Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with Scouts UK in regards to providing financial support towards the £1 million cost of relocating the UK Contingent from the site of the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government is in regular contact with the Scout Association about the incidents that occurred during the World Scout Jamboree.
HM Government has provided significant support in recent years to uniformed youth organisations, including the Scouts. This includes over £16 million so that uniformed youth organisations can recruit more volunteers, tackle waiting lists, and increase the locations able to offer positive activities to young people.
This forms part of the Government’s National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025 every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home, and opportunities to volunteer. This is supported by a three-year investment of over £500 million in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in national youth spending with a firm focus on levelling up.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any operational tours of the armed services are currently being conducted in Northern Ireland; and if so, what are the names of the operations and whether operational service medals will be awarded.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The UK's Armed Forces conduct a number of tasks in support of the Police Service of Northern Ireland including explosive ordinance disposal. This support is a standing task provided under Military Aid to the Civil Authority (MACA) principles and mirrors the support provided to the Police in Great Britain. There are no plans to award operational service medals for this task.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many British service personnel stationed in Cyprus have been murdered by terrorists in that country, and by which named terrorist group, in the past 30 years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
In the last 30 years there have been no terrorist related murders of British Service personnel in Cyprus.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision by the government of Northern Cyprus to open the town of Maraş/Varosha and invite Greek Cypriot property owners to reclaim their properties.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' as an independent state. The UK recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority for the island of Cyprus. The UK supports the numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) covering the issue of Varosha, the alongside the related 2021 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Statement. On 12 July the UK, as UNSC President, issued a press statement on Cyprus stressing the need to avoid unilateral actions which could raise tensions on the island and undermine the prospects for a peaceful settlement.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what logistical support, if any, they are providing to Turkish Cypriots wishing to travel to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from the UK.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' as an independent state. The United Kingdom recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority for the island of Cyprus. The FCDO publishes travel advice which provides guidance on the most relevant issues for British nationals visiting or resident in Cyprus. This includes information for those travelling to the north of Cyprus.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Markham on 19 July (HL9282, HL9283 and HL9284), what steps they are taking to protect community pharmacies in Northern Ireland from closure in the continuing absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community pharmacy is a devolved matter. A fully functioning devolved government is essential to the delivery of necessary healthcare reforms, including effective policies to protect community pharmacies. As an interim support, the Secretary of State has introduced appropriate measures to protect the delivery of all public services and has set a budget that protects spending to address the critical health pressures in Northern Ireland. This budget allocation gives the Northern Ireland Department of Health a total allocation of £7.3 billion, an increase of £20 million above 2022-23.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence provided by the British Veterinary Association to the House of Lords Sub-Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in their inquiry on the Windsor Framework, which stated that in the current form "failure to obtain a permanent solution could see Northern Ireland lose access to 51% of the veterinary medicines it currently receives"; and what action they intend to take in response to address any reduction in access to veterinary medicines.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Under the old Protocol over half of existing UK veterinary medicine product lines supplying Northern Ireland could have been at risk at the end of 2022, which would have had serious consequences for human and animal health in Northern Ireland.
The Windsor Framework removed that cliff edge, with a three year extension. This was important to solve the immediate problem, but the British Veterinary Association are right to emphasise the need for a long-term solution which protects the supply of veterinary medicines into Northern Ireland. This is what we are now working on.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the article by Dr Gareth Clay Spreading like wildfire: the need for a UK Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS), published by the University of Manchester on 26 June; and what plans they have to introduce such a system.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office works across Government with a wide range of stakeholders including the National Fire Chiefs Council, England and Wales Wildfire Forum and other Departments and Agencies including DEFRA and the Met Office to promote planning and prevention for wildfire incidents in England.
The government is aware of the work to which you refer [“Toward a UK Fire Danger Rating System”]. The government would welcome seeing the full outputs from the research in due course which will help inform any future plans.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 12 July (HL9073), how enabling duty-free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU would "undermine frictionless trade with the EU"; and why this is not the case in relation to trade between Great Britain and the EU.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Introducing duty free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU (which includes the Republic of Ireland) would require implementing allowances for the movement of these goods, to stop the uncontrolled flow of tax-free goods into either Northern Ireland or the EU (including the Republic of Ireland). These allowances would require enforcement. Therefore, if this were to be implemented, controls on the movement of goods between NI and the Republic of Ireland would be required, contravening the shared ambitions of the UK, Ireland and the EU.
By contrast, the movement of goods between the EU and Great Britain is subject to full third-country controls. This enables the enforcement of allowances for duty-free goods for passengers travelling into and out of Great Britain.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide additional funding under the Barnett consequentials to fund public sector pay awards in Northern Ireland, reflecting those offered to public sector workers in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government is accepting the headline pay recommendations of the independent Pay Review Bodies in full for 2023/24. This will be funded from within existing department budgets through a combination of greater efficiency and reprioritisation.
The Northern Ireland Executive are well funded to deliver all their devolved responsibilities, receiving at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK. As the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council acknowledges, Northern Ireland is receiving the funding it needs. Spending Review 2021 also set the largest annual block grants, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since the devolution Acts. This provided £15 billion per year for the Northern Ireland Executive.
A full breakdown of changes to devolved administrations’ block grants, including Barnett consequentials, is set out in the published Block Grant Transparency document.