Every parliamentary written question tabled by Wendy Morton this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1,521–1,540 of 1,717 · this parliament
Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26008 on Pension Credit, how many people eligible for Pension Credit were awaiting Winter Fuel Payments as of (a) 30 December 2024 and (b) 31 January 2025.
Where the customer is eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment, the Department aims to make this payment within 2 weeks of the award of Pension Credit. Customers won't miss out on Winter Fuel Payments even if their qualifying benefit takes longer to process than usual.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken with his international counterparts to help end conflict in Sudan.
The Foreign Secretary and I have both made addressing the situation in Sudan a priority, and are actively working together with a range of regional and international partners towards ending the suffering of the Sudanese people. On 24 January, the Foreign Secretary travelled to the Chad/Sudan border and met with Sudanese refugees. During this visit, he announced his intention to convene Foreign Ministers in London this spring to galvanise international political efforts to end the conflict.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to the British Council in the 2024-25 financial year; what information his Department holds on the level of funding provided to equivalent organisations in other G7 countries; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the difference in funding levels on the projection of UK soft power.
In 2024/25, the FCDO will provide the British Council with £162.5 million Grant-in-Aid funding. The British Council is projected to generate £885 million from other sources over the same period, according to its Corporate Plan 2024-25. This self-generated income is largely derived from the British Council's teaching and exams businesses.The British Council's specific charitable objects are set out in its Royal Charter. An assessment of any difference in levels of funding with international comparators is not directly equivalent given the British Council's specific charitable objects.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria he will use to evaluate the commitment of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham regime to (a) inclusive governance and (b) human rights.
The UK fully supports a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition process leading to an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government. As a next step, we hope to see representative figures from across Syria appointed to the transitional government and the recently announced Legislative Council and Preparatory Committee. We hope there will be a clear process and timeline for this next phase of the transition, which respects the rights of all Syrians.
What discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Domestic Affairs on the China audit before 10 January 2025.
The UK Government is carrying out an audit to examine the UK's interests with respect to China to improve our ability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has discussed various topics including the China audit with the Secretary of State of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Locarno speech, delivered on 9 January 2025, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen defence collaboration with NATO allies.
The Government is committed to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) First Defence Policy, through which we are making NATO stronger, ensuring one billion North Americans and Europeans are all safer and more prosperous. With our reset of relations, we are working with our European Allies to harden Europe's defences. European NATO Allies must continue to take greater responsibility for our own security - spending more, producing more, and delivering larger and more capable forces. With threats increasing, the UK is committed to strengthening defence collaboration with NATO Allies even further with a cast iron commitment to increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. That is the message the Foreign Secretary and I took to the December 2024 Foreign Ministers meeting.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his policies on climate change on the International Women and Girls Strategy 2023 to 2030.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to ensuring gender equality is a key part of our programming on climate and addressing gendered inequalities as part of our fight against climate change. We are committed to increasing the proportion of our international climate finance that will have gender equality objectives. At COP29, I launched a groundbreaking new report concerning climate change and gender-based violence and announced up to £5.5 million to support grassroots organisations and to increase women's voices and active participation in the design of water and nature-based solutions across the Middle East and North Africa.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the annual budget of the Soft Power Council is.
The first meeting of the Soft Power Council on 15 January was financed from within existing budgets. As the Council is a new area of activity, we continue, jointly with the Department for Culture Media and Sport, to work up a comprehensive spending review bid that will determine the Soft Power Council budget in due course.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Syrian refugees (a) in the UK and (b) globally who are returning to Syria.
The Home Office publishes data on asylum seekers and refugees who come to the UK in the 'Immigration System Statistics' quarterly release. The Home Office does not track the addresses of individuals once they have been granted refugee status, and refugees are free to move around or leave the UK.As of 30 January, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimate that some 237,000 Syrians have returned to Syria since the fall of Assad. These figures include Syrians returning from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, as well those transiting from beyond the region.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the planned frequency of meetings of the Soft Power Council is.
The Council aims to meet in plenary on a roughly quarterly basis. Smaller working groups and roundtables with the Council's members will form to examine specific geographies, themes and issues, with frequency of meetings calibrated according to need.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he plans to take to deliver humanitarian aid to support the Syrian people.
In response to recent events, humanitarian aid agencies have rapidly scaled up the ongoing international aid effort to support Syrians inside Syria and across the region. The UK announced an additional £61 million to support this. We have strict measures in place to ensure UK aid reaches those most in need. We conduct rigorous and robust checks to ensure aid goes to the people that need it, delivers value for money and protects against aid diversion.The UK is working with the UN and other partners to ensure the aid response meets needs most effectively. To this end, we continue to advocate for flexible humanitarian funding, strengthened co-ordination, an updated needs assessment, and unimpeded access.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment has he made of the potential implications for his policies of the treatment of Christian refugees from Myanmar in India.
