House of Lords Written Answers and Statements

Monday
1 June 2015
Vol. 763
No. 2
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES
(HANSARD)
HOUSE OF LORDS
WRITTEN STATEMENTS
Written Statements .................................................1
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Ministers and others who make Statements or answer Questions are referred to only by name, not their ministerial or
other title. The current list of ministerial and other responsibilities is as follows.
Minister
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
Earl Howe
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Baroness Altmann
Lord Ashton of Hyde
Lord Bates
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Earl of Courtown
Lord Dunlop
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Lord Faulks
Lord Freud
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Lord Maude of Horsham
Lord Nash
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Baroness Shields
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Baroness Verma
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Responsibilities
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Minister of State, Ministry of Defence and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office and Department for
Transport
Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions
Whip
Minister of State, Home Office
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate
Change, Wales Office and Whip
Whip
Whip
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scotland Office
Whip
Minister of State, Ministry of Justice
Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions
Deputy Chief Whip and Spokesman for Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs
Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Foreign
and Commonwealth Office
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills and Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Commercial Secretary to the Treasury
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture Media and
Sport
Chief Whip
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International
Development
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local
Government
Whip
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Written Statements
1 June 2015
Written Statements
Monday, 1 June 2015
Foreign Affairs Council/Foreign Affairs
Council (Defence) and General Affairs
Council
[HLWS7]
Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My Right Honourable
Friend the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington) has
made the following written Ministerial statement:
My Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Philip
Hammond) attended the Foreign Affairs Council, and My
Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for
Defence (Michael Fallon) attended the Foreign Affairs
Council (Defence), and they both attended a joint session
with Foreign and Defence Ministers. I attended the
General Affairs Council (GAC). The Foreign Affairs
Council and Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) were
chaired by the High Representative of the European
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica
Mogherini, and the General Affairs Council was chaired
by the Latvian Presidency.
Foreign Affairs Council and Foreign Affairs Council
(Defence)
A provisional report of the meeting and Conclusions
adopted can be found at:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/fac/2015/
05/18/
Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) & European
Defence Agency (EDA)
The EDA Ministerial Steering Board discussion
focussed on preparations for the June European Council.
The Defence Secretary welcomed the work that the EDA
has done in delivering the major programmes agreed to at
the December 2013 European Council and encouraged the
Agency to remain focused on delivering progress on these
programmes at the June Council. Ministers also endorsed
the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) action plan.
Defence Ministers discussed CSDP Missions and
Operations in the Foreign Affairs Council (Defence),
where greater political will by Member States in force
generation and increased EU-NATO co-operation were
highlighted as being key to success. The Defence
Secretary reaffirmed the UK’s support for the counter
piracy operation EUNAVFOR ATALANTA and
highlighted that a combination of Naval forces and
development of best management practice by industry and
private contractors remained important in order to
suppress the pirates’ business model. The Defence
Secretary also emphasised the UK’s continued
commitment to the maintenance of the Executive
Mandate for EUFOR ALTHEA. This mandate was an
essential international safeguard against a return to
violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Page 1
Joint Meeting of Foreign Affairs Council and Foreign
Affairs Council (Defence)
Over lunch, EU defence and foreign ministers
exchanged views on the security in the EU’s broader
neighbourhood with NATO Security General Jens
Stoltenberg. Ministers then discussed the preparations for
the European Council in June 2015, which cover the
Common Security and Defence Policy, and debated
ongoing work reviewing changes in the EU’s strategic
environment, including the preparation of a report by the
High Representative to the European Council on 25/26
June. The Foreign Secretary noted that the June European
Council should be a stocktake of the work begun in
December 2013 and highlighted the importance of the
EU’s cooperation with NATO.
The Council then took stock of the follow-up to the
European Council of 23 April, which focused on
migration issues. It approved a crisis management concept
for a possible EU military operation and established an
EU naval operation to disrupt the business model of
human smugglers in the Southern Central Mediterranean.
The Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary spoke in
support of the establishment of the operation, but, noted
that prior to its launch, clarity would be required on the
handling of migrants rescued, smugglers apprehended,
and the necessary legal base for the operation would need
to
be
established.
All
four
phases
(surveillance/intelligence; seizure of vessels on the high
seas; seizure and potentially destruction in Libyan
waters/ashore; and withdrawal) needed to be enactable. A
number of Ministers set out their position on resettlement
and relocation, including the Foreign Secretary who made
clear the UK would not accept compulsory resettlement.
Foreign Affairs Council
- Middle East Peace Process (MEPP)
Ministers exchanged views on the situation in the
Middle East and on prospects for the peace process,
following the formation of a new Israeli government and
ahead of a visit of the High Representative of the
European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
to the region. Ms. Mogherini would be accompanied by
Fernando Gentilini, the newly appointed EU Special
Representative for the MEPP. The Foreign Secretary
recognised the widespread frustration on the MEPP and
argued that the EU should keep in step with the US and
that there would likely be no progress until the Iran
nuclear talks ended.
