Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help strengthen the UK’s relationship with Portugal.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK maintains strong and enduring ties with Portugal across a broad range of bilateral files. The Foreign Secretary last met with his Portuguese counterpart Foreign Minister Rangel when he visited Lisbon in March earlier this year. I last met with my Portuguese counterpart Secretary of State Domingos when I visited Lisbon in January. Both visits discussed how we can continue to effectively implement the UK-Portugal Joint Declaration.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language and those who require visual and tactile services, under the provision of the Equality Act.
Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
In FY 23/24 the total contracted spend was £915,037.52.
In FY 24/25 the total contracted spend was £1,003,283.32.
In FY 25/26 so far, the total contracted spend is £256,707.82.
The languages in this data exclude written translations into English, Welsh and Braille.
The languages translated into from English (United Kingdom) are:
Albanian (Albania)
Amharic (Ethiopia)
Arabic (Classical)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Modern Standard) Middle Eastern
Arabic (Modern Standard) North African
Arabic (Morocco)
Armenian (Armenia)
Bangla (Bangladesh)
Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
Burmese
Burmese (Myanmar)
Catalan (Catalan)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Czech (Czech Republic)
Danish (Denmark)
Dari (Afghanistan)
Dutch (Netherlands)
Estonian (Estonia)
Filipino (Philippines)
Finnish (Finland)
French (Belgium)
French (France)
Georgian (Georgia)
German (Austria)
German (Germany)
Greek (Greece)
Gujarati (India)
Hebrew (Israel)
Hindi (India)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Icelandic (Iceland)
Indonesian (Indonesia)
Italian (Italy)
Japanese (Japan)
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
Kiswahili (Kenya)
Korean (Korea)
Kurdish (Bahdini)
Kurdish (Sorani)
Latvian (Latvia)
Lingala (Congo DRC)
Lithuanian (Lithuania)
Macedonian (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Malay (Malaysia)
Malayalam (India)
Maltese (Malta)
Mirpuri (Central Asia)
Mongolian (Cyrillic, Mongolia)
Nepali (Nepal)
Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway)
Norwegian, Nynorsk (Norway)
Oromo (Ethiopia)
PahariPotwari (Central Asia)
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Persian (Afghanistan)
Persian (Iran)
Polish (Poland)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi (India)
Punjabi (Pakistan)
Romanian (Romania)
Romany (Europe)
Russian (Russia)
Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)
Serbian (Latin, Serbia)
Shona (Latin, Zimbabwe)
Sinhala (Sri Lanka)
Slovak (Slovakia)
Slovenian (Slovenia)
Somali (Somalia)
Spanish (Argentina)
Spanish (Latin America)
Spanish (Mexico)
Spanish (Spain)
Swedish (Sweden)
Tajik (Cyrillic, Tajikistan)
Tamazight (Latin, Algeria)
Tamil (India)
Tetum (Timor)
Thai (Thailand)
Tigrinya (Eritrea)
Turkish (Turkey)
Ukranian (Ukraine)
Urdu (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan)
Vietnamese (Vietnam)
Wolof (Senegal)
Yoruba (Nigeria)
The Languages translated into from English (United States) are:
Arabic (Egypt)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Polish (Poland)
Romanian (Romania)
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Portugal about allowing UK passport holders to use e-gates at Portuguese airports.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have secured confirmation that there will be no legal barriers to eGates use for UK nationals travelling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU's Entry/Exit System.
But the Prime Minister has been clear that we believe European countries should go further and faster now.
We are therefore working with individual Member States at pace to make that transition happen as soon as possible. This includes discussions with Portugal.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 14 of the policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit: Common Understanding, published on 19 May 2025, whether young people will be given voting rights in local elections in (a) England and (b) Northern Ireland under the proposed youth experience scheme from an EU Member State (i) that are residing in the UK and (ii) where there is not a bilateral reciprocal agreement between the UK and that EU Member State under the Representation of the People Act 1983.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Prior to the UK’s departure from the EU, in December 2018, the Government wrote to all 27 EU member states signalling willingness to enter into bilateral agreements to ensure continuity of local election voting and candidacy rights for each other's citizens.
