Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support university-led research and development into hydrogen-powered transport technologies; and whether he plans to make further funding streams available to support academic–industry collaboration in this field.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport (DfT) considers that hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives could play an important role in decarbonising the transport sector, particularly in heavier transport such as aviation and maritime.
We are supporting the deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles including through the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate and the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrators (ZEHID).
The Government is funding academic research and development for hydrogen-powered transport technologies, including through ZEHID’s Zero Emission National (ZEN) Freight project that is working with Imperial College London and the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme’s £3.7m funding to the Clean Maritime Research Hub - a consortium of 13 UK universities.
This is in addition to other research funding allocated under the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and support for the Civil Aviation Authority's Hydrogen in Aviation Regulatory Challenge.
The Government will continue to assess the need for further funding for academic research on hydrogen in transport as more evidence becomes available.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support the (a) research and development and (b)deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles; and whether specific targets have been set for infrastructure rollout to support hydrogen car adoption.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport (DfT) considers that hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives could play an important role in decarbonising the transport sector, particularly in heavier transport such as aviation and maritime.
We are supporting the deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles including through the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate and the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrators (ZEHID).
The Government is funding academic research and development for hydrogen-powered transport technologies, including through ZEHID’s Zero Emission National (ZEN) Freight project that is working with Imperial College London and the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme’s £3.7m funding to the Clean Maritime Research Hub - a consortium of 13 UK universities.
This is in addition to other research funding allocated under the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and support for the Civil Aviation Authority's Hydrogen in Aviation Regulatory Challenge.
The Government will continue to assess the need for further funding for academic research on hydrogen in transport as more evidence becomes available.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions her Department has had with the devolved Administrations on support for victims of (a) stalking and (b) coercive control.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Department regularly engages with the devolved administrations regarding support for victims.
Section 16 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 applies to England and to reserved matters in Wales. It is important that victims can expect as consistent support as possible in both nations and when engaging with agencies across the border. Ministry of Justice officials have worked with relevant officials in the Welsh Government in developing the guidance on the Independent Domestic Violence Adviser and Independent Sexual Violence Adviser roles published in May 2025. We will continue to engage with them on the Independent Stalking Advocate guidance which we will publish next year.
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in Wales receive funding from the Ministry of Justice to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services in their areas for victims of all crime types including stalking and coercive control. Additional ringfenced funding is also provided for domestic abuse and sexual violence support services. The Department routinely engages with Welsh PCCs to monitor and understand the commissioning landscape.
The Inter-Ministerial Group for Justice (IMGJ) is a forum for ministers from all four UK governments to discuss priority justice matters and exchange best practice approaches. We anticipate that victims’ issues will be discussed at future IMGJ meetings.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been housed in Upper Bann constituency in the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on a quarterly basis on the number of asylum seekers in supported accommodation, broken down by local authority and located within Asy_D11 tab at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the compliance of visa conditions in Upper Bann constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office takes the monitoring of visa compliance seriously and has a range of measures in place to ensure individuals adhere to the conditions of their stay in the UK. Immigration Enforcement (IE) has dedicated regional teams based across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, who are responsible for identifying and taking appropriate enforcement action against those who breach immigration rules.
These teams use a combination of intelligence-led operations, data analysis, and compliance visits to monitor adherence to visa conditions. Where non-compliance is identified, action may include curtailment of leave, removal from the UK, or prosecution where appropriate.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list her Department's integration schemes available for asylum seekers in Upper Bann constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are no integration schemes for asylum seekers as integration support is only available once refugee status is granted. As Integration is an area of devolved competence, integration support available to refugees in Northern Ireland is determined by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average processing time for asylum applications for people based in Upper Bann constituency; and how many applications have been refused in the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The average time taken to process a substantive decision is not currently available from published data.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum detailed datasets’, as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within 6 months is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
The Home Office publishes data on asylum claims that have been refused at initial decision in Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum detailed datasets’. The latest available data relates to the year ending March 2025.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase funding and support for research into rare diseases and (b) improve early diagnosis pathways for patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases through the UK Rare Diseases Framework. Pioneering research is an underpinning theme of the framework. In the 2025 England Rare Diseases Action Plan we introduced a new action to support rare disease research through changes to clinical trial regulations. We have also made significant investments to support rare disease research. This includes the Rare Disease Research UK Platform, a £14 million investment over five years from the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, announced in 2023, which is now established and positioned well within the rare disease research landscape. Further information on the Rare Disease Research UK Platform is available at the following link:
https://rd-research.org.uk/platform/
The first priority of the framework is to help patients get a final diagnosis faster. The 2025 England Rare Diseases Action Plan updates on progress, including: research we have commissioned to better understand what causes delays in diagnosis; the Generation Study, to pilot whole genome sequencing of newborns in the National Health Service; and the work of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on delivering the UK five-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following publication of the 2024 to 2029 UK AMR National Action Plan in May 2024, the Department is preparing the first annual report, summarising the progress made to date.
The organisations responsible for delivery provide regular updates to the Department, and the appropriate governance structures ensure that delivery is kept on track and that progress is being made on the national action plan’s commitments and targets, alongside managing programme risks.
The Department has also commissioned an evaluation of the 2024 to 2029 UK AMR National Action Plan, which will assess the implementation of antimicrobial resistance policy, provide evidence on the effectiveness of the national action plan, and inform future antimicrobial resistance policy development and implementation.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle the sale of (a) illegal and (b) unregulated vaping products to children and young people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement and crack down on rogue retailers selling illegal and unregulated vape products to children and young people. The bill introduces new £200 fixed penalty notices in England and Wales for certain tobacco and vape offences, including underage sales, enables the introduction of a retail licensing scheme in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and enables the introduction of a new registration scheme for tobacco, vape, and nicotine products sold in the United Kingdom’s market.
The Government is investing £10 million of new funding in 2025/26 into Trading Standards, to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales in England, and to support the implementation of the measures in the bill. This funding is being used to boost the Trading Standards workforce by recruiting approximately 80 new apprentices. The new funding will also support the storage and recycling of seized illicit vapes, the additional work to identify and seize illicit vape consignments at ports, and the training of Trading Standards officers on the new single use vapes ban.
The devolved administrations will need to fund the delivery of the devolved measures in the bill for their nations. The Barnett formula will apply in the usual way, and it is for the devolved administrations to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit.
The introduction of a new Vaping Products Duty in October 2026 will provide civil and criminal powers to HM Revenue and Customs, in order to assess for duty and seize products and equipment used to produce or transport illicit vape products.