Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Ministers and Departments the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland consulted before withdrawing on 29 July 2024 the appeal against the section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 declarations of incompatibility made by the Northern Ireland High Court in the Dillon case.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All relevant Ministers have been consulted on the Governments approach to addressing the legacy of the Troubles, including the decision taken in July 2024 to abandon the Government's appeal to the Court of Appeal on all European Convention on Human Rights grounds. This followed the ruling of the Northern Ireland High Court in February 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Ministers and Departments were consulted before the Government laid the Northern Ireland Troubles (Reconciliation and Information Recovery) Act 2023 (Remedial) Order 2024.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All relevant Ministers have been consulted on the Government's approach to addressing the legacy of the Troubles, including the proposal for a Remedial Order to amend the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation Act) 2023, which was laid on 4 December 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 30 January (HL4226), what discussions officials in any department have had with European Union officials before rejecting a request from members of the Northern Ireland assembly to apply "the Stormont Brake" procedure to the Chemical Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/2865).
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government routinely engages with the European Commission on the Windsor Framework and those discussions are confidential. However, I can confirm that no discussions were held between Government and European Union officials that affected the decision by the Secretary of State on the notification in question, which was made solely in accordance with the terms of Schedule 6B to the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when considering whether to give compensation to Gerry Adams, they have assessed whether Mr Adams was or remains a member of the Provisional IRA.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Sections 46 and 47 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 have been found by the Northern Ireland courts to be incompatible with the UK’s human rights obligations. The Government is committed to bringing forward new legacy legislation and as part of this we are looking at all conceivable options for addressing the complex issue of Interim Custody Orders and related compensation claims, in a lawful way.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they have discharged their legal duty in section 46(1) of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 in respect of the implementation of the European Union's new General Product Safety Regulation.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring the smooth flow of goods across the UK Internal market. The General Product Safety Regulations largely formalise the reality of how businesses are already operating in the UK so the government expects consumers in Northern Ireland generally to be able to access goods as before.
On 3 December, the Department for Business and Trade’s Office for Product Safety and Standards published guidance for businesses on the application of the Regulation in Northern Ireland, which makes clear that authorities will continue to take a proportionate, risk-based, and intelligence-led approach to regulating the NI market, prioritising unsafe products.
DBT will continue to engage businesses directly to ensure they are familiar with the guidance and that the Government is supporting them to trade freely across the whole of the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many outstanding pre-1998 legacy cases in the form of civil suits and re-opened inquests are in train at present; and what have been (1) the costs involved in settlements or damages paid in such cases in each of the past five complete years and (2) the legal costs, both incurred by the Northern Ireland Office and paid out to claimants' and victims' lawyers.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are over a thousand ongoing legacy civil claims against the Northern Ireland Office and other state agencies.
Damages paid by the Northern Ireland Office in such cases must remain confidential as per the terms of the settlements, and the Northern Ireland Office does not hold information on the settlement of legacy civil claims faced by other Government departments.
The Northern Ireland Office’s spend on legal costs is included within our Annual Report and Accounts, although we do not differentiate between legal costs we incur and costs we pay to claimants’ lawyers:
22/23
21/22
20/21
19/20
18/19
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have conducted any further assessment of the Provisional IRA’s Amy Council, including its influence on the political direction of Sinn Féin and its access to weapons, since they published their Assessment of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland in October 2015.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The ‘Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland’ report was published in 2015 by the UK Government in order to provide a one-off factual assessment from the UK security agencies and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on the structure, role and purpose of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. This public assessment, which was intended to inform the then ongoing cross-party talks, has not been repeated.
Although it is acknowledged that some individuals engaged in serious criminality may also have ties to former paramilitary Republican organisations, such activity does not present a threat to national security.
The PSNI and UK security agencies continually assess the threat, risk and harm posed by paramilitary, terrorist and organised crime groups to inform the most appropriate operational response. The threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism (NIRT) is assessed by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), after MI5 passed over responsibility earlier this year. JTAC keeps the Threat Level in Northern Ireland from NIRT under constant review and formally reviews it twice a year. However, the threat is wholly driven by violent Dissident Republicans who reject the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), and not by Groups that support the GFA.
Where any criminality exists, the Government is clear that it should be dealt with fully by the police.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 15 October (HL1391), what have been the costs to date of the Cory report, the inquiry headed by Sir Desmond de Silva into the death of Patrick Finucane, the Stevens Inquiries and the Robert Hamill Inquiry.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As mentioned in my previous Written Answer, the Government takes reasonable steps to control the costs of inquiries, including capping legal costs as appropriate.
The Government asked Judge Peter Cory to re-investigate the death of Patrick Finucane. This was not a public inquiry but led to public inquiries into the deaths of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright, Robert Hamill and Patrick Finucane.
The Robert Hamill Inquiry is yet to publish its Report and therefore its final costs are not yet available. The Government is in the process of setting up the Patrick Finucane Inquiry and has considered the likely costs and impact on the public finances. The Government’s expectation is that the inquiry will avoid unnecessary costs given the work done in all the previous reviews and investigations and the large amount of information and material that is already in the public domain.
Sir Desmond de Silva was appointed to conduct an independent review into the death of Patrick Finucane, but like Cory, this was not a public inquiry. Sir John Stevens’ investigation was commissioned and funded by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (now PSNI).
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the cost to date of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, each of the inquiries required after Judge Corey's report, the de Silva Finucane inquiry, the budgeted ICRIR legacy inquiries, and the expected costs of a Finucane judicial inquiry.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The total cost of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from 1998, when it was established, to the end of May 2010 when it concluded, was £191.2 million.
Judge Corey recommended that the Government hold public inquiries into the deaths of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright, Robert Hamill and Patrick Finucane. The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and the Billy Wright Inquiry cost £46.46 million and £30.5 million respectively. As the Robert Hamill Inquiry Report is still to be published, final costs are not yet available.
Funding of £250m was agreed with HMT in 2023 to cover the implementation of all aspects of the Legacy Act 2023. The lion's share of this funding was for the establishment and operation of the ICRIR (£230m), with the remainder ring fenced for memorialisation and official history measures that seek to promote wider societal healing/reconciliation. This funding derived from the £150 million allocated to implement the Stormont House Agreement and £100 million allocated through the New Deal, New Approach agreement.
As outlined in the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s Oral Statement of 11 September 2024, the Government has considered the likely costs of the inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane and its impact on the public finances. It is the Government’s expectation that the inquiry will - while doing everything that is required to discharge the State’s human rights obligations - avoid unnecessary costs given all the previous reviews and investigations and the large amount of information and material that is already in the public domain.
The Government takes reasonable steps to control the costs of inquiries, including capping legal costs as appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Ireland about its legal action against them concerning the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since the election, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland have met with the Irish Taoiseach and Tanáiste, respectively, and underlined the Government’s commitment to repeal and replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
We will continue to engage closely with the Irish Government with a view to finding a practical way forward. The participation of both the UK and Irish governments in a legacy process is important if we are to achieve better outcomes for victims and survivors. Of course, we hope that such a process will lead to the withdrawal of the interstate case, though that is a matter for the Irish Government.