Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether imports from the United States of America to Northern Ireland which are not in transit to the European Union will be subject to EU trade defence measures.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom customs territory and internal market. We are looking closely at the retaliatory tariffs announced by the EU and any impact these might have on Northern Ireland businesses.
Under the Windsor Framework, where US imports into NI do not subsequently enter the EU, traders can reclaim any additional duties through the Duty Reimbursement Scheme in full without any limit on total claims.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that imports from the United States of America to Northern Ireland which are not in transit to the European Union do not have tariffs applied at the rate prescribed to the EU.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom customs territory and internal market. We are looking closely at the retaliatory tariffs announced by the EU and any impact these might have on Northern Ireland businesses.
Under the Windsor Framework, where US imports into NI do not subsequently enter the EU, traders can reclaim any additional duties through the Duty Reimbursement Scheme in full without any limit on total claims.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the financial cost to the UK of the damage and disruption caused by Storm Eowyn.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since Storm Éowyn made landfall, His Majesty’s Government’s focus has rightly been on making sure that requests for support in response to its impacts across the UK, were managed quickly and effectively and delivered to whichever part of the UK they were required. It is too early to say what the financial costs of the impacts of the Storm have been.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what regulatory or legislative changes they intend to make on chemical classification, labelling and packaging to maintain the internal market within the UK and to ensure full access to EU markets.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On Monday 20 January, in recognition of the deeply held and genuine concerns raised by Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly about a specific regulation on Chemical Classification, Labelling and Packaging, the Government set out its commitment to take any future steps necessary to avoid new barriers that would affect supplies of such products into Northern Ireland. This includes applying a consistent regime in this area of regulation across the whole of the UK where that is necessary to do so. We will consult as soon as possible, which will determine what regulatory or legislative changes may be necessary.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial quantity of trade for businesses dealing with chemical products between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Weir of Ballyholme
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
29 January 2025
Dear Lord Weir of Ballyholme,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the financial quantity of trade for businesses dealing with chemical products between Northern Ireland and Great Britain (HL4282).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published interregional trade in goods and services between UK regions at the International Territorial Level 1 (ITL1) geography, by grouped industry for the years 2019 and 2020[1]. The ONS do not currently publish interregional trade estimates for the chemical manufacturing industry, however this industry is estimated as part of the manufacturing industry interregional trade estimates. The manufacturing industry may not capture all businesses dealing with chemical products as industry allocation is based on the main activity of the business and so there will be businesses not in the manufacturing industry that purchase or sell chemical products.
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) also publish exports and imports between Northern Ireland and Great Britain between businesses in the manufacturing industry[2]. Variations between the ONS’s and NISRA’s estimates are due to methodological differences.
The ONS data on interregional trade within the manufacturing industry between Northern Ireland and Great Britain can be found in Table 1. NISRA data on trade within the manufacturing industry between Northern Ireland and Great Britain can be found in Table 2.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Interregional total trade, trade in goods and trade in services between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, manufacturing industry, exports and imports, 2019 and 2020.
£ million, current prices
Year | Total Trade | Trade in Goods | Trade in Services | |||
Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | |
2019 | 4346 | 2830 | 4193 | 2464 | 153 | 366 |
2020 | 4272 | 2527 | 4140 | 2232 | 132 | 295 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
Table 2: NISRA trade in goods and trade in services between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, manufacturing industry, exports and imports, 2016 and 2023.
£ million, current prices
Year | Total Trade | Trade in Goods | Trade in Services | |||
Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | |
2016 | 8363 | 2504 | 8234 | 2140 | 129 | 364 |
2017 | 5473 | 2685 | 5331 | 2308 | 142 | 377 |
2018 | 4462 | 2933 | 4305 | 2490 | 157 | 444 |
2019 | 4346 | 2833 | 4193 | 2465 | 153 | 368 |
2020 | 4630 | 2434 | 4502 | 2065 | 128 | 369 |
2021 | 5924 | 2494 | 5304 | 2175 | 621 | 319 |
2022 | 6591 | 3207 | 6386 | 2823 | 205 | 384 |
2023 | 6784 | 3312 | 6661 | 2948 | 122 | 364 |
Source: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the removal of restrictions on movement of human medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, as a result of the Windsor Framework, and subsequently agreed to by the EU, also covers the movement of medical vaccines for human usage.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Windsor Framework secured an unprecedented settlement for human medicines, ensuring that licensing of all medicines will happen on a UK-wide basis by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from 1 January 2025. The same medicines, in the same packs and with the same labels, will be available across the United Kingdom.
This also applies to vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines can therefore be moved between GB and NI without restrictions.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what restrictions, if any, exist for the movement of thawed COVID-19 vaccine products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland for commercial purposes as a consequence of provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Windsor Framework secured an unprecedented settlement for human medicines, ensuring that licensing of all medicines will happen on a UK-wide basis by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from 1 January 2025. The same medicines, in the same packs and with the same labels, will be available across the United Kingdom.
This also applies to vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines can therefore be moved between GB and NI without restrictions.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether all five joint consultative UK–EU sub-groups as outlined in the Windsor Framework have been established and complete membership appointed on both sides.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The rules of procedure of the Joint Consultative Working Group (JCWG) provide for the establishment of structured sub-groups. Five new structured sub-groups have been established and UK and EU co-chairs for each group have been appointed. Consistent with the JCWG rules of procedure, before each meeting, those sub-groups inform each other of the intended composition of their respective delegations. The delegations are confidential unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings have taken place of each of the five joint consultative UK–EU sub-groups established under the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Consistent with the Joint Consultative Working Group (JCWG) rules of procedure, meetings of the structured sub-groups to the JCWG are held as necessary and on a confidential basis.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) further statutory instruments, or (2) other pieces of legislation, they still need to bring forward to fully implement the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Since the Windsor Framework was agreed in February 2023, the Government has been working to deliver the full benefits of that agreement for people and businesses in Northern Ireland. The Government has introduced secondary legislation to that effect and any further legislation would be introduced in Parliament in the usual way.