Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since July 2024 to prevent (1) Russia, (2) China and (3) the United States of America, from interfering in future UK general elections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are committed to ensuring we have robust systems in place to defend the UK from foreign interference in UK democratic processes.
The Government has renewed the mandate of the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which brings together Government Ministers, representatives from law enforcement and the intelligence community, to coordinate work to protect UK political parties, elected officials and electoral infrastructure.
We continue to steer robust implementation of the National Security Act, introduced in 2023 to address evolving state threats to national security, including a new foreign interference offence.
The Government has operationalised the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, introduced under the National Security Act 2023. The scheme encourages transparency, deters harmful covert state threat activity and increases opportunity for earlier disruptions.
The Government has also published a new strategy for modern, secure and inclusive elections. This will strengthen oversight and safeguards against known and emerging threats, including foreign interference through covert political funding.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unexplained wealth orders have been made since July 2024.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2022 requires that the Home Office publish an annual report that sets out the number of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) both applied for and obtained in a given period. The Act also sought to strengthen UWOs by enabling UWOs to be sought against property held in trust and other complex ownership structures, increasing the time available to law enforcement to review material provided in response to a UWO and reforming cost rules.
The previous report for the period May 2023-2024 can be found here. It states that two UWOs were applied for with one UWO obtained whilst the other had not received a judicial decision during the reporting period. A UWO applied for in the 2022-2023 reporting period was also obtained. The next report, covering May 2024 to May 2025 will be published shortly and, as per the Act, will set out the number of UWOs applied for in the period by relevant law enforcement agencies, as well as the number of orders made by the High Court.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the UK's capacity to manufacture E10 unleaded petrol; and how this has changed since July 2024.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
E10 (petrol containing up to 10% bioethanol) was introduced as the standard petrol grade in September 2021. To manufacture E10, fossil petrol is blended with ethanol either at refineries or downstream in the supply network. Accordingly the UK’s capacity to manufacture and supply E10 is impacted by the availability of bioethanol.
On 15 August 2025 Vivergo announced the closure of its UK bioethanol production plant in Hull, which at full capacity could produce 420 million litres of bioethanol per year from wheat for blending with petrol.
Whilst the UK retains bioethanol production capacity elsewhere, the closure of Vivergo represents a significant loss. However, it is not considered likely to impact the manufacture or supply of E10 petrol in the UK. It is expected that the supply of bioethanol for petrol suppliers will continue to be met by both bioethanol produced at the remaining UK plants and by imports.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure improved transparency and access to information about beneficial ownership of overseas entities since July 2024.
Answered by Lord Leong - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government remains committed to increasing knowledge of beneficial ownership of overseas entities. In February 2025, the Government introduced The Register of Overseas Entities (Protection and Trusts) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. This enables the public to apply to access unpublished trust information on the Register of Overseas Entities from 31 August 2025, increasing transparency and empowering stakeholders to scrutinise entities more effectively. The Government will also publish a response to the public consultation on the Transparency of Land Ownership Involving Trusts in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of hydrogen in the energy network to improve energy security.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The government believes that the only way to guarantee our energy security is to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards homegrown clean energy.
Low carbon hydrogen will be a crucial enabler of a low carbon and renewables-based energy system and will help to deliver new clean energy industries which can support good jobs in our industrial heartlands and coastal communities.
Low carbon hydrogen will play a key role in delivering a decarbonised power system and can also provide very long duration energy storage, making use of curtailed electricity, which will support both a decarbonised electricity grid and increased energy security.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what technical assessment they have made of the potential level of hydrogen blending with natural gas in the National Transmission System.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The GB transmission system operator (National Gas) has conducted trials on the safety of hydrogen blends of up to 2%, 5% and 20% by volume in the National Transmission System. The Department is working with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure that this evidence is assessed as efficiently as possible.
We intend to publish a consultation on blending hydrogen into the GB gas transmission network in the near future.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to consult on the issue of hydrogen transmission blending in 2025.
Answered by Baroness Curran
In December 2024 we set out an intention to consult on transmission-level blending within GB in early 2025 to gather evidence to inform the case for Transmission-level blending. We confirm that we intend to publish a consultation on blending hydrogen into the National Transmission System in the near future.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of hydrogen power stations to complement renewable energy.
Answered by Baroness Curran
Hydrogen to power can play a key role in a Clean Power system by providing low carbon dispatchable generation during lower renewable output periods. Hydrogen to power can deploy at a range of scales, providing a decarbonisation pathway for unabated gas generation, and when connected to large-scale hydrogen storage, can enable inter-seasonal low carbon electricity storage.
The government has committed to implement a hydrogen to power business model to support hydrogen to power deployment. The December 2024 hydrogen to power consultation response outlines the next steps government will take to deliver the business model.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial benefits to businesses of a core hydrogen network, instead of a small cluster network that requires business to provide local infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Curran
We continue to assess the benefits that a core network could deliver to the hydrogen economy.
In the early years of the hydrogen economy, it is likely that most industrial demand for hydrogen will be located within industrial clusters where sites can share infrastructure. We are therefore prioritising the development of regional network infrastructure while we continue to review the case for a core network to connect regional networks in the future.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have had any discussions with the government of Ireland about the gas interconnector from the UK that supplies blended gas.
Answered by Baroness Curran
None of the UK’s gas interconnectors currently supply or receive gas blended with hydrogen. The Department is engaging with officials from the Irish government and transmission system operator of Ireland to understand the implications of the EU hydrogen and gas decarbonisation package regarding hydrogen blending and to ensure continued cross-border trade of gas.
We intend to publish a consultation on blending hydrogen into the GB gas transmission network in the near future.