Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders of which nationality were deported in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office does publish statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending December 2023; which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The term ‘deportations’ refers to a legally defined subset of returns, which are enforced either following a criminal conviction, or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is beneficial to the public good. The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily. Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on tackling sexual violence in conflict; and if he will make it his policy to call for incidents of sexual violence by (a) Hamas and (b) the Israel Defense Forces to be independently investigated.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK condemns sexual violence unequivocally and without exception. Reports of sexual violence on and since 7th October are deeply disturbing. The UK has consistently called for these reports to be fully investigated to ensure justice for survivors and victims.
Through our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict programmes and dedicated funding totalling £60 million, we are leading work internationally to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and strengthen justice and support for all survivors.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's planned timetable is for the potential regeneration of HMS Albion.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For reasons of operational security, we do not disclose timetables of future readiness levels for Royal Navy (RN) vessels. However, I can confirm that, as has been the case since 2010, one Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ship will be held in extended readiness so that she will be capable of being regenerated if we have strategic notice that she will be needed. As such, HMS Albion will take HMS Bulwark's place in extended readiness and HMS Bulwark will be regenerated from extended readiness and maintained so that she can be ready to deliver defence outputs if required.
All discussions with Babcock International Group Plc on the LPD programme of work have related to the delivery of the original contract.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to promote relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Federal Government of Iraq.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK supports a secure, stable, and thriving Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) within a peaceful and prosperous Iraq. We continue to encourage greater cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil to resolve their outstanding issues, such as those related to the federal budget, the oil and gas sector, payment of public salaries, and security cooperation. As intra-Kurdish tensions are impeding progress from being made, Ministers and senior UK officials have advocated repeatedly for unity and increased cooperation within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including respect for democratic processes.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
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 Sports England on the British Ju Jitsu Association's (a) equality, (b) inclusion and (c) diversity policies.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Following the outcome of a review of its recognised NGB status last summer, the British Ju Jitsu Association Governing Body (BJJAGB) submitted evidence to Sport England relating to its compliance with the Home Country Sports Council's recognition criteria.
It is now for the Home Country Sports Council Boards to decide on the recognition of the organisation. This information will be communicated in the near future.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had on opening crossing points into Gaza for medical and humanitarian aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The British Government has pressed with Israeli counterparts the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation.
On 5th April Israel committed to significant steps to increase the amount of aid getting to Gaza, including allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid through the Port of Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint.
The UK has urged Israel to take these steps for a long time and they are welcome. We are resolved that the international community will work with Israel to see these vital changes fully implemented.
The Foreign Secretary has also called on Israel to reform its deconfliction mechanism to ensure the safety of aid workers, and to make progress on the UN's minimal operating requirements, including more visas and driver approvals granted, as well as more trucks permitted to cross into Gaza.
Palestinians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. The UK is playing a leadership role in alleviating that suffering. We are doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.
150 tonnes of more UK aid arrived in Gaza on 13 March, including 840 family tents, 13,440 blankets, almost 3,000 shelter kits, and shelter-fixing kits, 6,000 sleeping mats and more than 3,000 dignity kits.
A field hospital, provided by UK Aid funding to UK-Med, has arrived in Gaza. This facility, staffed by UK and local medics, will be able to treat over 100 patients a day.
On 20 March, the Foreign Secretary announced the UK has funded WFP to provide 2000 tons of food aid, enough to feed 275,000 people in Gaza.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of activity by Iran-backed terrorist groups in the West Bank.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Iran poses an unacceptable threat to Israel, including through its long-term support for proscribed groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas operating in Gaza and the West Bank. This . Iran must bear responsibility for the actions of its proxies and partners.
We introduced a new sanctions regime designed to target Iran and its proxies and partners' hostile and destabilising activity last December. We immediately used these new powers to designate individuals and an entity responsible for Iran's support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Foreign Secretary condemned in the strongest terms Iran's attack on Israel in a call with the Iranian Foreign Minister on 14 April, and made clear that Iran must stop these attacks and de-escalate.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations of Debt Justice's Together Against Debt Manifesto, published in March 2024.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting people in problem debt. This is why at Spring Budget 2024 the Chancellor announced changes to make it easier to access a Debt Relief Order (DRO) in England and Wales.
In May 2021, the Government launched the Breathing Space scheme, providing a period of protections from creditor enforcement action for individuals in problem debt. The Government Debt Management Function (GDMF) have also recently developed and published a toolkit to help public sector creditors identity and support vulnerable individuals.
The Government provides a range of debt advice services through the Money and Pensions Service to meet the needs of individuals in problem debt, including national and community-based services.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) fiscal and (b) economic conditions have to be met for defence spending to be raised to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government’s aspiration is to invest 2.5% of GDP on defence, when the fiscal and economic circumstances allow. The Prime Minister has been clear that the target and path towards 2.5% will be set out at the next Spending Review.
The government has consistently prioritised defence spending. The Ministry of Defence was the first department to get certainty on its budgets in this Parliament. This settlement was the largest sustained spending increase in defence since the end of the Cold War, with a £24 billion uplift in cash terms over the four-year period. In March 2023, we also provided an extra £11 billion for defence and national security priorities over the next five years, with £4.95 billion over the next two years.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the number of (a) civilians, (b) women and (c) children (i) killed and (ii) injured in Gaza using UK-made (A) arms and (B) technologies since October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We keep all export licences under careful review.
The Foreign Secretary has underlined the need for Israel to ensure effective deconfliction in Gaza, and we want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets.