Baroness Hoey

The Government maintains a dialogue with the EU on matters of mutual interest. 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 adapting anyway in order to continue trading with the EU. We are providing more guidance in this area, will keep this under review and continue to engage businesses directly to ensure we are supporting them to trade freely across the UK.

The updated General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) largely formalises the reality of how businesses are already operating in the UK and the measures are therefore likely to have limited impact in practice. Where businesses need to make changes, we expect that they will be adapting anyway to be compliant with the new Regulation to continue trading with the EU. However, we are providing more guidance in this area, 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.

Zolvix 25 mg/ml Oral Solution for Sheep is authorised and labelled on a separate basis in Great Britain (GB) and in Northern Ireland (NI). Only packs labelled for the NI market may be placed on the NI market. Packs labelled only for the GB market cannot be placed on the market in NI.

The UK Rodenticides Stewardship Government Oversight Group is chaired by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and comprises representatives of other government stakeholders, who are HSE Northern Ireland; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; UK Health Security Agency; Natural England; and the Welsh and Scottish Governments. The group relies on analysis of environmental monitoring data provided by an independent research institute.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is inclined to renew the emergency banning order on puberty blockers with a view to converting it to a permanent ban, subject to appropriate consultation.

Human medicines and healthcare are transferred matters in respect of Northern Ireland. We are engaging with the Northern Ireland Executive, including on whether the ban should apply across the United Kingdom. We are committed to providing young people with holistic care, in line with the recommendations of the Cass Review.

The UK values the Commonwealth Secretariat's work on elections, including their election observation missions. This work plays a vital role in supporting resilient democratic institutions across the Commonwealth, in line with the values of the Commonwealth Charter. The Commonwealth Secretariat regularly provides updates on its work to all Commonwealth members and together they work to ensure effectiveness and value for money across Commonwealth programmes.

The Commonwealth Secretariat deploys independent Commonwealth Observer Groups to monitor elections. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Secretary-General to approve the publication of Commonwealth Election Observation Reports. Whilst we hope to see the report on the 2023 Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections soon, we do not wish to influence the independent Commonwealth process.

The government has no plans to reform duty-free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU, which would require border controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland and would run counter to the principles of the Windsor Framework.

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly.  This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.

The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.

• Grant 7 was launched in April 2024 to facilitate local authority support of increased dispersal accommodation (DA) accommodation.  The £3500 payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, overflow dispersal accommodation (ODA) and initial accommodation (IA).
• Grant 6 was launched in April 2024 to acknowledge the contribution of Local Authorities to supporting asylum seekers.  A payment of £750 was made for each occupied bedspaces as of 01 April 2024 and a subsequent payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, ODA and IA and contingency accommodation (CA).

The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly.  This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.

The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.

• Grant 7 was launched in April 2024 to facilitate local authority support of increased dispersal accommodation (DA) accommodation.  The £3500 payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, overflow dispersal accommodation (ODA) and initial accommodation (IA).
• Grant 6 was launched in April 2024 to acknowledge the contribution of Local Authorities to supporting asylum seekers.  A payment of £750 was made for each occupied bedspaces as of 01 April 2024 and a subsequent payment will be made for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, ODA and IA and contingency accommodation (CA).

All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual facts and merits in accordance with our international obligations.

The Home Office’s assessment of the situation for different groups in different countries is set out in the relevant country policy and information note, which are available via https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-policy-and-information-notes.

All asylum and human rights claims are carefully considered on their individual facts and merits in accordance with our international obligations.

Veterans' Commissioners are currently appointed by Ministers. The Ministry of Defence, through the Office for Veterans' Affairs, continues to work closely with the Veterans’ Commissioner for Wales (VCfW), and the Scottish Veterans’ Commissioner (SVC), who is appointed by and reports to the Scottish Government (SG). The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is working through the next steps to appoint a new Northern Ireland Veterans’ Commissioner.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of convictions for criminal offences including terrorism offences for the period requested in the Outcomes by Offence data tool found at the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

However, it is not possible to separately identify convictions for offences relating to specific terrorist organisations. This information may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

There were 10,435 (3,578 remand, 6,486 sentenced and 371 non-criminal) Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) held in custody on 30 June 2024; representing 12% of the total prison population.

See below table for top 10 nationalities held in custody on 30 June 2024:

The Government is committed to the removal of FNOs. All FNOs in receipt of custodial sentences are referred to the Home Office to be considered for deportation.

The total cost of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from 1998, when it was established, to the end of May 2010 when it concluded, was £191.2 million.

Judge Corey recommended that the Government hold public inquiries into the deaths of Rosemary Nelson, Billy Wright, Robert Hamill and Patrick Finucane. The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and the Billy Wright Inquiry cost £46.46 million and £30.5 million respectively. As the Robert Hamill Inquiry Report is still to be published, final costs are not yet available.

Funding of £250m was agreed with HMT in 2023 to cover the implementation of all aspects of the Legacy Act 2023. The lion's share of this funding was for the establishment and operation of the ICRIR (£230m), with the remainder ring fenced for memorialisation and official history measures that seek to promote wider societal healing/reconciliation. This funding derived from the £150 million allocated to implement the Stormont House Agreement and £100 million allocated through the New Deal, New Approach agreement.

As outlined in the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s Oral Statement of 11 September 2024, the Government has considered the likely costs of the inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane and its impact on the public finances. It is the Government’s expectation that the inquiry will - while doing everything that is required to discharge the State’s human rights obligations - avoid unnecessary costs given all the previous reviews and investigations and the large amount of information and material that is already in the public domain.

The Government takes reasonable steps to control the costs of inquiries, including capping legal costs as appropriate.

Since the election, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland have met with the Irish Taoiseach and Tanáiste, respectively, and underlined the Government’s commitment to repeal and replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

We will continue to engage closely with the Irish Government with a view to finding a practical way forward. The participation of both the UK and Irish governments in a legacy process is important if we are to achieve better outcomes for victims and survivors. Of course, we hope that such a process will lead to the withdrawal of the interstate case, though that is a matter for the Irish Government.