Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of GDP which the government of Belgium has spent on defence over the last five years in accordance with their obligations as a NATO member; and what representations they have made to that government regarding meeting pledged defence spending targets under NATO, including the new target of 5 per cent.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) collects defence expenditure data from Allies and publishes it on a semi-regular basis. NATO spending reports are published online here: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm. At the NATO Summit, Allies committed to investing 5 per cent of gross domestic product annually on defence and security, composed of 3.5 per cent core defence spending and 1.5 per cent security and resilience spending, by 2035. We encourage all Allies to meet their NATO commitments.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff in his Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As at 2 July 2025, 10 DESNZ employees, who are all UK-based, have exceptionally been given permission to work remotely outside of the UK for a limited period. The countries are Thailand, Botswana, Barbados, India, Slovenia, United States of America, France, Belgium and Ireland. Permission is granted for various reasons, including to accompany a partner posted overseas on official government business.
International remote working is separate from and does not include employees who are conducting official business abroad. DESNZ’s international remote working policy allows staff to make an application to work remotely overseas for a short period of time for a number of limited reasons. Approval of such a request is subject to the employee having the legal right to work in the country and the necessary security and other clearances.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Janet Daby
Unless undertaking work in an official capacity, the department only permits overseas working in limited circumstances and for short periods of time. The department’s international remote working policy considers any country outside of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as overseas including all British Overseas Territories.
In line with Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office guidance, the department has currently granted temporary permission to 24 staff to work outside the UK in the following countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Spain, South Africa, and Turkey.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many staff in his Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Feryal Clark
As at 2 July 2025, 7 DSIT employees, who are all UK-based, have exceptionally been given permission to work remotely outside of the UK for a limited period. The countries are: Ghana, United States of America, Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Germany. Permission was granted for various reasons, including to accompany a partner posted overseas on official government business.
International remote working is separate from and does not include employees who are conducting official business abroad. DSIT’s international remote working policy allows staff to make an application to work remotely overseas for a short period of time for a number of limited reasons. Approval of such a request is subject to the employee having the legal right to work in the country and the necessary security and other clearances.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of phage therapy regulatory frameworks in (a) Belgium, (b) Canada, (c) France, (d) the US and (e) Australia; whether he plans to adopt similar measures in the UK; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on patient access.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom’s regulatory framework supports patient access to phage therapy and is in line with many other national regulatory authorities. We continue to keep the regulatory framework for phage therapies under review, aligning where necessary with regulatory frameworks internationally, in order to support continued patient access via phage sharing between countries.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is planning to publish draft guidance on phage product licensing, developed with researchers and industry, to clarify regulatory and manufacturing requirements.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) proportion and (b) value was of steel from the (i) US and (ii) EU used in UK military shipbuilding in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) contributes to the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) steel public procurement return. The information is published annually and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/steel-public-procurement
The data available from the information published includes steel purchased for MOD shipbuilding projects. The response to this question assumes that UK military shipbuilding relates solely to the building of surface warships, and does not include submarine construction.
The tables below set out a summary of the details available, for each of the last five years. Data for Financial Year (FY) 2023-24 has not yet been published. The data gathered and subsequently published by DBT has matured and become more detailed since the start of publishing steel data for FY 2017-18 in January 2019. Therefore, the origin of the steel is only available for FY 2022-23.
Financial Year 2022-23
Project | Steel product type | EU / UK / US | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Flat rolled, Plate, Sections & shapes | EU | Finland, Spain | £41,850,500 |
| Sections & shapes, Tubes/Pipes/Hollow sections | UK | UK | £1,311,790 |
| ||||
Type 26 | Plate, Sections & shapes | EU | Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain | £3,162,171 |
| Plate, Sections & shapes | UK | UK | £1,537,996 |
Financial Year 2021-22
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Plate, Bulb bar, Sections | Not detailed | £43,600,000 |
Type 26 | Plate | Not detailed | £465,498 |
Financial Year 2020-21
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 31 | Structural steel, Sections | Not detailed | £391,949 |
Type 26 | Plate, Sections, Sheet, Non-ship | Not detailed | £3,758,269 |
Financial Year 2019-20
Project | Steel product type | Countries of origin | Value of steel £ |
Type 26 | Various grades | Not detailed | £3,401,994 |
Financial Year 2018-19
No steel was recorded as having been purchased in FY 2018-19 for any UK shipbuilding projects.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Border Security Command have commenced working with the Calais Group of Interior Ministers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 10 December 2024, Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, jointly with German Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser, convened the Calais Group Interior Ministers meeting with Belgium, France, and The Netherlands, in London, in the presence of the European Commission and its agencies. All Calais Group partners agreed to jointly deliver the Calais Group Priority Plan in 2025, committing to enhancing cooperation to address the acute challenges that migrant smuggling groups pose to our collective border security. Border Security Command officials are working closely with Calais Group official and operational counterparts to deliver the plan. The Home Secretary, Border Security and Asylum Minister and officials regularly engage with Calais Group partners as important near neighbours in the fight against organised migrant smuggling groups.
Asked by: Johanna Baxter (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on the Protector programme.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Protector training has now transferred to the UK having completed four aircrew basic qualification courses in the United States. Further, four Protector Air Vehicles have now been delivered to RAF Waddington, where they are being maintained by 31 Squadron engineers. The required Test and Evaluation activity and UK training is underway, ahead of the planned platform in-service declaration later in 2025.
From a broader perspective, the UK is leading the MQ-9 International Cooperation Support Partnership which now has seven participant members (UK, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain) and five observer nations (Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Qatar, Sweden), with an expectation of further growth. The UK is working closely with the NATO Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force to scope options to provide Protector in support of operations in the Northern Atlantic and Arctic regions. Opportunities for NATO investment in RAF Waddington to support growth are also progressing.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff in their Departmental work outside of the UK; where these staff work; and what the cost is of salaries for these staff.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
a) Total number of HM Treasury employees working overseas as at 30th October 2024.
51
b) Where these staff work.
c) Annual salary cost to HM Treasury for these staff
£506,989
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, for what reason the Government issued a guarantee to commercial lenders for the INEOS Belgium project.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) support for the INEOS Project One plant secures new export opportunities for the UK by enabling an overseas buyer to finance the purchase of goods, services and/or intangibles from UK suppliers.
As the UK’s export credit agency, UKEF’s mission is to advance prosperity by ensuring no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, doing that sustainably and at no net cost to the taxpayer.