Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with Harland and Wolff to provide the company with a UK Export Finance Guarantee; and when they expect a final decision to be made.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I am unable to comment on ongoing transactions for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers entered Northern Ireland from Great Britain in (1) 2020, (2) 2021, (3) 2022, (4) 2023, and (5) 2024.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data on the number of asylum seekers that have entered Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The Home Office does publish data on asylum seekers in receipt of support as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on gov.uk. As at 31 December 2023, there were 2,839 people in receipt of asylum support in Northern Ireland. Please note that asylum seekers are accommodated in Northern Ireland only if they apply for asylum there.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they received legal advice from the Attorney General prior to the Illegal Migration Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent which indicated that parts of the legislation would not apply in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government receives legal advice as appropriate, on all matters related to the passage of new legislation, as part of advice from officials.
Any legal advice received is subject to legal professional privilege and, as such, the Home Office does not comment on legal advice that may or may not have been sought or received.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether armed forces personnel engaged in ongoing counterterrorist operations in Northern Ireland are eligible to receive the new Wider Service Medal; and if not, why.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Wider Service Medal will be retrospective to 11 December 2018, and a small number of operations have already been considered and confirmed as eligible for the medal. Other operational activity that could be within scope for the medal will be considered over the coming months and this might include operational activity in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many super-injunctions are currently in effect in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
There is currently one super-injunction in force which was made in the Kings Bench Division of the High Court.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on defence as a share of gross domestic product in each year since 2010.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
NATO’s published figures for UK defence spending as a percentage of GDP spend since 2010 are below.
Year | Share of gdp |
2010 | 2.47 |
2011 | 2.38 |
2012 | 2.16 |
2013 | 2.24 |
2014 | 2.14 |
2015 | 2.03 |
2016 | 2.09 |
2017 | 2.08 |
2018 | 2.10 |
2019 | 2.08 |
2020 | 2.35 |
2021 | 2.29 |
2022 | 2.29 |
2023 | 2.28 |
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Defence or the Minister for Armed Forces attended the meeting between the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Micheál Martin, the Republic of Ireland’s Minister for Defence, in London on 13 December 2023; and what defence-related matters were discussed.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Neither the Secretary of State for Defence nor the Minister for Armed Forces attended the meeting in question. The Foreign Secretary and the Tánaiste discussed a wide range of foreign policy, defence and security matters, including international development, peacekeeping, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the shared threat we face from malign state actors.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Defence has spent in each of the past five years on surveillance operations to protect the network of undersea cables serving the British Isles from sabotage by hostile actors; and what proportion the government of the Republic of Ireland has contributed towards the cost of those operations.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government takes the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure very seriously and we focus on the full range of threats and risks. The responsibility for maintaining subsea cables is a commercial one for the owner-operators. However, the Department for Science Innovation and Technology and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero work closely with the operators, regulators and other stakeholders to assess risks and ensure that the appropriate mitigation measures, including the provision of specialist capabilities are in place to enable an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.
The Ministry of Defence constantly monitors activity within UK waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone to counter and deter detected threats. British warships frequently patrol throughout the UK marine area. We have invested in our under-water capabilities able to monitor and assure the seabed including the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) programme which we do not comment on in detail. These capabilities are used for a variety of purposes and roles meaning that we cannot provide a cost for surveillance.
Questions on critical national infrastructure are for individual nations to answer, therefore any questions on Irish subsea cables should be directed to the Irish Government.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Gaelic Athletic Association with regard to increasing the £15 million intended to contribute towards the redevelopment of Casement Park in Belfast; and how much the overall project is currently estimated to cost.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland is responsible for the procurement process for the redevelopment of Casement Park, including direct engagement with local partners on their funding contributions.
We are working closely with partners in Northern Ireland to make sure that EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the whole United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to release the Levelling Up Fund Round 3 allocation ring-fenced for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.