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.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 28899 on Grenfell Tower Inquiry, what (a) criteria and (b) evidence her Department plans to use in prioritising its work on preventing future deaths; and with reference to the Justice Committee's (i) First Report of Session 2021–22 entitled The Coroner Service, HC 68 and (ii) Third Special Report of Session 2021–22 entitled The Coroner Service: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report, HC 675, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the coronial reforms recommended by that Committee.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is clear that Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports are vital in contributing to public safety through learning from death investigation. We expect recipients to have a framework in place for considering any reports they receive, and to take their responses – and related actions - very seriously.
However, we recognise that more needs to be done to improve accessibility to information from PFD reports; and to ensure, particularly across government, that lessons are learned; that this learning is disseminated as quickly and widely as possible; and that it is effectively monitored and evaluated.
We are addressing this issue as part of the reformed, forward-looking framework for coroner services which we intend to deliver in light of the Justice Committee’s recent Inquiries into the Coroner Service, working closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners. The Government’s formal responses to the Committee were provided on 10 September 2021 and 10 December 2024 respectively.
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, whether his Department (a) encourages and (b) supports UK businesses involved in (i) economic and (ii) financial activities that (A) support and (B) maintain Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK government does not recognise the Occupied Palestinian Territories as part of Israel. The UK government has a clear position that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace, and threaten the long-term stability of a two-state solution. We do not encourage or offer support to economic and financial activities in the settlements, and our commitment to a two-state solution is unwavering, as is our commitment to international law. We advise British businesses to strongly consider the UK government's stance towards settlements when considering their investments and activities in the region.
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, whether it is his policy to not (a) encourage and (b) support UK businesses seeking involvement in (i) economic and (ii) financial activities in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK government has a clear position that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We do not encourage or offer support to economic and financial activity in the settlements, and our commitment to a two-state solution is unwavering, as is our commitment to international law. We advise British businesses to consider the UK government's stance towards settlements when considering their investments and activities in the region.
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, what the (a) role and (b) responsibilities are of the trade envoys to (i) Israel and (ii) the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Trade Envoys support HMG export and investment services already provided in a market. Each Trade Envoy role is tailored according to the requirements of their respective markets and the Trade Envoys to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories will align with the Departmental priorities identified for those markets.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider the merits of implementing safety recommendation R/2025/055 in the report by the Health Service Safety Investigations Body entitled Mental health inpatient settings: Creating conditions for the delivery of safe and therapeutic care to adults, published on 30 January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are grateful to the Health Services Safety Investigations Body for their report on creating conditions for learning from deaths in mental health inpatient settings. The report highlights important concerns and safety recommendations that can help us to improve inpatient mental health services.
We will formally respond to all the recommendations for the Department made within this report in due course.