Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government with what countries they have (1) bilateral return and readmission agreements, and (2) agreed Memoranda of Understanding for the return of migrants found to be illegally in the UK.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Bilaterally outside of the EU, the UK has a range of returns arrangements with receiving countries including bilateral MoU, formal readmission agreements and informal operational arrangements which provide the basis for administrative removal and deportation of own country nationals.
Formal immigration returns arrangements are in place with following countries:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, China, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Korea, South Sudan, Switzerland, Vietnam.
As an EU Member State, the UK participated in 14 of the 18 EU Readmission Agreements. These were with: Pakistan, Georgia, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Macao and Hong Kong.
Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much bilateral official development assistance they expect to provide to Montenegro in 2021/22.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Annual country-level allocations will be published in the FCDO's 2021 Annual Report later this year, and programme-level funding is regularly updated on DevTracker.
Final country data is published in the Statistics for International Development each year, and spend for 2021 will be published in this document in autumn 2022.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent progress she has made on rolling over the trade agreement in place before 1 January 2021 with Montenegro; and whether she plans to (a) seek to remove or (b) amend the clause in that agreement relating to duty drawback and exemption to exclude its application to the UK's new of freeports.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has regularly offered Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro an agreement that would provide continuity for business, and on the same terms as the EU Agreement.
The Government understands that the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are considering their position and the Government remains ready to conclude a trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina when they are able to do so.
Following last year’s elections and formation of a new government in Montenegro, and with the COVID-19 situation there now improving, the Government stands ready to open discussions.
The Government will carefully assess and negotiate the terms of all future trade agreements, such as clauses related to duty drawback, to secure provisions that benefit all of the United Kingdom, including producers in the UK’s new freeports.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent progress she has made on rolling over the trade agreement in place before 1 January 2021 with Bosnia and Herzegovina; and whether she plans to (a) seek to remove or (b) amend the clause in that agreement relating to duty drawback and exemption to exclude its application to the UK's new of freeports.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has regularly offered Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro an agreement that would provide continuity for business, and on the same terms as the EU Agreement.
The Government understands that the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are considering their position and the Government remains ready to conclude a trade agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina when they are able to do so.
Following last year’s elections and formation of a new government in Montenegro, and with the COVID-19 situation there now improving, the Government stands ready to open discussions.
The Government will carefully assess and negotiate the terms of all future trade agreements, such as clauses related to duty drawback, to secure provisions that benefit all of the United Kingdom, including producers in the UK’s new freeports.
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, whether he has made representations to his Montenegrin counterpart on alleged attacks and criticisms of non-governmental organisations in that country.
Answered by Wendy Morton
During discussions in January with the Montenegrin Foreign Minister, I welcomed the new Montenegrin government's commitment to making the reforms required for deeper Euro-Atlantic integration. Our Embassy in Podgorica is in regular contact with civil society to hear their concerns and is working with them on a range of projects to strengthen democratic institutions. The Montenegrin government is working cooperatively with a number of NGOs on some issues, although other NGOs are concerned that this may limit the sector's ability to hold the government to account
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what countries the British Armed Forces provided training to on UK territory in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Personnel from the countries listed in the table below have attended defence education or training in the UK in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Year | Countries |
2019/20 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ALGERIA ANGOLA ANTIGUA & BARBUDA ARGENTINA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BARBADOS BELARUS BELGIUM BELIZE BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE CHINA COLOMBIA CROATIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GAMBIA GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE GRENADA GUYANA HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KAZAKHSTAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT KYRGYZSTAN LATVIA LEBANON LESOTHO LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MAURITIUS MEXICO MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO MOZAMBIQUE NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PARAGUAY PHILIPPINES POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA RWANDA SAUDI ARABIA SENEGAL SERBIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVENIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TURKEY UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA UZBEKISTAN VIETNAM |
2020/21 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BELGIUM BELIZE BHUTAN BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BOTSWANA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE COLOMBIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT LEBANON LITHUANIA MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PARAGUAY POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA SAUDI ARABIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TUNISIA UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA |
Note: MOD records information on International Defence Training (IDT) by financial year, rather than by calendar year. Information is taken from a central IDT database. Some activity may not be captured on that database.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) UK national, and (2) locally engaged, staff were employed in the British embassies in (a) Slovenia, (b) Croatia, (c) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (d) Serbia, (e) Montenegro, (f) North Macedonia, (g) Kosovo, and (h) Albania, in the (i) 2015/16, (ii) 2016/17, (iii) 2017/18, (iv) 2018/19, (v) 2019/20, and (vi) 2020/21, financial years.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As at 31 March 2020, the FCDO UK based headcount band for each Embassy requested is set out in the table below.
