Written questions by Leishman.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2024 to Question 16963 on Israel: F-35 Aircraft, whether any F-35 components manufactured in Britain are designed specifically for the F-35I Adir variant of the F-35 fighter jet.

F-35 components produced in the UK are crucial to the production and support of the global F-35 fleet and are present on all three variants of F-35 aircraft. Israel uses the F-35 A variant. The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, part of the US Department of Defense, manages the F-35 programme for all F-35 Partner Nations through its global industry supply chain.

Whether UK forces (a) took part and (b) provided support to their Israeli counterparts in the airstrikes on Yemen on Friday 10 January 2025.

The UK did not take part in, or provide support to, Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Friday 10 January 2025.

Whether his Department has (a) shared F-35 flight mission data files with the Israeli air force and (b) received such files from that air force since October 2023.

No.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza on 1 April 2024 was (a) reviewed as and (b) found to be a potential violation of International Humanitarian Law by his Department.

The killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on 1 April was appalling. We continue to press the Government of Israel to improve the safety environment for aid workers in Gaza, which is the deadliest in the world. Over 320 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began on October 7. I most recently raised this with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharron Haskel on Friday 29 November. We continue to keep Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Gaza under review through regular assessments.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure a just transition for oil and gas (a) communities and (b) workers.

We intend to manage the North Sea in a way that ensures a fair, orderly and prosperous transition, with no community left behind. We have already launched Great British Energy, begun the biggest ever investment in offshore wind, and are moving ahead with new North Sea industries like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. The UK has a highly skilled oil and gas workforce, with high transferability of skills to these new roles. We have also created the Office for Clean Energy Jobs to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high-quality, fairly paid, and have good working conditions.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending UK workers rights to people working offshore on renewable energy projects.

The Government is committed to the protection of workers’ rights and is delivering an ambitious set of reforms to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people, and contribute to economic growth. Whether workers are covered by UK employment law is dependent upon the worker establishing a sufficient connection to Great Britain. The Government will give further consideration to the issue raised in due course.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Herzi Halevi was given special mission diplomatic immunity to visit the UK in November 2024.

Government officials from any country can apply for and be granted special mission certificates as part of official visits to the UK. As set out in a Written Ministerial Statement by the former Foreign Secretary dated 4 March 2013, a special mission is a temporary mission, representing a State, which is sent by one State to another with the consent of the latter, in order to carry out official engagements on behalf of the sending State. The FCDO gave consent for special mission status for the visit to the UK on 24-25 November of Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and delegation.

What information her Department holds on the number of applications for exemption to allow civilian cargo planes that are (a) destined for Israel and (b) transporting munitions of war to overfly British sovereign airspace that have been (i) received, (ii) approved and (iii) rejected since 7 October 2023.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has the responsibility of issuing approvals for the carriage of munitions of war in civil aircraft. The CAA has not received any applications for exemption to allow civilian cargo aircraft that are destined for Israel and transporting munitions of war to overfly UK sovereign airspace.

How many applications for exemption to overfly the UK with war munitions with a final destination of Israel have been (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected since 7 October 2023.

For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the Ministry of Defence will neither confirm, deny, nor comment on any foreign nations’ military aircraft movement or operations within UK airspace or UK overseas bases.

How many times F-35 components have been sent from RAF bases in the UK, not including RAF Marham, to Israel between October 2023 and August 2024.

Excluding the 14 transfers of US Department of Defense owned F-35 components from RAF Marham, no F-35 components have been sent by the RAF from the UK to Israel between October 2023 and August 2024.

How many times F-35 components were sent from RAF Marham to Israel between October 2023 and August 2024.

At the request of the US led F-35 Programme there were 14 transfers of F-35 components from RAF Marham to Israel between October 2023 and August 2024. The transferred components are the property of the US Department of Defence.In keeping with the Government's announcement on arms exports in September, there have been no exports of F-35 parts direct to Israel via RAF Marham since the licensing suspension.

With reference to the policy paper entitled Capital Gains Tax—rates of tax, published by HMRC on 6 November 2024, if she will publish a breakdown of the £600,000 required to make changes to IT systems.

HMRC do not provide detailed costs related to policy changes. The costs given represent a high level cost estimate for the changes required to HMRC IT systems to deliver this policy change which follow a recognised standard methodology.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the financial information provided by Petroineos; and what discussions he has had with Petroineos on that information.

Petroineos is a private company – a joint venture between PetroChina and INEOS. We have worked closely with the company and with the Scottish Government to understand the financial challenges facing the Grangemouth refinery. Petroineos’ shareholders have invested more than $1.2bn since 2011 to maintain the refinery’s safe operation, recording losses in excess of $775m during the same period. The Government pushed the company to continue refining for as long as possible however the company made clear that there was no viable commercial future for the refinery operation, which it will now convert to an import terminal. Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that refined oil products imported via Grangemouth are not sourced from Russia.

The import, acquisition, supply and delivery of Russian oil and oil products into the UK has been banned since 5 December 2022, with the last cargo of primary oils arriving from Russia in October 2022 and finished products in November 2022. (Energy Trends Table 3.14). All importers of oil and oil products into the UK must provide proof of origin to demonstrate that goods are not of Russian origin to enforcement authorities. The Government is committed to ensuring that third countries are not used by Russia to evade sanctions and will continue to keep sanctions under review.

Whether his Department provides (a) subsidies and (b) other financial assistance to types of energy production in the UK.

Yes, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does provide subsidies and other financial assistance to types of energy production in the UK.

What discussions he has had with representatives of the Grangemouth oil refinery on operational difficulties.

Details of Ministers’ and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

What assessment he has made of the impact of the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery on consumers.

It is deeply disappointing to learn that Petroineos has confirmed its previous decision to close the oil refining operation at Grangemouth. All of my thoughts are with the workers and their families and the wider Grangemouth community. The Grangemouth site will now convert to an import terminal. Imports are already part of the UK’s diverse and resilient energy mix. Since 2013, the UK has been a net importer of refined products, with imports accounting for 51% of UK demand for all petroleum products in 2023. Grangemouth refinery already imported almost all of its crude oil supply: it only received 13% of its crude oil supply from the North Sea via the Forties Pipeline in 2022. Scotland already imports fuel via other sites, which is sold at competitive prices, so we do not expect imports via the Grangemouth site to impact road fuel prices in Scotland nor across the UK.

What information his Department holds on the potential amount of funding required to keep the Grangemouth oil refinery in operation for the next 12 months.

Grangemouth refinery is a private business owned by Petroineos. Petroineos stated that its shareholders have invested more than $1.2bn since 2011 to maintain the refinery’s safe operation, recording losses in excess of $775m during the same period. The company made clear that there was no viable commercial future for the refinery operation at Grangemouth.

For what reason the Government issued a guarantee to commercial lenders for the INEOS Belgium project.

UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) support for the INEOS Project One plant secures new export opportunities for the UK by enabling an overseas buyer to finance the purchase of goods, services and/or intangibles from UK suppliers.As the UK’s export credit agency, UKEF’s mission is to advance prosperity by ensuring no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, doing that sustainably and at no net cost to the taxpayer.

Whether (a) he and (b) his Department has held discussions with (i) PetroChina and (ii) INEOS on the Grangemouth oil refinery since the general election.

As per my answer of 8 October, since taking office, the Secretary of State and I have taken joint action with the Scottish Government to urgently engage with the company and its shareholders. This included discussions with PetroChina and INEOS, the shareholders.