Asked by: Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many watercrafts linked to people smugglers have been seized by officials in each year since 2023.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Border Security Command (BSC) works with partners across Government and further afield to disrupt the smuggling gang networks who facilitate small boat crossings, and to help bring those responsible to justice.
Since 2023, the BSC and National Crime Agency (NCA) have contributed to the seizure of over 950 small boats and engines related to Channel crossings.
The BSC and NCA work with a range of international partners to seize equipment, including Europol, Bulgaria, Belgium, France, and Germany. We do not routinely confirm the location of seizures publicly.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 on domestic British glass manufactures as a result of the decision by UK Export Finance to finance £100m for a new bottle plant in Belgium.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In its role as the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided a loan guarantee on commercial terms that will enable UK companies to supply goods and services to the Belgian bottle plant.
Through this guaranteed loan, UKEF is supporting Tecoglas Limited, a Sheffield based company, which will export two glass furnaces and is expected to back a further 15 UK SMEs in its supply chain, helping to secure and support UK jobs.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Foreign Affairs Minister in the Irish Republic on joint action to tackle international drug trafficking into the UK via the Irish Republic.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK and Ireland have a strong relationship which includes joint action against criminals targeting both the UK and Ireland.
In addition to these operational relationships, there is an annual security dialogue between the UK and Ireland to discuss key shared security issues faced. This includes discussions on international serious & organised crime, with the last one taking place in November 2025.
In January 2026, the UK formally invited Ireland to join the North Sea Channel Maritime Information Group. This group facilitates the cooperation and exchanging of information about maritime border security topics, including information around the movement of drugs. Existing members include Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the British Embassy in Brussels' press release entitled Diplomat for a Day 2026 in Brussels: enter our competition' published on 9 January 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to UK taxpayers of this initiative.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The work experience competition referred to by the Hon Member is in its fourth year in Belgium, run by the UK embassy alongside their counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, and not only provides an outstanding opportunity for the young women selected to take part, but an important means for the embassies involved to engage with high schools across their host country, and cement our strong relationships in that country for the future. The competition is delivered at minimal cost, shared across the four embassies, and while the Hon Member may take a different view, we believe in increasing the opportunities available to young women all over the world to play their full part in public life.
Asked by: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much each country has paid back for healthcare use by their citizens in the UK within the same year in the latest year for which figures are available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad if they are not subject to immigration controls. Where the person is not ordinarily resident, the National Health Service recovers costs for healthcare provided in the UK through the immigration health surcharge (IHS), directly charging individuals for care provided and charging countries responsible for their healthcare costs through reciprocal healthcare agreements.
The UK’s reciprocal healthcare agreements with the European Union, European Free Trade Association states and Switzerland allow for the reimbursement of costs at a country level. The UK pays for healthcare costs of eligible people visiting or living in these countries under these agreements. For other countries, the UK does not fund overseas treatment and NHS costs incurred are recovered through the IHS or directly charging the individual.
The following table shows the Department’s income and expenditure on overseas healthcare from the United Kingdom’s reciprocal healthcare agreements for 2023/24, the latest year for which figures are available:
Country | 2023/24 income (£) | 2023/24 expenditure (£) |
Austria | 327,322.25 | 3,360,423.14 |
Belgium | 3,474,379.36 | 3,822,245.19 |
Bulgaria | 81,739.18 | 1,212,566.29 |
Croatia | 36,473.40 | 365,199.00 |
Cyprus | 482,172.64 | 56,367,818.62 |
Czech Republic | (148,293.65) | 758,458.60 |
Denmark | - | - |
Estonia | - | - |
Finland | 109,284.40 | 7,213.62 |
France | 11,051,032.23 | 186,694,473.76 |
Germany | 3,559,100.19 | 10,919,120.07 |
Greece | 553,518.12 | 5,335,540.50 |
Hungary | - | 4,961.18 |
Iceland | (6,342.41) | 239,528.19 |
Ireland | (17,810,150.56) | 225,245,716.37 |
Italy | 2,208,886.74 | 172,132.80 |
Latvia | (762,470.36) | 26,357.08 |
Liechtenstein | 1,915.64 | 176.43 |
Lithuania | 75,266.54 | 242,985.85 |
Luxembourg | (265,645.79) | 575,414.85 |
Malta | 798,235.85 | - |
Netherlands | 2,981,546.13 | 1,485,724.03 |
Norway | - | (863.95) |
Poland | 7,123,224.03 | 386,044.52 |
Portugal | 1,871,249.74 | (356,506.41) |
Romania | 2,999,264.69 | 28,944.82 |
Slovakia | 782,608.15 | 557,904.39 |
Slovenia | 24,181.42 | 279,420.15 |
Spain | 6,775,123.13 | 441,009,133.86 |
Sweden | 2,580,816.63 | 2,960,047.61 |
Switzerland | 670,476.95 | 7,255,687.60 |
Total | 29,574,914.65 | 948,955,868.18 |
The figures in the table above relate to all reciprocal healthcare agreements where costs are exchanged between the UK and other countries. These figures are not directly comparable to the figures quoted in the Department’s accounts, which are not broken down by country and include accounting treatment and aggregation of other costs. Negative values in the table above reflect adjustments to prior year forecasts compared to actual receipts/payments received from member states.
Asked by: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on overseas healthcare in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by country.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad if they are not subject to immigration controls. Where the person is not ordinarily resident, the National Health Service recovers costs for healthcare provided in the UK through the immigration health surcharge (IHS), directly charging individuals for care provided and charging countries responsible for their healthcare costs through reciprocal healthcare agreements.
