Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in establishing and making operational the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery on 1 May, in particular with regard to (1) assuming responsibility for Northern Ireland Troubles reinvestigations from Operation Kenova and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and (2) replacing inquests.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As I set out in a Written Ministerial Statement on 17 April, I can confirm that the ICRIR’s operational functions will be commenced and the Commission will be able to receive requests and carry out reviews as planned on 1 May 2024 - the point at which the Legacy Act automatically ends current investigations and inquests. From this date, following a request in accordance with the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, the ICRIR will carry out reviews of Troubles-related deaths and serious injuries that occurred between 1966 and 1998.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made on the memorialisation strategy for Northern Ireland.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is committed to the memorialisation measures set out in Part 4 of the Legacy Act and elsewhere. While our focus since Royal Assent of the Act has been on establishing the ICRIR, we know these wider measures are also essential to deliver for victims and families in Northern Ireland. Further to previous announcements on Public History and the project to digitise Troubles-related Government files, we will set out further details in due course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government which plants, trees and seeds are not allowed to be sent to Northern Ireland from Great Britain as a result of the Windsor Framework.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Windsor Framework provides for simplified arrangements for the movement of plants and plant products between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, meaning a phytosanitary certificate is not required and that a wider variety of plants can move.

We have secured the lifting of a ban on the movement of twelve plant species - apple, Japanese / delavay privet, European crab apple, common hawthorn, Norway maple, Japanese maple, sycamore maple, field maple, English oak, sessile oak, European beech and, most recently, hazel. We are in active dialogue with the EU Commission on a number of other species which industry has proposed as priorities. We will continue to engage with industry to ensure the smooth movement of additional plant species. Further details can be found on Defra’s online Plant Health Portal.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the informal implementation group for the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement set up with Sinn Féin is still in existence; and when it last met.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The group to which the Noble Baroness refers no longer exists.

Relevant documents relating to this issue are freely accessible in the National Archives at Kew, to which the Noble Baroness might wish to refer. The Government takes seriously its obligations under the Public Records Act 1958.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what funding has been allocated to the work of the Expert Advisory Panel for public history of British policy during the Northern Ireland conflict; and whether the members of the Expert Advisory Panel are being paid.

Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Public History expert advisory panel is independent of Government. Its members are not paid to perform their roles. The panel will be reimbursed for associated costs, for example workshops and seminars in line with recommendations made in the Pilling Report 2009 and the panel’s terms of reference.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what instructions, if any, they have issued to (1) environmental health officers, and (2) other relevant officers, as to the future charging for port inspections on goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (a) in general, and (b) when the goods fail the inspection.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 31 January 2024, the Government published the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper. It set out proposals for a new UK internal market system, ensuring a permanent, smooth flow of goods within the UK’s internal market.

Under this new system, there will be no checks on goods moving within the UK internal market system. Checks will only be conducted as part of a risk or intelligence-led approach to tackle issues like criminality, abuse of the system, smuggling and disease risks.

Following the agreement of the Windsor Framework, the Border Target Operating Model sets out new arrangements for Irish goods and non-qualifying goods moving directly from the island of Ireland to GB from 31 January 2024. Physical checks on goods arriving at West Coast ports will not begin before Spring 2025.

We will begin phasing in checks and controls for non-qualifying goods moving from the island of Ireland, while ensuring that Qualifying Northern Ireland Goods continue to have unfettered access to the GB market, whether those goods are moving directly from Northern Ireland to Great Britain or moving to Great Britain from Northern Ireland via Ireland.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what arrangements are in place with the government of Ireland for illegal immigrants to be returned from that country to the United Kingdom.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We have no plans for a specific returns agreement with Ireland on the return of asylum seekers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, pursuant to regulation 13 of the Windsor Framework (Retail Movement Scheme) Regulations 2023 on retail goods checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, how many checks were conducted in (1) February, (2) March, and (3) April.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In line with the commitments we have made, as we move to our new UK internal market system, we will ensure that the only checks when goods move within the UK internal market system are those conducted by UK authorities as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach to tackle criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks. But in order not to undermine that approach, as is the case across the UK we do not disclose the specific number or nature of interventions made by UK authorities.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government which responsibilities have been taken over by the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland since the Windsor Framework (Implementation) Regulations 2024 came into force on 12 April.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In line with the Windsor Framework (Implementation) Regulations 2024 Statutory Guidance, the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has exercised direction and control over the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs only with respect to the limited areas set out in the statutory guidance published on GOV.UK. A copy of the guidance is attached to this answer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 15 May (HL4217), under what arrangement 50 illegal migrants were returned from the Republic of Ireland to the UK in the past seven months.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Individuals lawfully in Ireland who enter the United Kingdom unlawfully, and individuals lawfully in the United Kingdom who enter Ireland unlawfully, are liable to be refused entry and returned to the country from which they arrived.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has taken over responsibility for bovine tuberculosis vaccination from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In line with the Windsor Framework (Implementation) Regulations 2024 Statutory Guidance, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has exercised direction and control over the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs only with respect to the limited areas set out in the statutory guidance published on GOV.UK (copy attached). For the avoidance of doubt, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has clarified he has exercised his discretion not to exercise direction and control in relation to animal and plant disease.