Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the policy objective is of (a) extended producer responsibility and (b) packaging recovering notes; and what the relationship is between the two policies.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) is intended to make producers responsible for the costs of managing their packaging, incentivising them to use less packaging and make the packaging they do use more sustainable.

The key pEPR obligations include paying local authority disposal costs for the management of packaging collected from households and public information campaigns, in addition to scheme administration and regulator fees. pEPR also includes a recycling obligation, which requires producers to obtain PRNs, based on the amount of packaging they have placed on the market, from accredited reprocessors and exporters. The cost of PRNs is intended to support the actual recycling of the collected packaging waste.

Combined, pEPR disposal fees and the cost of PRNs support the collection, sorting and reprocessing of packaging, as well as the costs of disposing of packaging which is not recycled.

A full explanation of how the pEPR system will operate can be found the Explanatory Memorandum published alongside the Producer Responsibility (Packaging and Packaging Wate) Regulations which were laid in Parliament on the 24^th October The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 - Draft Explanatory Memorandum.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of eligible households in Belfast South and Mid Down constituency are availing of the Tax Free Childcare scheme.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Data on Tax-Free Childcare users for 2024 parliamentary constituencies will not be published until May 2025. However, the number of families who used Tax-Free Childcare in 2023/24 in the three former constituencies that predominantly make up Belfast South and Mid Down was as follows:

Belfast South - 1435

Lagan Valley - 1580

Strangford - 930

This data was published in table 11 of the Tax-Free Childcare Official Statistics in August 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-june-2024

The number of families eligible for Tax-Free Childcare is not available by parliamentary constituency and so it is not possible to calculate the proportion that are using the scheme.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will take steps to increase (a) sustainable travel options and (b) (i) rail and (ii) sail provision between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The UK ferry market predominantly operates on a private sector, commercial basis without government support or intervention. As such decisions on increased services is a matter for the relevant operators, and we note that there are multiple routing options for ferry access between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is considering options to decarbonise the domestic maritime sector which - alongside the expansion of the UK ETS to domestic maritime from 2026, will deliver more sustainable travel options between GB and NI.

The Northern Ireland rail network is fully devolved, operated by Translink and provided grant capital from Department for infrastructure.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to revise the upper purchase price on help to buy ISAs in line with the housing market.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

This Government is committed to helping first time buyers own their own home, and will do this by building 1.5 million more homes.

The Government keeps savings policy under review, any changes of this kind would be made at a relevant fiscal event.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she is making on returning the level of the aid budget to 0.7% of gross national income.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government remains committed to restoring Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending to 0.7% of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow, but this isn’t currently affordable. The OBR’s latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The Government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of Overseas Development Assistance spent on development and humanitarian work overseas.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government is taking measures to reduce the asylum backlog and end the use of expensive hotel accommodation. We expect these plans to enable a greater proportion of the ODA budget to be spent on our international development priorities overseas. The FCDO's ODA programme budget, including the Integrated Security Fund, is planned to be £9.24 billion in 2025/26 - the highest level in recent years and an increase of around £450 million from 2024/25.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department will provide (a) guidance and (b) practical support to (i) charities, (ii) community groups and (iii) voluntary groups to assist them in complying with the requirements of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

Free, dedicated guidance and support will be provided to ensure that those in scope will understand how to meet the obligations of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill. Guidance is currently being designed so that it is self-explanatory and easy to follow. It will be published ahead of the Bill’s requirements coming into force.

The Bill requires the production of two separate pieces of guidance: statutory guidance for the public to understand how they can meet the requirements of the legislation; and operational guidance which will set out how the regulator will discharge its duties. This will be freely available on the Security Industry Authority website and Gov.uk.

We continue to engage with key stakeholders across relevant sectors including those in the voluntary and community sector in developing this guidance.

In the interim, factsheets have been published on gov.uk which provide more detailed information on certain elements of the Bill Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill 2024: factsheets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). We also continue to encourage referral to the ProtectUK platform for the latest updates on the Bill.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill on (a) charities, (b) community groups and (c) voluntary organisations that organise events.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is extremely mindful of the many community, voluntary-run and charity events that occur across the UK.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill has been designed to achieve public protection outcomes whilst avoiding undue burden on businesses and other organisations.

Many organisations will have procedures and measures in place for fire safety and health and safety legislation. This Bill’s proposals are based on similar concepts, following similar systems and processes. The ‘reasonably practicable’ standard of requirements in both tiers is designed to allow procedures and measures to be tailored to the specific circumstances of a premises or event. This will enable those responsible to consider what is within their control and the resources they have available to them, as well as what is suitable and appropriate for their premises or event.

Dedicated guidance and support will be provided for those in scope of the Bill, to ensure that they have the required information on what to do and how best to do it. The guidance will be easy to follow, needing no particular expertise.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission will consider matters relating to Northern Ireland.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Energy policy is largely devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE). As such the Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission is focused on decarbonisation of the power system in Great Britain. However, we are keen to share learnings from this process with colleagues in Northern Ireland and will work with them to this end as NIE produces its own plan to decarbonise the power sector, which will receive UK government support.

Violence against women in Northern Ireland

Renewal of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Imprisonment of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

UN Special Rapporteur's report on atrocity crimes in Iran

Socio-economic Duty

Review into breast cancer screening

Impact of the Work Capability Assessment on disabled people

Family visas

Humanitarian situation in Sudan (No. 2)

Found: Members present: Tonia Antoniazzi , in the Chair Dan Aldridge Chris Bloore Sorcha Eastwood Claire Hanna

Found: meeting Members present: Tonia Antoniazzi (Chair); Dan Aldridge; Chris Bloore; Sorcha Eastwood; Claire Hanna

Submit Evidence (by 15 Jan 2025)

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is launching a follow-up inquiry into the funding of public services in Northern Ireland.

No description available

Submit Evidence (by 31 Jan 2025)

The committee is undertaking an inquiry into the operation of the Windsor Framework in Northern Ireland, scrutinising the implementation of commitments from the movement of goods to rights obligations.

Submit Evidence (by 5 Feb 2025)

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry into Government policy on the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland.