Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help increase the number of people employed by the Government Social Research Profession in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
All Civil Servants employed as Government Social Researchers are directly employed by Departments, Devolved Administrations, and other UK Civil Service organisations. They are not centrally managed or centrally employed by HM Treasury.
HM Treasury has no specific plans to increase the number of Government Social Researchers employed by HM Treasury and located in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the change in the estimated worth of the frozen assets of the previous Libyan regime between 2011 and 2025.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury published in its 2023-2024 Annual Review that £13.4 billion in assets relating to the Libya sanctions regime have been reported as frozen as of September 2023. This is an aggregated total of all entities and individuals listed on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets. OFSI does not hold a comparable figure for 2011.
OFSI’s next Annual Review is due to be published later in 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she plans to make on the implementation of the 10 year infrastructure strategy by the end of 2026.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
This government is committed to implementing the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy published in June. By the end of 2026, we will have delivered several of its key reforms, moving to improve project delivery, and provide industry stakeholders with increased confidence to invest in UK infrastructure and jobs.
The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy sets out further details of the Government’s plans, which is available at the following link: CP 1344 – UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of whether the National Wealth Fund is operating on an equitable basis throughout the UK.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund (NWF) identifies investment opportunities across the UK and has dedicated directors in each of the four nations to support its view of markets across the country. 80% of the NWF's portfolio is outside of London and the South-East.
The NWF's success is assessed across a range of measures, including that it should have a good geographical spread of its activity across the nations and regions of the UK
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62537 on Crown Estate: Northern Ireland, for what reason the rent income received from public authorities in Northern Ireland was higher in 2020 than any of the dates listed.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The higher rental income received from public authorities in Northern Ireland in 2020, compared to the years listed in the response to Question 62537, was due to a one-off backdated rent payment. Specifically, in 2020, a backdated rent invoice was issued covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 5 April 2020. This resulted in a significant uplift in reported income for that year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she expects to receive the conclusions of the Payment Vision Delivery Committee.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The National Payments Vision, published in November 2024, set out the government’s ambition for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.
To drive forward the activities required to achieve this, the government established the Payments Vision Delivery Committee – a senior cross-authority group, chaired by HM Treasury and comprising senior representatives of the Bank of England, FCA and PSR. The Committee is supported by the Vision Engagement Group including over 30 representatives from across the sector.
The Committee will shortly update on its first deliverable to set out an approach for the development and delivery of the UK’s retail payments infrastructure needs and the required governance and funding model to achieve it. It will also publish the Payments Forward Plan by end-2025, including a sequenced plan of future initiatives, and a recommended monitoring approach.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she if taking to help ensure that funding from the National Wealth Fund benefits t(a) nations and (b) regions across the UK.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This government has set a strong mandate for the National Wealth Fund to deliver on priorities across all the regions and nations of the UK.
The National Wealth Fund also works collaboratively with the Scottish National Investment Bank, Development Bank of Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executive. It has dedicated directors in each of the UK’s four nations to support the NWF’s view of markets across the country.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on the annual rent paid by public authorities in Northern Ireland to the Crown Estate in each year between (a) 2014 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The table shows Crown Estate rent income received from public authorities in Northern Ireland. This uses a broad definition of public authority which captures any organisations considered by The Crown Estate to be responsible for public money.
2014 | 217,736.84 |
2015 | 262,345.54 |
2016 | 262,430.36 |
2017 | 261,275.19 |
2018 | 272,004.52 |
2019 | 265,668.97 |
2020 | 458,805.48 |
2021 | 319,659.65 |
2022 | 326,046.47 |
2023 | 352,876.81 |
2024 | 382,650.18 |
Grand total | 3,381,500.01 |
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59297 on Civil Servants, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for which the number of people employed in Northern Ireland is smaller than in England, Scotland and Wales.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The distribution across the United Kingdom, of Civil Servants employed as Government Social Researchers, is comparable to the distribution across the United Kingdom of the wider Civil Service.
Excluding those on the Fast Stream programme, Government Social Researchers are all directly employed by Departments, Devolved Administrations, and other UK Civil Service organisations.
They are recruited on the basis of demand from individual Departments, Devolved Administrations, and other UK Civil Service organisations, to employ Government Social Researchers.
The regional distribution of the Civil Service reflects the diverse functions and geographic locations of government departments and agencies.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to review the progress made in the roll-out of the 10 year infrastructure strategy before the end of this Parliament.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Departments will be responsible for implementing the Strategy, with NISTA overseeing the implementation, and leading on subsequent refreshes of the Strategy every two years and the monitoring of progress against commitments. The Strategy is just the starting point, and government will continue to work with businesses, investors, workers, trade unions and regional and local leaders to drive up ambition and improve delivery.