Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government why duty-free allowances between the Netherlands and Northern Ireland differ from duty-free allowances between the rest of the EU and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Duty free allowances do not apply for travellers from the EU arriving in Northern Ireland. The enforcement controls required at the border to facilitate such allowances would run counter to the shared ambitions of the UK and the EU set out in the Windsor Framework and the principle of the frictionless movement of people and goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Travellers from the Netherlands to Northern Ireland are not treated differently to travellers arriving in Northern Ireland from any other member state.
Travellers can bring in for their personal use an unlimited quantity of goods from any EU member state into Northern Ireland without paying UK duties and taxes on arrival.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government why there is a change in duty free allowances between the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There have been no changes to duty free allowances between the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what differences, if any, there are between duty-free allowances between the Netherlands and Northern Ireland and between the Netherlands and the rest of the UK.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no duty free allowances between any member state of the EU and Northern Ireland. Travellers can bring in for their personal use an unlimited quantity of goods from any EU member state into Northern Ireland without paying UK duties and taxes on arrival.
For goods brought into Great Britain from a member state of the EU by a traveller for their personal use, duty free allowances apply.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the 45 per cent increase in scientific procedures using horses from 2015 to 2025, set out in the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2025; and what steps they are taking to replace the use of horses in science with human specific technologies.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The increase in horse procedures between 2015 and 2025 should be viewed in context: while procedures rose by 45%, the number of horses used for the first time fell from 581 to 100. In 2025, around 69% of horse procedures were routine blood sampling for regulatory purposes and were assessed as mild severity. The Government is supporting the development, validation and regulatory uptake of alternative methods, including human-specific technologies, through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, and requires animals to be used only where no validated alternative exists.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the duty-free allowance for cigarettes when travelling from an EU airport to the UK was introduced; how and when it has changed over the last ten years; and what the rationale for any change was.
Answered by Lord Livermore
Following the UK's departure from the EU, duty-free allowances, including for cigarettes, were reintroduced for travellers arriving in Great Britain from EU member states.
This change took place at the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.
Duty free allowances do not apply for travellers from the EU arriving in Northern Ireland. The enforcement controls required at the border to facilitate these allowances would run counter to the shared ambitions of the UK and the EU set out in the Windsor Framework and the principle of the frictionless movement of people and goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
There have been no changes to the duty free allowance for cigarettes since 2020.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the 9 per cent increase in scientific procedures using dogs in 2025, set out in the annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Although scientific procedures involving dogs increased by 9% in 2025, the number remains low by historical standards, with only 2024 reporting a lower figure. Overall, the use of dogs in science has declined over the past decade.
Dogs are used only where necessary and justified under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). This is most commonly in regulatory safety testing to assess the safety and efficacy of medicines and other products, where no suitable non-animal alternative is available. The number of procedures requiring dogs may increase or decrease from year to year largely due to changes in regulatory testing requirements, scientific and public health priorities and the availability of suitable non-animal alternatives.
The Government’s Replacing animals in science strategy, published in November 2025 and backed by £75 million, contains measures to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. These measures, together with continuing regulatory scrutiny and independent advice from the Animals in Science Committee, will support further replacement, reduction and refinement of animal procedures.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia establishes care co-ordination as a minimum national expectation for the care of those living with dementia; and whether the Modern Service Framework will include associated outcome measures.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. Those with dementia will also benefit from more joined up care through co-created care plans, as by 2027, 95% of those with complex needs will have an agreed care plan.
The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
As part of development of the modern service framework, we will consider what interventions should be supported to improve dementia care, including metrics, data, and outcome measures.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the government of Ireland in relation to cooperation with the work and investigations of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Joint Framework includes unprecedented information sharing commitments by the Irish Government, and we welcome the recent publication by the Irish Government of proposals for legislation that will facilitate this.
However, we are aware that the present lack of information-sharing arrangements between the ICRIR and Irish authorities is impacting a number of Commission investigations.
The Government meets regularly with the Irish Government, at both ministerial and official level, to discuss a range of legacy issues. In the course of such meetings we have raised the matter of Irish authorities co-operation and information sharing with ICRIR, in light of the Dillon judgment, which found the ICRIR capable of conducting effective and human rights compliant investigations.
While this is ultimately a matter for the Irish Government, the UK Government has been clear that it is our view that such a step would allow those cases to progress for the benefit of victims and survivors who have requested these investigations.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were recruited into the National Institute for Health and Care Research supported phase 3 trials for (1) dementia, (2) cancer, (3) stroke, and (4) coronary heart disease, in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Clinical Research Delivery key performance indicators (UKCRD KPI) report monitors the United Kingdom’s delivery of globally competitive clinical research.
The following table shows the number of participants recruited for phase 3 trials for dementia, cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease:
Disease type | Number of participants recruited |
Dementia | 208 |
Cancer | 4908 |
Stroke | 1267 |
Coronary heart disease | 1092 |
This data is an unpublished subset of statistics published under indicator 6 of the UKCRD KPI report, which measures the number of participants recruited to clinical studies. The information is taken from studies recorded on the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network’s (RDN) Central Portfolio Management System.
Studies are included where they recruited during the period between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. The data was processed and assured by the NIHR RDN data and analytics and specialty teams using the same established checks applied to the data provided to the Department for publication in the UKCRD KPI report.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to project 4 in the non-technical summaries of project licences granted January-March 2026 that require a retrospective assessment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, what assessment they have made of the scientific validity of implanting devices into the skulls of non-human primates while they play video games.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances the understanding of major public health challenges. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how brain cells, together with brain chemicals, support key mental processes including learning, memory, planning and decision-making. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to aid the development of therapies for neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression, addiction and dementia.
All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised.
The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.