- Other Items
Ministers agreed a number of other measures:
• The Council adopted Conclusions on Burundi;
• The Council adopted Conclusions on the Common
Security and Defence Policy;
• The Council adopted the EU position for the twelfth
meeting of the EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation in Brussels
on 18 May; and
Page 2
1 June 2015
• The Council adopted the draft agenda for the EU-Gulf
Cooperation Council Joint Council and ministerial
meeting, to be held on 24 May 2015 in Doha.
General Affairs Council
A provisional report of the Council meeting can be
found at:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/gac/2015/
05/19/
The General Affairs Council (GAC) on 19 May focused
on: follow-up to the April Emergency European Council;
preparation of the June European Council; and the Four
Presidents’ Report on economic governance in the euro
area.
Follow-up to the April Emergency European Council
on migration
The Latvian Presidency and European Commission
updated the GAC on developments since the 23 April
Emergency European Council discussed migration
pressures in the Mediterranean.
I reiterated the points made by the Foreign Secretary at
the Foreign Affairs Council and informed Members States
about UK activities to help prevent further loss of life in
the Mediterranean. I emphasised the importance of
addressing the causes of illegal immigration and tackling
the organised criminals behind it, and the need for the EU
to focus on the longer term picture.
Preparation of the June European Council
The GAC began preparations for the 23 and 24 June
European Council, which the Prime Minister will attend.
The June European Council will focus on security and
economic issues including: defence and the European
Security Strategy; relations with Russia and Ukraine;
follow-up of the February European Council on terrorism
and April European Council on migration; the digital
single market; the 2015 European Semester; TTIP; and
economic governance in the euro area.
Four Presidents’ Report on economic governance in the
euro area
The European Commission updated the GAC on
preparations of the Four Presidents’ Report on the
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to be presented to
the June European Council.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
[HLWS6]
Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My Honourable Friend,
the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Tobias Ellwood) has
made the following written Ministerial statement:
The House may welcome a report on the 2015 Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, held
at the United Nations in New York between 27 April and
22 May to review progress and agree future actions
against the NPT’s three pillars: disarmament, nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The
Review Conference was a substantive event, which
Written Statements
advanced discussion on each of the Treaty’s three pillars
but concluded without reaching a consensus outcome.
The UK played an active role both in the preparation
for the Review Conference and at the Conference itself.
As part of its preparations for the Review Conference, the
UK invited certain non-nuclear weapons states and civil
society representatives, for the first time, to the UKhosted P5 Conference of nuclear weapon states in
February this year. The UK also submitted a revised
National Report setting out the action the UK is taking to
support the NPT. We encouraged and participated in five
rounds of informal consultations between Israel and Arab
States on a Conference on a Middle East zone free from
nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
The Minister of State at the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office, the Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St
Johns DBE, set out the UK’s approach and progress
against NPT objectives on the opening day of the
Conference. The UK delegation participated actively,
both in the main Conference and at side events, including
on our pioneering verification work and nuclear energy.
We engaged constructively in the negotiations
throughout, seeking to reach agreement and to make
progress on all three pillars of the Treaty.
We were disappointed that, despite the progress made
in many areas, the Conference was not able to find
common ground on how to make further progress on the
proposed Middle East zone free from nuclear weapons
and other weapons of mass destruction. This issue was the
reason that consensus was not reached on the draft
outcome document. The UK sought a process which was
meaningful and based on arrangements freely arrived at
by all states of the region. The proposed text would not
have enabled tangible progress to be made and so we
were unable to support the draft conclusions. We remain
committed to the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East, the
creation of a Middle East zone free from nuclear weapons
and all other weapons of mass destruction, and the steps
agreed in 2010 towards that end.
The UK’s commitment to the Treaty and to fulfilling
our NPT obligations, including under Article VI on
disarmament, remains undiminished. As a responsible
nuclear weapon state and an original party to the NPT, the
UK remains committed to creating the conditions for a
world without nuclear weapons. We have reduced our
nuclear forces by well over half since the Cold War peak
and dismantled all of our air delivered nuclear weapons.
In 2010 the UK committed to reducing the number of
operationally available warheads to no more than 120; we
have now achieved this which means that our Vanguard
submarines now carry 40 warheads. We also remain on
course to reduce our total stockpile of nuclear weapons to
no more than 180 warheads by the mid 2020s.
The lack of a consensus outcome neither undermines
the Treaty nor changes States’ obligations. Of the eight
previous Review Conferences, three have ended without
consensus. Throughout, the Treaty has remained vitally
important for the UK and for the international community
as a whole, playing an unparalleled role in curtailing the
Written Statements
1 June 2015
nuclear arms race and keeping the world safe. The Action
Plan agreed at the 2010 Review Conference remains valid
as a comprehensive roadmap for all NPT States to follow
to take forward action on disarmament, non-proliferation
Page 3
and peaceful use of nuclear technology, as do the
agreements from 2000 and 1995. The UK will continue to
pursue this roadmap, working closely with our partners in
the NPT.
Index to Statements
Written Statements................................................. 1
Foreign Affairs Council/Foreign Affairs Council
(Defence) and General Affairs Council ................ 1
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty......................... 2