Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money has been allocated for the construction of border inspection posts in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The construction of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Inspection Facilities in Northern Ireland is supported by an agreed business case which provides a funding envelope of up to a maximum of £192.3 million. This figure is just an envelope and is not guaranteed as the department always aspires to come in under budget.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the construction of border inspection posts in Northern Ireland to be completed.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The SPS Inspection Facilities at Northern Ireland points of entry will be completed by 1 July 2025, per our commitments under the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation and effectiveness of the Joint Ministerial Committee.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The system of Joint Ministerial Committees (JMCs) was replaced as part of the 2022 Review of Intergovernmental Relations. The structures which replace the JMCs provide a more flexible and fit-for-purpose approach with department-led Interministerial Groups overseen by an Interministerial Standing Committee, and, ultimately, a Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Governments Council.
Since the 2022 Review, there have been almost 500 intergovernmental ministerial meetings. Ensuring the structures work effectively is the joint responsibility of UK Government and the devolved governments. The UK Government monitors the effectiveness of engagement including through quarterly and end of year transparency reports, published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government which parts of the European Union Customs Code applies in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020.
The Windsor Framework, formally adopted by the United Kingdom and the European Union on 23 March 2023, and the ‘Safeguarding the Union’ Command Paper, published on 31 January 2024, set out the arrangements in respect of goods movements into and out of Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Minister will have responsibility for the operation, staffing and maintenance of border inspection posts in Northern Ireland upon their completion.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government already assumed responsibility for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Inspection Facilities in Northern Ireland last year. As set out in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper, the Government will take powers at Westminster to direct NI bodies to protect the UK internal market in the operation of the Windsor Framework. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether UK-based brokers are facilitating the insurance of vessels carrying Russian oil worldwide; and if so, whether they are planning to extend sanction regulations to prevent the Putin regime from funding its aggression in Ukraine assisted by UK based or controlled entities.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The oil price cap, implemented by a Coalition encompassing the UK alongside the G7 and Australia, operates globally by prohibiting UK and Coalition firms from providing services such as shipping, insurance and finance to facilitate the maritime transport of Russian oil and oil products, unless the oil was purchased at or below the price cap level. The UK has implemented a strong enforcement approach focused on prohibition, with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) responsible for civil enforcement, and HMRC and the National Crime Agency jointly considering cases which may be appropriate for criminal prosecution. The Coalition has recently acted jointly to tighten price cap compliance rules and reserves the right to take further action to ensure its effectiveness if needed.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether diesel oil products imported into the UK are refined from Russian crude oil; and what assessment they have made of the impact of sanctions on such imports.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UK sanctions targeting Russian oil revenues are designed in line with existing World Trade Organisation (WTO) non-preferential rules of origin. More specifically, if a good such as diesel is produced in two or more countries, it is subject to substantial processing requirements as stated in Section 17(3) of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018. In line with these rules, where Russian oil and oil products have been refined in a third country, they will only be considered Russian if the products have not been substantially processed. All importers of oil and oil products into the UK must provide proof of origin to relevant enforcement authorities, to demonstrate that goods are not of Russian origin. Our approach is in line with that taken by our partners, including the US and the EU.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability of the Royal Marines to fulfil their duties, given their current level of equipment and personnel.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Marines (RM) have been undergoing transformation through the Future Commando Force (FCF) programme. The FCF programme was fully endorsed at the Integrated Review 21 and reaffirmed at the Integrated Review Refresh and the Defence Command Plan 23. Significant enhancements have already been delivered, most visibly new vehicles, radios, uniforms and most recently new rifles.
The Secretary of State has commissioned a plan with a scope that will encompass how the Royal Marines work and capabilities can be bolstered and enhanced to protect Britain from a world that is growing more dangerous.
While undergoing this transformation, the RM continue to deploy globally, delivering disproportionate impact for a formation of their size.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of (1) environmental, and (2) other, damage posed by the passage through or close to UK waters of uninsured oil tankers; and whether they will plan any measures to prevent potential damage and financial loss to the UK.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK, together with international partners, has implemented extensive sanctions against Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine. These include sanctions which have targeted oil, Russia’s greatest source of revenue.
Illegal circumvention of those sanctions is unacceptable, which is why the Government is seeking multilateral action through the International Maritime Organization (IMO), such as the recent resolution on ship-to-ship (STS) transfers at sea by the dark fleet, which was co-sponsored by the UK and other G7 nations to tackle the environmental risk. This resolution presents strong recommendations to improve awareness and monitoring of STS transfers in countries’ waters, stronger adherence to international regulations and conventions, and a greater awareness of the fraudulent and deceptive activities by vessels in the ‘dark fleet’. Through these actions, the Government intends to highlight on the global stage the illegality of Russia’s actions and reduce the pollution risk by outlining the strong response that will be delivered to violations of sanctions.
Alongside this, the UK is a state party to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, which provides financial compensation for oil pollution damage that occurs in Member States resulting from spills of oil from tankers and includes situations where the oil tanker does not have valid insurance.
The UK has well-established plans/protocols for the response to an oil spill. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the National Competent Authority for at-sea pollution response. The MCA Counter Pollution and Salvage (CPS), under the direction of HM Coastguard, are custodians of the national pollution response resources which comprise specialist oil containment and recovery equipment and dispersant. These are supported by manned aircraft for spill surveillance, verification and quantification and a suite of aerial dispersant spraying capability. Personnel and resources are in place 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and provide an incident management and response capability anywhere within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Regular exercises are undertaken to test national multi-agency spill response procedures.
The MCA does not have responsibility for pollution response on the UK shoreline; this is vested in the local authorities and devolved nations. However, the MCA CPS will support pollution response along the UK shoreline using the other nationally held containment and recovery capability held in the stockpiles. Incident management, specialist response teams, and liaison personnel are also available. As with at-sea pollution response, regular engagement with local authorities in response exercises is undertaken. The resources held by the MCA are those commensurate with a Tier 3 national response requirement as described within the National Contingency Plan for Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recruitment and retention figures for the armed forces in year 2022–23; and what steps they are taking to reverse any negative trends.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In 2022-23, Armed Forces recruitment was lower than we would have hoped given a difficult recruiting environment, and outflow was higher than planned. Nevertheless, the Armed Forces continue to meet all their operational commitments.
To address recruitment, a range of tangible short-term deliverables are being actioned to increasing the inflow into Armed Forces recruitment pipelines, all intended to increase the breadth of potential candidates and to drive efficiencies into recruitment systems. These ongoing and new initiatives are focused upon engaging the broad range of skills, experience and diversity needed to deliver that which our nation demands of our Armed Forces; and in the range of roles that are critical to enable this.
On retention, in June 2023 we committed to implementing the recommendations of the Haythornthwaite Review, a generational independent review of how we retain our current people and attract new ones. Its recommendations relate to policies and processes across a complex system of incentivisation and support. A formal Government Response, which will provide more detail on our approach to tackling each recommendation, will be published in early 2024. This will confirm which recommendations have been - or are in the process of being – delivered.
Other initiatives aimed at improving the recruitment and retention of our people include; Flexible Service, which introduces the potential for people to alter their career commitment for set periods of time, allowing more people to remain in the Armed Forces who may otherwise have decided to leave in order to meet competing demands and responsibilities; Wraparound Childcare, which Defence established in recognition of the importance of a robust childcare support system to enable the mobility, recruitment and retention of a Armed Forces personnel; acceptance of the Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body’s and Senior Salaries Review Body’s recommendations in full, ensuring that the overall remuneration package for Service personnel (which includes a good pension, subsidised accommodation, and a range of allowances on top of basic salary) remains competitive.