Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Northern Ireland Executive have the option not to implement the new criteria for Motability vehicles limiting the mileage a lessee can drive before incurring a charge.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
From 1 July, new leases will include a mileage allowance of 10,000 miles a year – e.g. 30,000 over a three-year lease or 50,000 over a five-year lease. Three out of four Scheme customers drive 10,000 miles or fewer per year. However, Motability recognise that a small number of customers will be unable to change driving behaviour or absorb the mileage charges. On 8 July, Motability announced an exceptions process for those who exceed this new limit for some journeys made for healthcare, education and employment. The customer will need to evidence this extra mileage.
The Motability Scheme is operated independently of Government. Decisions about eligibility, lease terms, mileage allowances and support arrangements are matters for Motability. The Government's role is to provide qualifying disability benefits that customers may choose to use to access the Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow individuals who claim Attendance Allowance to qualify for the Motability Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Qualifying benefits for the Motability Scheme are the enhanced rate mobility component Personal Independence Payment (enhanced rate mobility component Adult Disability Payment in Scotland), higher rate mobility component Disability Living Allowance (higher rate mobility component Child Disability Payment in Scotland), Armed Forces Independence Payment and War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement.
Attendance Allowance is intended to help those with a severe disability who have long term care or supervision needs which arise after reaching State Pension age. It has never included a mobility component, and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability Scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life; developing mobility needs in older life is a normal consequence of ageing, which non-disabled younger people have had opportunity to plan and save for.
There is no constraint on what an award of Attendance Allowance can be spent on, and a recipient may choose to use this benefit to fund mobility aids. Disabled people over the age of 65 can apply to their local authority for assessment under the Blue Badge Scheme, which helps people with severe mobility problems to park close to where they need to go. Assistance from other sources may be available and details can be found on the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) website.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the income or savings to be derived from the new criteria for Motability vehicles limiting the mileage a lessee can drive before incurring a charge.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not have an estimate of the income or savings to be derived from the new mileage criteria. A series of measures were announced in the November 2025 Budget to strike the right balance between delivering a key service for disabled people and fairness to the taxpayer, saving over £1 billion by financial year 2030/31.
Motability Operations is an independent commercial company under contract to Motability to deliver the Motability Scheme. Motability Operations is owned by the four major banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS). No ordinary dividends are paid, and all profits are reinvested in the company to benefit Scheme customers or donated to Motability the charity.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what difficulties they are aware of businesses or consumers encountering that arise from the new arrangements for the movement of parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland implemented on 1 May 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Government introduced important new arrangements for freight and parcels movements on 1 May 2025 ensuring goods continue to move smoothly from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The arrangements were successfully implemented without significant impact on flow of goods into Northern Ireland, the new arrangements protect the vast majority of consumer parcels from customs declarations and duty.
HMRC were aware of a small number of cases where express operators charged duty incorrectly on business-to-business parcels. HMRC have worked with express operators and wider industry to minimise these instances.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (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 negative impact of wildfires on natural habitats and protected species.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises that wildfires can cause significant damage to natural habitats and protected species, across a wide range of habitats. To address this, this Government is strengthening its approach to wildfire resilience. Defra is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the lead department on wildfire, to improve cross-Government coordination across the full wildfire cycle, from risk assessment and prevention through to response and recovery. This Government is also investing in peatland restoration, landscape-scale habitat recovery and stronger protections for upland peat. These measures are designed to improve resilience and support biodiversity recovery.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the negative financial impact on businesses in Northern Ireland of the new tariffs on steel products produced in Great Britain from 1 July.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
The Government has set out that specific arrangements will be in place to facilitate the movement of steel to Northern Ireland. We will continue to provide guidance on these arrangements and support traders moving goods through the Trader Support Service. This approach is consistent with the Government’s commitment in the Steel Strategy to tackling steel over capacity, and working with our international partners to do so.
