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: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the priorities of the Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union, and what plans they have to meet the presidency to discuss those priorities.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Denmark assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July. Under the headline 'a strong Europe in a changing world', the Danish Presidency has two overarching priorities: a secure Europe and a competitive and green Europe. The Government will continue to engage regularly with the Danish Government on our shared priorities, as well as with the EU institutions, as we deliver a long-term UK-EU strategic partnership.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the outcomes of bans on wearing full face coverings in public spaces in (a) France, (b) Denmark, (c) Austria and (d) other European countries.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Britain has a proud tradition of freedom of speech and religious expression within the confines of the law. There are no current general policies or legislations that ban the wearing of religious and non-religious full-face coverings in public spaces. The government has no intention to introduce any.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the merits of policy in (a) Denmark, (b) Germany and (c) other countries in increasing community energy.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Department regularly looks to good practice from other countries and will continue to build on those experiences and lessons learned as we jointly develop the Local Power Plan with Great British Energy.
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: 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 European counterparts on accountability for the actions of the Lukashenko regime.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I condemn Belarus' relentless repression, which continues to become ever more draconian and punitive. The UK works closely with our likeminded partners on the ground in Minsk, in capitals, and in international organisations to work to hold the Lukashenko regime to account.
The UK also co-sponsors the UN's accountability mandates and works on accountability measures through the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, which the UK led in establishing in 2021, working alongside Germany, Denmark, and a range of other partners. We also coordinate with our European partners on statements, sanctions, and work in Minsk to hold the regime to account.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43796 on Greenland: Sovereignty, if he will publish the minutes of his two meetings with Greenland's Foreign Minister.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I met Greenlandic Foreign Minister Motzfeldt at the Arctic Circle Assembly on 18 October 2024 in Iceland, and on 13 January 2025 in London. We discussed a range of bilateral and Arctic issues. We do not publish the minutes of diplomatic meetings.
As per my response to Parliamentary Question 43796, the Foreign Secretary and I have been clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and Government of Greenland, and the Kingdom of Denmark.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43796, what the dates were of the two meetings with Greenland’s Foreign Minister.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I met Greenlandic Foreign Minister Motzfeldt at the Arctic Circle Assembly on 18 October 2024 in Iceland, and on 13 January 2025 in London. We discussed a range of bilateral and Arctic issues. We do not publish the minutes of diplomatic meetings.
As per my response to Parliamentary Question 43796, the Foreign Secretary and I have been clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and Government of Greenland, and the Kingdom of Denmark.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43796, whether the topic of US interest in claiming Greenland was discussed.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I met Greenlandic Foreign Minister Motzfeldt at the Arctic Circle Assembly on 18 October 2024 in Iceland, and on 13 January 2025 in London. We discussed a range of bilateral and Arctic issues. We do not publish the minutes of diplomatic meetings.
As per my response to Parliamentary Question 43796, the Foreign Secretary and I have been clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and Government of Greenland, and the Kingdom of Denmark.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the EU on touring artists.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Government remains in constructive dialogue with the EU on tackling the challenges facing UK musicians and their support staff when touring in the EU, as well as other EU reset priorities. Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič have been tasked with moving discussions forward and leaders will take stock at the UK-EU Summit in May.
On 7 April, the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, Chris Bryant, attended the Informal Meeting for EU Culture Ministers in Warsaw, as a guest of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is the first time a UK minister has been invited to such a meeting since the UK’s exit from the EU. Minister Bryant used the opportunity to forge closer, more cooperative ties with his EU counterparts, including on matters related to touring. The Minister and senior DCMS officials had previously engaged EU counterparts on this bilaterally, including from the EU Commission, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden.
Our aim is to identify practical solutions to ensure that UK artists can continue to perform across Europe with minimal barriers while respecting the regulatory frameworks on both sides.