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Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
Monday 27th October 2025

Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help reduce the number of small boat crossings since her appointment.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Border Security Command (BSC) continues to focus on tackling the organised immigration crime gangs that are facilitating small boat crossings, working with domestic partners such as the National Crime Agency and the OIC Domestic taskforce, and overseas counterparts in a range of countries, to dismantle the gangs and disrupt their supply chains. This work has already led to a number of widely publicised raids and arrests, as well as agreements with France, Germany, Italy, Iraq and other key partners which will increase enforcement activity and cooperation further over the coming months.

The UK-France pilot has also been put into action meaning that anyone entering the UK on a small boat can be detained on arrival and returned to France. So far 42 individuals have been returned to France under this pilot and further flights to France are scheduled to take place over the coming days and weeks. Through our joint working with France, more than 19,000 crossing attempts have been prevented this year.

The BSC is working closely with delivery partners across Whitehall who tackle organised immigration crime, collecting key data across the system such as organised immigration crime disruptions, with the ambition to track long-term impact and support the delivery of operational activity. This will support the BSC’s ability to drive cohesive delivery across the system and ensure a secure and effective border. Working collaboratively in this way will allow us to increase the number of organised immigration crime groups which we break up and subsequently reduce small boat crossings. These numbers will be monitored to ensure we make changes to our approach when needed.

And as most recently as last week, the Home Secretary hosted Interior Ministers in London as part of the Western Balkans Summit. She hosted her ministerial counterparts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – all of which are key transit countries for people being smuggled illegally to the UK.

Ensuring we have the right legislation in place to take robust, meaningful action to address these challenges is crucial. With this in mind, the UK’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament, creates new powers for law enforcement through new criminal offences, expanded data-sharing capabilities and an improved intelligence picture to identify, intercept, disrupt and prevent serious and organised crime.


Written Question
North Macedonia: Foreign Relations
Thursday 24th July 2025

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 North Macedonia.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK maintains a strong relationship with North Macedonia. We work closely together bilaterally as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and look forward to hosting the government of North Macedonia this autumn at the Berlin Process summit. On 16 May we announced a new bilateral strategic partnership supporting closer co-operation on areas including economic growth, defence and security and tackling irregular migration. On 22 May, the UK and North Macedonia signed a landmark Government-to-Government Partnership, unlocking up to £5 billion in UK Export Finance support for infrastructure projects. The Prime Minister met Prime Minister Mickoski in May. The Foreign Secretary met with Foreign Minister Mucunski in July.


Written Question
Ministry of Justice: Translation Services
Monday 21st July 2025

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)


Written Question
Unemployment Benefits: North Macedonia
Monday 12th May 2025

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many UK nationals resident in Macedonia have claimed unemployment benefits in each year since 2020.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The UK does not pay a UK Unemployment Benefit to people resident in the Balkan region, and the UK has no information about UK nationals resident in those countries receiving benefits administered by those countries.


Written Question
Smuggling: Balkans
Friday 14th March 2025

Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of the Western Balkans as a transit route for irregular migration, arms smuggling and drug trafficking; and what concrete steps they have taken since June 2024 with European allies to strengthen partnerships aimed at disrupting criminal networks in the Western Balkans that facilitate irregular migration.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Western Balkans is a notable transit route for third country nationals being trafficked to the UK, as well as being a route of concern for the trafficking of illicit commodities.

Since July 2024, this Government has sought to further cooperation across the region to target a range of threats from organised crime groups based in the Western Balkans. This has included agreeing a series of joint operational initiatives with Albania in December 2024 to further our work on preventing irregular migration and the smuggling of illicit commodities, and in November 2024 reaching new agreements with Kosovo and Serbia on preventing organised immigration crime, and with North Macedonia on working together to disrupt the activities of organised criminals who seek to undermine border security.

The UK is hosting the Berlin Process later this year, bringing together Western Balkan states and other European partners to discuss shared solutions to these issues.


Written Question
Balkans: People Smuggling
Monday 10th March 2025

Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering people smuggling in the Balkans in each of the last five years.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK Government takes a comprehensive approach towards tackling irregular migration through, and from, the Western Balkans, including through partnerships and cooperation in the region to strengthen border security, disrupt organised immigration crime and build partnerships on returns. Bilateral agreements are currently in place with Albania, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia. UK Overseas Development Assistance in the Western Balkans, focussed on Albania, complements these efforts through funding programme activities that help to address underlying causes of irregular migration. In financial year (FY) 2023/24 the spend on this was £2.89 million, and in FY 2024/25 £2.3m (to date). The UK Government will use the forthcoming European Political Community (EPC) in Albania, and our hosting of the Berlin Process to continue to develop the range of our co-operation with countries in the Western Balkans.


Written Question
Chevening Scholarships Programme
Monday 10th February 2025

Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish a breakdown of the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) recipients by nationality of the Chevening Scholarship in each of the last five years.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds

Chevening Scholarships provide fully-funded postgraduate masters awards at UK universities for future global leaders from approximately 140 eligible countries and territories.

