1 Attendance. Wayne David MP, Mary Glindon MP, Lord Austin of Dudley, Feryal Clark MP, Henry Smith MP, Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale. David Hunt, UK Consul-General. Gary Kent (Secretariat). Chair. Feryal Clark.
2 Apologies. Jason McCartney MP, Alicia Kearns MP, Jack Lopresti MP, Alexander Stafford MP, Steve Reed MP, Toby Perkins MP, and Lord Clement-Jones.
3 Elections. Alicia Kearns was re-elected as Chair. Wayne David, Jack Lopresti, Mary Glindon, and Lord Austin of Dudley were elected as Co-Chairs. Feryal Clark, Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale, Jason McCartney, Henry Smith, Steve Reed, and Alexander Stafford were elected as Vice Chairs.
4 Income and Expenditure Statement for the last year. Formally approved.*
It was noted that that the sponsorship expired in December and agreed that Gary Kent is now our unpaid, voluntary Secretariat.
5 Future Business. It was agreed that the Secretariat brings forward plans to organise a) a delegation after scheduled parliamentary elections in the last quarter of this year including an annual summit of Kurdish and British MPs, some training of MPs, a report, and Westminster Hall Debate and b) a reception for the Sheik Mahmoud Foundation, a charity formed by the family of the last King of Kurdistan. It is keen to chart the Anglo/Kurdistani history from war and peace to alliance over the last century. They want to speak about this and exhibit some of their archive at a reception in the Commons and to help build the bilateral relationship.
6 Guest speaker. David Hunt, UK Consul-General for the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq gave an overview of the current situation and the priorities and profile of our diplomatic mission before taking questions and comments.
* Income and Expenditure Statement in full.
Name of group. APPG Kurdistan Region in Iraq
Period covered by this statement: 14 January 2021-15 January 2022
A. Balance brought forward from previous year: nil
B. Income received during the year:
i. Membership subscriptions (parliamentarians) nil
ii. Monetary donations (including external subscriptions and sponsorship) nil
iii. Trading income nil iv. Interest received nil
v. Other (please explain) nil
TOTAL income nil
C. Expenditure during the year:
i. Employment costs (salaries, NI, pensions costs) nil
ii. Costs of contractors and freelance staff nil
iii. Visits and events (UK) nil
iv. Visits and events (abroad) nil
v. Cost of generating income nil
vi. Office and communications costs nil
vii. Other (please explain) nil
TOTAL expenditure 0
D. Balance carried forward (A+ total B-total C) 0
E. Value of benefits in kind received from each source during the reporting year (in bands of up to £1,500; £1,501- £3,000; £3,001 to £4,500; £4,501 to £6,000 etc ) Please itemise according to the source and band
Kar Group payment for Secretariat. 57001-58500
Signed by Chair of Group: Alicia Kearns MP
Date: 17 March 2022
