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Written Question
UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much expenditure they have incurred since 2020 assisting businesses engaging with rules and regulations pertaining to the movement of goods between (1) Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and (2) Great Britain and Northern Ireland, following agreement with the EU on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, and subsequently the Windsor Framework.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

  • The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including through schemes such as the Trader Support Service and Movement Assistance Scheme. There is no central provision made for support schemes.

  • As the Government announced in September last year, the current term of Trader Support Service will run to December 2024. Information about the costs of the Trader Support Service is published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts. The total cost of the Movement Assistance Scheme up to the end of January 2024 was £29.8m. The Government also launched a £50m labelling financial assistance scheme, to assist businesses with the costs of meeting labelling requirements.

  • We have always been committed to taking steps necessary to support businesses - both through the WF arrangements for internal trade but also for those whose business models may not fall within them. This is entirely excepted funding support and so has no negative implications for the NI block grant, where of course the Government has also provided an unprecedented £3.3bn as part of the recent efforts to restore the Executive.

  • It is not the case that the money available to support schemes would be diverted to any other project in Northern Ireland - if the support scheme were to be withdrawn then no additional funding of any kind would be available in NI as a result.


Written Question
Windsor Framework: Private Sector
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are (1) the value, and (2) the term length, of each contract awarded to private sector companies to assist with the implementation of the Windsor Framework.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

  • The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including through schemes such as the Trader Support Service and Movement Assistance Scheme. There is no central provision made for support schemes.

  • As the Government announced in September last year, the current term of Trader Support Service will run to December 2024. Information about the costs of the Trader Support Service is published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts. The total cost of the Movement Assistance Scheme up to the end of January 2024 was £29.8m. The Government also launched a £50m labelling financial assistance scheme, to assist businesses with the costs of meeting labelling requirements.

  • We have always been committed to taking steps necessary to support businesses - both through the WF arrangements for internal trade but also for those whose business models may not fall within them. This is entirely excepted funding support and so has no negative implications for the NI block grant, where of course the Government has also provided an unprecedented £3.3bn as part of the recent efforts to restore the Executive.

  • It is not the case that the money available to support schemes would be diverted to any other project in Northern Ireland - if the support scheme were to be withdrawn then no additional funding of any kind would be available in NI as a result.


Written Question
Windsor Framework
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what financial provision they have made for the 2024–25 financial year to assist businesses dealing with the requirements of the Windsor Framework for the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

  • The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including through schemes such as the Trader Support Service and Movement Assistance Scheme. There is no central provision made for support schemes.

  • As the Government announced in September last year, the current term of Trader Support Service will run to December 2024. Information about the costs of the Trader Support Service is published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts. The total cost of the Movement Assistance Scheme up to the end of January 2024 was £29.8m. The Government also launched a £50m labelling financial assistance scheme, to assist businesses with the costs of meeting labelling requirements.

  • We have always been committed to taking steps necessary to support businesses - both through the WF arrangements for internal trade but also for those whose business models may not fall within them. This is entirely excepted funding support and so has no negative implications for the NI block grant, where of course the Government has also provided an unprecedented £3.3bn as part of the recent efforts to restore the Executive.

  • It is not the case that the money available to support schemes would be diverted to any other project in Northern Ireland - if the support scheme were to be withdrawn then no additional funding of any kind would be available in NI as a result.


Written Question
Industry: Government Assistance
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Scottish Government has made a formal request for the transfer of the (a) powers and (b) associated budget to provide financial assistance to industry under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 to the Scottish Parliament.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

The power under s.8 so far as it is exercisable in or as regards Scotland, was transferred to Scottish Ministers by section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998, effective from 01/07/99. As such, no formal request for transfer of powers or associated budget is required. The power remains exercisable in Scotland by the UK Secretary of State by virtue of section 56(1)(h) of the 1998 Act; and can also be exercised concurrently by the Secretary of State and Scottish Ministers in relation to financial assistance for shipping services carrying passengers between the Highlands and Islands and Northern Ireland by virtue of S.I. 2002/1630(S. 6).


Written Question
Hydrogen: Production
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what funding assistance they are providing for market structures and mechanisms for supporting increased hydrogen production.

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

The UK’s strong policy framework – including the Hydrogen Production Business Model, Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard – has created an investable model which has leveraged private investment to kick start the UK’s hydrogen economy.

Government is supporting projects to move the UK closer to our hydrogen ambitions.

