Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Turkey on the treatment of (a) Alevis, (b) Kurds and (c) Christian minorities in that country.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government maintains a regular dialogue with Turkey, a key North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally and strategic partner. The UK supports the rights of all minority groups in Turkey, including Alevis, Jews, Christians, Kurds and others. The right to freedom of religion or belief is clearly enshrined in the Turkish constitution and both Ministers and officials have raised the treatment of minority groups with their Turkish counterparts.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are supporting the documentation and investigation of crimes of sexual and gender-based violence committed against minority women in Syria, and what support they are providing to local or international organisations working with survivors of sexual violence from Syria's minority communities as part of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK supports documentation and investigation of sexual and gender-based violence against women in Syria through the Integrated Security Fund, funding evidence collection and prosecution efforts. We co-fund Syria-specific best practice guidance and, through the Global Survivors Fund, have provided physiotherapy, psychosocial and financial support to hundreds of Syrian survivors living in Turkey since 2022.
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: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he is taking steps to support (a) BAE Systems and (b) other UK defence manufacturers to restart Typhoon production at the Warton facility in Lancashire.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Typhoon programme supports more than 20,000 jobs across all regions of the UK, with an estimated 9,000 jobs in North-West England alone. Thanks to the hard-fought industrial workshare agreement, 37% of all nations' Typhoons are made in the UK, with major unit production occurring at BAE Systems sites in Salmesbury and Warton. Consequently, due to new aircraft orders placed by other nations, and the UK's continued investment to upgrade and sustain our Typhoons, the vast majority of these jobs are already secured. Importantly, this will sustain highest skilled manufacturing jobs in the UK for at least the next 10 years irrespective of whether the UK orders more aircraft.
Typhoon will remain a critical Combat Aircraft for the UK until at least 2040. UK investment to upgrade and sustain the UK's Typhoon fleet will support jobs at BAE Systems sites, particularly at Warton and strengthen the UK's prospective Typhoon export campaigns. The Ministry of Defence is actively supporting BAE Systems export campaigns with Turkey and the KSA; the success of either of which would be enough to secure approximately 150-200 jobs on the Warton assembly line.
In addition, to Typhoon, UK investment in the global F-35 programme, which has prospective orders for more than 3,500 aircraft, has created up to 20,000 UK jobs in the manufacturing and supply chains. With some nations expected to operate F-35 until the 2080s, the UK's participation in this programme will sustain these jobs for decades to come. Moreover, our investment in the Global Combat Air Programme is building on the Typhoon and F-35 UK industry skills base. There are already over 3,500 skilled people working on the programme across the UK, with a large proportion employed at BAE Systems at Warton, where the development of the aircraft is being led. Our commitment to the UK's Combat Air aerospace sector through the Typhoon, F-35 and GCAP programmes outlined in the Strategic Defence Review will deliver a world class Combat Air fleet for our armed forces and support over 40,000 long-term, high-quality UK manufacturing jobs.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Janet Daby
Unless undertaking work in an official capacity, the department only permits overseas working in limited circumstances and for short periods of time. The department’s international remote working policy considers any country outside of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as overseas including all British Overseas Territories.
In line with Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office guidance, the department has currently granted temporary permission to 24 staff to work outside the UK in the following countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Spain, South Africa, and Turkey.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of lifting the trade embargo on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' as an independent state. Several UN Security Council Resolutions, other multilateral agreements and domestic and international court rulings limit links between the UK and the north. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not made a formal assessment of the merits of lifting the trade embargo. However, within the constraints outlined above, we support measures to reduce the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and, in the interests of working towards a just and lasting Settlement, to promote intercommunal contact. Increasing intra-island trade is an important part of such efforts and we urge both sides to continue to work to remove obstacles to it. FCDO officials have previously facilitated discussions between the Department for Business and Trade and the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce about the onwards export to the UK of products crossing the Green Line.
I recently met with the Turkish Cypriot leader to discuss the next round of talks at the United Nations later this month. I also met a range of business and civil society representatives from Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on my visit to Cyprus.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had recent discussions with his German counterpart on the sale of 36 Eurofighters to Turkey.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Secretary of State for Defence regularly engages with his Eurofighter Partner Nation counterparts, including Germany. Discussions routinely cover an array of bilateral issues, as well as opportunities to support Türkiye to enhance their defence capabilities as a NATO partner.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to send election monitors to monitor the presidential election in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In line with the rest of the international community except Turkey, the UK does not recognise the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus".
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has no plans to send election monitors to monitor the "election" taking place in the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" in October 2025.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report of the European Parliament A-10-0067/2025 on the 2023 & 2024 Commission on Türkiye and the subsequent motion of 6 May, in particular paragraph 25 of the report where the parliament calls for Turkey to respect the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Orthodox Christians; recognise its legal personality and the public use of the ecclesiastical title of Ecumenical Patriarch; and protect the value of UNESCO World Heritage sites the Hagia Sophia and Chora Museum.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK calls on Turkey, as a founding member of the Council of Europe, to uphold the rights of all religious groups in Turkey as enshrined within the Turkish constitution and to implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Decisions on the status of Hagia Sophia are a sovereign matter for Turkey. However, the Government expects Hagia Sophia and the Chora Museum, as part of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, to remain accessible to all and that their cultural and religious significance be preserved. We welcome assurances by the Turkish Government that the Hagia Sophia will remain open to people of all faiths and nationalities. The UK continues to work closely with UNESCO, its advisory bodies and partner governments, including Turkey, to promote the highest standards of heritage protection. This will ensure designated sites are protected effectively for the whole of humanity and for future generations.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of a youth mobility scheme with Turkey.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, consistent with our commitment to reduce net migration significantly over the course of parliament.