Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 26 Nov 2025
Ministerial Code
"My Lords, has the Minister or the department received any representations from the Opposition—including from their spokesman who just spoke—that Mr David Kogan, with all his experience in sports management, is not an excellent choice? If he is, in fact, eminently well qualified and probably the best person for the …..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 26 Nov 2025
Ministerial Code
"My Lords, did the Minister note that, in his second intervention, the Opposition spokesman in no way made any criticism of David Kogan in relation to whether he was a fit and proper person to undertake the post? Does that not speak volumes?..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Written Question
Monday 27th March 2023
Asked by:
Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding will be provided for the independent statutory inquiry into the preventability of the Omagh bombing in August 1998.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
On 2 February 2023, an independent statutory inquiry into the Omagh bombing is being established under the Inquiries Act 2005. Consideration of the Terms of Reference and other details, including funding arrangements, are ongoing and will be a matter for discussion with the Chair, when appointed. More information will be set out in due course.
Written Question
Thursday 12th January 2023
Asked by:
Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much annual funding the Government provides to Police Service Northern Ireland.
Answered by Steve Baker
Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the PSNI’s main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant.
The recent Budget that the Secretary of State set for Northern Ireland provides the Northern Ireland Department of Justice with a 3.1% uplift on its 2021-2022 budget with a total allocation of £1.18 billion.
In addition to the block grant, the UK Government provides the Police Service of Northern Ireland with the additional security funding it needs to ensure that it has the resource to tackle the SUBSTANTIAL threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism. This additional security funding ensures PSNI’s ability to tackle the terrorist threat while ensuring day-to-day policing is not compromised.
The UK Government contribution for the financial year 22/23 will be £32 million. This is the same as what has been provided each year since 2015/16. This continued level of Additional Security Funding for the PSNI from the UKG has been confirmed through to 2024/25.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 27 Apr 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"2. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol. ..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 27 Apr 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"On trade, I am sure that the Minister will join me in welcoming the latest round of UK-US trade talks yesterday, and the progress on the US policy, and joint policy, of worker-centred trade deals. When we were in Washington last month, it was made absolutely clear to us in …..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 03 Mar 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
" What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the feasibility and viability of a tunnel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. ..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 03 Mar 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
"In those discussions, could the Minister not get together with the Department for Transport and point out the huge cost, the geological problems and the inconvenient reality that Britain and Ireland operate on a different rail gauge? Is it not time to dump this project at an early stage, along …..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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Written Question
Thursday 1st October 2020
Asked by:
Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Northern Ireland Office:
What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on increasing support for the hydrogen-powered bus sector in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Robin Walker
Northern Ireland has proven expertise with hydrogen-electric power in the bus sector and we have seen the introduction of the world’s first hydrogen-electric double-decker bus by Wrightbus this year.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland visited Wrightbus in August and recently discussed the opportunities for Northern Ireland with the Transport Secretary. I and my officials are engaging with DfT and BEIS on the UK bus and hydrogen strategies and aim to capitalise on our joint ambitions for these areas. It was good to see Wrightbus recently securing orders for hydrogen-electric buses through its H2Bus consortium and we look forward to forthcoming announcements on the UK’s Hydrogen and National Bus Strategies.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 24 Jun 2020
Oral Answers to Questions
" Prime Minister, the rehabilitation of offenders is supported right the way across the political spectrum, but the current operation of the Disclosure and Barring Service is a major obstacle to people turning their lives around. It is inefficient, unfair and, frankly, discriminatory. The Lammy report dealt with this in …..."Lord Spellar - View Speech
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