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Written Question
Armed Forces: Allowances
Friday 13th February 2026

Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the specified operational locations which qualify service personnel to receive the Operational Allowance.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Service personnel on deployed operations in the following Specified Operational Locations qualify for the payment of Operational Allowance:

Chad (all locations)

Egypt (Sinai only)

Iraq (all locations)

Mali (all locations)

Somalia (all locations)

South Sudan (all locations)

Democratic Republic of Congo (Goma only)

Lebanon (Naquora only)

Lebanon (Beirut only) – backdated for period 6 September 2024 to 27 November 2024 only

Red Sea (within operational areas) – backdated to 23 May 2025

I am withholding the names of some locations for the purpose of safeguarding national security, as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Allowances
Monday 1st September 2025

Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the specified operational locations are which qualify service personnel to receive the Operational Allowance.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The number of Service personnel who have received tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years including the financial year 2025-26 to date, can be found in the table below.

Financial Year

Number of Employees

2020-21

5336

2021-22

5283

2022-23

3015

2023-24

2108

2024-25

2525

2025-26 to date

435

Service personnel on deployed operations in the following Specified Operational Locations (SOL) qualify for the payment of Operational Allowance:

Chad (all locations)

Egypt (Sinai only)

Iraq (all locations)

Mali (all locations)

Somalia (all locations)

South Sudan (all locations)

Democratic Republic of Congo (Goma only)

Lebanon (Naquora only) – backdated to 7 Oct 23

Red Sea (within operational areas) – backdated to 19 Oct 23

I am withholding the names of some locations for the purpose of safeguarding national security, as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Allowances
Monday 1st September 2025

Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel have received the tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The number of Service personnel who have received tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years including the financial year 2025-26 to date, can be found in the table below.

Financial Year

Number of Employees

2020-21

5336

2021-22

5283

2022-23

3015

2023-24

2108

2024-25

2525

2025-26 to date

435

Service personnel on deployed operations in the following Specified Operational Locations (SOL) qualify for the payment of Operational Allowance:

Chad (all locations)

Egypt (Sinai only)

Iraq (all locations)

Mali (all locations)

Somalia (all locations)

South Sudan (all locations)

Democratic Republic of Congo (Goma only)

Lebanon (Naquora only) – backdated to 7 Oct 23

Red Sea (within operational areas) – backdated to 19 Oct 23

I am withholding the names of some locations for the purpose of safeguarding national security, as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Allowances
Monday 1st September 2025

Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel have received the tax free operational allowance in the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The number of Service personnel who have received tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years including the financial year 2025-26 to date, can be found in the table below.

Financial Year

Number of Employees

2020-21

5336

2021-22

5283

2022-23

3015

2023-24

2108

2024-25

2525

2025-26 to date

435

Service personnel on deployed operations in the following Specified Operational Locations (SOL) qualify for the payment of Operational Allowance:

Chad (all locations)

Egypt (Sinai only)

Iraq (all locations)

Mali (all locations)

Somalia (all locations)

South Sudan (all locations)

Democratic Republic of Congo (Goma only)

Lebanon (Naquora only) – backdated to 7 Oct 23

Red Sea (within operational areas) – backdated to 19 Oct 23

I am withholding the names of some locations for the purpose of safeguarding national security, as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.


Written Question
Global Survivors Fund
Thursday 8th May 2025

Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the year-on-year commitment of the £7.85 million provided to the Global Survivors Fund since 2019; and what was the country breakdown of this year-on-year commitment.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Since 2019, the UK Government has supported the Global Survivors Fund to provide life-saving support and reparative measures for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence around the world.

UK funding to the Global Survivors Fund has supported thousands of survivors, including in Ukraine, Colombia, Iraq, South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Turkey, East Timor, Nigeria and Nepal among others. Projects have included the provision of psychosocial, educational and livelihood support, as well as technical support to Governments.

A year-on-year breakdown of funding is as follows:

• From Financial Year (FY) 2019/20 to 2021/22: £2.7m

• FY 2022/23: £1.5m

• FY 2023/24: £1.85m

• FY 2024/25: £1.8m


Written Question
Chevening Scholarships Programme
Monday 10th February 2025

Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish a breakdown of the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) recipients by nationality of the Chevening Scholarship in each of the last five years.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds

Chevening Scholarships provide fully-funded postgraduate masters awards at UK universities for future global leaders from approximately 140 eligible countries and territories.

Chevening Programme Expenditure

Financial year

Total programme expenditure

2019 - 2020

£57,744,779.51

2020 - 2021

£50,397,000.00

2021 - 2022

£59,233,000.00

2022 - 2023

£58,994,000.00

2023 - 2024

£59,330,000.00

Annual costs for Chevening Scholarships can be found in the FCDO Annual Reports and Accounts on GOV.UK. The cost for each Chevening scholar varies between individuals, depending on factors including the cost of tuition fees, accommodation and flights.