The UK Government is committed defending religious freedom for all in Myanmar. We are aware of Myanmar Christian refugees in India's Christian-majority states, Nagaland, and Mizoram. We continue to raise concerns about discrimination of religious minorities in international forums, including through our co-sponsorship of a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Myanmar in April 2024, which underscored the importance of addressing the root cause of violations against religious minorities, including Christians. Additionally, we provide funding to the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and have established the Myanmar Witness programme to collect and preserve evidence of violations and abuses, including atrocities against religious minority groups within Myanmar.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support UK research into neglected tropical diseases.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is supporting the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a Product Development Partnership that develops novel medicines for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). DNDi partners with over 40 academic partners in the UK for its vital research. In addition, the FCDO is in the process of finalising an agreement to support a UK academic institution with the development of novel health technologies for NTDs.The FCDO also supports UK research capability via our partnership with the Medical Research Council (MRC). This includes research on NTDs led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine on the design of a community-based intervention for snakebite prevention funded through the FCDO/MRC Concordat.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle gender-based violence through the International Women and Girls Strategy 2023 to 2030.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. We are scaling up evidence-based approaches to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) through homes, schools and workplaces through the What Works to Prevent Violence programme, investing £67.5 million.In November, we announced £27 million to tackle technology-facilitated GBV, and £5 million additional funding to help grassroots organisations to tackle child marriage. We are continuing to mobilise action on GBV at national and international levels. For example, at COP29, we launched a report on GBV and climate, co-produced by the UK and Australia, and learnt from women on the front line of the climate crisis.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the effectiveness of UK aid distribution at reaching civilians in Syria.
The UK continues to monitor and respond to the humanitarian situation in Syria. Most border crossings remain open for humanitarian aid, enabling assistance to be delivered, except where conflict is constraining this. We continue to call for unhindered access and the facilitation of humanitarian operations.The UK has announced a further £61 million to support vulnerable Syrians inside Syria and across the region. Through the UN, and international, and Syrian non-governmental organisations, we are providing food, healthcare, protection and other life-saving assistance. We remain in regular contact with those organisations to assess aid access and how they are managing delivery risks.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of distributing humanitarian aid to civilians in need through (a) local civil society, (b) education programmes and (c) faith groups in Myanmar.
19.9 million people in Myanmar need humanitarian assistance, many of whom are living in hard-to-reach areas. To overcome these barriers, over 54% of UK funding is directed to local civil society organisations, including faith groups and education providers, to reach those most in need. Due to the increasing humanitarian crisis, on 1st February the Minister of State for Development announced an uplift of £22.45 million in humanitarian support. Our increased humanitarian funding will help deliver healthcare to one million people in Myanmar.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) ASEAN, (b) Five Eyes and (c) Japanese partners on (i) improving humanitarian aid access into Myanmar and (ii) best practice for ensuring aid reaches civilians most in need.
The UK is deeply concerned about Myanmar's worsening situation and growing humanitarian needs. On 1st February, the UK-led Joint Statement (which included all Five-Eyes as co-signatories), marking four years since the coup, called for the Myanmar military regime to de-escalate violence and ensure safe humanitarian access. At the ASEAN summit in July, the Foreign Secretary emphasised the need for full implementation of ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus to ensure safe humanitarian access across Myanmar. The G7 Foreign Ministers statement in November called on the Myanmar military regime to allow full, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access in Myanmar. Over 54 per cent of the UK's support to Myanmar is directed through local civil society partners to ensure it reaches those most in need.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to use UK research capacity in neglected tropical diseases to support his policy objectives in this area.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is supporting the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a Product Development Partnership that develops novel medicines for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). DNDi partners with over 40 academic partners in the UK for its vital research. In addition, the FCDO is in the process of finalising an agreement to support a UK academic institution with the development of novel health technologies for NTDs.The FCDO also supports UK research capability via our partnership with the Medical Research Council (MRC). This includes research on NTDs led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine on the design of a community-based intervention for snakebite prevention funded through the FCDO/MRC Concordat.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on the repatriation of British citizens who travelled to Islamic State-led territories to support that group.
Our priority remains to ensure the safety and security of the UK. We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect the UK from those who pose a threat to our security.All requests for consular assistance from Syria are considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all relevant circumstances including, but not limited to, national security.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of disruptions to energy supply in (a) Transnistria and (b) Moldova.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2025 to Question 25252 [https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-01-21/25252].