Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what cloud seeding operations are permitted over the United Kingdom, and who is responsible for controlling them.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The Government is not aware of any cloud seeding operations taking place in the UK and is not deploying such technologies and has no plans to do so. There are no UK or international laws specific to the regulation or governance of weather modification, however, there are many relevant existing legal frameworks and principles .

https://co-create-project.eu/publication/scoping-note-on-applicable-legal-frameworks/

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to establish the level of (1) the demand for carbon dioxide of the UK’s tree cover, and (2) the amount of carbon dioxide available to it.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The UK government is not currently undertaking any estimates of the demand for atmospheric carbon dioxide for the UK’s trees. However statistics published on behalf of the government by Forest Research estimate that the amount of carbon stored in UK forests is currently the equivalent of approximately 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

The current global carbon dioxide concentration is measured to be around 420 parts per million (0.042%), higher than at any time over at least the last 2 million years.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the HS2 project has cost to date; what estimate they have made of the cost of completing the project; and when they anticipate that it will be completed.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

This Government inherited an exceptionally bad position at HS2, and has been working hard to grip HS2’s spiralling costs and has tasked HS2 Ltd’s CEO with conducting a comprehensive review of the programme, including assessing the current position on cost and schedule. He will provide advice for government to assess leading to agreeing a reset budget in 2026.

As reported in the last HS2 report to Parliament in December 2024, overall spend to date was £30.2 billion (2019 prices). An update will be provided in the next report to Parliament.

The date for delivery of initial HS2 services between Birmingham Curzon Street and Old Oak Common by 2033 remains, but there are significant pressures on this schedule.

We will report to Parliament once we have agreed a revised estimate for cost and schedule.