Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of domestic heat pumps sold in the UK last year; how many of those were produced in the UK; and how many were imported, and from which countries.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Heat Pump Association estimates that over 98,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK in 2024. The majority of these will be for domestic use. https://www.heatpumps.org.uk/resources/statistics/
Research commissioned by the Government in 2020 found that around two thirds of heat pumps installed in the UK were imported, the majority from the European Union
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-pump-manufacturing-supply-chain-research-project
The Government is supporting domestic heat pump production through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, which provides grants to manufacturers to expand, repurpose, or build facilities, to help strengthen the UK supply chain and attract investment.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to announce the appointment of the National Armaments Director, and when they expect the director to take up the role.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
An announcement on the appointment of the National Armaments Director will be made in due course once the necessary recruitment processes and relevant approvals have been finalised.
The successful candidate will take up the role after the appropriate notice period from their previous employer has been served.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of solar panels imported into the UK last year, and from which countries these solar panels were imported.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department has not estimated the number of solar panels imported into the UK, however HMRC publishes the mass of solar panels imported on its data portal at www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of the Nottingham Inquiry.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Terms of Reference of the Nottingham Inquiry were published on 22 May and like all public inquiries it must avoid unnecessary costs to public funds.
The Inquiry is responsible for presenting a preliminary budget within a reasonable timeframe to the sponsor department for approval. As the sponsor department, the Ministry of Justice will ensure that public funds are properly planned and accounted for. The Lord Chancellor will publish the full costs of the Inquiry in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they provided to local authorities for the planning and construction of cycle lanes in the past year.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In the 2024/25 financial year, Active Travel England provided £40.5m of revenue funding through the Capability Fund, and £54.2m of capital funding through the Active Travel Fund 5 to local authorities outside of London. This funding supports a range of activities to boost active travel, including the planning and construction of schemes to improve walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure. Further funding for active travel has been confirmed for 2025/26.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of chemically washed chicken on human health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No chemicals are approved for the purpose of washing chicken carcasses in the United Kingdom, and therefore, chicken that has been chemically washed cannot be placed on the UK market. Any changes would require ministerial agreement across the nations of the UK and then an amendment to legislation, which would be subject to parliamentary oversight.
While the UK was a member of the European Union, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) completed assessments on behalf of member states, including the UK, relating to the effects of chemical washes applied to chicken. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) periodically reviews the available evidence, including scientific literature, for new information that could address previously identified evidence gaps or trigger reviews of previous risk assessments. Although some new research has been published in this area since the previous assessments and has been reviewed since the UK’s exit from the European Union, this has not significantly changed the conclusions drawn by the EFSA with regard to chemical, microbiological, or antimicrobial risk. The FSA has no active work in this area and no current plans to initiate new assessments.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 30 April (HL6622), whether any other Department holds the figures of the number of certified nuclear welders in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The Government does not hold the figure on the number of certified nuclear welders in the UK.
Hinkley Point C has invested £24m in education, skills and employment, including £4m in the development of a Centre of Excellence for Welding at Bridgwater and Taunton College. HMG also continues to support UK nuclear skills through the industry led National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills, a collaborative effort between Government, industry, and academia, setting out targeted action to address the skills gap and secure the UK’s nuclear workforce. This includes the on-going development of a welding course as part of the Career Switchers project in the Nuclear Skills Plan. In addition, the Destination Nuclear national communications campaign has targeted people that could work in the sector’s critical skills areas, including welders.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the (1) value, and (2) tonnage of (a) scrap copper and, (b) scrap steel, that the UK exported in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The value and tonnage of scrap steel and copper exported from the UK in 2024 is as follows:
Table 1: The UK's scrap steel* and copper exports in 2024, by export value (£millions) and net mass (thousand tonnes) |
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| Export Value (£millions) | Exports Net Mass (million tonnes) |
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Scrap steel* | 2,490.4 | 7.5 |
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Scrap copper | 1,334.5 | 0.3 |
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Grand Total | 3,824.9 | 7.8 |
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Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics, uktradeinfo, compiled on 30th April 2025 |
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*Please note that some of the commodity codes reported in the Table 1 above include elements of scrap iron. |
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Please see OTS methodology for details. The table shown is compiled of both EU and Non-EU export trade. This data is compiled from the following commodity codes: |
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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.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many nuclear certified welders there are currently in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not produce their own figures on the number of welders in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many welding apprentices there are currently in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of starts and enrolments on welding apprenticeship courses in England are shown in the table below.
| Standard name | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 reported to date |
Starts | Multi-Positional Welder (Arc Processes) (ST0350) | low | low | low | low |
Nuclear Welding Inspection Technician (ST0292) | 10 | 10 | 10 | low | |
Pipe Welder (ST0851) | 60 | 100 | 110 | 130 | |
Plate Welder (ST0852) | 210 | 250 | 340 | 290 | |
Welder (ST0349) | 340 | 310 | 340 | 250 | |
Enrolments | Multi-Positional Welder (Arc Processes) (ST0350) | 90 | 30 | 10 | low |
Nuclear Welding Inspection Technician (ST0292) | 20 | 20 | 30 | 20 | |
Pipe Welder (ST0851) | 120 | 200 | 260 | 340 | |
Plate Welder (ST0852) | 400 | 600 | 810 | 860 | |
Welder (ST0349) | 510 | 640 | 650 | 570 |
Note:
(1) Published in March 2025, the data set includes full-year figures from 2021/22 to 2023/24 and figures from August 2024 to January 2025 for 2024/25.
(2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10.
(3) Total starts are the count of apprenticeships started at any point during the stated academic period. Learners starting more than one apprenticeship will appear more than once.
These figures are published in the ‘Apprenticeships’ accredited official statistics publication, which can accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships/2024-25.