Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions the Foreign Secretary held about the implementation of the Colombian peace agreement during his recent visit to that country; with whom; and with what outcome.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government whether all printed information and advice provided to women who are pregnant or in labour about specific conditions and procedures which may be required at short notice are available in languages other than English; and if so, in which languages.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require written asylum applications to be submitted in English.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter to the Minister of State for Immigration from the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the Institute of Translation and Interpreting on 27 February about the use of online translation tools to assist written asylum applications.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the use of online translation tools to assist written asylum applications on the level of appeals against asylum decisions.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide public service interpreters to assist asylum seekers if they are required to submit a written asylum application in English.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government how they monitor compliance with the 'Guidance for Commissioners: Interpreting and Translation Services in Primary Care', published by NHS England in September 2018.
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty’s Government whether the right for people engaged with the criminal justice system to access translation and interpreting services will be affected by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill; and if so, in what ways.
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and in doing so declare an interest as vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, that is an encouraging reply but I would be grateful for further clarification. Although the Minister said that there is no intention to remove this right, a briefing I have had from the Library suggests that it is more complicated than it looks because the right to these services was transposed into domestic law via no fewer than 18 different measures, some of which are thought to...
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, on speeding things up, is there any truth in the rumour that the Government want to deal with the asylum backlog by requiring applications in writing in English, using online translation tools? If so, is the Minister aware that where complex details and evidence on trafficking, for example, are machine translated, the frequency and severity of errors in this unregulated field is...
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the right to translation services for people engaged with the criminal justice system, under Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament, and incorporated into UK law by 18 different measures, will be affected by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill; and if so, whether this right will be (1) sunsetted, (2) retained, (3) replaced, or (4)...
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the draft UN Security Council Resolution on the protection of interpreters and translators working in high-risk settings, circulated by the Swiss Mission in December 2022, and (2) the Open Letter from the NGO Red T to Volker Turk of the UN HCHR asking that his office establish a translator/interpreter incident database; and...
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of protests in Peru following the dismissal of President Castillo; and whether they (1) have made, and (2) will make, representations to the government of Peru about the 46 deaths related to the protests.
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, at the end of December there were an estimated 150 Afghan interpreters still in Afghanistan, eligible but unprocessed under either the ACRS or ARAP. Given that many of them would already have been eligible under the previous ex-gratia scheme or the intimidation policy designed primarily for interpreters, can the Minister commit to fast-tracking these cases for a group of...
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Collins, referred to the vulnerability of BBC Persian staff. What can be, and is being, done to support the family members of those staff, who have also been targeted with threats and violence—in particular, the family members of BBC staff who are London-based and, by definition, cannot offer their family members in Iran any personal or direct support?
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, can the Minister update the House on any progress there has been towards achieving a Security Council resolution on the protection of civilian interpreters working in conflict zones along the same lines as the resolution for the protection of journalists?
Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government how much of the £1.8 million for Political Declaration of Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) priority countries they announced will be given to Columbia to develop its Women, Peace and Security 1325 National Action Plan.
Baroness Coussins: My Lords, following on from the last question, could the Minister explain why the Government were happy to agree to a human rights clause in all the FTAs to which we were party as an EU member but now seem determined to ditch human rights from the bilateral negotiations?