Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to coordinate and rationalise the procurement of buses and trams by local authorities in order to ensure a steady and manageable flow of orders for manufacturing companies.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
At the final meeting of the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel in March 2026, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) agreed a set of commitments. These included applying a minimum 10% social value weighting in all future bus procurement exercises. This means that, when procuring buses, MCAs will consider the positive impact that a manufacturer has on society, the environment, and local communities as part of their decision-making process.
It was also agreed that the 10-year zero-emission bus order pipeline will be reviewed and updated regularly to provide a forward view of expected demand, helping UK bus manufacturers to plan effectively and compete for future orders.
We will continue to engage with and work alongside the industry to support a competitive UK bus manufacturing sector.
With regard to trams, light rail is devolved in England, where each local authority owns and is responsible for the design, operations and financial sustainability of its system, as well as for the specification and procurement of its fleet.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat to financial stability of the increase in private credit lending.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private markets, including private credit, play a vital role in providing financing to the real economy. They support innovation and diversify funding sources.
As the Bank of England have said, the growth of private markets also brings new vulnerabilities, including from the sectors’ increasing complexity, use of leverage, opacity, and interconnectedness with the wider financial system.
HM Treasury continues to work closely with the regulators to understand these risks. In the 2025 remit letter to the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee, the Committee were asked to continue to consider risks in private markets. The Bank of England has since launched its private markets System‑Wide Exploratory Scenario – a world-leading exercise to deepen understanding of vulnerabilities in private markets.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of liquefied natural gas imports into the EU from the Russian Yamal field; and whether any Russian gas is being imported into the UK through the interconnection.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The EU has prohibited Russian LNG imports under short-term contracts since 25 April 2026 and will ban all remaining imports from 1 January 2027. The UK banned imports of Russian LNG in January 2023.
The UK’s gas supply comes from a range of sources: 42% is sourced from the UK continental shelf; Norway’s continental shelf provides 37%; LNG accounts for 20%; and Interconnectors supply 1%.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of disruptions to the international flow of gas, whether they are reassessing the level of gas storage necessary for UK energy resilience.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is confident in our gas security of supply, thanks to our diverse range of supply sources, including domestic production, Norwegian imports, interconnectors with continental Europe, and significant LNG import capacity, which are supported by storage.
Gas storage provided 5% of our supply last winter. However, government recognises our infrastructure needs, including gas storage, may evolve during the energy transition. Government set out plans to explore whether support for the gas sector, including new infrastructure, is required, and will update in due course.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 28 April (HL16679), what progress they have made in collecting the necessary data on poultry procurement and deciding what further action is needed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has commissioned research to better understand the extent to which public sec-tor settings are serving food, including poultry, from local and sustainable sources. This research is currently underway, and we expect the work to be completed by Summer 2027.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 provides sufficient protection for police officers in the execution of their duty.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 makes it an offence to use threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. This protection applies to police officers carrying out their duties as it does to other members of the public.
Whether particular words or behaviour meet the threshold for an offence will depend on the circumstances of each case. Decisions on arrests and investigations are operational matters for the police, and charging decisions are a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service, who act independently.
In November 2025 the Home Secretary asked Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC to undertake an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation. Lord Macdonald submitted his report on 29 May and the Government will publish the report, and its response, shortly.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of chicken procured for Government contracts was produced in the UK in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Public bodies are not required to report on the origin of the food they procure and information on the origin and sustainability of food in government supply chains is limited. Defra is therefore collecting new data to understand the extent to which government and other public sector settings are serving food from local and sustainable sources and what further action is needed. The department expects this work to be completed by Summer 2027.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Leong on 16 September, what requirements they are including in invitations to tender for public sector construction contracts relating to the provision of apprenticeship opportunities and adult skills training by contractors and subcontractors.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government is committed to ensuring that public procurement supports British businesses and helps to build a fairer economy, delivering jobs, skills and opportunities in every postcode.
The new Social Value Model will ensure that contracts valued at £1m and above, but less than £5m, apply a minimum 10% weighting (or equivalent measurement), and contracts valued at £5m or above, apply a minimum 20% weighting (or equivalent measurement), of the total score given to tenders. These will support apprenticeships and other forms of training in construction and other sectors.
Full details of the policy can be found here PPN 026: The Social Value Model (HTML) - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the maximum annual capacity of the Defence School of Transport in Leconfield.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For Training Year 2026/27, the Defence School of Transport is tasked to deliver 30,092 training and licence acquisition places.
This figure represents the School's planned annual training capacity across its delivered and assured outputs for Training Year 2026/27.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) repair vessels for communication cables, and (2) repair crew for communication cables, are based in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Owners of subsea telecoms cables manage repair and maintenance through membership of commercial cable maintenance agreements. There are currently six cable repair vessels servicing the maintenance agreements in the Atlantic and Northern Europe, one of which is based in the UK (information collected via DSIT Request for Information April 2026). Government does not routinely hold information on the crewing of cable vessels, which varies by vessel and commercial operator. There is a privately owned UK-based facility that trains subsea cable repair technicians.
The Government recognises the importance of a UK-based and UK-flagged subsea telecoms cable repair vessel. DCMS is exploring options for securing this capability in the long term.