In December 2023 we announced 125MW of successful projects from Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR) 1, and have since launched HAR2, aiming to allocate up to a further 875MW in 2025, subject to affordability and value for money.


Written Question
South Asia: Development Aid
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the (1) actual, and (2) projected, aid contributions to individual countries in South Asia, broken down by category of project.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We do not have a breakdown by project category of future spend. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

We do have information on project category spend for previous calendar years which is published in the statistics on international development. This data is based on calendar year not financial year and covers the whole of HMG. Please see below data based on 2022, the last available calendar year.

2022

2022 Total

Row Labels

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

Bhutan

India

Maldives

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Administrative costs (non-sector allocable)

£273,832

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£150,105

£0

£423,938

Advanced technical and managerial training

£0

£0

£0

-£54,390

£0

-£2,535

£0

£0

-£56,924

Agricultural development

£1,292,411

£0

£0

£47,020

£0

£0

-£1,361,746

£0

-£22,316

Agricultural policy and administrative management

£0

£2,809

£0

-£152

£0

£0

£0

-£253,566

-£250,909

Agricultural research

£0

£0

£0

£240,948

£0

£0

£7,715

£0

£248,663

Agricultural services

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

Anti-corruption organisations and institutions

£2,518,313

£576,402

£0

£0

£0

£175,805

£144,143

£0

£3,414,663

Basic drinking water supply

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£569,574

Basic drinking water supply and basic sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£639,497

-£1,361,746

£0

-£722,250

Basic health care

£707,157

£250,000

£0

£0

£0

£2,994,645

£387,457

£0

£4,339,258

Basic life skills for adults

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£258,611

£0

£0

£258,611

Basic nutrition

£0

£712,997

£0

£0

£0

£14,770

£0

£0

£727,767

Basic sanitation

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£37,522

-£2,723,493

£0

-£2,335,971

Biodiversity

£0

£22,328

£0

£165,389

£74,068

£961,707

£37,573

£67,842

£1,328,907

Business development services

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

£0

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

Business policy and administration

£0

£0

£0

£565,783

£0

£0

£437,513

£0

£1,003,296

Civilian peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution

£4,130,547

£1,981,030

£0

£0

£0

£4,399

£2,225,242

£1,355,856

£9,697,073

Communications policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£127,531

£0

£44,422

£0

£171,953

COVID-19 control

£0

£23,407

£0

£802,602

£0

£0

£5,949

£0

£831,958

Culture

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£61,341

£0

£61,341

Culture and recreation

£0

£0

£0

-£22,408

£0

£0

£85,158

£0

£62,750

Decentralisation and support to subnational government

£0

£0

£0

£0

£138,288

£2,475,959

£0

£0

£2,614,248

Democratic participation and civil society

£250,000

£1,394,795

£0

£0

£57,419

£973,571

£443,327

£0

£3,119,111

Domestic revenue mobilisation

£0

-£728,536

£0

£193,016

£0

£117,203

£1,059,571

£0

£641,254

Education and training in water supply and sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£12,737

£0

£0

£12,737

Education facilities and training

£0

£115,830

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,464,741

£0

£1,580,571

Education policy and administrative management

£0

£577,278

£0

£97,983

£0

£0

£3,077,249

£0

£3,752,510

Educational research

£0

£361,000

£0

-£266,036

£0

£188,423

£594,639

£0

£878,026

Elections

£0

£12,027

£0

£0

£0

£0

£900

£0

£12,927

Electric mobility infrastructures

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

Electric power transmission and distribution (centralised grids)

