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 Affairs, who the members are of the Quint working group.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Hon Member may be referring to the informal grouping of the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany and Italy which, for example, works alongside the EU and NATO on promoting stability in the Western Balkans.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the performance of foreign direct investment in the UK compared to that of the other G7 nations.
Answered by Lord Stockwood - Minister of State (HM Treasury)
Data published by the United Nations Trade and Development Data Hub show that at the end of 2024 the UK ranked second in the G7 (behind the United States) for levels of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) stock.
Levels of inward FDI stock for G7 nations at the end of 2024 | |||
G7 Rank | G7 Nations | USD$ billion | Global Rank |
1 | United States | 15,567 | 1 |
2 | United Kingdom | 3,254 | 3 |
3 | Canada | 1,819 | 7 |
4 | Germany | 1,209 | 8 |
5 | France | 1,049 | 12 |
6 | Italy | 494 | 20 |
7 | Japan | 220 | 35 |
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for the Home Department, after being appointed on 5 September, has had introductory conversations with the interior ministers of (1) France, (2) Germany, (3) Italy, (4) Belgium and (5) the Netherlands, regarding international cooperation on tackling organised immigration crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
International co-operation is vital to address organised immigration crime. The Home Secretary continues to engage with counterparts across the EU and further afield on what further can be done to tackle this issue. Most recently the Home Secretary chaired the 11th Western Balkans Summit where the impact of illegal migration was discussed. This was attended by representatives of the European Union and its Member States including the Chancellor of Germany, alongside representatives from France and Italy.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to extend arrangements allowing UK-bound group travellers to use national identity cards to other major sending countries such as Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
EU national children are permitted to use their national identity cards instead of a passport when travelling to the UK as part of an organised French school group accompanied by documentation which has been authenticated by the relevant French authorities. This scheme has been in operation since 10 March 2023. A similar scheme is planned for German school groups.
The UK currently has no plans to extend the current arrangements allowing French and German groups to use national identity cards to other countries.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled 20,000 UK jobs secured as Türkiye buys 20 Typhoon jets in biggest fighter jet deal in a generation, published on 27 October 2025, when he plans to place a contract for a Phase 4 Enhancement electronics upgrade.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Phase 4 Enhancement capability package (P4E) is an essential enabler for the implementation of the next generation radar enhancement for the UK's Typhoon fleet.
The System Definition Contract for P4E was signed in June 2024 and since then the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy have been working closely alongside NETMA and our industry partners to agree on the final P4E capability package, which will then move into the Design, Development and Demonstration phase.
Additionally, the Core Nations have agreed to begin early design work on long lead activities, ensuring that critical path activities for P4E capability are protected. The delivery of the P4E package is planned to take place by the end of this decade.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the governments of (1) Bosnia and Herzegovina, and (2) Italy, regarding recent reports that foreign nationals participated in killings during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s; and whether they intend to liaise with those governments to establish whether any British nationals were involved.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK welcomes the investigation being conducted into these very serious allegations, and we will, wherever needed, cooperate with the governments of Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other relevant authorities to ensure justice is done.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will publish an updated list of the countries with which the UK has negotiated arrangements allowing British citizens to use automated border e-gates.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Approximately 54 ports currently provide UK nationals with access to eGates in countries including France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Greece. Access arrangements within the Schengen Area may vary for day-to-day operational reasons, so this estimate is subject to change.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the (a) manufacturing and (b) assembly for the 20 Typhoons to be exported to Turkiye will be carried out in Turkiye.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Manufacturing for the Typhoons for Türkiye will be done by the Eurofighter partner nations (Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), with 37% of the workshare and final assembly done in the UK.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what nations form the European Carrier Group Initiative.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The European Carrier Group Interoperability Initiative comprises the UK, France, Italy and Spain (Carrier Nations), alongside the non-Carrier members of Portugal, Greece, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78691 on Railways: Concessions, whether Great British Railways plans to use ticket pricing to (a) manage demand and (b) reduce crowding on trains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Great British Railways (GBR) will be empowered to deliver industry-wide modernisation and fares reform, including considering the most effective ways to manage issues such as crowding.
We are already making progress in considering options to address this, including through supporting LNER in trialling easier to understand fares on their long-distance network between the London area and Edinburgh and the North East. This aims to address the inefficient and unacceptable situation where some ‘peak’ trains run nearly empty while some ‘off-peak’ trains are crowded. We are doing this by moving towards more flexible, demand-based pricing – a model commonly used for long-distance rail in countries such as France, Italy, and Spain. The results of this trial will be carefully considered before any decisions on next steps are taken.