Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of the security situation in Kosovo in the context of recent tensions between the governments of Kosovo and Serbia.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK, with international partners, devotes sustained political and diplomatic effort to securing progress in the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, and to de-escalating tensions, including through active engagement by the PM's Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Sir Stuart Peach. We welcome recent agreement on the use of Identification Documents, helping to defuse tensions over the summer, and encourage a similarly constructive approach in tackling further outstanding issues. The UK remains committed to ensuring a safe and secure environment for all in Kosovo, underlined by our continued commitment to NATO's KFOR mission.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK has offered additional support to the NATO KOFOR mission in Kosovo in the past six months to help ensure peace is maintained in the country.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK has an enduring commitment to supporting security and stability in Kosovo and the wider Western Balkans region. This is demonstrated by our continued commitment to the NATO missions in the region. There are 41 UK personnel currently deployed to NATO's KFOR mission. This includes 2 staff officers in the KFOR HQ and an Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) Task Force which provides a highly valued capability. We also provide a Battalion sized Strategic Reserve Force (SRF) which is held at 14 days' notice to move in the UK. This autumn c345 soldiers from 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will be deploying into Kosovo to participate in KFOR's Op REHEARSAL exercise. They will be testing the SRF processes and working alongside other NATO forces in the region. It is another demonstration of UK commitment to KFOR and provides an enhanced UK footprint over the autumn period.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support (a) peace, (b) stability and (c) security in Kosovo.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK remains committed to supporting a more secure, stable and prosperous Kosovo. We devote sustained political and diplomatic effort to securing progress in the EU-facilitated Dialogue aimed at normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, including through active engagement by the PM's Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Sir Stuart Peach. Our programme of technical assistance is aimed at supporting Kosovo's efforts to deliver reforms that are crucial for its longer term resilience. The UK also contributes troops and continues to offer a Strategic Reserve Force to the NATO-led Force in Kosovo (KFOR) which is a battalion-sized high readiness Strategic Reserved Force based in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for (1) all visa applications, and (2) visa applications from (a) Albania, (b) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (c) Kosovo, (d) Montenegro, (e) North Macedonia, and (f) Serbia.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Average waiting times are not published for a) Albania, (b) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (c) Kosovo, (d) Montenegro, (e) North Macedonia, and (f) Serbia. To capture the requested data would incur a disproportionate cost.
The processing times for visas can be found on the GOV.uk webpage:
The Home Office’s performance against its service standard by nationality can be found in our transparency data, which is attached and at the following link: Visas and Citizenship data: Q1 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to have discussions with the government of the United States of America about the situation of the more than 40 former Afghan officials, held at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, who are reportedly not allowed to leave that camp.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have frequent discussions with our allies and partners, including the US Government, about our respective efforts to resettle eligible, vulnerable Afghan citizens. It is for each country to establish their own arrangements for processing those they deem eligible for resettlement, including crucial security checks.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are deployed abroad to fulfil the UK's NATO obligations; and which countries those personnel have been deployed to.
Answered by James Heappey
As the leading European Ally, the UK sends Armed Forces personnel to participate in every NATO operation and mission. At present, 936 are deployed on NATO activity in Estonia, 198 in Romania, 129 in Poland, 37 in Kosovo, and 24 in Iraq. This month the UK also has approximately 700 additional personnel on NATO exercises and operations contributing across Land, Air, and Sea.
In addition, UK personnel are engaged in other NATO activity in countries across the Alliance: the table below details those personnel.
Country | Number of Personnel |
Belgium | 243 |
France | 11 |
USA | 54 |
Italy | 174 |
Spain | 18 |
Germany | 156 |
Norway | 34 |
Turkey | 40 |
Portugal | 20 |
Netherlands | 111 |
Bulgaria | 1 |
Estonia | 1 |
Latvia | 4 |
Lithuania | 1 |
Romania | 3 |
Poland | 6 |
Greece | 1 |
Slovakia | 1 |
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to list for each overseas country when resident UK pensioners do not receive yearly increases what the lowest current payment to a pensioner is who was entitled at retirement to a full basic UK state pension, stating the year the pension was frozen.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide and is up-rated in countries where there is a legal requirement to do so. This is a longstanding policy which has been supported by successive post-war governments for over 70 years.
