Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many electric vehicle public charging devices have been installed in each of the past five years; and how many they expect to be installed in each of the next five years in order to meet their target of 300,000 charge points by 2030.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The number of electric vehicle public charging devices installed in each of the past five years is not available. However, the Department does hold data on the total size of the public network.

While the number of devices over time is not equivalent to the number of installations, since some devices will be decommissioned in any given year, it can be used to show growth of the charging network and this is given in the table below.

There were 73,334 public charging devices in the UK on 1^st Jan 2025; this was 19,657 higher than 1^st Jan 2024.

The Department for Transport does not hold a specific forecast of the number of charging devices to be installed in each year. But based on the observed growth rate we are confident that the UK is on track to meeting a projected demand of at least 300,000 devices in 2030, as echoed by the recently published National Audit Office (NAO) report. This will be supported by government investment, including the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund which is estimated to deliver at least 100,000 chargepoints.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government why representatives of the UK media were refused permission to accompany the Chancellor of the Exchequer on her visit to China; and whether representatives of the government of China were consulted before this decision was made.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is taking a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK. This means cooperating where we can, competing where we need to, and challenging where we must.

The Chancellor’s visit to China for the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue was consistent with this approach and was the UK’s first substantive engagement with China on nationally important economic and financial issues in five years. The Chancellor was accompanied by a small delegation as we looked to re-open dialogue and respectfully yet robustly strengthen our lines of communication.

The Chancellor took questions from journalists from UK and international media organisations while she was in Beijing and representatives of the government of China were aware of these plans before the fact.

The government published a press statement about the Chancellor’s visit on Saturday 11 January. [1.]

1 - UK Government, 11 January 2025. Chancellor marks £600m of secure growth for UK economy in Beijing. [Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-marks-600m-of-secure-growth-for-uk-economy-in-beijing]

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to prevent political parties registered in Northern Ireland from receiving donations from people and organisations based in the Republic of Ireland.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The statutory framework for donations to UK political parties explicitly provides for Northern Ireland parties to receive donations from eligible people and organisations based in Ireland. These provisions are consistent with the principles set out in the Good Friday Agreement, particularly those relating to equality and respect for the different political traditions on the island of Ireland.

The Government has no plans to change these rules.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with the European Commission before rejecting a request from members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to apply the "Stormont Brake" procedure to the Chemical Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/2865).

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Secretary of State acted fully in accordance with the applicable legal duties in relation to the notification provided to him under the terms of Schedule 6B to the Northern Ireland Act 1998. As such, this was a decision for the Secretary of State taken solely on the basis of the notification provided and he did not discuss it with the European Commission.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide mitigation to community pharmacies in Northern Ireland before the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions comes into effect in April.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government provided funding to the public sector to support them with the additional cost associated with changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions.

The Northern Ireland Executive will receive funding through the Barnett formula for any changes to UK Government budgets, including this additional support, in the usual way in 2025-26. This is the normal operation of the funding arrangements as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.

This funding will be in addition to the Northern Ireland Executive’s record Spending Review settlements for 2025-26, which are the largest in real terms of any settlements since devolution.

Barnett-based funding for the Northern Ireland Executive is not ringfenced for a specific policy area. This allows the Northern Ireland Executive the flexibility to allocate its funding across devolved areas according to its own priorities and local circumstances, including community pharmacies in Northern Ireland.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to visit Northern Ireland to discuss how it can play its full part in growing the UK economy.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer looks forward to visiting Northen Ireland when diary scheduling allows.