Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of food inflation on family budgets in (1) Northern Ireland, (2) England, (3) Scotland, and (4) Wales.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Tackling inflation is this government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year.
Annual food price inflation, reported by the ONS, was 19.1% in April 2023. This was a decrease of 0.1 percentage points on the March 2023 rate. Overall CPI inflation decreased to 8.7% in April 2023 down from 10.1% in March 2023. The rate of food price inflation in the UK equalled the average rate for the EU in March 2023.
The recent high levels of inflation have primarily been driven by higher energy prices and pressures on global supply chains and there are signs those are beginning to ease. Industry analyst expectations are that we are either at or approaching the food price inflation peak, from which point they expect food price inflation to gradually decrease over the remainder of 2023. We will need several more months of data to be confident that the fall this month is a reflection that the peak has already been reached.
While we do not have individual data on food price inflation rates for the devolved nations, we do have some statistics from the Office of National Statistics on differences in average household spend for the different devolved nations. For the year from April 1st 2020 to March 31st 2021, UK households spent on average £64.90 on food and non-alcoholic beverages, compared to £65.50 for England, £62.20 for Wales, £60.10 for Scotland and £70 for NI. As a proportion of total expenditure, this was 11.7% for UK, 11.5% for England, 12.7% for Wales, 12.4% for Scotland and 14.6% for Northern Ireland.
The average impact of food inflation on household budgets within each of the devolved administrations will depend on both the relevant food inflation rate, and the proportion of total expenditure spend on food per household in that region.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the current exceptionally high cost of living. To protect the most vulnerable from the worst of cost-of-living pressures, the Chancellor recently announced a package of targeted support worth £26 billion, which includes continued support for rising energy bills.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they are expecting to contribute to the redevelopment of Casement Park; and when the building work is due to be completed.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The joint UK / Republic of Ireland bid to host EURO 2028 was submitted to UEFA on 12 April 2023. The bid proposes 10 stadia, with the inclusion of Casement Park in Belfast enabling Northern Ireland to be a prospective host for the tournament, so that local communities can benefit from the considerable socio-economic benefits of hosting an event of this scale.
There has been a long-standing commitment in Northern Ireland, as part of the regional stadium development programme, to redevelop Casement Park – alongside the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park and Kingspan Stadium, which have already undergone improvements. Given the inclusion of Casement Park in the bid, HM Government is working closely with partners in Northern Ireland to ensure that the redevelopment is adequately funded, is delivered in good time, and complies sufficiently with UEFA’s technical requirements.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will release the funding for football stadia in Northern Ireland on a sub-regional basis in advance of the re-establishment of a Northern Ireland Executive; and whether the amount of funding will be increased to reflect inflationary pressures since the funding was announced in 2011.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sports policy is a devolved matter, and the allocation of funding for stadia is a matter for the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.
It remains the UK Government’s firm view that the right people to make these decisions are locally elected politicians in a fully functioning Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the policing costs for (1) the visit by President Biden to Northern Ireland, and (2) the Agreement 25 Conference at Queen’s University, Belfast; and whether the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be reimbursed.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
President Biden visited the UK as a Guest of Government. It is long-standing policy not to comment on protective security arrangements. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect the security of the individuals concerned.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 12 April (HL7072), what discussions they plan to have with the European Commission to enable residents of Northern Ireland to buy duty free products when travelling from Northern Ireland to the EU.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government’s duty-free policy remains unchanged after the agreement of the Windsor Framework. Northern Ireland enjoys frictionless trade with both the rest of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – the Government is committed to ensuring that remains the case.
Enabling duty-free shopping between Ireland and Northern Ireland could lead to significant distortions of trade on the island of Ireland as well as a significant revenue loss for both UK and Ireland by creating a legal route for unlimited amounts of alcohol and tobacco to flow into the UK and EU markets duty-free.
The Government therefore has no plans to raise this matter 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 progress they have made in implementing the Community Pharmacy Commissioning Plan for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is acutely aware of the broader pressures facing health services in Northern Ireland and remains committed to supporting the restoration of the Executive in Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
As such, a locally elected, accountable and effective devolved government is, and will remain, the right way to address this issue. The Government stands ready to work with a restored Executive, but we have a responsibility to ensure public services and management of public funds can continue in its absence.
As such, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has introduced the Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill to ensure continued clarity on the powers for Northern Ireland Departments to maintain delivery of public services. This will mean that decisions in crucial areas - such as to ensure the maintenance of public services - can continue to be taken in the absence of an Executive.
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 to reform the Northern Ireland Drug Tariff.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is acutely aware of the broader pressures facing health services in Northern Ireland and remains committed to supporting the restoration of the Executive in Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
As such, a locally elected, accountable and effective devolved government is, and will remain, the right way to address this issue. The Government stands ready to work with a restored Executive, but we have a responsibility to ensure public services and management of public funds can continue in its absence.
As such, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has introduced the Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill to ensure continued clarity on the powers for Northern Ireland Departments to maintain delivery of public services. This will mean that decisions in crucial areas - such as to ensure the maintenance of public services - can continue to be taken in the absence of an Executive.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with the Police Service of Northern Ireland about providing financial support to increase officer numbers.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland's main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant. It is for the devolved administration to determine the allocation of funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland from the Block Grant.
The recent Budget that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set for Northern Ireland, in the absence of a functioning Executive, provides the Northern Ireland Department of Justice with a total allocation of £1.2 billion.
In addition to the block grant, the UK Government provides the Police Service of Northern Ireland with additional security funding to tackle the SEVERE threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism. In the financial year 2022/3, this was £32 million and is confirmed through to 2024/5.
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 whether existing legislation relating to the use of e-scooters in urban areas is fit for purpose.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the UK, e-scooters are treated like any other motor vehicle under the Road Traffic Act which means that they are subject to laws requiring them to be built and used safely. The law was not drafted with e-scooters in mind and therefore it is not possible for most e-scooter users to comply with the legal requirements for motor vehicles as set out in this paragraph. As a result, the use of private e-scooters is illegal under current legislation, and enforcement is a matter for the police.
The Department is currently running trials of rental e-scooters in 24 areas across England, including urban areas, to assess their safety and wider impacts. The trials will help us to better understand the benefits of e-scooters and their impact on public space, and help consider options for future regulations for e-scooters.
When parliamentary time allows, the Department intends to create a Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle (LZEV) category that is independent of the cycle and motor vehicle categories. The first beneficiaries of this new system will be e-scooters, which we intend to legalise for private and rental use through secondary legislation. No decisions have been made on the details of the regulations for e-scooters, and we will consult in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they had a policy in place to allow only one bid per local authority area in Northern Ireland to be awarded funding in Levelling Up Fund Round 2; and whether that policy was in place elsewhere in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Bids were assessed against the criteria set out in the Levelling Up Fund prospectus to deliver a shortlist of the strongest bids. Ministers then followed the published decision-making approach outlined in section 3 and section 5 of the Levelling Up Fund technical note.
As set out in the published technical note, the shortlists in Great Britain and Northern Ireland were separate.
Ministers agreed to prioritise a fair spread of approved projects in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is explained in the explanatory note published on 19 January 2023.