EU citizens from countries that have a bilateral agreement with the UK can therefore vote in local elections in England and Northern Ireland (alongside those who have been legally resident in the UK prior to withdrawal from the EU). We have such agreements with Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
These agreements are separate from Youth Mobility Schemes.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what (a) risk assessment and (b) contingency plan his Department has produced for the National Grid in the event of a national blackout, in the context of the situation in Spain and Portugal in April 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain has a highly resilient energy system, and a total failure of power supplies is assessed in the National Risk Register as a high impact but low likelihood event. In its 75-year history, the National Electricity Transmission System has never experienced a complete shutdown.
As a responsible Government we prepare for all eventualities and work closely with industry to prepare for and exercise robust contingency plans. This includes the National Electricity System Operator’s established plans to restore the energy system in the event of a National Power Outage as set out in the Electricity System Restoration Standard.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that British nationals who are the victims of violent attacks are adequately supported by the British Embassy in Portugal; and whether his Department plans to issue travel advice on the risk of violence towards British nationals by private security personnel.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the UK's embassies, high commissions and consulates provide consular support to British nationals abroad. We are contactable 24/7, 365 days a year, around the world. In Portugal, we have staff based in Lisbon and Portimao who provide consular assistance to British nationals who require it, including victims of crime. FCDO travel advice reflects our latest assessment of risks to British nationals, including from crime.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children from (a) Guinea-Bissau and (b) Portugal have been referred to the national referral mechanism in each year since its start.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold or publish data on the number of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals received for individuals on a constituency level.
The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics regarding the NRM including the nationality of children referred. NRM statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics
Further disaggregated data is published via the UK Data Service and can be accessed here: https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=8910
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 his (a) EU and (b) US counterparts on the use of (i) proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club and other (ii) assets (A) frozen and (B) seized via sanctions.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine as soon as possible. The Government is working closely with the European Commission and Portugal on this issue. Separately, we continue our work at pace with allies to consider all lawful routes to ensure Russia pays for the damage it is causing Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary is having regular discussions with key partners on this issue, including at the Weimar+ Group on Monday 31 March.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of foreign nationals from (a) Guinea-Bissau and (b) Portugal that have been convicted in the UK since 2010.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide data on how many Bissau-Guinean nationals and Portuguese nationals have been convicted at court. This is because it is not possible to identify an offender's nationality from the centrally collated convictions data.
However, the Department is able to provide data on foreign nationals in prison and also those under probation supervision in the community.
(a) The nationality of foreign offenders in prison is published quarterly in table 1_Q_12 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (31 December 2024) available from prison-population-31-Dec-2024.ods. As of the 31 December 2024, there was one Bissau-Guinean national and 260 Portuguese nationals in HMPPS custody.
(b) The nationality of foreign offenders under probation supervision can be found in table 6_9 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 September 2024) available from Probation-Jul-to-Sep-2024.ods. As of the 30 September 2024, there are 474 Portuguese nationals under probation supervision in the community and no records of Bissau-Guinean nationals under probation supervision.
Previous publications of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly bulletin can be found at Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36473 on Human Trafficking: Cambridgeshire, how many of the (a) 56 cases flagged for modern slavery and (b) 11 cases with a monitoring flag for child abuse, involved (i) victims and (ii) perpetrators from (A) Guinea-Bissau and (B) Portugal.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has conducted a full manual review of the 11 case files with a monitoring flag for child abuse. It could not ascertain whether the defendants and victims were from Guinea-Bissau or Portugal from the information provided by the police.
The CPS were unable to undertake a full manual review of the remaining cases with a monitoring flag for modern slavery as to obtain this information would incur a disproportionate cost.