Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish a defence growth deal for Northern Ireland as an extension of the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence will launch the Northern Ireland Defence Growth Deal in Spring 2026. The Deal will combine defence and wider government investment to support companies across a number of sub-sectors that are key for defence and align with Defence’s strategic priorities. The Deal will harness NI’s defence and dual-use strengths, driving innovation and increasing competitiveness – in line with the Defence Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to cooperate with international partners such as Taiwan on undersea cable resilience.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the critical role of subsea telecoms cables for international connectivity.
The Government works closely with international partners, including Taiwan, to ensure the security and resilience of subsea telecoms cables. This includes engaging bilaterally with priority partners and multilaterally through NATO, the EU and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
This engagement focuses on preventing damage to cables, incident preparedness and response and ensuring cables are laid in the right places to serve UK interests.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to facilitate Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Accession decisions are a matter for all Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Parties by consensus. Discussions on future applicants are ongoing among members.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister will consult with the President of Taiwan before his visit to China.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Prime Minister's travel plans and meetings are decided by the UK Government.
The UK has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan but a strong, unofficial relationship, based on deep and growing ties in a wide range of areas, and underpinned by shared democratic values.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of China about the redevelopment of the UK embassy in Beijing; and whether they discussed the construction of a new Chinese embassy in London in those talks.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 4 April 2025 to Question HL6121, and to the subsequent statement made to the House by Baroness Anderson of Stoke‑on‑Trent on 26 January setting out the decision taken by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
We have been clear throughout that the planning decision was for the Secretary of State at MHCLG to make in an independent, quasi-judicial capacity.
While it has been clear for a number of years that we need to rebuild our own Embassy in Beijing, which is in a poor condition and not suitable for managing a diplomatic relationship with a country as consequential to UK and global interests as China, that cannot be, and has not been, factored into this planning decision by the Secretary of State at MHCLG.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much additional funding will be allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive through Barnett consequentials following the announcement of the pubs and live music venues relief scheme on 27 January; and whether they plan to extend that relief scheme to the wider hospitality sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Any Barnett consequentials for the Northern Ireland Executive resulting from changes to business rates revenues in England will be confirmed when business rates forecasts change at the relevant fiscal event.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have raised any concerns regarding the National Security Strategy of the United States of America, dated November, in discussions with that country’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The US remains the UK's most important defence and security ally. The Foreign Secretary met the US Secretary of State in Washington DC on 8 December to discuss cooperation on issues vital to our shared interests and security, and UK ministers and officials are in regular dialogue with their US counterparts on a wide range of areas.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of Ireland regarding their ability to make a financial contribution towards the protection of undersea cables serving the British Isles from sabotage by Russia.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
At the UK-Ireland Summit on 6 March 2025, the Prime Minister and Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced their commitment to deepen cooperation between the two nations, including in the area of defence. The UK and Ireland continue to discuss how we can improve our cooperation in maritime security, including critical undersea infrastructure.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the economy in Northern Ireland of increasing air passenger duty.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to securing the long-term future of the aviation sector in the UK and recognises the benefits of the connectivity it creates between the UK and the rest of the world.
Following previous increases to Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates to account for below inflation rates, the government will uprate APD rates in line with RPI from 1 April 2027 and rounded to the nearest penny. This constitutes a real terms freeze.
In 2012, the UK government devolved the power to set direct long-haul APD rates to the Northern Ireland Executive, and the Executive subsequently set these at zero. The UK government continues to set APD rates for short-haul international and domestic flights from Northern Ireland.
Reforms to APD took effect in April 2023, including the introduction of a new band for domestic flights, initially set at half the rate for short-haul international flights. The domestic rate applies to all flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and is currently set at £7 for economy passengers until 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number of additional people in Northern Ireland who will pay income tax due to the personal allowance threshold being frozen until 2031, and (2) the anticipated additional tax revenue for HM Treasury.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of people forecast to pay tax by marginal rate can be found in Table 3.19 in the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). This data reflects the decision made by the previous Government to maintain income tax thresholds at their current levels from April 2021 until April 2028.
3.19 Effect of personal tax threshold freezes on the number of taxpayers in each threshold (millions) [1]
| 2028-29 | 2029-30 | 2030-31 |
Number of taxpayers |
|
|
|
With indexation | 37.4 | 37.9 | 38.4 |
Without indexation | 42.1 | 42.9 | 43.5 |
…brought into income tax | 4.7 | 5.0 | 5.2 |
Number of higher-rate taxpayers |
|
|
|
With indexation | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
Without indexation | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.9 |
…brought into higher-rate band | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.8 |
Number of additional-rate taxpayers |
|
|
|
Previous £150,000 threshold | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
Aligned to the end of PA taper | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
…brought into additional-rate band | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
The latest yield of personal tax measures can be found in Table 3.18 in the OBR’s November 2025 EFO. As above, this data reflects the decision made by the previous Government to maintain income tax thresholds at their current levels from April 2021 until April 2028.
3.18 Latest yield of personal tax measures(£billions) [2]
| 2028-29 | 2029-30 | 2030-31 |
Changes to thresholds | 54.3 | 60.3 | 66.6 |