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 (Minister for Women and Equalities)
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.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what evaluation they have made of the ongoing utility of the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention following recent developments in Eastern and Northern Europe.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (also known as the Ottawa Convention) continues to play an important role in protecting civilians from harm caused by anti-personnel landmines. As a State Party to the Ottawa Convention, the UK’s commitment to it remains unwavering. We continue to encourage countries to join the Ottawa Convention, subscribe to its provisions; and discourage States from using anti-personnel landmines.
His Majesty's Government has noted that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have stated their intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty. The UK acknowledges and shares concerns about the security environment in the region as a result of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. We also acknowledge that it is the sovereign right of those countries to make this decision. The UK will work to mitigate impacts on vital arms control and disarmament norms, while continuing to engage bilaterally on the actions States plan to take.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants attended COP29 in Baku in November 2024.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The full list of UK delegates who attended COP29 was 448 and was published by the UNFCCC, along with other country delegations. It can be found on the UNFCCC website. The number of UK delegates that attended COP28 was 674.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what in their guidance for cost-benefit analysis is the current monetary value of a life year.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Green Book provides a figure of £70,000 for the value of a Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY). This is expressed in 2020-21 prices.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to issue the latest consultation on a code of practice for parking charges and debt recovery fees.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities. This government is determined to drive up standards in the private parking sector and will announce its plans for the new Code in due course.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 11 February (HL4960), what is the reason for the delay between the close of the consultation on hydrogen-powered off-road construction vehicles, and the development of an amendment to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In light of the responses received during the consultation process, a decision was made to adapt the approach to hydrogen safety in the proposed amendment for both Non-Road Mobile Machinery and agricultural equipment. Since the consultation closed, the department has taken the time to liaise closely with manufacturers and other regulators to work through the detail.
In addition, policy development of the amendment was paused over the general election period in line with government practice. This legislation is due to be laid in April 2025.