Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Bahrain on Bahrain’s political isolation laws.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has not discussed this with his Bahraini counterpart.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Bahrain on the (a) independence and (b) effectiveness of (i) Bahrain's human rights oversight mechanisms, (ii) the National Institution for Human Rights and (iii) the Office of the Ombudsman.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary visited Bahrain in October 2024 and met the Foreign Minister. The focus of that visit was de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East, and to meet UK personnel working in the region, underscoring our commitment to regional security and stability.
The UK encourages all countries to uphold international human rights obligations. We recognise a number of positive steps taken by the Government of Bahrain over recent years in a range of human rights and justice areas, some of which the UK has directly supported, including the establishment of some of these independent human rights oversight bodies, such as the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ministry Of Interior Ombudsman, and the Prisoner and Detainee Rights Commission (PDRC), and helped build the capacity of the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR).
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 3.54 of the Office for Budget Responsibility's publication entitled Economic and fiscal outlook, published in March 2025, if he will publish the assessments referenced.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging volumes and recycling rates.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of (a) exports to and (b) imports from Israeli settlements in 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government’s position is that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law. Goods originating from these settlements are not entitled to tariff and trade preferences under either the existing agreement between the UK and Israel or under our agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
UK trade statistics are based on data supplied in customs declarations, which includes the country code of the trading partner. This enables trade to be listed as Israel (IL) or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (PS).
Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, checks will be undertaken to verify the origin of those goods.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the data for UK trade with settlements is listed as (a) UK trade with Israel, (b) UK trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories and (c) a separate category.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government’s position is that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law. Goods originating from these settlements are not entitled to tariff and trade preferences under either the existing agreement between the UK and Israel or under our agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
UK trade statistics are based on data supplied in customs declarations, which includes the country code of the trading partner. This enables trade to be listed as Israel (IL) or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (PS).
Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, checks will be undertaken to verify the origin of those goods.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) value and (b) quantity was of seafood imported from (a) Cameroon in (A) 2023, (B) 2024 and (C) 2025 and (b) Trinidad and Tobago since October 2023.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
These tables include country of dispatch (CoD) which gives information on the country of export.
To build a table you will need to use a commodity code. Commodity codes identify the goods being imported or exported. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff. Commodity codes for the various types of seafood would come under Chapter 03.
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30065 on Trade Promotion: Israel and Occupied Territories, whether Trade Envoys paid travel and accommodation expenses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Travel and accommodation expenses directly associated with activities undertaken in the role will be arranged and met by the Department or reimbursed. Where possible, the Trade Envoy will be offered accommodation at the Residence to minimise costs.
Trade Envoys are expected to adhere to the Department’s expenses guidance which apply to the programme’s use of public funds and only incur costs which have been agreed beforehand.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30065 Trade Promotion: Israel and Occupied Territories, if he will list his department’s current priorities identified for (a) export and (b) investment services in (i) Israel and (ii) the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Current priorities identified for export and investment services in Israel include infrastructure (construction and energy), healthcare (medicinal and pharmaceutical products), food and drink, financial and professional services.
Priorities for the Occupied Palestinian Territories include cars, tech, food and drink, and financial, professional business, and digital services.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30065 on Trade Promotion: Israel and Occupied Territories, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the role of the Trade Envoys to (a) Israel and (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Following the announcement by the Secretary of State on 28th January of the appointment of a new team of Trade Envoys, we are in the process of developing specific objectives to measure the performance and impact of the Trade Envoys supporting Departmental priorities including Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30065 on Trade Promotion: Israel and Occupied Territories, how much of his Department's budget has been allocated to each of the Trade Envoys for (a) Israel and (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has so far not spent any of its budget this Financial Year to support the Trade Envoys to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The funding for next Financial Year 2025-26 for the Trade Envoys to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories will be allocated on a case-by-case basis to meet costs of travel and subsistence needed to undertake their role.
Any costs incurred are subject to Departmental guidelines which apply to the programme’s use of public funds.