Breakdown of recipients by nationality of the Chevening Scholarship for the last 5 years:

Country/Territory

Awards made in 2019 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2020 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2021 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2022 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2023 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Awards made in 2024 (incl. full/part partner funded awards)

Afghanistan

15

23

29

18

21

13

Albania

16

6

14

11

11

10

Algeria

8

9

9

8

7

7

Angola

9

4

7

8

8

7

Anguilla

2

2

3

5

6

5

Antigua and Barbuda

2

3

3

0

1

2

Argentina

25

19

24

21

15

30

Armenia

9

3

9

7

4

4

Australia

3

3

0

2

3

4

Azerbaijan

9

8

11

9

6

5

Bahamas

2

1

1

1

4

5

Bangladesh

13

14

20

15

21

22

Barbados

3

2

2

1

2

1

Belize

5

3

4

5

5

5

Benin

1

1

1

1

0

0

Bermuda

0

1

0

0

0

0

Bhutan

3

4

5

5

5

6

Bolivia

7

5

9

8

4

6

Bosnia and Herzegovina

13

5

9

8

4

5

Botswana

9

5

7

4

4

6

Brazil

57

46

53

47

46

36

Brunei Darussalam

1

1

0

1

1

3

Burkina Faso

2

Burundi

5

5

5

4

4

5

Cambodia

17

9

13

11

12

9

Cameroon

15

12

10

5

8

8

Canada

2

1

4

1

2

3

Cape Verde

0

4

0

1

0

1

Cayman Islands

1

0

0

0

0

0

Chad

0

2

1

1

0

1

Chile

7

2

5

4

4

4

China

60

37

41

33

30

17

Colombia

25

14

16

14

14

14

Congo, Republic of

0

0

1

1

0

0

Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The

7

8

9

2

4

8

Costa Rica

5

3

9

4

5

6

Côte d’Ivoire

6

7

6

8

4

8

Cuba

12

11

11

6

8

8

Djibouti

3

2

2

4

0

1

Dominica

0

1

1

2

1

3

Dominican Republic

11

10

14

11

10

8

Ecuador

9

4

5

6

4

6

Egypt

45

33

39

32

31

29

El Salvador

6

2

3

2

2

3

Equatorial Guinea

0

0

1

1

0

0

Eritrea

1

1

0

0

0

2

Ethiopia

16

24

21

13

18

17

Falkland Islands

0

0

1

0

0

0

Fiji

2

4

5

6

6

7

Gabon

0

0

0

0

0

0

Georgia

13

9

15

15

13

10

Ghana

22

21

19

16

17

14

Greece

2

1

1

0

0

0

Grenada

0

1

1

2

4

3

Guatemala

4

3

5

3

4

1

Guinea

1

6

6

1

4

4

Guyana

10

6

5

5

4

4

Haiti

4

2

1

2

1

4

Honduras

3

3

3

3

2

2

Hong Kong

2

2

2

1

2

2

Iceland

2

1

1

0

1

0

India

47

38

41

46

38

36

Indonesia

60

50

58

45

42

39

Iraq

22

21

26

22

19

18

Israel

2

1

2

1

1

0

Jamaica

18

14

17

16

14

13

Japan

1

1

0

1

2

3

Jordan

15

12

16

11

7

10

Kazakhstan

8

8

8

6

9

12

Kenya

33

39

38

37

36

30

Kingdom of Eswatini

9

6

4

3

3

4

Kiribati

1

0

0

0

0

1

Kosovo

5

11

10

9

5

6

Kyrgyzstan

6

4

5

2

4

6

Lao People's Democratic Republic

8

7

9

8

8

8

Lebanon

9

6

11

9

10

10

Lesotho

5

3

5

3

6

6

Liberia

6

3

3

1

4

6

Libya

18

15

17

18

12

11

Madagascar

11

8

3

9

5

6

Malawi

13

8

9

8

6

7

Malaysia

38

37

40

38

34

31

Maldives

4

5

6

6

7

8

Mali

0

2

0

1

2

4

Mauritania

1

3

4

4

4

5

Mauritius

9

8

7

6

6

5

Mexico

53

39

40

39

37

33

Moldova, Republic Of

7

6

5

7

6

5

Mongolia

7

12

8

11

13

16

Montenegro

9

6

8

7

4

5

Montserrat

4

1

2

1

1

3

Morocco

11

11

13

9

10

10

Mozambique

8

8

11

11

9

9

Myanmar

12

9

16

8

10

10

Namibia

9

14

15

11

13

11

Nauru

0

0

0

1

0

1

Nepal

11

12

17

10

12

13

New Zealand

3

1

1

1

2

3

Nicaragua

4

3

5

4

2

1

Niger

0

2

0

0

2

4

Nigeria

56

46

46

44

44

30

North Macedonia

7

7

7

7

6

6

Oman

1

1

1

0

0

0

Pakistan

49

34

51

47

46

43

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

26

20

23

14

13

10

Panama

7

4

11

5

5

5

Papua New Guinea

3

2

3

5

8

3

Paraguay

15

13

13

14

16

16

Peru

18

7

15

12

9

10

Philippines

28

16

34

23

22

21

Republic of Korea

24

21

13

12

18

12

Rwanda

19

10

9

8

5

5

Saint Helena

0

1

0

0

0

1

Saint Kitts and Nevis

0

0

1

1

0

0

Saint Lucia

3

1

5

4

4

3

Saint Vincent and The Grenadines

2

1

2

4

3

3

Samoa

2

2

1

3

3

4

Sao Tome And Principe

0

0

0

0

2

0

Senegal

8

5

6

5

4

6

