Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 24th October The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 - Draft Explanatory Memorandum.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Barnett Consequential have been calculated for the Northern Ireland Executive following the recent announcement of additional rates support for (a) retail, (b) hospitality and (c) leisure in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As a result of decisions taken at the Autumn Budget, the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) is receiving £18.2 billion in 2025-26, including an additional £1.5 billion Barnett consequentials.
The NIE’s settlement for 2025-26 delivers a real-terms increase and is the largest in real terms of any settlement since devolution. The NIE is funded above its independently assessed relative level of need of 124% in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, including the 2024 restoration financial package.
The Block Grant Transparency publication, which sets out changes to devolved government funding in detail, will shortly be updated with changes made at Autumn Budget 2024. The most recent document was published in July 2023:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will release funding to enable payment for the Pay Review Body recommendation for a 5.5% pay uplift for health workers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) is being funded above its independently assessed relative need level of 124% in 2024-25 and 2025-26, including the 2024 restoration financial package. As a result of decisions taken at the Autumn Budget and Phase 1 of the Spending Review, the Northern Ireland Executive is receiving £18.2 billion in 2025-26. This represents the largest real-terms settlement since devolution.
The NIE is responsible for deciding how to allocate their funding across their devolved responsibilities, including the provision of pay awards for health workers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Health Minister on ensuring pay parity for health workers in Northern Ireland with Great Britain.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Public sector pay is a devolved matter. It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to take decisions on pay awards.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential merits of implementing a bespoke visa for for the horticulture sector in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
There have been no discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential merits of implementing a bespoke visa for the horticulture sector in Northern Ireland. The UK operates a national immigration system, covering all areas of the country. This includes the Seasonal Worker route, which specifically enables the UK horticulture sector, including those in Northern Ireland, to recruit seasonal workers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Hughes report published by the Patient Safety Commissioner on 7 February 2024, if he will take steps to introduce a compensation scheme which is open to (a) all UK and (b) Northern Ireland patients affected by sodium valproate.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity. Although the Hughes Report and its recommendations only cover patients harmed in England, the Government recognises that any response will likely have implications for the whole of the United Kingdom, and so we will engage with the devolved administrations on the Hughes Report.
Healthcare in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and, as such, it is respectfully requested that the question on introducing a compensation scheme for individuals harmed by sodium valproate in Northern Ireland be redirected to the Justice Minister for Northern Ireland or the Minister for Health for Northern Ireland, to be handled at a devolved level.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will make it his policy that any future Northern Ireland troubles legacy proposals will have capacity to deal with murders that took place after 10th April 1998.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Investigating suspected criminal activity that took place following the Good Friday Agreement is the responsibility of the relevant police force.
The Government is committed to repeal and replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy & Reconciliation) Act 2023. As part of this process, I have said that the Government will bring forward a remedial order under the Human Rights Act to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation & Information Recovery established by the Act is fully human rights compliant.
As part of this process, I am undertaking a period of consultation, including with the Northern Ireland parties, to discuss a pragmatic way forward that can both comply with human rights and command public confidence. I look forward to discussing any specific proposals that might help achieve this.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what his timetable is for the publication of guidance to Great Britain based businesses trading in Northern Ireland on the General Product Safety Regulations 2025 .
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The updated General Product Safety Regulation largely formalises the reality of how businesses are already operating in the UK and the measures are therefore likely to have limited impact. Where businesses need to make changes, we expect that they will be already adapting in order to continue trading with the EU. We will provide more guidance in this area shortly, will keep this under review and continue to engage businesses directly to ensure we are supporting them to trade freely across the whole of the UK.