| (i) 31st March 2016 | (ii) 31st March 2017 | (iii) 31st March 2018 | (iv) 31st March 2019 | (v) 31st March 2020 | 31st December 2020 | ||||||
Country and Embassy (PQ HL12645) | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band | FCDO UKB staff- Band | FCDO CBS- Band |
a) Slovenia | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | fewer than 10 | fewer than 10 | fewer than 10 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
b) Croatia | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
c) Bosnia and Herzegovina | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
d) Serbia | fewer than 10 | 50-59 | fewer than 10 | 50-59 | 10-19 | 50-59 | 10-19 | 50-59 | 10-19 | 50-59 | 10-19 | 50-59 |
e) Montenegro | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
f) North Macedonia | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 | fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
g) Kosovo | fewer than 10 | 30-39 | fewer than 10 | 30-39 | fewer than 10 | 30-39 | fewer than 10 | 30-39 | fewer than 10 | 30-39 | fewer than 10 | 30-39 |
h) Albania | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 | fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
UKB – UK Based Staff
CBS – Country Based Staff
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) UK national, and (2) locally engaged, staff are employed in the British embassies in (a) Slovenia, (b) Croatia, (c) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (d) Serbia, (e) Montenegro, (f) North Macedonia, (g) Kosovo, and (h) Albania.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As at 31st December 2020, the FCDO UK based headcount band for each Country requested is set out in the table below.
Country and Embassy (PQ HL12645) | FCDO UK Based staff- Band | FCDO Country Based Staff- Band |
a) Slovenia | Fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
b) Croatia | Fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
c) Bosnia and Herzegovina | Fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
d) Serbia | 10-19 | 50-59 |
e) Montenegro | Fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
f) North Macedonia | Fewer than 10 | 10-19 |
g) Kosovo | Fewer than 10 | 30-39 |
h) Albania | Fewer than 10 | 20-29 |
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to change the number of (1) UK national, and (2) locally engaged, staff employed in the British embassies in (a) Slovenia, (b) Croatia, (c) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (d) Serbia, (e) Montenegro, (f) North Macedonia, (g) Kosovo, and (h) Albania.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The future size and shape of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is yet to be established. This, and any prioritisation process, will be determined in coming months through the ongoing organisational design work, and the spending review and the integrated review.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2020 to Question 126854 on Embassies: Staff, how many UK-based staff there are in each UK embassy in each EU Member State, by headcount band.
Answered by Nigel Adams
For security reasons, the FCDO provides headcount detail in bands. The FCDO was formed on 2nd September 20, with Legacy Departments continuing to use legacy systems for recording staff locations in the interim. People in former DFID roles are recorded at Country level with no ability to report at Post level currently available. Therefore the data provided is at Country level only.
As at 31st October 2020, the UK based headcount band for each Country in Europe is set out in the table below.
Data does not include Posts where there is no UKB presence, or Posts in Eastern Europe.
Country/Territory | FCDO Headcount at 31st October 2020 |
Albania | Fewer than 10 |
Austria | Fewer than 10 |
Belgium | 10 to 19 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Fewer than 10 |
Bulgaria | Fewer than 10 |
Croatia | Fewer than 10 |
Cyprus | 10 to 19 |
Czech Republic | Fewer than 10 |
Denmark | Fewer than 10 |
Estonia | Fewer than 10 |
Finland | Fewer than 10 |
France | 30-39 |
Germany | 20-29 |
Greece | Fewer than 10 |
Holy See | Fewer than 10 |
Hungary | Fewer than 10 |
Iceland | Fewer than 10 |
Ireland | 10 to 19 |
Italy | 10 to 19 |
Kosovo | Fewer than 10 |
Latvia | 10 to 19 |
Lithuania | Fewer than 10 |
Luxembourg | Fewer than 10 |
Malta | Fewer than 10 |
Montenegro | Fewer than 10 |
Netherlands | 10 to 19 |
North Macedonia | Fewer than 10 |
Norway | Fewer than 10 |
Poland | 10 to 19 |
Portugal | Fewer than 10 |
Romania | Fewer than 10 |
Serbia | 10 to 19 |
Slovakia | Fewer than 10 |
Slovenia | Fewer than 10 |
Spain | 10 to 19 |
Sweden | 10 to 19 |
Switzerland | 10 to 19 |
Turkey | 20-29 |
Turkey | 10 to 19 |