£0

£0

£0

£68,700

£0

£173,312

£0

£0

£242,012

Emergency food assistance

£128,041,086

£8,635,594

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£136,676,679

Employment creation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£255,005

£0

£0

-£255,005

Ending violence against women and girls

£21,461,697

£1,009,135

£0

£0

£0

£728,846

£3,068,578

£0

£26,268,255

Energy generation, renewable sources - multiple technologies

£0

£0

£0

-£889,376

£0

£1,200,806

£0

£0

£311,430

Energy policy and administrative management

£0

£50,553

£0

£158,146

£0

£368,287

£0

£0

£576,985

Energy research

£0

£0

£0

£23,688

£0

£147,098

£0

£0

£170,786

Energy sector policy, planning and administration

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

Environmental education/training

£0

£0

£48,668

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£48,668

Environmental policy and administrative management

£635,676

£6,904,699

£0

£24,064,426

£0

£4,380,855

£5,812,804

£0

£41,798,459

Environmental research

£0

£120,723

£0

£3,082,518

£0

£863,732

£0

£0

£4,066,974

Facilitation of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility

£0

£102,902

£0

£0

£0

£234,377

£0

£0

£337,279

Family planning

£265,080

£565,862

£0

£0

£0

£102,500

£3,660,244

£0

£4,593,686

Financial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£507,690

£0

£0

£301,387

£0

£809,077

Formal sector financial intermediaries

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

£0

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

Health education

£338,898

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,770

£0

£0

£558,668

Health personnel development

£0

£273,503

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£273,503

Health policy and administrative management

£0

£1,760,392

£0

£3,122,660

£0

£2,298,530

£343,452

£0

£7,525,034

Higher education

£911,301

£649,203

£172,288

£2,693,479

£214,955

£434,329

£1,992,063

£395,690

£7,463,308

Human rights

£0

£1,775,384

£0

£0

£183,646

£0

£0

£0

£1,959,030

Immediate post-emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation

£4,081,072

£2,602,056

£0

£0

£0

£1,382,031

£12

£0

£8,065,171

Industrial development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£317,516

£0

£0

£317,516

Industrial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,102,394

£0

£0

£1,102,394

Infectious disease control

£0

£344,911

£0

£106,589

£0

£721,591

£3,657

£0

£1,176,748

Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£65,012

£0

£129,305

£0

£0

£1,327,810

Information and communication technology (ICT)

£0

£277,978

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£277,978

Legal and judicial development

£0

£562,328

£0

£0

£207,433

£219,762

£1,059,545

£23,435

£2,072,502

Legislatures and political parties

£0

£0

£0

£0

£86,128

£28,936

£0

£0

£115,064

Livestock

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,133,493

Low-cost housing

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

£0

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

Material relief assistance and services

£133,863,525

£7,210,063

£0

£0

£0

£367,000

£13,753,266

£1,840,000

£157,033,854

Media and free flow of information

£0

£27,380

£0

£0

£85,021

£201,771

£0

£0

£314,172

Medical research

£0

£349,577

£0

£3,227,794

£0

£153,028

£1,625,422

£0

£5,355,821

Medical services

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

£0

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

Monetary institutions

£0

£0

£0

-£4,122,509

£0

£367,746

£0

£0

-£3,754,763

Multi-hazard response preparedness

£0

£3,119,353

£0

£0

£0

£2,296,059

-£346,074

£0

£5,069,339

Multisector aid

£10,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£10,000,000

Multisector education/training

£179,070

£2,964,257

£0

£10,757,244

£0

£1,082,590

£5,089,541

£1,148,813

£21,221,516

Participation in international peacekeeping operations

-£26,486,939

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£26,486,939

Personnel development for population and reproductive health

£0

£628,071

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£628,071

Population policy and administrative management

£0

£63,206

£0

£0

£0

£49,325

£159,552

£0

£272,083

Primary education

£677,795

£1,749,487

£0

£96,754

£0

£0

£1,368,615

£0

£3,892,652

Privatisation

£4,424

£0

£0

£62,081

£0

£0

£0

£0

£66,505

Public finance management (PFM)

£0

-£4,128,373

£0

£0

£0

£820,701

£1,854,023

£0

-£1,453,650

Public sector policy and administrative management

£34,999

£576,042

£0

£859,780

£0

£789,046

£91,270

£0

£2,351,137

Relief co-ordination and support services

£59,853,084

£2,072,828

£0

£0

£0

£0

£6,022,939

£0

£67,948,851

Removal of land mines and explosive remnants of war

£5,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£5,000,000

Reproductive health care

£1,369,857

£1,435,386

£0

£52,362

£0

£490,359

£1,851,776

£0

£5,199,740

Research/scientific institutions

£378,625

£1,287,873

-£72,577

£740,328

£0

£1,049,080

£908,916

£2,760

£4,295,005

Road transport

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£2,256,726

£1,800

£0

£1,121,383

Rural development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£202,165

£0

£0

£202,165

Security system management and reform

£0

£43,536

£0

£0

£458,799

£69,946

£0

£0

£572,281

Site preservation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development

