Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has met with his (a) Canadian and (b) New Zealand counterparts in 2024.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I can confirm that the Secretary of State for Defence has met his Canadian counterpart on two occasions in 2024, and has spoken with his New Zealand counterpart once and will meet with her in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of artificial intelligence on banking.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The adoption and deployment of AI is increasingly prevalent in the financial sector and has the potential to significantly improve productivity, both for individual banks and at an aggregate level. The government is committed to supporting the digital sector and has invested more than £3.5 billion in AI since 2014.
The government’s response to the AI White Paper consultation sets out how we are encouraging the safe use of AI across the economy by strengthening our global AI leadership (including by hosting the world’s first AI Safety Summit) and supporting the UK’s regulators to deliver on our pro-innovation framework.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support (a) Australian rules football, (b) ice hockey and (c) surfing.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority and we are committed to ensuring everyone, no matter their age, background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active. In our sport strategy ‘Get Active’ we set out our unapologetic ambition to build a more active nation, with a target to get 3.5 million more people classed as ‘active’ by 2030.
The Government provides support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.
Since 2019 Sport England has provided the following support:
Australian rules football- £100,020
Ice hockey- £2,060,816
Surfing- £1,362,561
Sport England also provides support for grassroots sport through a range of available funds, including the Small Grants Programme and the Active Together Fund. Further information on these funds and eligibility criteria can be found here.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support is available to (a) animal rescue organisations and (b) local authorities to care for XL Bully puppies that do not meet the legal breed standard for a banned type of dog, but may eventually grow to do so.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My Department is engaging closely with local authorities and rescue and rehoming organisations to monitor the impacts of the XL Bully dog ban.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity has been imported by individual interconnectors since 2019; and what proportion of total electricity output was generated by interconnectors in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iv) 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity was exported via interconnectors in the last 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many gigawatt hours of electricity was imported in February.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK electricity imports from 2019 to 2023 via each interconnector are presented in the following table, in gigawatt hours (GWh):
Country | Interconnector | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
France | IFA 1 | 11,875 | 10,412 | 10,138 | 1,116 | 7,028 |
| IFA 2 | x | x | 5,014 | 1,246 | 3,825 |
| ElectraLink | x | x | x | 374 | 4,649 |
Netherlands | BritNed | 6,049 | 4,674 | 4,341 | 3,610 | 4,265 |
Ireland | East West | 1,238 | 1,600 | 538 | 990 | 239 |
| NI to Ireland | 302 | 321 | 325 | 336 | 213 |
Belgium | Nemo | 5,091 | 5,384 | 6,995 | 3,230 | 3,986 |
Norway | North Sea Link | x | x | 1,393 | 4,547 | 8,945 |
Denmark | Viking | x | x | x | x | 64 |
Total |
| 24,556 | 22,391 | 28,743 | 15,451 | 33,212 |
The share of the UK’s gross electricity supply (generation plus imports, excluding exports) supplied via interconnectors each year was: (i) 2020 6.6%, (ii) 2021 8.5%, (iii) 2022 4.6%, (iv) 2023 10.4%. 2023 data is provisional. Final figures will be published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics at the end of July 2024.
In February 2024, the UK imported 3,696 GWh of electricity.
In 2023, 9,499 GWh of electricity was exported from the UK via interconnectors. This compares to 20,793 GWh in 2022 when the UK was a net exporter of electricity for the first time in 40 years.
Source: National Grid and EirGrid data.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will publish a summary of the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs' recent meeting with Benny Gantz.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign Secretary issued a statement on 6 March, following his meeting with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz. The Foreign Secretary made clear the steps Israel must take to increase aid into Gaza, and the UK's deep concern about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress she has made on trade discussions with Switzerland.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since launching trade negotiations with Switzerland in May 2023, the UK has held four rounds of negotiations on an enhanced Free Trade Agreement. The fourth round took place from 4 to 8 March 2024. Discussions were productive, provisionally closing the chapter on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This will help UK SMEs expand their operations more easily into the Swiss market.
The fifth round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in early summer where we will look to make further positive progress.
We continue to keep Parliament and the public informed through regular parliamentary and GOV.UK updates.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of re-introducing tax-free shopping for international visitors on retail businesses.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published its next steps on tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
The OBR published a review of the original 2020 costing of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 6 March, with a follow up supplementary document published on 11 March, which is available here: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/VAT-RES-costing-review.pdf.
The government welcomes further submissions in response to the OBR’s findings.