Asked by: John Grady (Labour - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with international counterparts to ensure the protection of the rights of minority ethnic Bosniaks living in Republika Srpska.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is working closely with our international partners and parties across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to uphold the Dayton Peace Agreement, rule of law and rights of all BiH citizens, including Bosniaks in Republika Srpska. In July, the Foreign Secretary spoke with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy about safeguarding BiH's stability, and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have regular coordination meetings with Quint counterparts. On 9 October, I held a joint meeting with the Foreign Ministers of BiH and Serbia.
Asked by: John Grady (Labour - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with international counterparts to ensure the continued implementation of the Dayton Accords.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is working closely with our international partners and parties across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to uphold the Dayton Peace Agreement, rule of law and rights of all BiH citizens, including Bosniaks in Republika Srpska. In July, the Foreign Secretary spoke with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy about safeguarding BiH's stability, and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have regular coordination meetings with Quint counterparts. On 9 October, I held a joint meeting with the Foreign Ministers of BiH and Serbia.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77563 on Palantir, whether the visit to Palantir was arranged through Global Counsel; and whether Lord Mandelson was involved in arranging that visit.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Officials from our Embassy in Washington arranged this trip in the normal way.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to establish a formal recognition scheme for British (a) citizens and (b) organisations undertaking (i) humanitarian and (ii) medical work in Ukraine.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are proud of the fast, flexible and responsive support provided to Ukrainians living through Russia's invasion, including by British nationals, British organisations, and through projects initiated or funded by the UK. We pay tribute to the humanitarian and medical workers who are key to delivering that support. Many continue to operate in high-risk environments to reach those most in need, often in the most challenging circumstances. We continue to reflect on how best to recognise the efforts of those working in such challenging conditions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Estonian counterpart on reports that Russian jets entered Estonian airspace.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to question 81195 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the guidance entitled Social Housing Innovation Fund: prospectus, published on 27 October 2025, whether recipients can bid for funds for translation into foreign languages.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new £1m Social Housing Innovation Fund will support innovative projects that enhance tenants’ engagement with their landlord and strengthen their influence within the social housing sector.
The Fund’s prospectus, which can be found on gov.uk here, makes clear that consideration will be given to projects which ensure tenants who are currently underrepresented in engagement and scrutiny activities, in particular those with protected characteristics, are better supported to take part and their views and needs are heard and acted upon. It is not prescriptive about the types of projects that will or will not be funded.
The fund is open to applications from social landlords, arms-length management organisations (ALMOs), tenant management organisations (TMOs), and tenant representative organisations. Projects must be co-designed with tenants, scalable across the sector, and capable of generating measurable impact and learning. Projects must also introduce new or significantly improved approaches, technologies, or partnerships to the sector, challenge conventional practices and respond creatively to tenant needs.
A robust process will be established for awarding funding, supported by an independent scrutiny panel consisting of social housing residents and sector experts. This will ensure resident and sector voices are central to decision-making. The bidding window is open until 9 January 2026.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many foreign nationals have been granted social housing in each of the last five years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 85086 on 4 November 2025.
Asked by: Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice - North Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations to her Finnish counterpart on the case of Dr Päivi Räsänen; and what diplomatic steps she is taking to (a) promote and (b) help safeguard freedom of speech across Europe.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The specific case raised by the Hon Member is a matter for the Finnish authorities.
Separately from this, we regularly reaffirm our support for the protection of LGBT+ rights and measures to prevent discrimination against the LGBT+ community globally.
Equally we support freedom of expression as a fundamental right and we have a long history of promoting freedom of expression globally, underpinned by our commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We will continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief and regularly work with other diplomatic partners in this regard.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Prime Minister discussed (a) Russian oil imports and (b) the refining of oil from Russia by Turkish-based companies during his meeting with the President of Turkey on 27 October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the oral statement on Ukraine made by the Foreign Secretary on 15 October 2025.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in her Department hold language qualifications in (a) Mandarin, (b) Cantonese, (c) Russian, (d) Ukrainian, (e) Arabic, (f) Farsi, and (g) Hebrew, broken down by C1 and C2 levels.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The language proficiency of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff cannot adequately be assessed solely by looking at the number with current C1 and C2 qualifications, as this does not take into account those staff members who may hold other qualifications in those languages or be native speakers. A full record of staff language capabilities is not centrally held, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.