Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry of 30 May 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I can confirm that a response to the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry’s letter of 30 May was issued on 26 June 2025.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
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 European counterparts on export tariffs for the British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise the impact tariffs have on the Overseas Territories exporting to the EU, particularly the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha. These tariffs stem from the fact that the UK-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement agreed by the previous UK government did not cover the Overseas Territories.
We recognise the significant issue of these tariffs for the OTs and industry and continue to engage closely with the Overseas Territories on this and other issues to identify opportunities to improve their trading and business environment, not only with Europe but globally, including securing recent US Government agreement to reduce US tariffs on Falklands exports from a proposed 42 per cent to 10 per cent.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 41875, when she plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry of 31 January 2025.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I apologise for the delay in responding to your correspondence, I will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of protests in Nepal.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK and Nepal share a deep historic relationship. We are appalled at the recent violence and we continue to support fundamental freedoms and respect for human rights in Nepal, including the right to protest and peaceful assembly. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) have made public statements condemning the violence and calling for accountability and peaceful dialogue. We are closely monitoring events, alongside our international partners, and we will assess the impact fully when the situation has stabilised. The FCDO continues to support impacted British nationals.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement on the future use of Border Control Posts.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Work is ongoing to confirm what the future requirements for activities at the border will look like under an SPS Agreement, including what will happen to operations at Border Control Posts (BCPs). The Government recognises that there are questions that will need to be looked at as part of implementation and remains committed to working openly and closely with the Devolved Governments, Port Health Authorities, Local Authorities and port operators to ensure the transition to these new arrangements is as clear and seamless as possible, noting that the precise detail and timing of this process – including legislative arrangements – are naturally subject to the course of the detailed negotiations.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections Border Control Posts have conducted since 2022; and at what cost to the public purse.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Checks at Border Control Posts (BCPs) are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. To protect the integrity of this approach, we cannot share data on volumes of inspections.
Regarding the cost to the public purse, the only UK Government run BCP is at Sevington, where the Common User Charge applies (CUC). The CUC is intended to recover the operating costs of government-run Sevington BCP facility serving the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel. There will be no profit from the charge as it is intended to be a full cost recovery charging scheme only, in line with HMG’s Managing Public Money principles.
For information on calculation and operating costs please review the report at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sevington-border-control-post-estimated-operating-costs.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse of (a) building border inspection facilities, (b) operating border inspection facilities annually since construction and (c) in total was since the UK left the EU.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Customs infrastructure at Inland Border Facilities (IBFs) is essential to protect the UK by ensuring risk-based checks on goods entering and leaving the country can take place. The cost to HMRC of building and setting up both enduring and temporary sites was £89m.
The annual cost to HMRC for the operation of IBFs is £32m.
The total cost since leaving the EU (up to 31st March 25) was £495m, this included £20m for decommissioning costs at temporary sites.
In April 2025, Government announced amendments to existing legislation to require all approved border locations to provide and fund their own customs infrastructure. This includes border locations which currently benefit from Government provision of IBFs.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much her Department has spent on inland border facilities for customs checks since 2020.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Customs infrastructure at Inland Border Facilities (IBFs) is essential to protect the UK by ensuring risk-based checks on goods entering and leaving the country can take place. HMRC has spent a total of £495m since 2020 on IBFs. This figure represents all costs up to and including 31st March 2025.
In addition to HMRC costs, the Sevington IBF was constructed by the Department for Transport. The total costs of this were £154 million. This includes £70 million on the Border Control Post (BCP), which allows biosecurity checks to take place on sanitary and phytosanitary goods (SPS).
In April 2025, Government announced amendments to existing legislation to require all approved border locations to provide and fund their own customs infrastructure. This includes border locations which currently benefit from Government provision of IBFs.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to evacuate the dependents of students with UK scholarships as well as those students.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is prioritising those with fully-funded, verifiable, scholarships commencing in the autumn term. This decision has been made for these students due to their potential role in rebuilding Gaza in the future.
I refer the Honourable Member to the then-Home Secretary’s oral statement to the House of Commons on 1 September 2025 on strengthening border security and reforms to the asylum system. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
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 Darwin Plus on maintaining the British Overseas Territories' environmental heritage.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Darwin Plus remains a funding programme that continues to improve outcomes for the unique biodiversity and environmental heritage of the UK Overseas Territories and we note the strong support for that continuation.
Defra has confirmed funding for the continuation of existing projects throughout 2025/2026 and to support additional projects beginning this year. We have contacted all applicants shortlisted from our most recent funding rounds to discuss commencement of their individual project proposals and details of those successful projects will be published on the Darwin Plus website in due course.