The legislation implementing the new measure includes explanatory memoranda which set out how this measure will impact different types of businesses.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total amount of (1) oil and (2) gas extracted from the North Sea and then used in the UK for each of the years 2021–22, 2022–3, 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
Data are presented in the table below. Production is the amount extracted from the North Sea along with small amounts of onshore production. Refinery receipts represent crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and process oils (i.e. partly refined oils) as received by UK refineries. Receipts can be processed or go into stock for later use at the refinery or exports. Indigenous refinery receipts represent crude oil and NGLs received by refineries from UK production. For gas, due to the interconnected nature of gas pipeline infrastructure and the consequent mixing of UK continental shelf production and imports it is not possible to determine exactly what proportion of indigenously produced gas is used domestically.
| thousand tonnes | |||
| Production | Imports | Refinery receipts | |
|
|
| Total | Indigenous |
2021 | 40,866 | 38,061 | 48,498 | 6,766 |
2022 | 38,166 | 43,019 | 53,736 | 7,220 |
2023 | 33,361 | 41,389 | 51,840 | 6,754 |
2024 | 30,388 | 44,573 | 51,960 | 4,002 |
2025 [provisional] | 31,180 | 40,493 | 48,150 | 4,666 |
| Natural Gas | |
| GWh | |
| Production | Imports |
|
|
|
2021 | 363,992 | 560,844 |
2022 | 423,226 | 618,291 |
2023 | 383,037 | 494,919 |
2024 | 343,722 | 453,301 |
2025 [provisional] | 332,444 | 463,692 |
Notes.
Source: Energy Trends Tables 3.10 and 4.2
Years. Data in calendar years as published in Energy Trends.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the amount of (1) oil and (2) gas imported to and used in the UK in each of the years 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
Data are presented in the table below. Production is the amount extracted from the North Sea along with small amounts of onshore production. Refinery receipts represent crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and process oils (i.e. partly refined oils) as received by UK refineries. Receipts can be processed or go into stock for later use at the refinery or exports. Indigenous refinery receipts represent crude oil and NGLs received by refineries from UK production. For gas, due to the interconnected nature of gas pipeline infrastructure and the consequent mixing of UK continental shelf production and imports it is not possible to determine exactly what proportion of indigenously produced gas is used domestically.
| thousand tonnes | |||
| Production | Imports | Refinery receipts | |
|
|
| Total | Indigenous |
2021 | 40,866 | 38,061 | 48,498 | 6,766 |
2022 | 38,166 | 43,019 | 53,736 | 7,220 |
2023 | 33,361 | 41,389 | 51,840 | 6,754 |
2024 | 30,388 | 44,573 | 51,960 | 4,002 |
2025 [provisional] | 31,180 | 40,493 | 48,150 | 4,666 |
| Natural Gas | |
| GWh | |
| Production | Imports |
|
|
|
2021 | 363,992 | 560,844 |
2022 | 423,226 | 618,291 |
2023 | 383,037 | 494,919 |
2024 | 343,722 | 453,301 |
2025 [provisional] | 332,444 | 463,692 |
Notes.
Source: Energy Trends Tables 3.10 and 4.2
Years. Data in calendar years as published in Energy Trends.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much finance they provided to the Scottish Football Association in each of the years 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, a total of £29,946,000 was allocated to the Scottish Football Association to deliver the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. The yearly breakdowns are:
2021/22: £2m (capital funding)
2022/23: £2m (capital funding), £120,000 (resource funding)
2023/24: £6m (capital funding), £360,000 (resource funding)
2024/25: £10.1m (capital funding), £250,000 (resource funding)
2025/26: £8.6m (capital funding), £516,000 (resource funding)
Successful applicants to the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme are published on gov.uk and are regularly updated. The most recent project list for Scotland can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2025-to-2026#scotland
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional cost to ferry travellers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Impact Assessment does not identify significant consumer price impacts and finds that compliance costs for domestic maritime operators are modest relative to their overall operating costs, with fuel and carbon costs forming only one part of total running costs. These findings are consistent with international evidence showing changes to ferry ticket prices in the low single digit range under equivalent carbon pricing.
The Government will review the maritime element of the United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme in 2028 to ensure that its impacts remain accurate, proportionate and fully assessed as the sector continues to decarbonise.