Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 25 February, what steps they are taking to ensure unfettered access of chemical products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government underlines its commitment to ensure the smooth flow of chemical products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This includes applying a consistent approach to the regulation of chemical products across the whole of the UK where it is necessary to do so.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the tonnage of seed potatoes which (1) Northern Ireland sent to Scotland, and (2) Scotland sent to Northern Ireland, in the past five years, broken down by seed classification
Answered by Baroness Hayman
The following table shows the tonnage of seed potatoes moved in the past five years broken down by seed classification (data from 2020 for Northern Ireland to Scotland is unavailable due to COVID related disruption):
Seed Classification | Northern Ireland to Scotland Quantity (Tonnes) | Scotland to Northern Ireland Quantity (Tonnes) |
Pre basic (PB) | 0 | 826.2 |
Basic (S) | 17.5 | 1415.3 |
Basic (SE) | 0 | 695.7 |
Basic (E) | 0 | 3387 |
Total | 17.5 | 6324.1 |
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to protect the unfettered flow of supplies to Northern Ireland in chemical industries.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Northern Ireland has unfettered access to the whole UK internal market, this ensures a smooth flow of goods, including in relation to chemical industries. The UK Government is steadfastly committed to continue protecting Northern Ireland’s unfettered access which has been guaranteed in perpetuity
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the EU to enable consumers in Northern Ireland to receive plants and seeds directly from businesses in Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Under the Windsor Framework professional operators, including growers and garden centres, can move plants (including trees) and seeds between Great Britain and Northern Ireland via the new Northern Ireland plant health label scheme.
Consumers wishing to source plants and seeds direct from GB growers will be able to do so through a registered operator in Northern Ireland. We maintain a close working relationship with the horticultural industry to ensure that consumers can access plants and trees from a wide variety of sources.
We continue to have regular conversations with the EU on a wide range of issues related to the application of the Windsor Framework and its impacts on consumers in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding has been allocated for (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25, to the scheme providing funding to businesses for "Not for EU" product labelling.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
To support traders in making the labelling changes for the Windsor Framework we are providing £50m of funding for the 2023-24 financial year. As this funding is to support businesses in making the transition to the new labelling requirements no further funding will be offered in 2024-25.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the plant health labelling scheme for Northern Ireland confers upon businesses all the rights available under the UK Plant Passport scheme.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Northern Ireland plant health label (NIPHL) scheme operates in a similar way to the existing UK plant passport regime for goods moved across other parts of the UK and is integrated with the UK scheme.
A NIPHL can be attached to goods prior to their movement to Northern Ireland by an authorised GB seller - in the same way as the current UK plant passport regime. This arrangement reduces the burden on businesses, who will be authorised to issue and/or attach the NIPHL in a similar manner as is required under the current UK plant passport.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether funding provided to businesses for "Not for EU" product labels will be ongoing mainstreamed funding or a one-off fund.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The funding for traders is being offered to support the transition to the new labelling requirements. As the “Not for EU” labelling requirements will be a standard part of doing business in the UK after this transition there is no intention to offer ongoing funding.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have in the current session of Parliament either to reintroduce the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill or to support its reintroduction.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
We are disappointed that the Hunting Trophies Bill failed to progress in the House of Lords in the previous session, in spite of overwhelming support from MPs for our proposals. We are committed to delivering on our manifesto pledge to ban the import of hunting trophies and will continue to explore ways to bring this forward.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether under the regulations arising out of the Windsor Framework individual consumers can purchase and have delivered to Northern Ireland plants and trees from Great Britain, as opposed to the import of plants and trees being restricted to registered professional operators based in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the funding of £50 million announced to support businesses to cover costs of not-for-EU labelling has been baselined for future funding, or whether it is one-off funding.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The first phase of ‘Not-for-EU’ labelling requirements under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme took effect from 1 October. Further phases will follow in October 2024 and July 2025. The Government would not normally provide any financial support to businesses for the cost of new labelling requirements. However, in recognition of the accelerated timescale compared with standard labelling changes, we have exceptionally made available a £50 million fund, the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme. This will cover 2023-24 (phase one) costs only, because the following phases are in line with normal timescales for labelling changes. Redesign, printing and warehouse costs for product, box, and shelf level labelling will all be in scope.
The Government will publish its assessment of the costs of the new labelling requirements in due course. The £50 million grant fund we have announced is designed to cover the majority, though not all, of industry costs incurred in this respect. This is to encourage efficiency and because labelling changes would normally be part of the cost of doing business for the food industry, as well as to protect the public purse.