Chevening Programme Expenditure

Financial year

Total programme expenditure

2019 - 2020

£57,744,779.51

2020 - 2021

£50,397,000.00

2021 - 2022

£59,233,000.00

2022 - 2023

£58,994,000.00

2023 - 2024

£59,330,000.00

Annual costs for Chevening Scholarships can be found in the FCDO Annual Reports and Accounts on GOV.UK. The cost for each Chevening scholar varies between individuals, depending on factors including the cost of tuition fees, accommodation and flights.

Breakdown of recipients by nationality of the Chevening Scholarship for the last 5 years:

Country/Territory

Awards made in 2019 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2020 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2021 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2022 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2023 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2024 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Afghanistan

15

23

29

18

21

13

Albania

16

6

14

11

11

10

Algeria

8

9

9

8

7

7

Angola

9

4

7

8

8

7

Anguilla

2

2

3

5

6

5

Antigua and Barbuda

2

3

3

0

1

2

Argentina

25

19

24

21

15

30

Armenia

9

3

9

7

4

4

Australia

3

3

0

2

3

4

Azerbaijan

9

8

11

9

6

5

Bahamas

2

1

1

1

4

5

Bangladesh

13

14

20

15

21

22

Barbados

3

2

2

1

2

1

Belize

5

3

4

5

5

5

Benin

1

1

1

1

0

0

Bermuda

0

1

0

0

0

0

Bhutan

3

4

5

5

5

6

Bolivia

7

5

9

8

4

6

Bosnia and Herzegovina

13

5

9

8

4

5

Botswana

9

5

7

4

4

6

Brazil

57

46

53

47

46

36

Brunei Darussalam

1

1

0

1

1

3

Burkina Faso

2

Burundi

5

5

5

4

4

5

Cambodia

17

9

13

11

12

9

Cameroon

15

12

10

5

8

8

Canada

2

1

4

1

2

3

Cape Verde

0

4

0

1

0

1

Cayman Islands

1

0

0

0

0

0

Chad

0

2

1

1

0

1

Chile

7

2

5

4

4

4

China

60

37

41

33

30

17

Colombia

25

14

16

14

14

14

Congo, Republic of

0

0

1

1

0

0

Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The

7

8

9

2

4

8

Costa Rica

5

3

9

4

5

6

Côte d’Ivoire

6

7

6

8

4

8

Cuba

12

11

11

6

8

8

Djibouti

3

2

2

4

0

1

Dominica

0

1

1

2

1

3

Dominican Republic

11

10

14

11

10

8

Ecuador

9

4

5

6

4

6

Egypt

45

33

39

32

31

29

El Salvador

6

2

3

2

2

3

Equatorial Guinea

0

0

1

1

0

0

Eritrea

1

1

0

0

0

2

Ethiopia

16

24

21

13

18

17

Falkland Islands

0

0

1

0

0

0

Fiji

2

4

5

6

6

7

Gabon

0

0

0

0

0

0

Georgia

13

9

15

15

13

10

Ghana

22

21

19

16

17

14

Greece

2

1

1

0

0

0

Grenada

0

1

1

2

4

3

Guatemala

4

3

5

3

4

1

Guinea

1

6

6

1

4

4

Guyana

10

6

5

5

4

4

Haiti

4

2

1

2

1

4

Honduras

3

3

3

3

2

2

Hong Kong

2

2

2

1

2

2

Iceland

2

1

1

0

1

0

India

47

38

41

46

38

36

Indonesia

60

50

58

45

42

39

Iraq

22

21

26

22

19

18

Israel

2

1

2

1

1

0

Jamaica

18

14

17

16

14

13

Japan

1

1

0

1

2

3

Jordan

15

12

16

11

7

10

Kazakhstan

8

8

8

6

9

12

Kenya

33

39

38

37

36

30

Kingdom of Eswatini

9

6

4

3

3

4

Kiribati

1

0

0

0

0

1

Kosovo

5

11

10

9

5

6

Kyrgyzstan

6

4

5

2

4

6

Lao People's Democratic Republic

8

7

9

8

8

8

Lebanon

9

6

11

9

10

10

Lesotho

5

3

5

3

6

6

Liberia

6

3

3

1

4

6

Libya

18

15

17

18

12

11

Madagascar

11

8

3

9

5

6

Malawi

13

8

9

8

6

7

Malaysia

38

37

40

38

34

31

Maldives

4

5

6

6

7

8

Mali

0

2

0

1

2

4

Mauritania

1

3

4

4

4

5

Mauritius

9

8

7

6

6

5

Mexico

53

39

40

39

37

33

Moldova, Republic Of

7

6

5

7

6

5

Mongolia

7

12

8

11

13

16

Montenegro

9

6

8

7

4

5

Montserrat

4

1

2

1

1

3

Morocco

11

11

13

9

10

10

Mozambique

8

8

11

11

9

9

Myanmar

12

9

16

8

10

10

Namibia

9

14

15

11

13

11

Nauru

0

0

0

1

0

1

Nepal

11

12

17

10

12

13

New Zealand

3

1

1

1

2

3

Nicaragua

4

3

5

4

2

1

Niger

0

2

0

0

2

4

Nigeria

56

46

46

44

44

30

North Macedonia

7

7

7

7

6

6

Oman

1

1

1

0

0

0

Pakistan

49

34

51

47

46

43

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

26

20

23

14

13

10

Panama

7

4

11

5

5

5

Papua New Guinea

3

2

3

5

8

3

Paraguay

15

13

13

14

16

16

Peru

18

7

15

12

9

10

Philippines

28

16

34

23

22

21

Republic of Korea

24

21

13

12

18

12

Rwanda

19

10

9

8

5

5

Saint Helena

0

1

