Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total funding provided for grant schemes for military veterans for each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Office for Veterans’ Affairs, based in the Cabinet Office, administers a range of grant schemes for veterans organisations and charities. These cover support in areas such as health, housing, employment, and combating stress, and are typically available UK wide.
The OVA was established in 2019 and has become more established over time, meaning comparable figures for each of the last five years are not available. However, in 2023/24, over £6 million was awarded to veterans organisations and charities.
The latest information on the work of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-veterans-affairs
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what processes are in place to monitor the implementation of the Green Lane system for trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to identify any practical issues for businesses.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government is conducting regular monitoring of the UK Internal Market Scheme and Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme and there are clear signs of new traders taking advantage of these new arrangements.
With respect to the UK Internal Market Scheme, as set out to the Northern Ireland Protocol Sub-Committee on 12 October, there are now more than 6,200 businesses registered - 2,200 of which (more than a third) are companies who were not members of the previous UKTS scheme. This list is dynamic, meaning more businesses moving goods in Northern Ireland will benefit over time.
With respect to the new Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme, the broader eligibility coupled with the certainty provided to businesses, mean that we have seen welcome signs of new traders taking advantage of the scheme. For example, wholesalers have written to customers noting that they are now able to “bring back some of your favourite products that we had to remove due to the previous Northern Ireland Protocol”. Consumers in Northern Ireland are also able to see the broader reach of the green lane, with for example shelf labelling in place in major food service outlets, which were excluded from the scope of the old grace periods.
The Government continues its extensive programme of engagement with businesses to identify any practical issues and ensure that the new Green Lane system continues to be implemented in a seamless manner.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce additional legislation to protect (1) the UK internal market, and (2) Northern Ireland goods moving to Great Britain with unfettered access; and to outline the proposed timescale for such legislation.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
We have guaranteed unfettered access for qualifying Northern Ireland goods moving directly from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and will extend these protections to qualifying goods moved via Ireland. Additionally, we will introduce new arrangements for traders moving food and feed on these routes, ensuring the benefits of unfettered access are more squarely focussed on Northern Ireland traders, while creating no new requirements. Details of these arrangements can be found in the Border Target Operating Model published on 29 August 2023. This reflects Northern Ireland’s integral place in the United Kingdom’s internal market.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the net fiscal transfers in public expenditure were for each region of the UK for each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Weir of Ballyholme
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
19 July 2023
Dear Lord Weir,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what the net fiscal transfers in public expenditure were for each region of the UK for each of the last five years (HL9356).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes an annual article named Country and Regional Public Sector Finances [1], which provides regional estimates of public sector expenditure, revenue, and net fiscal balance. The ONS does not currently have any regional net fiscal transfer data available but does produce measurements of net fiscal balance.
The Country and Regional Public Sector Finances publication includes net fiscal balance information on an International Territorial Level 1 (ITL1) basis. Net fiscal balance measures the difference between public sector expenditure and public sector revenue - a negative net fiscal balance represents a surplus, meaning a country or region is receiving more in revenue than its expenditure. A positive net fiscal balance represents a deficit, meaning a country or region is undertaking more expenditure than it is receiving in revenue.
There are two different measures of net fiscal balance depending on the measure of tax revenue derived from North Sea oil and gas, one based on the geographic location of oil and gas producers shown in Table 1, and one based on population shown in Table 2. The two tables show the net fiscal balance by country and region using these two different methods.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1] Country and Regional Public Sector Finances
Table 1: Net fiscal balance by country and region in the UK between financial year ending (FYE) March 2018 and FYE March 2022, in £ millions. North Sea oil and gas revenue measured on a geographic basis.
Country or region | FYE 2018 | FYE 2019 | FYE 2020 | FYE 2021 | FYE 2022 |
North East | 10,626 | 10,510 | 11,478 | 21,010 | 14,620 |
North West | 23,065 | 21,695 | 23,354 | 48,019 | 30,362 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 12,215 | 11,397 | 12,489 | 31,230 | 17,926 |
East Midlands | 7,234 | 5,503 | 7,685 | 24,684 | 12,504 |
West Midlands | 14,158 | 16,424 | 18,049 | 37,446 | 25,994 |
East of England | -2,999 | -3,951 | -2,267 | 20,945 | 2,399 |
London | -33,906 | -39,869 | -37,364 | 6,545 | -37,942 |
South East | -18,258 | -21,028 | -19,308 | 15,420 | -13,949 |
South West | 6,682 | 5,065 | 6,395 | 27,776 | 12,164 |
England | 18,817 | 5,747 | 20,511 | 233,073 | 64,076 |
Wales | 14,598 | 14,125 | 14,692 | 25,641 | 20,298 |
Scotland | 15,699 | 14,211 | 15,393 | 36,401 | 23,783 |
Northern Ireland | 9,802 | 10,185 | 10,682 | 17,508 | 13,941 |
United Kingdom | 58,916 | 44,267 | 61,279 | 312,623 | 122,099 |
Source: Country and Regional Public Sector Finances
Table 2: Net fiscal balance by country and region in the UK between financial year ending (FYE) March 2018 and FYE March 2022, in £ millions. North Sea oil and gas revenue measured on a population basis.
Country or region | FYE 2018 | FYE 2019 | FYE 2020 | FYE 2021 | FYE 2022 |
North East | 10,602 | 10,410 | 11,362 | 20,902 | 14,568 |
North West | 22,927 | 21,556 | 23,267 | 47,946 | 30,079 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 12,182 | 11,251 | 12,372 | 31,107 | 17,755 |
East Midlands | 7,156 | 5,408 | 7,627 | 24,632 | 12,319 |
West Midlands | 14,043 | 16,317 | 17,991 | 37,400 | 25,758 |
East of England | -3,104 | -4,075 | -2,342 | 20,880 | 2,157 |
London | -34,080 | -40,029 | -37,450 | 6,475 | -38,292 |
South East | -18,431 | -21,200 | -19,405 | 15,340 | -14,314 |
South West | 6,585 | 4,956 | 6,327 | 27,714 | 11,949 |
England | 17,880 | 4,595 | 19,749 | 232,394 | 61,977 |
Wales | 14,537 | 14,069 | 14,662 | 25,617 | 20,175 |
Scotland | 16,734 | 15,453 | 16,203 | 37,119 | 26,080 |
Northern Ireland | 9,765 | 10,151 | 10,664 | 17,493 | 13,866 |
United Kingdom | 58,916 | 44,267 | 61,279 | 312,623 | 122,099 |
Source: Country and Regional Public Sector Finances