Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help strengthen the UK’s relationship with Sweden.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK maintains strong and enduring ties with Sweden across a broad range of bilateral files. We work closely together as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) allies and Sweden was among the first countries the Foreign Secretary visited in July 2024. Most recently, the Foreign Secretary hosted Foreign Minister Stenergard on 1 May and the Prime Minister then hosted Prime Minister Kristersson at No 10 on 12 May. I also hosted State Secretary Hartelius and State Secretary Danielsson in March and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas Symonds, visited Stockholm the same month. We continue to engage our Swedish counterparts regularly at all levels.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In line with wider Government policy, the Department policy allows spouses of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials to work abroad when their spouses have been posted overseas. The Department allows working abroad when officials are overseas on official business, typically to support Ministers.
If there is a clear business need, the Department allows officials to take equipment abroad to keep in touch whilst on leave. The Department also allows working overseas for up to two weeks for exceptional welfare reasons
The numbers of staff with equipment oversees varies during the year. On 9 July, seven officials were working overseas on official business in Italy. 10 officials had equipment overseas allowing them to work if there was a need to keep in touch in, variously, Belgium, Bulgaria, France (three), Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States of America (three).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language and those who require visual and tactile services, under the provision of the Equality Act.
Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
In FY 23/24 the total contracted spend was £915,037.52.
In FY 24/25 the total contracted spend was £1,003,283.32.
In FY 25/26 so far, the total contracted spend is £256,707.82.
The languages in this data exclude written translations into English, Welsh and Braille.
The languages translated into from English (United Kingdom) are:
Albanian (Albania)
Amharic (Ethiopia)
Arabic (Classical)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Modern Standard) Middle Eastern
Arabic (Modern Standard) North African
Arabic (Morocco)
Armenian (Armenia)
Bangla (Bangladesh)
Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
Burmese
Burmese (Myanmar)
Catalan (Catalan)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Czech (Czech Republic)
Danish (Denmark)
Dari (Afghanistan)
Dutch (Netherlands)
Estonian (Estonia)
Filipino (Philippines)
Finnish (Finland)
French (Belgium)
French (France)
Georgian (Georgia)
German (Austria)
German (Germany)
Greek (Greece)
Gujarati (India)
Hebrew (Israel)
Hindi (India)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Icelandic (Iceland)
Indonesian (Indonesia)
Italian (Italy)
Japanese (Japan)
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
Kiswahili (Kenya)
Korean (Korea)
Kurdish (Bahdini)
Kurdish (Sorani)
Latvian (Latvia)
Lingala (Congo DRC)
Lithuanian (Lithuania)
Macedonian (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Malay (Malaysia)
Malayalam (India)
Maltese (Malta)
Mirpuri (Central Asia)
Mongolian (Cyrillic, Mongolia)
Nepali (Nepal)
Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway)
Norwegian, Nynorsk (Norway)
Oromo (Ethiopia)
PahariPotwari (Central Asia)
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Persian (Afghanistan)
Persian (Iran)
Polish (Poland)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi (India)
Punjabi (Pakistan)
Romanian (Romania)
Romany (Europe)
Russian (Russia)
Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)
Serbian (Latin, Serbia)
Shona (Latin, Zimbabwe)
Sinhala (Sri Lanka)
Slovak (Slovakia)
Slovenian (Slovenia)
Somali (Somalia)
Spanish (Argentina)
Spanish (Latin America)
Spanish (Mexico)
Spanish (Spain)
Swedish (Sweden)
Tajik (Cyrillic, Tajikistan)
Tamazight (Latin, Algeria)
Tamil (India)
Tetum (Timor)
Thai (Thailand)
Tigrinya (Eritrea)
Turkish (Turkey)
Ukranian (Ukraine)
Urdu (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan)
Vietnamese (Vietnam)
Wolof (Senegal)
Yoruba (Nigeria)
The Languages translated into from English (United States) are:
Arabic (Egypt)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Polish (Poland)
Romanian (Romania)
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many staff in his Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Feryal Clark
As at 2 July 2025, 7 DSIT employees, who are all UK-based, have exceptionally been given permission to work remotely outside of the UK for a limited period. The countries are: Ghana, United States of America, Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Germany. Permission was granted for various reasons, including to accompany a partner posted overseas on official government business.
International remote working is separate from and does not include employees who are conducting official business abroad. DSIT’s international remote working policy allows staff to make an application to work remotely overseas for a short period of time for a number of limited reasons. Approval of such a request is subject to the employee having the legal right to work in the country and the necessary security and other clearances.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Spearcap 3 Programme.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The SPEAR Cap 3 programme remains in the Demonstration and Manufacture phase. The first SPEAR 3 Guided Firing took place missile from a BAE Systems-operated Typhoon in October 2024 at a test range in Sweden. Plans for the subsequent Guided Firing trials are on track with scheduled dates in summer 2025 at the same Swedish range. Hardware has been delivered by MBDA to Lockheed Martin in the US to support F-35B integration activity including on aircraft flights planned for summer 2025.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the EU on touring artists.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Government remains in constructive dialogue with the EU on tackling the challenges facing UK musicians and their support staff when touring in the EU, as well as other EU reset priorities. Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič have been tasked with moving discussions forward and leaders will take stock at the UK-EU Summit in May.
