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: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Slovenia about the human rights implications of the Šutar law for the Roma minority in that country, in particular with regard to warrantless home entry, expanded surveillance powers and military support for domestic policing.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
UK officials discussed the recently passed Šutar Law, including human rights implications, with Slovenian government officials at the UK-Slovenia biannual Strategic Dialogue meeting on 25 November.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with officials in (a) the Netherlands and (b) Slovenia on their plans to ban enriched cages for layer hens.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have regular engagement with counterparts in other countries on farmed animal welfare issues, including on cages and other close confinement systems.
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 diplomatic steps he is taking to help improve the UK’s relationship with Slovenia.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Slovenia remains a key partner and North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally for the United Kingdom, and we cooperate on many key priorities including Russia-Ukraine and the Western Balkans. We signed a Joint Statement of Intent signed in 2022 and we maintain a yearly Strategic Dialogue with Slovenia, last held on 27 March 2025, which provides an opportunity to discuss a range of bilateral and international priorities. The Foreign Secretary met Foreign Minister Fajon on 21 November 2024 where they discussed the full range of the bilateral relationship. Foreign Minister Fajon also met with the Minister for Africa to discuss UN Security Council cooperation, and with the Minister for the Cabinet Office to discuss the EU reset. This built on my visit to Slovenia for the Bled Strategic Forum in September 2024. I have regularly engaged with and met my counterpart Marko Stucin.
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 Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff in his Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As at 2 July 2025, 10 DESNZ 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 Thailand, Botswana, Barbados, India, Slovenia, United States of America, France, Belgium and Ireland. Permission is 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. DESNZ’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: 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: 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 people eligible for Winter Fuel Payments live overseas, broken down by country.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
For winter 2024/25, to be paid Winter Fuel Payments abroad, customers must be in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement and equivalent agreements with the EEA-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states and Switzerland, and the 2019 Convention with Ireland. Customers must also be in receipt of a benefit equivalent to Pension Credit or another qualifying benefit and be able to show that they have a Genuine and Sufficient Link to the UK. A Genuine and Sufficient Link to the UK can include having lived or worked in the UK and having family in the UK. Statistics for winter 2024/25 do not yet have a confirmed date for release.
Annual statistics on the number of Winter Fuel Payments made to individuals and households are publicly available via GOV.UK. The latest statistics cover winter 2023 to 2024. The table below shows the number of Winter Fuel Payments paid to eligible customers living in the European Economic Area and Switzerland by country, for winter 2023 to 2024. Please note that we do not hold or publish statistics on the underlying numbers who may be eligible, only on recipients.
Country | Total payments |
Ireland | 26,226 |
Germany | 2,185 |
Italy | 1,632 |
Bulgaria | 778 |
Netherlands | 586 |
Switzerland | 497 |
Poland | 381 |
Belgium | 312 |
Austria | 309 |
Sweden | 309 |
Hungary | 191 |
Denmark | 156 |
Norway | 129 |
The Czech Republic | 123 |
Finland | 113 |
Luxembourg | 69 |
Republic of Latvia | 62 |
Romania | 52 |
Republic of Lithuania | 49 |
The Slovak Republic | 47 |
Republic of Slovenia | 36 |
Republic of Estonia | 29 |
Croatia | 25 |
Iceland | 8 |
Liechtenstein | [low] |
Total | 34,307 |
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has had recent discussions with his counterparts in (a) Ireland, (b) Spain, (c) Norway, (d) Malta, and (e) Slovenia on joint recognition of the state of Palestine.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK supports a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. The Foreign Secretary has spoken with the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Mustafa and offered the UK's support as his government implements much-needed reforms. An effective PA is vital for lasting peace and progress towards a two-state solution.
Our long-standing position has been that we will recognise a Palestinian State at a time that is most conducive to the peace process.
We engage with European partners on all aspects of the current conflict and on building momentum towards a lasting peace.