The UK’s reciprocal healthcare agreements with the European Union, European Free Trade Association states and Switzerland allow for the reimbursement of costs at a country level. The UK pays for healthcare costs of eligible people visiting or living in these countries under these agreements. For other countries, the UK does not fund overseas treatment and NHS costs incurred are recovered through the IHS or directly charging the individual.
The following table shows the Department’s income and expenditure on overseas healthcare from the United Kingdom’s reciprocal healthcare agreements for 2023/24, the latest year for which figures are available:
Country | 2023/24 income (£) | 2023/24 expenditure (£) |
Austria | 327,322.25 | 3,360,423.14 |
Belgium | 3,474,379.36 | 3,822,245.19 |
Bulgaria | 81,739.18 | 1,212,566.29 |
Croatia | 36,473.40 | 365,199.00 |
Cyprus | 482,172.64 | 56,367,818.62 |
Czech Republic | (148,293.65) | 758,458.60 |
Denmark | - | - |
Estonia | - | - |
Finland | 109,284.40 | 7,213.62 |
France | 11,051,032.23 | 186,694,473.76 |
Germany | 3,559,100.19 | 10,919,120.07 |
Greece | 553,518.12 | 5,335,540.50 |
Hungary | - | 4,961.18 |
Iceland | (6,342.41) | 239,528.19 |
Ireland | (17,810,150.56) | 225,245,716.37 |
Italy | 2,208,886.74 | 172,132.80 |
Latvia | (762,470.36) | 26,357.08 |
Liechtenstein | 1,915.64 | 176.43 |
Lithuania | 75,266.54 | 242,985.85 |
Luxembourg | (265,645.79) | 575,414.85 |
Malta | 798,235.85 | - |
Netherlands | 2,981,546.13 | 1,485,724.03 |
Norway | - | (863.95) |
Poland | 7,123,224.03 | 386,044.52 |
Portugal | 1,871,249.74 | (356,506.41) |
Romania | 2,999,264.69 | 28,944.82 |
Slovakia | 782,608.15 | 557,904.39 |
Slovenia | 24,181.42 | 279,420.15 |
Spain | 6,775,123.13 | 441,009,133.86 |
Sweden | 2,580,816.63 | 2,960,047.61 |
Switzerland | 670,476.95 | 7,255,687.60 |
Total | 29,574,914.65 | 948,955,868.18 |
The figures in the table above relate to all reciprocal healthcare agreements where costs are exchanged between the UK and other countries. These figures are not directly comparable to the figures quoted in the Department’s accounts, which are not broken down by country and include accounting treatment and aggregation of other costs. Negative values in the table above reflect adjustments to prior year forecasts compared to actual receipts/payments received from member states.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate the Government has made of a) the annual cost to UK port operators of dredging and disposing of dredged material required to maintain navigational access, b) the proportion of those costs arising from disposal levies and monitoring fees, and c) how those costs compare with equivalent charges in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
a) Information relating to the annual cost to UK port operators of dredging and disposing of dredged material required to maintain navigational access is not held centrally.
b) The costs arising from the disposal levies and monitoring fees for last three years are shown in the table below:
Calendar Year | Total Tonnes Disposed | Chargeable Tonnage | Fees |
2024 | 17,564,239 | 12,363,054 | £114,025 |
2023 | 25,410,859 | 17,679,722 | £89,322 |
2022 | 32,147,787 | 25,476,658 | £89,332 |
c) The equivalent information for France, Belgium and the Netherlands is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for the Home Department, after being appointed on 5 September, has had introductory conversations with the interior ministers of (1) France, (2) Germany, (3) Italy, (4) Belgium and (5) the Netherlands, regarding international cooperation on tackling organised immigration crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
International co-operation is vital to address organised immigration crime. The Home Secretary continues to engage with counterparts across the EU and further afield on what further can be done to tackle this issue. Most recently the Home Secretary chaired the 11th Western Balkans Summit where the impact of illegal migration was discussed. This was attended by representatives of the European Union and its Member States including the Chancellor of Germany, alongside representatives from France and Italy.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, updated on 20 November 2025, what criteria her Department will use to determine whether an application's healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, cannot be fully met in their country of origin.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
A claimant may claim that requiring them to leave the UK would breach their human rights due to a serious medical condition, which could be a physical illness or mental health issue. Such cases must be considered in accordance with our obligations under Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The threshold in Article 3 medical cases is very high, as set out in the UK Supreme Court case of AM (Zimbabwe) [2020] UKSC 17, which affirmed the Article 3 medical threshold as set out in the European Court of Human Rights case of Paposhvili v Belgium [2017] Imm AR 867.
We are committed to the ECHR and we believe that people should never be subject to torture. However, the interpretation of “inhuman or degrading treatment” has been expanded over time. As a consequence, we see examples of foreign national offenders who are being allowed to stay in the UK on the basis of an Article 3 protection claim, despite committing serious criminal offences in the UK. Others have blocked a deportation because their healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, cannot be fully met in their country of origin.
To retain public confidence, the ECHR and other instruments must evolve to face modern challenges. We are working with key partner countries over concerns that the interpretation of “inhuman or degrading treatment” has extended in scope, limiting their ability to make sovereign decisions on migration in their own democracies. The criteria, for considering healthcare needs, including mental healthcare, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the outcome was of Royal Navy integration into US Carrier Strike Group certification training in October and November 2024.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
In October 2024 the UK Carrier Strike Group and US Carrier Strike Group 8 completed a period of combined integration training during Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR. Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR included the successful re-certification of the UK Carrier Strike Group staff as part of the preparations for the Op HIGHMAST deployment in 2025.
Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR involved warships and support vessels from the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary along with elements of the British Army, Royal Air Force and NATO warships from six nations – Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and the UK.