On 7 April, the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, Chris Bryant, attended the Informal Meeting for EU Culture Ministers in Warsaw, as a guest of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is the first time a UK minister has been invited to such a meeting since the UK’s exit from the EU. Minister Bryant used the opportunity to forge closer, more cooperative ties with his EU counterparts, including on matters related to touring. The Minister and senior DCMS officials had previously engaged EU counterparts on this bilaterally, including from the EU Commission, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden.
Our aim is to identify practical solutions to ensure that UK artists can continue to perform across Europe with minimal barriers while respecting the regulatory frameworks on both sides.
Asked by: Linsey Farnsworth (Labour - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his EU counterparts on streamlining the import process for flowers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Plant health import requirements are kept under continuous review, through the UK Plant Health Risk Group. Following such a review, most imports of cut flowers into GB from the EU no longer require an accompanying phytosanitary certificate and notification by importers.
Where phytosanitary certificates are still required, we are transitioning to digital certification via the IPPC ePhyto solution, which is a faster, safer and more cost-effective option. Defra has prioritised securing ePhyto agreements with EU countries, with arrangements now agreed for a range of plant products, including cut flowers, from: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. Several other EU countries are due to have the capacity to export using ePhyto rolled out during 2025.
The Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, set up under the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, provides a platform for information sharing and discussion on each of the Parties’ import requirements and processes. It is at this forum that the UK has discussed with the European Union the development of the UK’s IPPC ePhyto solution.
Defra is also seeking to negotiate a SPS agreement to help boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU.
The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards. We have been clear that a SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. A SPS agreement could reduce trade friction and deliver significant benefits to the EU and the UK, but delivering new agreements will take time.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) proportion and (b) value was of steel from the (i) US and (ii) EU used in UK military shipbuilding in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) contributes to the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) steel public procurement return. The information is published annually and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/steel-public-procurement
The data available from the information published includes steel purchased for MOD shipbuilding projects. The response to this question assumes that UK military shipbuilding relates solely to the building of surface warships, and does not include submarine construction.
The tables below set out a summary of the details available, for each of the last five years. Data for Financial Year (FY) 2023-24 has not yet been published. The data gathered and subsequently published by DBT has matured and become more detailed since the start of publishing steel data for FY 2017-18 in January 2019. Therefore, the origin of the steel is only available for FY 2022-23.
Financial Year 2022-23
Project | Steel product type | EU / UK / US | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Flat rolled, Plate, Sections & shapes | EU | Finland, Spain | £41,850,500 |
| Sections & shapes, Tubes/Pipes/Hollow sections | UK | UK | £1,311,790 |
| ||||
Type 26 | Plate, Sections & shapes | EU | Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain | £3,162,171 |
| Plate, Sections & shapes | UK | UK | £1,537,996 |
Financial Year 2021-22
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Plate, Bulb bar, Sections | Not detailed | £43,600,000 |
Type 26 | Plate | Not detailed | £465,498 |
Financial Year 2020-21
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Structural steel, Sections | Not detailed | £391,949 |
Type 26 | Plate, Sections, Sheet, Non-ship | Not detailed | £3,758,269 |
Financial Year 2019-20
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 26 | Various grades | Not detailed | £3,401,994 |
Financial Year 2018-19
No steel was recorded as having been purchased in FY 2018-19 for any UK shipbuilding projects.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the experience of other countries (including Italy, the United States of America, France, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland and Israel) in promoting or requiring heart screening for young people engaged in sport, including its impact in reducing sudden cardiac deaths.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies (NGBs) are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm. NGBs are independent of Government, but the Government expects NGBs to make the health and safety of players their top priority.
Sport England, DCMS arm's-length body for grassroots sport, works closely with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), an organisation which aims to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening, research, and supporting affected families. Sport England is helping increase awareness of CRY in the community sports sector, including through Buddle, its online site for clubs and community organisations.
The Department for Health and Social Care has responsibility for preventative healthcare strategies. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is an independent scientific advisory body which advises health ministers and the NHS in the four nations of the UK on all aspects of screening. It is currently reviewing a submission received via its annual call process to consider Sudden Cardiac Death screening in young people aged 14-35 engaging in sport. More information on the annual call process can be found here: UK NSC annual call.
Countries often cited as screening for more conditions than the UK are not always running national programmes; often, there are small pilots operating in one region or city, led by a single clinician. They are therefore not directly comparable to the national screening programmes operating in the UK.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has held with international allies regarding Britain’s role in NATO, in the context of his attendance at the Munich Security Conference 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
At the Munich Security Conference, the Secretary of State for Defence met with his counterparts from Norway, Sweden, and New Zealand. He also attended a working breakfast, which was attended by a number of Allied Defence Ministers. Earlier in the same week, the Secretary of State attended the NATO Defence Ministers meeting and Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels. In these meetings, the Secretary of State reiterated the Government’s NATO First policy and the UK’s commitment to remaining the leading NATO Ally in Europe.