Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the United Kingdom Government–Northern Ireland Executive Joint Board last met; and what was discussed.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The most recent meeting of the Joint Board was on 21 October 2020. Consistent with the Joint Board’s purpose, a number of issues relating to the implementation of the New Decade, New Approach agreement were discussed.
It was acknowledged that whilst Covid-19 has impeded the implementation of the ambitious programme of public service transformation set out in NDNA, good progress has been made on investing the £50million worth of funding for decarbonisation, in particular on addressing public transport emissions.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to mark the centenary of the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
In line with the Government's New Decade, New Approach commitments, Northern Ireland’s centenary provides an opportunity to facilitate national recognition and international awareness of this important anniversary, in which we will both reflect on the past and build for the future. There are a number of key historical milestones which fall during the centenary year, one of which is the anniversary of the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which we are keen to see marked.
There are a number of important strands to our centenary programme, including historical understanding and engagement, as well as supporting trade and investment which will showcase Northern Ireland’s rich potential, giving crucial support to its recovery from the pandemic. We also want to focus on the future, especially our young people, and will ensure that their voices are heard in the centenary programme.
We are currently developing these plans and will be publicising them over the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the response by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 6 October (HL Deb, col 510), when a fiscal council for Northern Ireland will be established.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The Fiscal Council is an important new part of the governance of Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Department of Finance is leading on developing the Terms of Reference for the Fiscal Council. This will subsequently be agreed through the UK Government-NI Executive Joint Board, which has been established under New Decade, New Approach. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland continues to emphasise the need to press ahead with an Independent Fiscal Council as a priority for the Executive. This was discussed at the first meeting of the Joint Board. The Joint Board will meet again shortly to discuss progress on the fiscal council, amongst other issues.
The Fiscal Council has the potential to make a huge contribution to fiscal sustainability in Northern Ireland over the long-term and strengthen Northern Ireland’s fiscal performance.
The UK Government will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to agree terms of reference that reflect our joint ambitions for this new institution and get it up and running as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Duncan of Springbank on 19 March 2019 (HL Deb, col 1407), what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive about steps the Executive are taking to mitigate the impact of changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
In October 2019, the Department for Economy (DFE) appointed energy expert Andrew Buglass to consider the issue of hardship relating to participants in the NI Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme (NIRHI). Mr Buglass was asked by the DfE to develop a relevant definition of hardship, investigate its presence as a result of NIRHI participation, and make recommendations to the Department on any appropriate course of action. The report of Mr Buglass has just recently been provided to the DfE and will be considered by NI Ministers in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the Ulster Defence Association and other loyalist gangs to commit crimes in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Ulster Defence Association and other loyalist groupings remain proscribed under Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland recently confirmed that the Assessment of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland, published in October 2015, remains current. You may wish to refer to the assessment in conjunction with the Second Report of the Independent Reporting Commission, published in November 2019, for an up to date assessment of the capacity of the Ulster Defence Association and other loyalist groupings in Northern Ireland. The Independent Reporting Commission was established to monitor the progress of the Northern Ireland Executive’s programme of work to end paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.
For your convenience, links to both of these reports are provided below:
Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland - 19 October 2015
Second Report of the Independent Reporting Commission - 4 November 2019
https://www.ircommission.org/sites/irc/files/media-files/IRC%20-%202nd%20Report%202019_0.pdf
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Duncan of Springbank on 31 October 2019 (HL Deb, cols 1019), when the report of the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive Inquiry will be published.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
In December 2018, Sir Patrick Coghlin Chair of the independent inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme issued the following statement:
“I recognise that there will be considerable public interest in this issue. I’m afraid it’s simply not possible to give a date by which the Inquiry report will be published. What we can say is that the report will be published as soon as reasonably possible and that the public can be assured that the Inquiry will work assiduously to ensure that is the case.”
As the inquiry was established by the previous Executive and is being supported by the Department of Finance, my Noble Friend should direct further queries about the inquiry to the NI Minister of that Department.