Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any road building schemes have been stopped because of climate change considerations.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
No DfT-sponsored road schemes in England have been stopped due to climate change considerations. Environmental considerations, including climate change impacts, are considered at key stages of the development of road schemes.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any targets have not been met in relation to climate change policy, legislation and regulations.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Climate Change Act sets our commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in law as well as interim ‘carbon budget’ targets which set a legal limit on net territorial emissions over 5-year periods. The UK over-achieved against the first, second and third UK-wide carbon budget targets. We are now in the fourth carbon budget (2023-2027). The UK has already halved its emissions, having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023.
Looking ahead to future climate change targets, the Government will deliver an updated Carbon Budget Delivery Plan that will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver carbon budgets 4-6 on a pathway to net zero by 2050. The Government will set Carbon Budget 7 by June 2026, in line with our statutory duties.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take following the findings of Mr Justice Humphreys in the matter of an inquest into the deaths of Kevin Barry O’Donnell, Patrick Vincent, Peter Clancy and Sean O’Farrell.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We acknowledge concerns about the coroner’s findings in the Clonoe inquest and the Ministry of Defence is reviewing the coroner’s findings carefully. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial commitment there is to the Reserve Forces and Cadet Associations to ensure their positive roles are enhanced.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCAs) provide a vital role in supporting Defence activity. Their future funding is assured as part of the Ministry of Defence’s Annual Budget Cycle processes. Financial information for the RFCAs can be found in the published Consolidated Financial Statements in their Annual Reports and Accounts, the latest three of which were placed in the Library of the House on 22 October 2024. These documents extend to Financial Year (FY) 2022-23 and can be found as Deposited Papers at the following website: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2286623/details.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to strengthen the current structures of the Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The 2019 Review of the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCAs) recommended that the Council of RFCAs (CRFCA) and the 13 RFCAs should be merged into a single Executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). The Ministry of Defence is currently developing the requisite NDPB operating structure which will preserve the voice and influence of the membership, both at the national and regional level, and will also ensure that structures are consistent throughout the organisation.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made representations to BBC Northern Ireland after it described the Special Air Service in an article published on 11 January as “one of the British Army's most infamous regiments”.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
While I am unable to comment on UK Special Forces specifically, I can say that our military is respected worldwide for the highest standards of conduct and excellence on operations.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide any consular support to citizens of Israel in the Republic of Ireland, following the closure of Israel’s Embassy in Dublin.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and UK embassies, high commissions and consulates provide consular assistance to British nationals abroad who need our support. An Israeli national would only be eligible for FCDO consular support in Ireland if they also held British nationality. Israeli/British dual nationals would be entitled to full FCDO consular services in Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist in the introduction of a renewable energy support scheme in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Energy policy is devolved to Northern Ireland. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is engaging closely with the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy (DfE) in the development of a renewable electricity support scheme. Officials and I engage regularly with ministerial counterparts from the DfE. The DfE published information last year on the scheme’s high-level design considerations[1] .
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many migrants in 2024 were (1) returned from the Republic of Ireland to the UK, and (2) returned from the UK to the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data on returns to the UK.
Data on returns from the UK are published in the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release'. Data on returns to the Republic of Ireland are published in table Ret_D02 of the Returns detailed datasets accompanying the release. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of September 2024. Data up to the end of December 2024 will be released in February 2025.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many farms, if transferred in (1) England, (2) Wales, (3) Scotland, and (4) Northern Ireland, are eligible for the payment of inheritance tax following the Budget of 30 October.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief [1].
It is expected that up to around 2,000 estates will be affected by the changes to APR and BPR. Up to around 520 of these are expected to relate to claims for APR (including those that also claim for BPR), and this number falls to around 430 when claims that include AIM shares are excluded. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
Estates claiming agricultural property relief are required to provide HMRC with the value of agricultural assets, and this is used when calculating whether tax is due. However, it is not possible to provide constituency level analysis on claims which may be made in the future.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms