Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2019 to Question 223803, what proportion of young people who participated and completed National Citizen Service in each year since 2011 were not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government does not currently collect data about the number of young people who participated in NCS who were not in education, employment or training. The Government does disaggregate NCS participant data by: black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME), minority religion, special educational needs and disability (SEND), free school meals (FSM) and young people in care.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to (a) restrict or (b) remove the charitable status of Churches and other faith-based organisations who express and practise historic orthodox beliefs on the doctrine of marriage.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To be a charity, institutions, including Churches and other faith-based organisations in England and Wales, must meet the legal test for charitable status set out in the Charities Act 2011. This requires the institution to have a wholly charitable purpose for the benefit of the public. The advancement of religion has long been recognised as a charitable purpose. There is no presumption that a particular charitable purpose is for the public benefit.
The Charity Commission, as the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is responsible for assessing if an institution meets the legal test for charitable status.
There are no plans to change the legal test for charitable status which applies to Churches and other faith-based organisations who express and practise historic orthodox beliefs on the doctrine of marriage.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Ugandan counterpart on freedom of expression and religion in that country.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Ugandan Constitution enshrines the 'freedom to practise any religion'. We have no evidence of persecution based on religious belief in Uganda and have not raised this issue with the Ugandan Government recently.
The UK supports freedom of expression as a fundamental human right and, alongside freedom of the media, maintains that it is an essential quality of any functioning democracy. We continue to raise any concerns around civic and political issues directly with the Ugandan Government.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what issues they will raise as a priority at the next meeting of the UN Human Rights Council due to be held between 25 February and 22 March in Geneva; and which countries they will highlight as countries of concern in their statement to the Council.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government's priority for all sessions of the UN Human Rights Council is to ensure that it holds those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to account, effectively addresses global threats to human rights, and strengthens protections for the future. At the 40th session, specific priorities will include the human rights situation in Syria, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Libya and South Sudan, and thematic priorities of media freedom, human rights defenders, and freedom of religion or belief. The UK will continue to use statements to the Council to hold countries that violate human rights to account.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) religious group.
Answered by Margot James
At the 31st December 2018, fewer than 10 civil servants in my Department were recorded as being Sikhs, as a religious group.
The Department encourages all of its employees to provide details of their personal diversity information. This action is voluntary and information is captured via employee input onto the HR system. The department’s declaration rate for religion is 67%.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will list his Department's priorities for the United Nations Human Rights Council session in March 2019.
Answered by Mark Field
The Government's priority for all sessions of the UN Human Rights Council is to ensure that it holds those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to account, effectively addresses global threats to human rights, and strengthens protections for the future. At the 40th session, we envisage specific priorities will include the human rights situation in Syria, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Libya and South Sudan, and thematic priorities of media freedom, human rights defenders, and freedom of religion or belief.
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will publish a summary of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue meeting which took place in London on 8 November 2018.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The sixth round of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue took place in London on 7 November 2018, co-chaired by Assistant Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Director for Africa. The dialogue covered bilateral issues and the need for progress across a range of topics, including political reforms, peace processes, human rights, economic reforms, and migration, with separate discussions on trade and culture. The Sudanese delegation also met Lord Ahmad, Minister for the Commonwealth and the UN, to discuss UN peacekeeping and human rights, including human trafficking, freedom of the media, and freedom of religion or belief.
A full communique will be published on the British Government's website shortly.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of freedom of religion or belief in Burma.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Government continues to be deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in Burma. The British Ambassador met the Burmese Minister for Religious Affairs on 9 August. He discussed the impact of social media on intercommunal relations and registers the UK's desire for further engagement with religious leaders engaged in interfaith dialogues in Burma. The UK, working with EU partners and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, secured a UN Human Rights Council Resolution on 27 September that called for the amending or repealing of the discriminatory provisions of the set of “protection of race and religion laws” in Burma enacted in 2015 covering religious conversion, interfaith marriage, monogamy and population control.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 15 October (HL Deb, cols 282–3), whether the Home Office will now reclassify the systematic attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan as persecution rather than discrimination.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
All asylum and human rights applications from Pakistan nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.
Each individual assessment is made against the background of the latest available country of origin information and any relevant caselaw. This is based on evidence taken from a range of reliable sources, including reputable media outlets; local, national and international organisations, including human rights organisations; and information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Our country policy and information notes on religious groups in Pakistan are published on the gov.uk website and kept under constant review, updated periodically.
If a person can show that they would suffer serious persecution based on their religion on return to Pakistan, then it is likely they would be granted international protection.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in what ways, if any, they plan to mark the International Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief on 27 October; and whether they will issue guidance to all embassies and overseas missions on the UK policy on such freedom.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister demonstrated the British Government's commitment to promoting freedom of religion or belief when in July this year she appointed me as her special envoy. The British Government sees International Religious Freedom Day on 27 October as an opportunity to reflect on the persecution suffered around the world by people due to their religion or beliefs; and to promote respect between communities. The British Government will mark the day on social media, and through an event jointly hosted by myself and Lord Bates on 7 November to mark the occasion. We will also use the occasion to re-issue the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's toolkit on Freedom of Religion or Belief to all of our overseas embassies and missions across our global network, and encourage them to promote and defend this important human right. Finally we are pleased that almost £1 million of funding has been allocated to pursue our freedom of religion or belief policy objectives through the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy.