective implementation of counter-terrorism focused sanctions against terrorists in Afghanistan.
We will engage regional governments, in particular India and Pakistan, to work to prevent Afghanistan becoming a haven for terrorism. I visited Uzbekistan on 14 September, after visiting Uzbekistan and Tajikistan the week of 30 August for discussions on Afghanistan. The former Foreign Secretary also visited Islamabad to address the issue of terrorism and discussed it with the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers. We will build regional resilience to prevent any spread of instability/extremist and to counter radicalising narratives.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her predecessor had with his counterparts in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to establish safe routes out of Afghanistan, prior to August 2021.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Between 23 August 2019 and 18 August 2021 the previous Foreign Secretary and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met or contacted their counterparts from Afghanistan's neighbours over fifty times to discuss Afghanistan and to advance the Government's priorities in relation to that country. Key engagements for the previous Foreign Secretary included: on 28 June 2021 participating in the Global Coalition Against DAESH Ministerial Meeting in Italy; and on 29 June 2021 meeting with India's Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar and Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu. For Lord Ahmad, these included: meeting External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Shringla, Justice Minister Prasad and Home Minister Reddy during a visit to India between 14 and 20 March 2021; meeting Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Qureshi during a visit to Pakistan between 23 and 24 June 2021; and meeting Uzbek Foreign Minister Kamilov during a visit to Tashkent on 15 and 16 July 2021.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) implications for his policies of the Indian Government's recent lockdown on Kashmir after the death of activist, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and (b) human rights situation in Kashmir.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The restrictions that were imposed following Mr Geelani's death have reportedly been lifted. We are monitoring the situation in Kashmir. We recognise that there are human rights concerns in both India-administered-Kashmir and Pakistan-administered-Kashmir. We encourage all states to ensure that domestic laws are in line with international standards and that any allegation of human rights abuse is investigated thoroughly, promptly, transparently and independently.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2021 to Question 41124 on Afghanistan: Refugees, whether he held meetings with counterparts in countries neighbouring Afghanistan on the needs of Afghan refugees in those countries and the support his Department could provide prior to 18 August 2021.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Between 23 August 2019 and 18 August 2021 the previous Foreign Secretary and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met or contacted their counterparts from Afghanistan's neighbours over fifty times to discuss Afghanistan and to advance the Government's priorities in relation to that country. Between these dates this included communication on Afghanistan with their counterparts in Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Uzbekistan and India as well as with NATO, EU states, Canada and the United States.
Amongst these, key engagements for the previous Foreign Secretary included: on 28 June 2021 participating in the Global Coalition Against DAESH Ministerial Meeting in Italy; and on 29 June 2021 meeting with India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu.
For Lord Ahmad, these included: meeting External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Shringla, Justice Minister Prasad and Home Minister Reddy during a visit to India between 14 and 20 March 2021; meeting Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Qureshi during a visit to Pakistan between 23 and 24 March 2021; and meeting Uzbek Foreign Minister Kamilov during a visit to Tashkent on 15 and 16 July 2021.