Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much and what proportion of Government funding for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief was allocated to supporting persecuted religious communities globally in the each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK champions and remains strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. It is our firm opinion that no one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) John Bunyan Fund (JBF), the designated programme for FoRB-focused overseas projects has a budget allocation of £460,720 in the financial year 2024/25. In the financial year 2023/24 the JBF spent £170,000 and in financial year 2022/23, £70,000. The FCDO works to ensure that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is allocated to those who are most vulnerable and most in need of this assistance irrespective of race, religion, or ethnicity. This includes minority religious or belief communities who are assessed by our partners when determining those most in need of protection and assistance.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to review the Border Target Operating Model to introduce mandatory spot checks on all vehicles entering the UK, in the context of illegal meat smuggling.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Border Target Operating Model aims to mitigate sanitary and phytosanitary risks, while enabling the flow of legitimate goods through our ports and airports. We will continue to operate a compliance first approach enabling importers and the public to move compliant goods, backed up by robust, intelligence-led, enforcement controls on illegal activity.
We take illegal meat smuggling very seriously, as it may pose threats to animal health, food safety and public health. That is why we are working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue with the support of Border Force, Port Health Authorities and local authorities.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to strengthen border checks to prevent illegal meat imports from entering the UK through (a) Dover and (b) other ports of entry.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has made additional funding of £1.9 million available to Dover District Council for the Port Health Authority, for the remainder of this financial year (2024 to 2025), to support Border Force to conduct safeguarding checks on the illegal import of products of animal origin. This is in addition to the £1.2 million already committed. This total funding of £3.1 million is based on the existing staffing costs provided by Dover Port Health Authority. This funding is only for this financial year. Defra has also contributed operational equipment to support Border Force with relevant checks.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the illegal importation of meat from regions affected by (a) African swine fever and (b) foot and mouth disease on risks to the UK agricultural sector.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whilst we have never had an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the UK, it remains a key priority in terms of exotic notifiable disease preparedness. The overall risk of an incursion is currently assessed to be medium, and we continue to prepare for a possible outbreak. To safeguard the UK’s pork and pig industries, Defra, Devolved Governments, together with the pig industry and veterinary bodies have been working together to raise awareness of the risks of the introduction of ASF to the UK. Defra announced further controls in September 2024, restricting the movement of pork and pork products into Great Britain.
The risk of incursion of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) to Great Britain was increased to medium following the confirmation of disease in Germany on the 10 January 202 and then Hungary on 6 March 2025. The Government has taken decisive and rapid action to protect the UK by suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the EU. The UK has robust contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how revenue generated from passport fees is allocated.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Revenue generated from passport fees contribute to the recovery of the costs provided for under section 86 of the Immigration Act 2016: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/19/section/86.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what personnel levels are in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy, (c) Royal Air Force and (d) reserve forces.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Statistics on the strength of UK service personnel are published on gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2025
As at 1 January 2025, the latest date for when data is available, Table 3c shows the Full-Time Trained Strength (FTTS) (Royal Navy & Royal Marines and Royal Air Force) and Full-Time Trade Trained Strength (FTTTS) (Army).
Table 6a shows the Trained Futures Reserves 2020 Strength.
Table 3c
Full-Time Trained Strength (FTTS) | 127,036 |
Royal Navy/Royal Marines (FTTS) | 28,085 |
Army (FTTTS) | 71,151 |
Royal Air Force (FTTS) | 27,800 |
Table 6a
Tri Service Future Reserve FR20 | 29,265 |
Maritime Reserve | 2,610 |
Army Reserve | 23,897 |
Royal Air Force Reserve | 2,758 |
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to hold discussions with his counterpart in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on (a) the recent killing of Christians and (b) other ongoing human rights violations in that country.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Recent attacks by IS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are alarming and we are deeply saddened by the loss of life. Protection of civilians, promotion of respect between different religious and non-religious groups, and human rights are priorities for the UK. The UK continues to work through UN bodies and other multilateral fora to promote and protect these rights in the DRC. Ministers and senior officials including our Ambassador in Kinshasa regularly raise the importance of civilian protection with the Government of DRC. The UK continues to remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law and make clear that all those who have committed human rights violations and abuses must be held accountable.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with law enforcement agencies on taking steps to help tackle organised criminal networks involved in the illegal meat trade; and what steps he plans to take to help disrupt this activity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are not complacent about illegal meat smuggling, which may pose threats to animal health, food safety and public health. That is why we are working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue with the support of Border Force, Port Health Authorities and local authorities.
Where non-compliant meat is identified inland, the Food Standards Agency works closely with its local authority partners, who hold responsibility for this aspect of enforcement, to remove the goods from potential sale in the UK market. This work is conducted by the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit who work with partners to disrupt, prevent and where appropriate investigate those involved in food crime.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 improve the resilience of the electricity grid to extreme weather conditions.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain has a highly resilient energy network. Network operators have completed a significant number of improvements to the resilience of Great Britain’s electricity network which means the electricity system is in a much better place to mitigate power disruption during extreme weather events such as Storm Darragh and Storm Eowyn. The Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) work to identify lessons after all large energy incidents to ensure continuous improvement to the network. E3C will work with network operators in Northern Ireland as part of this process to ensure, where necessary, improvements are made across the UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle changes in the levels of haulage costs for transporting goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Hauliers play a very important role in supporting trade within the UK. The Government meets regularly with stakeholders involved in trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including representatives of the road haulage industry, particularly in view of the implementation of the Windsor Framework and cost pressures.