Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 Malaysian counterpart on (a) protecting tropical forests and (b)(i) safeguarding and (ii) recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
Answered by Catherine West
The Foreign Secretary met Malaysian PM Anwar on 11 July and discussed Malaysia's climate commitments.
Tackling deforestation and safeguarding the role of local smallholder communities was the focal point of the Minister for Climate's visit in April 2025 when she and Malaysian Minister for Plantations launched the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue Forum promoting deforestation-free crop production.
In March 2025, I launched the UK International Climate Fund (ICF) programme 'Seed to Tree'. I engaged with the indigenous community on establishing seed banks, plant nurseries and translocating saplings for wider forest restoration efforts in Malaysia to combat climate change.
The UK is working with Malaysia and the Netherlands under a UK ICF programme where smallholders (comprising indigenous and local community groups) from across Malaysia are trained to be market-ready producers of sustainable palm oil and deforestation free crops.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64049 on Alcoholic Drinks, what the evidential basis is that the exclusion of the direct manufacture of alcohol beverages is in line with international conventions for green bond frameworks.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The twenty largest sovereign green bond issuers to date are: Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Hungary, Chile, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Poland and Denmark. This is according to the International Capital Markets Association sustainable bond issuers database.
The following issuers explicitly exclude the financing of alcohol-related spending in their green bond frameworks: Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Poland and Denmark.
France’s green bond framework excludes “Production or trading of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine)”. Indonesia does not refer explicitly to excluding alcohol but issues green Sukuk (Sharia-compliant bonds). The other countries’ frameworks do not include alcohol-related spending in their eligible or ineligible criteria.
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: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Mike Kane
We have provided a response based on the number of accepted requests via the Departments Working Remotely Overseas policy. This does not include staff working overseas on official business postings, with the Departments Working Remotely Overseas policy focusing on staff who are assigned to offices within the UK but have sought permission to temporarily work remotely overseas for exceptional reasons. The response to this question also only refers to DfT core, rather than wider group DfT.
On 3rd July 2025, DfTc had 4 members of staff with permission through our Working Remotely Overseas Policy to temporarily work outside of the UK. These members of staff are working from the Netherlands, India, Malawi and the United States of America.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in her Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice uses the term international remote working (IRW) to describe working remotely outside the UK. IRW is defined as when an employee wants to undertake the full responsibilities of their role remotely from abroad, for a short-term and fixed period. Employees may request to work their full responsibilities from abroad in exceptional circumstances e.g. supporting a family member overseas who needs urgent and immediate help, for a maximum of 30 calendar days in a rolling 12-month period.
On 3 July 2025, the Ministry of Justice had 11 employees who had permission to work remotely outside the UK. These are for the following countries:
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) UK and (b) allied operations aimed at disrupting cocaine trafficking networks operating (i) through Venezuela and (ii) in the wider Caribbean region.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 4 February 2025 to Question 26446. A Royal Navy ship maintains a persistent presence in the Caribbean Sea where it contributes to regional security through the conduct of counter-illicit trafficking operations.
Defence maintains close relationships with independent states throughout the region and works in partnership with Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United States to align and conduct joint activity.
Asked by: Linsey Farnsworth (Labour - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his EU counterparts on streamlining the import process for flowers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Plant health import requirements are kept under continuous review, through the UK Plant Health Risk Group. Following such a review, most imports of cut flowers into GB from the EU no longer require an accompanying phytosanitary certificate and notification by importers.
Where phytosanitary certificates are still required, we are transitioning to digital certification via the IPPC ePhyto solution, which is a faster, safer and more cost-effective option. Defra has prioritised securing ePhyto agreements with EU countries, with arrangements now agreed for a range of plant products, including cut flowers, from: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. Several other EU countries are due to have the capacity to export using ePhyto rolled out during 2025.
The Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, set up under the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, provides a platform for information sharing and discussion on each of the Parties’ import requirements and processes. It is at this forum that the UK has discussed with the European Union the development of the UK’s IPPC ePhyto solution.
Defra is also seeking to negotiate a SPS agreement to help boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU.
The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards. We have been clear that a SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. A SPS agreement could reduce trade friction and deliver significant benefits to the EU and the UK, but delivering new agreements will take time.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help strengthen maritime security in the Caribbean region in (a) collaboration with British Overseas Territories and (b) other ways.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
A Royal Naval ship maintains a persistent presence in the Caribbean where it contributes to regional security through the conduct of counter-illicit trafficking operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as necessary during the Caribbean hurricane season, and wider defence engagement. Defence also provides direct assistance to the Overseas Territory Defence Regiments through the provision of equipment and training, including maritime capacity building.
Defence maintains close relationships with independent states throughout the region and works in partnership with Canada, France, the Netherlands and the United States to align and conduct joint activity.
The Ministry of Defence works closely with the Foreighn Commonwealth and Development Office as part of a cross-HMG approach to the UK’s Overseas Territories.
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: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of Tranche 1 Typhoon jets being repurposed for deployment in Ukraine.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence has assessed the relative merits and downsides of donating Typhoon Tranche 1 jets to Ukraine multiple times. In August 2023, Denmark and the Netherlands announced they would donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, which is significantly greater than the number of Tranche 1 Typhoons in RAF service.
As a result, and following detailed conversations with the Ukrainian Government, the UK has decided to focus on supporting the donation of European F-16s to Ukraine, by providing elementary flying training and English language training for technicians and pilots that will then operate F-16s.
24 Ukrainian pilots have graduated from intensive Fast Jet Lead-in training under the guidance of Royal Air Force instructors.
I attended the graduation of Ukrainian pilots trained by the UK last year and can tell the right hon. Member we should be very proud of our role training them, and proud of the brave individuals we train for supporting their freedom.