Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the land-attack missile capabilities of the Royal Navy; and what steps he has taken to strengthen those capabilities.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Capability assessment is routine activity for Defence, ensuring that the UK Armed Forces keeps pace with the emerging threat and adopts the latest technology.
The Royal Navy (RN) is capable of delivering land attack from all domains: Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from Astute Class Submarines; Paveway IV precision guided bombs from F-35B; and most recently, the Naval Strike Missile, which is in the process of being fitted to surface ships.
Several future options, which include a land attack capability, are also under consideration as part of the Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon programme which will equip future RN ships. We continually keep all such capabilities under review, including as part of our wider munitions strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Dragonfire laser directed-energy weapon achieves operational capability.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has committed to accelerating DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) into operational capability to meet real world threats. Thus far, the DragonFire system has been tested against a range of targets, proving to be highly effective. This has been further evidenced through Dstl's Operational Analysis, confirming the technology's benefits against the threats faced by the Royal Navy in the Red Sea. The MOD has also invested in understanding the risks of integrating systems onto Royal Navy vessels and therefore has experience in the matter. To deliver at greater pace, we will be using the principles of Minimum Deployable Capability and spiral development, as set out in our new Integrated Procurement Model.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his Department’s policy to extend the service of the Type 45 Destroyer beyond 2038.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Type 45 Destroyer Class is currently due to be Out of Service in 2038 and no decision has been taken on an extension beyond this date.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has met with his (a) Canadian and (b) New Zealand counterparts in 2024.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I can confirm that the Secretary of State for Defence has met his Canadian counterpart on two occasions in 2024, and has spoken with his New Zealand counterpart once and will meet with her in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of artificial intelligence on banking.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The adoption and deployment of AI is increasingly prevalent in the financial sector and has the potential to significantly improve productivity, both for individual banks and at an aggregate level. The government is committed to supporting the digital sector and has invested more than £3.5 billion in AI since 2014.
The government’s response to the AI White Paper consultation sets out how we are encouraging the safe use of AI across the economy by strengthening our global AI leadership (including by hosting the world’s first AI Safety Summit) and supporting the UK’s regulators to deliver on our pro-innovation framework.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support (a) Australian rules football, (b) ice hockey and (c) surfing.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority and we are committed to ensuring everyone, no matter their age, background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active. In our sport strategy ‘Get Active’ we set out our unapologetic ambition to build a more active nation, with a target to get 3.5 million more people classed as ‘active’ by 2030.
The Government provides support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.
Since 2019 Sport England has provided the following support:
Australian rules football- £100,020
Ice hockey- £2,060,816
Surfing- £1,362,561
Sport England also provides support for grassroots sport through a range of available funds, including the Small Grants Programme and the Active Together Fund. Further information on these funds and eligibility criteria can be found here.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support is available to (a) animal rescue organisations and (b) local authorities to care for XL Bully puppies that do not meet the legal breed standard for a banned type of dog, but may eventually grow to do so.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My Department is engaging closely with local authorities and rescue and rehoming organisations to monitor the impacts of the XL Bully dog ban.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity has been imported by individual interconnectors since 2019; and what proportion of total electricity output was generated by interconnectors in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iv) 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity was exported via interconnectors in the last 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity was imported in February.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.