Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to introduce VAT relief for pilot training.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pilot training may be exempt from VAT when provided by an eligible body which meets certain conditions (for example, when provided by a government institution or certain regulated organisations), but otherwise will be subject to the standard rate. VAT-registered businesses paying for training will be able to recover any VAT they pay.
The Government currently has no plans to remove VAT on pilot flight training courses more broadly.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of not implementing the proposed changes to Spousal and Skilled Worker Visa applicants set out in the White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Further details and assessments of measures announced in the White Paper will be published in due course, when the relevant rules are introduced.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of allowing applications to be dealt with in the UK for asylum applicants who have been granted asylum in another European country.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Where a person already has asylum or subsidiary protection in another European country, the person’s claim will usually be declared inadmissible (meaning that their asylum claim will not be substantively considered in the UK), and they will be removed to that country, if they refused to return voluntarily.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has for his Department's site at Dunmore in Belfast.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Reserve Forces and Cadets Association Estate Optimisation Programme is an ongoing joint programme to optimise and improve the defence volunteer estate. This includes the Reserve Estate in Northern Ireland and the use of Army Reserve Centre Dunmore. No decisions have yet been taken.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for the defence industry in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK Government, through the Strategic Defence Review will make defence an engine for growth ensuring that our defence spending boosting prosperity, jobs and security for working people across all nations and regions. This includes in Northern Ireland, where companies like Thales are at the forefront of both advanced manufacturing and our enduring support to Ukraine. In March, we announced a £1.6 billion deal to supply thousands of advanced air defence missiles to Ukraine, whilst creating 200 new jobs in Northern Ireland. It is the largest contract ever received by Thales in Belfast. We are committed to working with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that we have a thriving defence sector which supports jobs, skills and growth in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with animal rights charities on phasing out the use of animal testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. To facilitate this Minister Vallance hosted a roundtable on 14.05.25 with representatives from animal welfare organisations, and officials have worked with animal welfare charities throughout strategy development. Minister Vallance also met with the Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group on phasing out animal experiments in medical research and representatives from Animal Free Research on 01.04.25, with representatives from Lush UK on 15.05.25, and with representatives from the RSCPA on 26.11.24.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2025 to Question 20971 on Aerospace Industry: Finance, what progress his Department has made on the allocation of the £975 million to boost the UK aerospace industry; and how much has been allocated to each devolved region.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Of the £975 million allocated to the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme between 2025/26 and 2029/30, £285 million has been committed so far. This funding is distributed across the Devolved Administrations as follows:
Region | Committed Spend from 2025/26 |
England | 255,504,078 |
Wales | 10,061,956 |
Scotland | 6,383,129 |
Northern Ireland | 13,284,097 |
Total | 285,233,260 |
The Industrial Strategy announced ATI Programme funding of up to £2.3 billion over the next 10 years. With industry co-investment, this will result in nearly £3.8 billion of UK research activity—placing UK industry in a strong position to capitalise on growing demand for new technologies as the next generation of aircraft is developed.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will estimate the number of asylum applicants who have had their initial claims rejected and subsequently made a further application.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data on initial decisions on asylum claims, including refusals, is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the year ending March 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. Data on the number of further submissions is not available from published statistics.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress her Department has made on developing the Enhanced Investment Zone for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Since confirmation at Autumn Budget of the continuation of the Enhanced Investment Zone, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has worked in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive to drive forward the co-development of the design and delivery of the Enhanced Investment Zone. Further detail on the focus of the Enhanced Investment Zone will be confirmed later this year, following significant progress on developing proposals for the sectoral focus.