Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, when the last meeting of the East-West Council established under the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper was; and who attended.
Answered by Hilary Benn
The Government is continuing to implement the Safeguarding the Union command paper and to support Northern Ireland's place in the Union.
Part of that commitment is regular meetings of the East-West Council. The Council last met in January 2026, with representatives from the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive in attendance.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, when the next meeting of the East-West Council established under the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper is due to take place.
Answered by Hilary Benn
The Government is continuing to implement the Safeguarding the Union command paper and to support Northern Ireland's place in the Union.
Part of that commitment is regular meetings of the East-West Council. We intend that the Council will next meet in autumn 2026.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on making the wearing of a sgian dubh illegal.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The wearing of the sgian dubh is permitted where it is being worn as part of a national costume. There are no plans to change this.
However, we are clear that if any bladed or pointed article is used to threaten or harm others, this will be met with the full force of the law.
This strikes the balance between protecting public safety and protecting freedoms.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many hon. Members received direct payment from his Department in each of the last 10 years by year and service provided.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
With the exception of salary paid to the Secretary of State for Defence, and Defence Ministers, it is not possible to identify whether any other direct payments have been made to current or former Members of Parliament as a cohort. Whether the recipient of any type of payment for any reason is a Member of Parliament, is not centrally recorded and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changing from open flame standards to smoulder only test on the number of (a) deaths caused by fire and (b) home fires per year.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ consultation sets out proposals to reform the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (FFRs), which set flammability requirements for domestic upholstered furniture. Proposals include ending mandatory open-flame testing, moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally.
In developing these proposals, the Government considered a wide range of evidence, including comparative international fire data. This shows that while UK fire deaths have declined since the 1980s, this trend has also occurred in other European countries that did not adopt the same flammability testing as the UK.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to WPQ7894, answered 11 June 2026, when was the last reported case of Cochliomyia hominivorax, in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been no detected cases of domestically acquired infestation with Cochliomyia hominivorax in the UK to date.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Open Book exercise on the Northern Ireland Executive budget.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Open Book review of the Northern Ireland Executive’s budget identified up to £3.3 billion in potential annual savings and additional spending power.
It is now vital the Executive consider these findings and take the necessary decisions to place its finances on a sustainable footing.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I are keen to support the Executive in this work, and I have met with the Finance Minister to discuss the budget.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Environment, Agricultural and Rural Affairs Minister on steps to prevent screw worm infection of cattle herd.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No discussions have taken place at Ministerial level, however Defra and DAERA officials work closely together on a range of biosecurity issues as necessary.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the financial allocation supplied directly to the i) Northern Ireland Department of Justice and ii) Police Service of Northern Ireland from the Transformation Fund was.
Answered by Hilary Benn
The UK Government is investing £235m to transform public services in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Department of Justice has been allocated a total of £22.64m of this funding, following recommendations from the Public Sector Transformation Board, for two projects:
£20.45m for “Speeding Up and Transforming the Criminal Justice System” which will reduce delay and maximise efficiencies through more timely engagement between the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), as well as the prosecution and defence; and
£2.19m for “Modernisation of Electronic Monitoring” which will provide a more accurate, real‑time, way to track movement and compliance of individuals who are released into the community, through the introduction of GPS monitoring.
The PSNI will also benefit from the funding for these projects, with 4,000 hours of police time saved in the first year alone.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what role he has in (i) the Chief Constable of the PSNI requesting and (ii) other UK Police forces supplying, mutual aid to the PSNI.
Answered by Hilary Benn
The provision of Mutual Aid between constabularies in the UK is routine and is coordinated by the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) which is a body of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). There is no role for the Secretary of State.