£5,530

£0

£0

£1,245,753

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,251,283

Social Protection

£0

£1,351,346

£0

£39,879

£0

-£345,949

£226,615

£0

£1,271,891

Solar energy for centralised grids

£0

£0

£0

£117,792

£0

£648,694

£0

£0

£766,486

Statistical capacity building

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£353,100

£0

£0

£353,100

Teacher training

£0

£508,061

£0

£0

£0

£0

£663,698

£0

£1,171,759

Trade facilitation

£5,530

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£133,722

£0

£139,252

Trade policy and administrative management

£6,637

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£203,275

£0

£209,912

Transport policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£69,054

£0

£128,892

£1,200

£0

£199,146

Tuberculosis control

£0

£29,991

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£29,991

Upper Secondary Education (modified and includes data from 11322)

£338,898

£897,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£985,293

£0

£2,221,190

Urban development

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

£0

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

Urban development and management

£0

£1,050,000

£0

£78,000

£0

£695,269

£781,523

£0

£2,604,792

Vocational training

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£646,527

£0

£0

£646,527

Waste management/disposal

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

£0

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

Water resources conservation (including data collection)

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£219,574

Water sector policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£31,842

£0

£0

£31,842

Water supply - large systems

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£737,655

£0

£0

£737,655

Water supply and sanitation - large systems

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions

£0

£1,800,998

£0

£0

£0

£59,406

£1,444,631

£0

£3,305,036

Grand Total

£352,405,092

£54,672,670

£148,379

£45,728,404

£1,633,288

£37,241,408

£57,842,803

£4,580,830

£554,252,874


Written Question
Ukraine: Reconstruction
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist with rebuilding destroyed or damaged areas in Ukraine when the conflict there ends; and what assistance the UK will provide in training citizens in that country to enable them to lead in all work of reconstruction.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to helping Ukraine recover from Russia's illegal invasion. The UK and Ukraine co-hosted the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London in June 2023, raising over $60 billion towards Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction. We are helping to build Ukraine's capacity to deliver recovery and reconstruction projects at an unprecedented scale. The UK's Infrastructure Projects Authority is providing strategic advice to State Agency for Restoration. We are also working to mobilise private sector investment for reconstruction through initiatives on reforms and good governance, financial markets and insurance, business expertise, infrastructure and energy.


Written Question
Companies: Regulation
Tuesday 13th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Cruddas (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the terms and scope of the Review of Non-Financial Reporting; who is undertaking that review; and when it will be available for scrutiny by members of the House of Lords.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government published the “Smarter regulation non-financial reporting review: call for evidence” in May 2023, seeing views on the non-financial disclosure requirements under the Companies Act, particularly the Strategic and Directors’ Reports. A list of requirements in scope of the review can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/smarter-regulation-non-financial-reporting-review-call-for-evidence/annex-individual-reporting-requirements. The review is being undertaken by the Department for Business and Trade with assistance from the Financial Reporting Council. The findings of the review will be published, and any resulting legislative changes will be laid before Parliament for scrutiny in due course.


Written Question
Guide Dogs: Business Premises
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle refusal of entry of guide dogs into business establishments.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses and public bodies that provide goods and services to the public must not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people, including those with assistance dogs.

The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This could include allowing the use of assistance dogs so that disabled customers are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled customers.

The Disability Action Plan published on 5th February 2024 includes an action to establish an assistance dogs and animals working group, which will consider issues including how to educate businesses on the rights of assistance dog owners and to help simplify reporting access refusals.


Written Question
British Library and Cybersecurity
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they intend to provide to the British Library to aid (1) its recovery from the ransomware attack on 31 October 2023, and (2) the continuation of its research services; and what additional measures they have put in place to assist British institutions to (a) improve overall resilience, and (b) defend against cyberattacks.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have been working closely with the British Library since the cyber-attack it sustained in October 2023. DCMS formed an incident response team, providing security guidance, recommendations and support to the British Library, and officials from the Department continue to work with their counterparts at the British Library.

The British Library is working hard to restore its services and began a phased return of key services on 15 January 2024.

Despite the cyber attack, the British Library’s buildings have remained open and well-used throughout, and it has maintained some key services including reading room access for personal study and some limited collection item ordering, exhibitions, learning events, business support, and onsite retail. In the immediate aftermath essential services such as WiFi and event ticket sales were quickly re-established.

On 15 January, the British Library restored a searchable online version of its main catalogue, comprising records of printed books, journals, maps, music scores and rare books.

The Government Cyber Security Strategy sets out our plan significantly to harden the Government’s critical functions against cyber attacks by 2025, with all Government organisations across the public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities no later than 2030. We are working closely with publicly-funded institutions to enhance their overall cyber-resilience and to ensure that these targets are met.