Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their levelling-up measures in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government is committed to levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom to ensure that no community is left behind. We are investing £456 million in Northern Ireland to help grow the economy, create jobs, improve transport, provide skills training and support local businesses.
This includes £150 million to develop an Enhanced Investment Zone to provide targeted incentives and interventions to encourage investment and boost growth in Northern Ireland. As well as:
10 years of endowment-style funding for Coleraine & Derry/Londonderry through the Long Term Plan for Towns
£120 million from rounds 1 and 2 of the Levelling Up Fund, investing in infrastructure that improves everyday life for local residents.
£127 million set aside through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, of which £76 million has so far been allocated to 30 projects in Northern Ireland.
The UK Government is providing the Northern Ireland Executive with a significant £3.3 billion spending settlement to stabilise its finances and protect public services. Within this a number of DLUHC funds are being made available to the Northern Ireland Executive.
The full list of the UK Government funds which are being made available to the Northern Ireland Executive was released publicly on Friday 8 March on gov.uk.
The published document confirms that £30 million from the third round of the Levelling Up Fund and £22.6 million from the Northern Ireland allocation for UKSPF have been included in the financial package to increase the spending power of the restored Executive.
We are committed to evaluating the impact of all our funding, as set out in the recently published local growth evaluation strategy.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much is to be allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive in the Spring Budget from (1) Barnett consequentials, and (2) direct allocation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As a result of decisions taken at Spring Budget, the Northern Ireland Executive will receive around £100 million through the Barnett formula.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer also announced £20 million of funding for each of Derry-Londonderry and Coleraine through the Long-Term Plan for Towns, £2 million of funding to boost global investment and trade opportunities in Northern Ireland, and £2.2 million for the redevelopment of the South Stand at Crusaders FC in Belfast into a unique state of the art community centre.
Northern Ireland will also benefit from UK-wide tax and spending measures.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the working relationship between the Treasury and the Fiscal Council of Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury regularly engages with the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council, including discussions on its work to scrutinise the public finances of Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many registered (1) residential care homes, and (2) nursing homes, there are in England; and what are the numbers of residents in each category.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of care homes with and without nursing, and the number of beds for both categories, taken from the Care Quality Commission’s registration data from March 2024:
| Number of care homes in England | Number of beds in England |
Care homes without nursing | 10,473 | 234,198 |
Care homes with nursing | 4,250 | 221,766 |
Total | 14,723 | 455,964 |
The published data does not break down the number of residents in each category.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many freeports have been announced for each country of the United Kingdom in the past 10 years; and where they are located.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Information on the number of Freeports announced in the United Kingdom in the last ten years and their locations can be found at the following link.
Following discussions with stakeholders in Northern Ireland about how best to deliver the benefits associated with Freeports and Investment Zones there, the government announced at the Spring Budget that we will establish an Enhanced Investment Zone offer in Northern Ireland with £150 million in funding, able to be used flexibly across spending and tax levers.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of the United States about the promises of investment made by the US President in his 12 April 2023 address at Ulster University.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Government and Invest Northern Ireland hosted the NI Investment Summit in September, which was a great success in showcasing Northern Ireland’s innovation and technological strengths to around 200 global investors. A US trade delegation visited Norther Ireland in October, during which the New York State Common Retirement Fund announced a new $50m investment into companies based in Northern Ireland
Our network in the US continues to promote Northern Ireland as a prime investment destination. UK Government ministers are participating in a series of engagements around St Patrick's Day to strengthen the vital transatlantic partnership between the US and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the application of all the provisions of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill to Northern Ireland in light of the judgment of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland that the conditional immunity provisions in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 are incompatible with Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government has consistently applied immigration policy across the United Kingdom as a whole. That remains our absolute intention with the Rwanda Bill, which provides for it to apply UK-wide. We have considered the judgment and have lodged an appeal.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic benefit to creative industries in Northern Ireland of the tax measures announced in the Spring Budget.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the cultural and economic value of the UK’s world-leading creative sector. At Spring Budget 2024 the Government went further to support the sector through the creative sector tax reliefs, which companies in Northern Ireland benefit from.
The announcements include a new tax credit for independent UK films with budgets of less than £15 million and a 5 percentage point increase in tax relief UK visual effects costs in film and high-end TV.
The Government also announced that from 1 April 2025, orchestras, museums, galleries and theatres will benefit from tax relief set permanently at 45% (for touring productions and all orchestra productions) and 40% for non-touring productions).
These measures will apply UK-wide.