Speeches by Mathew.

“What is the future of the international humanitarian law cell? That is a direct question.”

“The situation now is likely, as you say, to become worse because of the reduction and changes. As I am picking up, what is needed is courage, and courage at the highest level of Government, to call these things out. That has been missing, and I think our Committee needs to make that point.”

“How will you ensure that the Department will be able to deliver on your priorities in this area?”

“You heard from Nathaniel in the last session. You were in the room at the time. He came up with a number of ideas based on what they have done in the States. One was specifically an atrocity prevention Act. Would something like that be worth pushing through Government?”

“It might empower staff, for example.”

“Before I get into that, I want to say that I am flabbergasted and appalled by what have been described as failures at the highest level of Government. The question in my mind is: do we not, as a Committee, have a role not only to name and shame, and I think we do, but to raise the next crisis that has been mentioned—wh…”

“Okay, so that has been passed on to the Middle East Directorate. How many of these staff will be retained in the new arrangement, of those people who were in the international humanitarian law cell?”

“Okay, so that has been passed on to the Middle East Directorate. How many of these staff will be retained in the new arrangement, of those people who were in the international humanitarian law cell?”

“How will you ensure that the Department will be able to deliver on your priorities in this area?”

“This really leads from the same question, but as you point out we have already heard today about external expertise. We have heard examples of where external expertise has not been listened to. How do you ensure adequate capacity and motivation of officials to analyse and present external advice?”

“What is the future of the international humanitarian law cell? That is a direct question.”

“Thank you. How are you ensuring that changes under FCDO 2030 will not have a negative impact on the delivery of your priorities for the UK’s atrocity prevention work?”

“Can I interrupt you, Minister, because I know there is limited time?”

“The best way, though, is to learn from where things have gone wrong, and clearly things have gone wrong in the past.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) for securing this valuable debate. Rural pubs and breweries across the country are suffering under an excessive tax burden that is stifling investment and employment opportunities. Melksham…”

“This morning, we held an informal International Development Committee meeting with Professor Wim de Villiers and Richard Gordon of the University of Stellenbosch on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. The University of Stellenbosch’s disease identification unit has been involved in working on strategies to combat this outbr…”

“In my constituency of Melksham and Devizes in Wiltshire, in two years only 29% of adults were seen by dentists. Only 56% of Wiltshire’s children are seen by an NHS dentist each year, which is a figure of shame, given that the NHS recommends that children be seen regularly from their very first tooth. Nationally, the pi…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State to his position and thank him for his statement. I also thank our brave Royal Marines for undertaking this action. It has been reported in the press that our entire hunter-killer fleet is out of the water, being repaired and maintained. Is that true? When will these submarines be back o…”

“We in this place all recognise the transformative role that railways can play in creating better-connected places and driving the economic growth that our communities and country need, yet that potential remains largely unrealised in some counties. Wiltshire has an extensive network of existing railway lines, but they …”

“Thank you very much. Itay, this may sound a ridiculous question but please have a go at answering it: does Israel have any legal grounds effectively to have banned UNRWA?”