Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2024 to Question 23609 on Israel: F-35 Aircraft, how many components manufactured exclusively for Israel's F-35I Adir version of the F-35A fighter jet have been exported from the UK.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
None. UK suppliers have not manufactured nor exported components that are exclusively used on the Israeli variant of the F-35 aircraft.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK forces (a) took part and (b) provided support to their Israeli counterparts in the airstrikes on Yemen on Friday 10 January 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK did not take part in, or provide support to, Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Friday 10 January 2025.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2024 to Question 16963 on Israel: F-35 Aircraft, whether any F-35 components manufactured in Britain are designed specifically for the F-35I Adir variant of the F-35 fighter jet.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
F-35 components produced in the UK are crucial to the production and support of the global F-35 fleet and are present on all three variants of F-35 aircraft. Israel uses the F-35 A variant.
The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, part of the US Department of Defense, manages the F-35 programme for all F-35 Partner Nations through its global industry supply chain.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has (a) shared F-35 flight mission data files with the Israeli air force and (b) received such files from that air force since October 2023.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
No.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza on 1 April 2024 was (a) reviewed as and (b) found to be a potential violation of International Humanitarian Law by his Department.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on 1 April was appalling. We continue to press the Government of Israel to improve the safety environment for aid workers in Gaza, which is the deadliest in the world. Over 320 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began on October 7. I most recently raised this with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharron Haskel on Friday 29 November. We continue to keep Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Gaza under review through regular assessments.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending UK workers rights to people working offshore on renewable energy projects.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to the protection of workers’ rights and is delivering an ambitious set of reforms to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people, and contribute to economic growth. Whether workers are covered by UK employment law is dependent upon the worker establishing a sufficient connection to Great Britain. The Government will give further consideration to the issue raised in due course.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a just transition for oil and gas (a) communities and (b) workers.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We intend to manage the North Sea in a way that ensures a fair, orderly and prosperous transition, with no community left behind. We have already launched Great British Energy, begun the biggest ever investment in offshore wind, and are moving ahead with new North Sea industries like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. The UK has a highly skilled oil and gas workforce, with high transferability of skills to these new roles. We have also created the Office for Clean Energy Jobs to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high-quality, fairly paid, and have good working conditions.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of applications for exemption to allow civilian cargo planes that are (a) destined for Israel and (b) transporting munitions of war to overfly British sovereign airspace that have been (i) received, (ii) approved and (iii) rejected since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has the responsibility of issuing approvals for the carriage of munitions of war in civil aircraft. The CAA has not received any applications for exemption to allow civilian cargo aircraft that are destined for Israel and transporting munitions of war to overfly UK sovereign airspace.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Herzi Halevi was given special mission diplomatic immunity to visit the UK in November 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Government officials from any country can apply for and be granted special mission certificates as part of official visits to the UK. As set out in a Written Ministerial Statement by the former Foreign Secretary dated 4 March 2013, a special mission is a temporary mission, representing a State, which is sent by one State to another with the consent of the latter, in order to carry out official engagements on behalf of the sending State. The FCDO gave consent for special mission status for the visit to the UK on 24-25 November of Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and delegation.
Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for exemption to overfly the UK with war munitions with a final destination of Israel have been (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the Ministry of Defence will neither confirm, deny, nor comment on any foreign nations’ military aircraft movement or operations within UK airspace or UK overseas bases.