Serbia

15

10

10

6

7

10

Seychelles

3

2

3

2

2

3

Sierra Leone

6

5

4

6

5

6

Singapore

4

2

4

3

5

3

Solomon Islands

4

0

3

6

3

7

Somalia

11

10

11

11

14

16

South Africa

44

33

46

35

42

28

South Caucasus

3

2

4

3

0

2

South Sudan

6

5

5

6

5

6

Sri Lanka

6

7

13

8

9

10

Sudan

16

17

18

17

17

16

Suriname

2

1

0

0

0

2

Syrian Arab Republic

22

21

24

22

20

19

Taiwan (Republic of China)

4

6

3

4

5

5

Tajikistan

4

3

3

4

3

5

Tanzania

18

15

15

16

17

9

Thailand

24

15

22

17

22

21

The Gambia

10

9

8

5

5

6

Timor-Leste

4

2

0

2

2

2

Tonga

2

0

1

2

3

4

Trinidad and Tobago

3

1

2

2

2

2

Tunisia

14

11

11

8

6

7

Turkey

24

21

23

18

22

23

Turkmenistan

4

1

0

6

2

1

Turks and Caicos Islands

1

0

3

1

2

4

Tuvalu

1

0

1

0

1

0

Uganda

16

16

24

18

24

17

Ukraine

21

20

19

42

26

23

Uruguay

9

7

9

8

10

9

Uzbekistan

9

8

8

5

6

15

Vanuatu

0

0

0

3

1

2

Venezuela

10

7

9

7

7

6

Vietnam

24

19

25

19

23

22

Virgin Islands (British)

0

1

0

2

2

0

Yemen

9

6

14

8

5

9

Zambia

23

14

14

12

13

12

Zimbabwe

30

10

12

7

6

8

We are withholding some country specific information under Section 38 (Health and Safety) exemption (1) (a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act, which provides that information is exempt if disclosure would or would be likely to endanger the physical or mental health of any individual or endanger the safety of any individual.


Written Question
Iraq: Yazidis
Thursday 23rd January 2025

Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to raise, during the forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister of Iraq, the position of the Yazidi minority and the security situation in Sinjar, the return of internally displaced people to Sinjar, and the use of evidence collected by UNITAD detailing atrocities committed against Yazidis and other minorities.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK Government welcomed the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani from 14 - 16 January. As part of the official visit's programme, the Minister of State for Development met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning, Dr Mohammed Ali Tamim on 15 January. They discussed development partnerships between our countries, the situation in Sinjar and support for Yazidis and other Internally Displaced Persons.

The UK Government also recognises that continued insecurity in Iraq can have a disproportionate effect on ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who are displaced. We regularly engage with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government on the need for stability in Sinjar, and advocate for full implementation of the Sinjar Agreement.


Written Question
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Religious Freedom
Thursday 23rd January 2025

Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made regarding the Declaration of humanity by leaders of faith and leaders of belief, published in 2020; how many leaders have signed the declaration and what activities they are planning to engage more widely on the declaration and to ensure its universality.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Declaration of Humanity by Leaders of Faith and Leaders of Belief has been signed by over 750 faith leaders, NGOs and civil society actors in countries including Iraq, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UK Government remains committed to promoting the Declaration, including through the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the UK Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief. In November 2024, at a symposium organised by the British Embassy to the Holy See and the Jesuit Refugee Service, representatives of four major Catholic organisations became signatories.


Written Question
Diplomatic Service
Friday 19th April 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many requests for consular support were made to each British Embassy or Consulate in 2023; and how many of those were responded to by officials within a period of 24 hours.

