Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what volume of goods entered the United Kingdom through the Port of Holyhead in each of the last three years.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The volume of trade entering into the United Kingdom through the Port of Holyhead in the last three years is as follows:

The table shown is compiled of both EU and Non-EU import trade. Due to specific customs procedures, this data may not include the following:

Goods moved through Holyhead that have been declared at another port/airport.

Goods which are transiting through Holyhead but will not stay in the UK.

Goods which are not declared on a customs declaration or excluded from trade statistics.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an accredited official statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what figures relating to (1) train service cancellations, and (2) the punctuality of arrival at final destinations, they require the major UK train service operators to provide; and how are these figures used to evaluate the performance of those operators.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Most operators currently have a National Rail Contract, which sets quantifiable performance targets for operators to earn a performance-based fee. There are six measures including train service cancellations and the punctuality at each station call. A proportion of the total fee is available for each of the six different measures designed to incentivise on-time operations and fewer cancellations.

Performance targets are intended to be stretching, balance a range of outcomes, and represent value for the taxpayer. These targets are set as part of a commercial contract and are subject to negotiation.

Work is currently underway on setting out new performance targets for train operators in public ownership.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with companies providing radioisotopes for cancer screening and treatment regarding the future security of supplies and options for manufacturing those isotopes in the UK; and what was the outcome of those discussions.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department regularly engages with suppliers, specialist clinicians, the British Nuclear Medicine Society, industry, and the UK Radiopharmacy Group to assist in the management of supply issues for medical radioisotopes, including those used for cancer screening and treatments. The Department also works with the National Health Service and other parts of the Government to better understand future needs for medical radioisotopes.

There is no current reactor-based production of medical radioisotopes in the United Kingdom. There is an existing network of cyclotrons for the close to hospital manufacture of specific medical radioisotopes in the UK, and these are directly contracted by the NHS on a trust level.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from the Farmers' Union of Wales in the past nine months regarding the impact of their policy of inheritance taxation for agricultural land.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has received representations about inheritance tax from several agricultural organisations in the past nine months, including from the Farmers' Union of Wales. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and other Ministers have also participated in several meetings with agricultural organisations, including with the Farmers’ Union of Wales, since the Budget in October 2024 to listen to their views.

After listening, the Government continues to believe its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have taken steps, in negotiating a trade agreement with the United State of America, to ensure that food standards will not be reduced in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Gustafsson - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We have had constructive discussions with the US on an economic deal, and we remain committed to these talks. But, as we have made clear, we will only ever sign trade agreements which align with the UK’s national interests. Our manifesto was also clear that we will always uphold our high food standards.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many inmate deaths have occurred in HMP Parc in the last two years; and what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of inmates in the prison.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Every death in custody is a tragedy and my thoughts are with the families and friends of the prisoners who have died at Parc.

There were 25 prisoner deaths at HMP Parc between January 2023 and December 2024. This includes 14 deaths by natural causes, 3 that were apparently self-inflicted and 8 other deaths (a category which includes those that were apparently drug-related and those that are currently unexplained)[1].

We are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible. At HMP Parc, we have taken a number of measures to improve safety, including:

• Increased intelligence gathering.

• Additional lock down searches and staff training.

• Making changes to leadership and senior staffing structures.

• Collaborating with colleagues in the Local Health Board, to provide additional mental health and substance misuse support.

HMP Parc remains focused on improving safety, and this is reflected in the action plan developed in response to the recent report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons which will be published in the coming months.

[1] These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database. Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons, but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what volume of freight entered Britain from (1) Northern Ireland, and (2) the Republic of Ireland, in (a) the most recent year for which figures are available, (b) 2020, and (c) 2015; and what proportion of each of those figures was goods for onward transport to countries within the European Union.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport publishes Port Freight Statistics annually where the statistics are broken down by route. They show that in 2023 (latest data available), Great Britain imported 19.2m tonnes of goods from Northern Ireland through its maritime ports, and Great Britain imported 6.8m tonnes goods from the Republic of Ireland through its maritime ports.

The maritime freight from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and, from Republic of Ireland to Great Britain for 2020 and 2015 can be seen in table 1.

Table 1: Maritime freight from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain in the years 2015, 2020 and 2023. (Source: Department for Transport)

For the time series back to 2000, please see the Department for Transport’s published tables, PORT0707 for Northern Ireland - Great Britain and PORT0499 for Republic of Ireland - Great Britain.

The Department for Transport (DfT) also publishes road freight statistics, which provides information about the domestic and international activity of British-registered and Northern Ireland-registered heavy good vehicles (HGVs). This excludes activity by foreign-registered HGVs and light good vehicles. This is collected by DfT road freight haulage surveys. Due to a methodology change in the data collection, domestic road freight statistics data before and after 2021 should not be compared.

For 2023 (latest figures), 2.2 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and 0.5 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and the Republican of Ireland. This is published in the domestic road freight statistics table RFS0130 and RFS0131. Please note, this refers to the volume lifted from and to, not just entering Great Britain.

The Department for Transport has not included aviation freight because these volumes are significantly lower than maritime and road freight (of the order of a few thousand tonnes).

The Department for Transport does not hold information on the proportion of the goods that were subsequently moved onwards to countries within the European Union.

Found: Baroness Goudie; Baroness Hodgson of Abinger; Baroness Pitkeathley; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Wigley

Found: Browning; Lord Crisp; Baroness Goudie; Lord Hope of Craighead; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Wigley

Found: Browning; Lord Crisp; Baroness Goudie; Lord Hope of Craighead; Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick; Lord Wigley