The UK-Poland trade relationship is strong and is set to get stronger. In 2014, the value of UK exports to Poland amounted to £3.84billion and UK imports from Poland £7.84 billion.

The Government’s focus on trade and investment with Poland is on 6 strategic sectors which we believe offer most opportunity for UK exporters. These are defence and security, energy, infrastructure, financial services, healthcare & life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

Our Embassy in Warsaw works in close collaboration with a recently established Overseas Business Network (OBN) partner to identify business opportunities for British firms and then to help them make the most of them. In 2015-2016, they were directly involved in winning contracts worth almost £450 million.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The UK has a strong bilateral relationship with Poland, one that the Government is committed to strengthening even further. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has agreed with his Polish counterpart to work more closely together to enhance the relationship towards a more strategic partnership. The UK and Poland share a vision for the future of the EU and of European security including many foreign, defence and security policy priorities. We are partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and share a commitment to the security of our allies and ensuring that NATO continuously adapts to changing threats. We continue to work together to deliver the outcomes of the Wales NATO Summit as we look forward to the Warsaw Summit in July. The UK and Poland are also partners in trade; the UK is Poland’s second largest export market. There are also close historical links between our countries. Together with the President of Poland the Prime Minister was honoured to attend the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral last September to pay tribute to those who fought, including the brave Polish pilots who played a crucial role in standing up for freedom.

Immediately after the Smolensk tragedy, the UK Government extended our deepest condolences to the Polish government and people for the loss of their President, his wife and 94 others. The conduct of the investigation into the crash and the return of the wreckage is a matter for Poland and Russia, and we have received no requests to intervene.

Q14

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Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con):

One of my constituents, Alex Bagnall, is fighting to have his son brought back to the UK after he was taken to Poland by the mother illegally, as per The Hague convention. Will the Prime Minister outline what interventions the Government can make on the EU and Polish authorities with regard to The Hague convention in order to help British families with the safe return of their abducted children, offering hope to devastated families such as my constituents, the Bagnalls?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise a case like this. Sadly, there are far too many of them in our country. The straight answer is that the return decision is, of course, for the Polish court, and Governments cannot interfere in the decisions or processes of another country’s justice system. However, we have the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit at the Ministry of Justice, and it has been in constant touch with Mr Bagnall. It is processing his paperwork and chasing its counterparts in Poland for

information. I will make sure that the Foreign Secretary is made aware of this case and does everything he can to help my hon. Friend and her constituent.

My right hon. Friends the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary met with their Polish counterparts in Edinburgh in January 2016 to discuss a range of options for countering threats in the region. We are working closely with Poland to ensure that the Warsaw Summit in July further strengthens NATO against current threats and adapts it to combat future ones. We also promote more effective defence cooperation in the region with our partners in the Northern Group: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden). The UK already makes a substantial contribution to Assurance Measures in Poland, and will provide 1,000 personnel to Exercise ANAKONDA in June 2016.

The UK was one of the driving forces behind NATO's Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the Wales Summit, which includes tripling the strength of the NATO Response Force (NRF); the creation of a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) that is able to deploy at very short notice; and enhancing NATO's Standing Naval Forces.

The UK is fully involved with NATO work to improve the movement of troops and logistic support to the enhanced NRF and VJTF although improvements to and development of road networks remain the responsibility of each member nation.

NATO Allies regularly discuss the progress of the RAP and the capabilities and deployability of our forces; we will do so again at the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting this month.

The UK will contribute to the VJTF in every year between now and 2021 including: a 1,000 strong battle group for the Spanish-led Land VJTF in 2016; we will act as the Land VJTF lead nation in 2017, with 3,000 UK personnel; and in 2020 we will provide a 1,000 battle group to the Polish-led VJTF

Exercise Dragon 15 was a Polish-led multinational exercise involving up to 7,000 personnel and 900 combat vehicles at multiple training locations across Poland. The UK contribution to the exercise is a clear demonstration of the UK’s significant support to NATO’s Assurance Measures which are designed to reassure East European NATO members and deter aggression against them. Totalling approximately 1,350 Army personnel and around 400 vehicles, Exercise Dragon 15 constituted the largest UK armoured deployment in Eastern Europe in 2015.

The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.

Although data regarding claimant nationality is not currently recorded on benefit payment systems, Universal Credit will record such data, when EEA nationals are able to claim. The Department has no plans to make specific assessments regarding Polish nationals when such data becomes available. However, we will continue to monitor EEA nationals’ access to benefits more generally.

The Prime Minister has made clear that further steps are needed to reform welfare to reduce the incentives which have led to mass immigration from the EU.

Specific assessments of the number of Polish benefit claimants as a proportion of the working age population are not available.