Answered by David Rutley

Our consular staff endeavour to give appropriate and tailored assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, to British nationals overseas and their families in the UK who need support. In 2023, in addition to long running cases, we provided support to around 22,000 British nationals, see breakdown by Post in the table below. The FCDO reports publicly on consular delivery through the FCDO Outcome Delivery Plan [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-outcome-delivery-plan]. Publishing our transparency data is currently on hold while we embed a new Case Management system.

COUNTRY

2023

Afghanistan

22

Albania

63

Algeria

23

Angola

Argentina

34

Armenia

8

Australia

414

Austria

92

Azerbaijan

12

Bahrain

48

Barbados

113

Belarus

6

Belgium

152

Bolivia

12

Bosnia and Herzegovina

12

Botswana

15

Brazil

88

Bulgaria

166

Cambodia

112

Cameroon

30

Canada

181

Chile

21

China

143

Colombia

73

Congo (Democratic Republic)

22

Costa Rica

39

Croatia

114

Cuba

29

Cyprus

441

Czechia

141

Denmark

88

Dominican Republic

67

Ecuador

13

Egypt

383

Estonia

19

Ethiopia

104

Fiji

21

Finland

49

France

1027

Georgia

27

Germany

662

Ghana

85

Greece

936

Guatemala

43

Guinea

Guyana

17

Hong Kong SAR

110

Hungary

131

Iceland

17

India

360

Indonesia

196

Iraq

46

Ireland

104

Israel

39

Italy

411

Ivory Coast

Jamaica

179

Japan

167

Jerusalem

61

Jordan

71

Kazakhstan

14

Kenya

146

Kuwait

30

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

29

Latvia

20

Lebanon

34

Liberia

Lithuania

23

Luxembourg

10

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

138

Malta

106

Mauritius

14

Mexico

207

Moldova

13

Mongolia

6

Montenegro

33

Morocco

222

Myanmar (Burma)

8

Namibia

9

Nepal

21

Netherlands

287

New Zealand

127

Nigeria

74

Norway

149

Oman

50

Pakistan

376

Panama

17

Paraguay

Peru

58

Philippines

283

Poland

242

Portugal

524

Qatar

96

Romania

89

Russia

28

Rwanda

7

Saudi Arabia

166

Senegal

21

Serbia

29

Seychelles

11

Sierra Leone

15

Singapore

105

Slovakia

38

Slovenia

17

South Africa

195

South Korea

40

Spain

4143

Sri Lanka

86

St Lucia

21

Sudan

34

Sweden

110

Switzerland

157

Taiwan

22

Tajikistan

6

Tanzania

36

Thailand

1383

The Gambia

48

Trinidad and Tobago

40

Tunisia

75

Turkey

947

Uganda

52

Ukraine

56

United Arab Emirates

658

United States

1649

Uruguay

10

Uzbekistan

8

Venezuela

Vietnam

188

Zambia

22

Zimbabwe

26

NB We do not publish data where figures are 5 or below to comply with GDPR


Written Question
Prisoners: Repatriation
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders were removed from the country through a prison transfer agreement each year since 2010; and if he will list which countries were they removed to.

Answered by Edward Argar

Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity. Where appropriate, the Government will also seek to permanently remove foreign criminals from the UK via the Early Removal Scheme once they have served the minimum required of their sentence. This is our best performing removal scheme with 5,262 Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) having been removed between January 2019 and June 2022.

The Home Office removed 16,676 foreign national offenders since January 2019 to September 2023. Published figures show that FNO returns have increased in the latest 12-month period (ending September 2023) by 19% when compared to previous 12-month period.

Our new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania entered into force in May 2023 and we have signed a new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with the Philippines. We are looking to negotiate new Prisoner Transfer Agreements with key EU Member States and wider-world countries

Foreign national offender removals via Prisoner Transfer Agreements since 2010:

Year:

Removals:

2010

46

2011

33

2012

41

2013

44

2014

34

2015

57

2016

99

2017

107

2018

111

2019

136

2020

81

2021

73

2022

50

2023

33

Countries or Territories we have removed foreign national offenders to via Prisoner Transfer Agreements since 2010:

Albania

Denmark

Latvia

Slovakia

Austria

Ecuador

Lithuania

Slovenia

Belgium

Estonia

Macedonia

Spain

Bermuda

France

Malta

Sri Lanka

Bolivia

Germany

Montenegro

St Helena

Brazil

Ghana

Netherlands

Sweden

Bulgaria

Gibraltar

Nigeria

Switzerland

Canada

Greece

Norway

Turkey

Cayman

Hungary

Pakistan

Ukraine

Chile

India

Poland

Vietnam

Croatia

Ireland

Portugal

Iraq

Cyprus

Israel

Romania

Czech Republic

Italy

Saudi