Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards agreeing a trade deal with the United States.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK-US trading relationship is already worth around £300 billion, supporting over a million jobs and representing 17% of total UK trade. This government's priority is economic growth and increasing trade with international partners is a major part of that. The Prime Minister had a warm call with President Trump on 26 January where they discussed trade and the economy and agreed to meet soon for further discussions.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making in agreeing a trade deal with Canada.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Secretary of State met with his Canadian counterpart Trade Minister Mary Ng at the G7 in July last year; they discussed the paused bilateral FTA and agreed that senior officials should begin discussions to see if there could be a pathway to resuming negotiations.
Minister Alexander met with Minister Ng twice since then, including in Vancouver last November where they agreed that these discussions should continue, and they remain ongoing. Meanwhile, the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement remains in force, facilitating approximately £27 billion in bilateral trade.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) legal, and (2) diplomatic, considerations relevant to establishing direct flights from the United Kingdom to Northern Cyprus.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Under the 1944 Chicago Convention, only the Republic of Cyprus may designate Ercan as an international customs airport and grant permission for flights. It has not done so. This means that no direct air services between the north of Cyprus and the UK can take place as it would be contrary to the UK’s obligations under the Chicago Convention.
A just and lasting settlement on the island is the best chance of resolving these complex issues. The UK’s commitment to helping the sides achieve this remains unwavering.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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]
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
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 1st Jan 2025; this was 19,657 higher than 1st Jan 2024.
Date | Public charging device network count on this date | Year-on-year change to public charging device network count |
1st January 2020 | 16,505 |
|
1st January 2021 | 20,775 | 4,270 |
1st January 2022 | 28,375 | 7,600 |
1st January 2023 | 37,055 | 8,680 |
1st January 2024 | 53,677 | 16,622 |
1st January 2025 | 73,334 | 19,657 |
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.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to reinitiate talks between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to reunite the island; and, if so, how the Prime Minister’s decision to meet the President of the Republic of Cyprus but reportedly not the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus during his visit to the region on 9–10 December supports this objective.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, as a Guarantor Power and a friend to all parties, will continue to support UN efforts to create an enduring settlement on the Cyprus issue. The Prime Minister met President Christodoulides to discuss a wide range of issues across our bilateral relationship. During the Prime Minister's visit, senior officials met Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot negotiators to encourage both sides to engage constructively with the UN-led process on Settlement. We do not recognise the so-called "TRNC" but will continue to work with all Cypriots including Turkish Cypriots and their representatives as part of the UN process.