Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure eligible people over State Pension age are aware that they may be entitled to Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the availability of Carer’s Allowance is widely available, including online via GOV.UK and from places such as Carers Trust and Citizens Advice. DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available so as to encourage people to claim Carer’s Allowance where they may be entitled.
Although there is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. It has been a long-held feature of the GB benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to avoid duplication for the same need. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances they are nevertheless designed for the same contingency – as an income replacement. Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person and is unable to undertake full time employment due to their caring responsibilities, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.
However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance which is currently £81.90.
Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £45.60 a week and potentially other means-tested support. Around 125,000 people are receiving the Carer Premium with their Pension Credit. And even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.
Social Security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people will be employed at ports in Great Britain to work on monitoring, supervising or implementing the Northern Ireland pet travel scheme for pet animals moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Officials will be available at the GB ports to support and assist those travelling under the Northern Ireland Pet Travel Scheme. To simplify non-commercial pet movements (cats, dogs, including assistance dogs, and ferrets) from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the scheme will enable travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a simple lifelong pet travel document.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many live animals have been exported for slaughter in each year from 2022 to date from Northern Ireland to (1) countries within the EU other than the Irish Republic, and (2) countries outside the EU.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have recovered from fraudulent benefit claimants in each year since 2021 and what percentage this represents of the total amount of benefit fraud in each year.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows total volume of overpayment classified as Fraud (i.e. proven by conviction or admission) by financial year.
| 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Recovery of overpayments classified as Fraud | £46.50m | £44.33m | £42.89m |
Data for what percentage this represents of the total amount of benefit fraud is not available because recoveries in a year do not represent recoveries from fraud committed that year.
The figures provided above only include recovery of overpayments from proven fraud, that is where a claimant has been successfully prosecuted or accepted an administrative penalty. Many other overpayments are likely to be fraudulent but have not specifically been designated as either fraud or error and as such are not included here.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent in each year since 2020 on (1) the Trader Support Service, (2) the Movement Assistance Scheme, and (3) any other services or schemes providing support and assistance in relation to trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Support to industry is offered through schemes such as the Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS) and the Trader Support Service (TSS). The costs of the MAS, TSS and Digital Assistance Scheme (DAS) are set out below:
| FY 2020/21 | FY2021/22 | FY2022/23 | FY2023/24 | FY2024/25 |
MAS | £3.53 million | £9.78 million | £8.75 million | £9.64 million | £8.30 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
TSS | £100.62 million | £148.80 million | £114.68 million | £105.19 million | £73.18 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
DAS | £3.45 million | £13.73 million | £16.6 million | £18.4 million | £15.2 million (up to 28/02/2025) |
In addition to the MAS, TSS, and DAS, the Government awarded £1.4m in grants from the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme in FY2023/24.
The budget for the MAS currently covers the following FTE staff: 18.5 in Animal and Plant Health Agency, 2.0 in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and 1.0 contractor. The TSS is overseen by HMRC and operated by a consortium led by a private contractor. There are currently 267 FTE staff employed by the consortium. Figures on the number of staff working on the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme and Digital Assistance Scheme are not available, as these cannot be disaggregated from the wider teams in which they worked.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed or contracted to work by (1) the Trader Support Service, (2) the Movement Assistance Scheme, and (3) any other services or schemes providing support and assistance in relation to trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Support to industry is offered through schemes such as the Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS) and the Trader Support Service (TSS). The costs of the MAS, TSS and Digital Assistance Scheme (DAS) are set out below:
| FY 2020/21 | FY2021/22 | FY2022/23 | FY2023/24 | FY2024/25 |
MAS | £3.53 million | £9.78 million | £8.75 million | £9.64 million | £8.30 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
TSS | £100.62 million | £148.80 million | £114.68 million | £105.19 million | £73.18 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
DAS | £3.45 million | £13.73 million | £16.6 million | £18.4 million | £15.2 million (up to 28/02/2025) |
In addition to the MAS, TSS, and DAS, the Government awarded £1.4m in grants from the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme in FY2023/24.
The budget for the MAS currently covers the following FTE staff: 18.5 in Animal and Plant Health Agency, 2.0 in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and 1.0 contractor. The TSS is overseen by HMRC and operated by a consortium led by a private contractor. There are currently 267 FTE staff employed by the consortium. Figures on the number of staff working on the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme and Digital Assistance Scheme are not available, as these cannot be disaggregated from the wider teams in which they worked.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the budget of the Department of Health and Social Care as a percentage of total government expenditure in each year since 2021.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has averaged 19% of total Government expenditure in each financial year since 2020/21: 20% in 2020/21, 26% in 2021/22, 14% in 2022/23, and 16% in 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have created the £10 million fund to boost investment in strategically important ports linking Northern Ireland and Great Britain as set out in Annex B of Safeguarding the Union (CP 1021); and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Safeguarding the Union command paper was clear that the commitment ‘to propose the creation of a dedicated fund worth £10 million to support infrastructure development, including green growth opportunities at a small number of strategically important NI ports’ would be carried out in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland ports.
We are considering how the aim of supporting infrastructure development can be achieved in the most impactful way across the UK - including as part of the Government’s Growth Mission and Infrastructure and Industrial Strategies.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any physical checks are required on medical products or medical devices moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland; and, if so, which legislation requires them.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Internal market movements of medical devices and products follow the same rules as other goods and can avail the support provided by the United Kingdom’s Government to move goods into Northern Ireland free of unnecessary paperwork, checks, and duties.
Regarding specific regulations for medical devices or medicines, no regulatory declarations are required for the movement of medicines or medical devices from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Medical devices across the whole of the UK are highly regulated, and devices placed in the Northern Irish market must be accompanied by a declaration of conformity in line with the EU Medical Device Regulations (2017/745) and EU In Vitro Device Regulations (2017/746), which apply under the Windsor Framework, in order to ensure dual market access to the UK’s internal market and the European Union's single market. Regulations in Great Britain are broadly similar to those applying in the Northern Ireland, including the conformity assessment process.
No physical checks are required for medicines or medical devices moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what declarations are required for the movement of medical products, including medical devices, from Great Britain to Northern Ireland; and which legislation requires them.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Internal market movements of medical devices and products follow the same rules as other goods and can avail the support provided by the United Kingdom’s Government to move goods into Northern Ireland free of unnecessary paperwork, checks, and duties.
Regarding specific regulations for medical devices or medicines, no regulatory declarations are required for the movement of medicines or medical devices from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Medical devices across the whole of the UK are highly regulated, and devices placed in the Northern Irish market must be accompanied by a declaration of conformity in line with the EU Medical Device Regulations (2017/745) and EU In Vitro Device Regulations (2017/746), which apply under the Windsor Framework, in order to ensure dual market access to the UK’s internal market and the European Union's single market. Regulations in Great Britain are broadly similar to those applying in the Northern Ireland, including the conformity assessment process.
No physical checks are required for medicines or medical devices moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.