Up-rating is paid to State Pension recipients in the UK, European Union, European Economic Area, Barbados, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Jamaica, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Montenegro, Serbia, Switzerland, The Philippines, Turkey, and the United States.
Information on the lowest full basic State Pension in payment, in each country where up-rating is not paid, is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which countries the UK has (a) bilateral or (b) reciprocal agreements on provision of the State Pension; when each of those agreements was made, whether UK pensioners resident in those countries receive yearly increases; and how many UK pensioners there were in each country as of 9 June 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide and is up-rated annually in countries where there is a legal requirement to do so. This is a longstanding policy which has been supported by successive governments for over 70 years.
As of November 2020, 473,842 State Pension recipients residing in the European Union or countries which are members of the European Free Trade Association (Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein) receive annual up-rating under various EU-Exit related agreements, including the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement, which entered into force in 2020 and the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force in 2021.
Other countries with which the UK has a reciprocal agreement also allowing for State Pension up-rating, the date in which the particular agreement was made, and the number of State Pension recipients residing in these countries (as of November 2020) are:
*Following the break-up of Yugoslavia, the UK agreement with former Yugoslavia now covers Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Croatia and Slovenia are EU Member States covered by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
The UK also has reciprocal social security agreements with New Zealand (1983) and Canada (1995) covering provisions for State Pension, but these agreements do not provide for annual up-rating. As of November 2020, 63,930 State Pension recipients reside in New Zealand and 126,426 recipients reside in Canada.
Source:
State Pension statistics by country of residence are currently available to November 2020 and these are available on Stat-Xplore here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department's personnel are deployed around the world; and in which locations those people are stationed.
Answered by James Heappey
The following table details the number of personnel deployed overseas on operations and their location. The numbers change depending on operational requirements, but are accurate at the time of answering the hon. Member's question.
Location | Number of UK military deployed | Number of civilians deployed | Total number of military and civilians deployed |
Egypt | 2 | 0 | 2 |
HMS Montrose | 180 | 2 | 182 |
HMS Penzance | 41 | 0 | 41 |
HMS Chiddingfold | 45 | 0 | 45 |
RFACardigan Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HMS Middleton | 45 | 0 | 45 |
HMS Bangor | 36 | 0 | 36 |
HMS Trent | 61 | 0 | 61 |
HMS Spey | 46 | 0 | 46 |
HMS Tamar | 75 | 0 | 75 |
AbuDhabi (British Embassy) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Bahrain | 188 | 2 | 190 |
Cyprus | 214 | 6 | 220 |
Oman | 18 | 0 | 18 |
Qatar | 132 | 0 | 132 |
UAE | 110 | 0 | 110 |
USA | 23 | 1 | 24 |
Baghdad(British Embassy) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Iraq | 189 | 3 | 192 |
Jordan | 12 | 0 | 12 |
Kuwait | 51 | 3 | 54 |
TelAviv(British Embassy) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Saudi Arabia | 24 | 0 |
|
Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pakistan(British High Commission) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Pakistan | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Gibraltar | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Mali | 464 | 5 | 469 |
Democratic Republic of Congo | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Kenya | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Somalia | 69 | 0 | 69 |
Djibouti | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Tunisia(British Embassy) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Chad | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Nigeria | 27 | 0 | 27 |
South Sudan | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Estonia | 1,372 | 14 | 1,386 |
Germany | 81 | 2 | 83 |
Latvia | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Lithuania | 89 | 0 | 89 |
Poland | 414 | 3 | 417 |
Bosnia | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Kosovo | 41 | 0 | 41 |
Ukraine | 97 | 0 | 97 |
Romania | 197 | 1 | 198 |
Bulgaria | 2 | 0 | 2 |
North Macedonia | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Slovakia | 43 | 0 | 43 |
Finland | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Sweden | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Indonesia | 8 | 0 | 8 |
Kuala Lumpur | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Lebanon (British Embassy) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Ghana | 25 | 0 | 25 |
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel are currently deployed as part of NATO’s Kosovo Force.
Answered by James Heappey
Under Op ELGIN (Kosovo) the UK currently provides an Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Task-Unit (ISR-TU) comprising 35 personnel in support of NATO's Kosovo Force.