0

0

0

1

Saint Kitts and Nevis

0

0

1

1

0

0

Saint Lucia

3

1

5

4

4

3

Saint Vincent and The Grenadines

2

1

2

4

3

3

Samoa

2

2

1

3

3

4

Sao Tome And Principe

0

0

0

0

2

0

Senegal

8

5

6

5

4

6

Serbia

15

10

10

6

7

10

Seychelles

3

2

3

2

2

3

Sierra Leone

6

5

4

6

5

6

Singapore

4

2

4

3

5

3

Solomon Islands

4

0

3

6

3

7

Somalia

11

10

11

11

14

16

South Africa

44

33

46

35

42

28

South Caucasus

3

2

4

3

0

2

South Sudan

6

5

5

6

5

6

Sri Lanka

6

7

13

8

9

10

Sudan

16

17

18

17

17

16

Suriname

2

1

0

0

0

2

Syrian Arab Republic

22

21

24

22

20

19

Taiwan (Republic of China)

4

6

3

4

5

5

Tajikistan

4

3

3

4

3

5

Tanzania

18

15

15

16

17

9

Thailand

24

15

22

17

22

21

The Gambia

10

9

8

5

5

6

Timor-Leste

4

2

0

2

2

2

Tonga

2

0

1

2

3

4

Trinidad and Tobago

3

1

2

2

2

2

Tunisia

14

11

11

8

6

7

Turkey

24

21

23

18

22

23

Turkmenistan

4

1

0

6

2

1

Turks and Caicos Islands

1

0

3

1

2

4

Tuvalu

1

0

1

0

1

0

Uganda

16

16

24

18

24

17

Ukraine

21

20

19

42

26

23

Uruguay

9

7

9

8

10

9

Uzbekistan

9

8

8

5

6

15

Vanuatu

0

0

0

3

1

2

Venezuela

10

7

9

7

7

6

Vietnam

24

19

25

19

23

22

Virgin Islands (British)

0

1

0

2

2

0

Yemen

9

6

14

8

5

9

Zambia

23

14

14

12

13

12

Zimbabwe

30

10

12

7

6

8

We are withholding some country specific information under Section 38 (Health and Safety) exemption (1) (a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act, which provides that information is exempt if disclosure would or would be likely to endanger the physical or mental health of any individual or endanger the safety of any individual.


Written Question
Cultural Heritage: North Macedonia
Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has taken steps to promote cultural relations between the UK and the Republic of North Macedonia.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport promotes cultural relations around the world, working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Department for Business & Trade, and the British Council to ensure that culture and the creative industries are embedded in the UK’s diplomatic activities and that the importance of these sectors – which contribute so much to our economy, our way of life, and our international reputation – are properly reflected.

The British Embassy in Skopje has prioritised the promotion of bilateral cultural relations and continues to build links with local cultural institutions and artists, particularly those with connections to the UK.

The British Council promotes exchange between the Western Balkans and the UK’s education sector and creative industries, and supports people and institutions in developing enterprising cultural offerings. In May, for instance, the British Council hosted a conference in North Macedonia for 200 English teachers on the future of English.


Written Question
Trade Promotion: North Macedonia
Tuesday 21st May 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to promote trade between the UK and the Republic of North Macedonia.

Answered by Greg Hands

Bilateral trade between the UK and North Macedonia was worth a total of £2.5 billion in the 4 quarters to end of Q4 2023, comprising of £1.7bn of exports and £787 million of imports. North Macedonia is the UK’s largest trading partner in the Western Balkans. The UK’s trade relationship is underpinned by the Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement (PTCA), signed in 2020. The inaugural PTCA Joint Committee met in 2022 and we hope to convene the second version later this year. In September 2023, the UK launched the British-Macedonian Business Chamber, as a symbol of the growing trade & investment partnership.


Written Question
Imports: North Macedonia
Tuesday 21st May 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish an itemised table of the primary imports from the Republic of North Macedonia.

Answered by Greg Hands

The Department for Business and Trade publish trade and investment factsheets summarising statistics on trade and investment between the UK and individual overseas partners, including North Macedonia. A table of the top goods imported from North Macedonia are provided on page 6 of the factsheet. More detailed statistics on UK imports from North Macedonia are published by the ONS.