Speeches by Cooper.

“Each country is considered separately and differently, because countries obviously have very different circumstances, with different kinds of threats, challenges or, in some cases, opportunities. It is right that each country should continue to be considered separately. This is a Home Office lead issue, but the Securit…”

“I would say two things on that. First, we expect greater progress from the overseas territories; we are insisting on it, and I raised it with them recently in the Joint Ministerial Council. Some of them have made substantial progress; others have been slower. Our anti-corruption champion, Baroness Hodge, has been visit…”

“Yes.”

“It reflects the strength of our commitment to the World Service and our support for it that we gave it a significant uplift in funding this year—I think it was a 30% increase in funding to the World Service this year. That is exactly because we hugely value the work that it does. You will obviously understand that that…”

“This is hugely important. It is a fundamental underpinning of democracy, and it is also a fundamental underpinning of the international rule of law—that we have independent media voices. At a time where we see not only threats to media freedom, but threats to journalists who show considerable courage in some countries …”

“The FCDO has a dispute resolution process and the PCS have requested this. The response from the FCDO has been to propose pre-dispute resolution discussions before it reaches that point— obviously, Sir Oliver can provide more details on that. That is why the assessment had been that we are not formally in the dispute r…”

“Thank you very much and happy Christmas to you all. [1] The witness later clarified that the correct figure is £1 million.”

“I think the way in which the Committee was able to question Ed Llewellyn was a good thing, so I am recognising the point that you are making while also saying that I think this should be something to do with the way you can take evidence from ambassadors more widely.”

“There will be the normal processes around treaties, which include scrutiny in the Chamber. That will include discussions. It will also obviously be your prerogative to ask questions and scrutinise that from the point of view of this Select Committee as well.”

“We hope to be able to share that as swiftly as possible. The political agreement obviously was reached, but we are not yet ready to publish the full treaty. That will be published and will go before the House in due course; there will be plenty of opportunities to scrutinise the treaty.”

“Yes, we do get regular briefings. Regarding the issues around truck monitoring, the target was, I think, 250 UN-related trucks a day. That is being hit sometimes, but not consistently. I actually think this is about much more than the number of trucks. We know that there are some commercial trucks as well, but the tota…”

“Let me write to you with the precise detail for the 18-month period, so that I give you the right figure. On the specific reforms—including education textbooks, welfare reforms and so on—we are absolutely monitoring the detail. I have spoken directly to President Abbas about those and the commitments the Palestinian Au…”

“I do want to introduce this appointment. I think it is important and would be very valuable, so we are taking that forward, and also looking more widely at some of the envoys. I think this is important and so we will be making that appointment. More widely—”

“We do want ambassadors, including those who are political appointments, to be able to give evidence to the Committee where it is appropriate to do so, so I can say that yes, we will facilitate that.”

“Great.”

“Thank you very much for having me, Chair. It is a great pleasure to be here. As a former Committee Chair myself, I have huge respect for the work that Select Committees do. I always had a slight feeling that maybe it would be karma when I sat and answered questions from a Committee, but thank you very much. Our job, an…”

“Part of the reason why you are keen for more details is that those discussions are still under way, even as we speak. A very important set of peace process discussions are taking place at the moment. No one wants peace more than the Ukrainians, after everything they have endured over the last several years. But of cour…”

“I think it is a combination of the two. But I recognise the point that the Committee has made. We have set out a whole series of things and, as you will know, we pulled back from the free trade agreement. What we want in all of this is to be part of a positive process going forward. Now that we have the momentum of so …”

“You are right that both the Department for Business and Trade and HMRC have recently updated their list of non-eligible locations so that goods in the specified locations cannot benefit from preferential tariff treatment. They have also introduced a new document code for that. If there are any doubts about goods that h…”

“Clearly we see them as illegal settlements, so it is important that that is recognised.”