Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential importance of a UK domestic critical minerals supply strategy to underpin economic growth and the UK industrial base.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition. Building on the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre’s updated criticality assessment, government will work hand in hand with industry to publish a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year.
The Strategy will refine our approach to domestic production and will be explicitly targeted to UK strengths and delivering for businesses.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of critical minerals supply from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Whilst Government has not made an economic assessment of the benefits of critical minerals supply from any specific region to the rest of the UK, the new Critical Minerals Strategy will set out how increasing our domestic production of critical minerals in all areas of the UK will support our economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition.
As part of her industry engagement, Minister Sarah Jones MP, met with Ionic Technologies, a cutting-edge permanent magnet recycler based in Belfast, who are a real asset to critical minerals supply across the UK. The world-leading critical minerals innovation led out of Queen’s University Belfast also demonstrates how Northern Ireland can contribute to UK critical minerals supply.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to engage with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to develop a UK-wide critical minerals supply strategy.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition.
Government is engaging widely in developing the new Critical Minerals Strategy, including in partnership with the devolved governments, to make this Strategy a UK-wide effort.
The Critical Minerals Strategy will be published in 2025, aligning with the multi-year Spending Review and the new Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have engaged with the Northern Ireland Executive about critical minerals supply.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition.
Government is engaging widely in developing the new Critical Minerals Strategy, including in partnership with the devolved governments, to make this Strategy a UK-wide effort.
The Critical Minerals Strategy will be published in 2025, aligning with the multi-year Spending Review and the new Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are committed to maintaining the Global Mine Action Programme.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Global Mine Action Programme is being maintained through the financial year 25/26. Beyond this, Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent in 2027. We will be taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to revise the British knowledge questions on the 'Life in the UK' Test to make them more useful, relevant and familiar.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the political declaration from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will support universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Member states successfully adopted a consensus Political Declaration at the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women. Our assessment is that new text on maternal and neonatal health, menstrual health and hygiene management are examples of progress supporting access to sexual and reproductive health services. The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and has a long history as an influential global leader on SRHR to championing these fundamental rights in multilateral institutions.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of EU sanctions against individuals in Georgia, and whether they plan to implement similar sanctions.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I am not aware of any EU sanctions on individuals in Georgia. The Foreign Secretary set out on 9 December 2024 that the UK was limiting engagement with the authorities, restricting defence engagement and suspending UK support to Georgian government programmes. Later in December we imposed sanctions on the Georgian Minister and Deputy Minister of the Interior and three police chiefs responsible for police brutality. We do not comment on future designations as this could affect their impact.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 29 January (HL4113), which organisations received female genital mutilation grants in the years listed, together with grant sizes.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK supports local organisations through our Africa-Led movement to End Female Genital Mutilation: Phase II programme. The full list of organisations who received Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) grants during this period is available on: https://thegirlgeneration.org/eeey-grantees/. The grant mechanism was fully operational in 2024, granting to 53 organisations, with a focus on small grassroots organisations. The grants ranged from £400 to £100,000.
Evaluation assessments are taking place in March 2025 to understand the full impact of the grants. Early results show that from April 2024 to December 2024, grantee partners reached over 64,159 people through locally-led, community-based end-FGM initiatives. These included meetings with religious and community leaders, training, and support to girl champions, and school-based initiatives. Small grantee partners have made inroads into harder to reach communities. The programme has supported nine grantee partner representatives and 12 champions to participate in national, regional or global advocacy spaces. 46 grantees have also reported stronger organisational capacity, structures and systems.
In addition, the UK is funding local organisations through mechanisms such as the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and the Equality Fund. Some of these grantees are prioritising FGM, for example, the UNTF supported International Solidarity Foundation in Somalia (2020-2023), which has increased the proportion of religious leaders who believed that all types of FGM are harmful from 52 per cent to 96 per cent.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 29 January (HL4113), what were the achievements and outcomes of the female genital mutilation grants provided.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK supports local organisations through our Africa-Led movement to End Female Genital Mutilation: Phase II programme. The full list of organisations who received Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) grants during this period is available on: https://thegirlgeneration.org/eeey-grantees/. The grant mechanism was fully operational in 2024, granting to 53 organisations, with a focus on small grassroots organisations. The grants ranged from £400 to £100,000.
Evaluation assessments are taking place in March 2025 to understand the full impact of the grants. Early results show that from April 2024 to December 2024, grantee partners reached over 64,159 people through locally-led, community-based end-FGM initiatives. These included meetings with religious and community leaders, training, and support to girl champions, and school-based initiatives. Small grantee partners have made inroads into harder to reach communities. The programme has supported nine grantee partner representatives and 12 champions to participate in national, regional or global advocacy spaces. 46 grantees have also reported stronger organisational capacity, structures and systems.
In addition, the UK is funding local organisations through mechanisms such as the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and the Equality Fund. Some of these grantees are prioritising FGM, for example, the UNTF supported International Solidarity Foundation in Somalia (2020-2023), which has increased the proportion of religious leaders who believed that all types of FGM are harmful from 52 per cent to 96 per cent.