Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Budget announcement on EV vehicle drivers and pay per mile charge, what discussions she will have with the Irish Republic authorities regarding those Irish based EV drivers who regularly use Northern Ireland roads but will not face the same charge.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs (electric vehicles) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty. As with VED, eVED will apply to UK-registered vehicles; non-UK registered vehicles will be required to register for eVED after a period of six months in the UK.
The Government has ruled out charging tax based on when or where people drive to protect motorists’ privacy. This means non-UK mileage driven by UK registered cars will fall into scope of eVED, as with fuel duty, which does not vary by basis of where a car is driven.
The vast majority of eVED will be paid on travel in the UK; there were an estimated 225 billion car miles in Great Britain in 2024, and over 9 billion miles travelled by car in Northern Ireland in 2023.
The government has published a consultation on GOV.UK, which provides further detail on how eVED is intended to work and seeks views on its implementation, and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69282ac1a245b0985f034197/eVED_Consultation.pdf
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how will the recently announced pay per mile charge for EV drivers affect those Northern Ireland based drivers whose work and residence near the border means much of their annual travel is done in the Irish Republic.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs (electric vehicles) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty. As with VED, eVED will apply to UK-registered vehicles; non-UK registered vehicles will be required to register for eVED after a period of six months in the UK.
The Government has ruled out charging tax based on when or where people drive to protect motorists’ privacy. This means non-UK mileage driven by UK registered cars will fall into scope of eVED, as with fuel duty, which does not vary by basis of where a car is driven.
The vast majority of eVED will be paid on travel in the UK; there were an estimated 225 billion car miles in Great Britain in 2024, and over 9 billion miles travelled by car in Northern Ireland in 2023.
The government has published a consultation on GOV.UK, which provides further detail on how eVED is intended to work and seeks views on its implementation, and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69282ac1a245b0985f034197/eVED_Consultation.pdf
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support cultural engagement with the Irish community.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I value the UK’s strong cultural relationship with Ireland which has been developed over many years of successful partnerships between UK and Irish arts and cultural organisations and I recognise the substantial contribution that the Irish community makes to British cultural life.
Since the start of the current parliament, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded three grants totalling £290,074 to projects which explore the history and the experiences of the Irish diaspora in Britain.
In a joint statement at the UK-Ireland summit in March, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach announced a further programme of cultural cooperation between the two countries. My Department developing a programme to support new projects between the Irish national cultural institutions and leading UK counterparts.
Further commitments made by the PM and Taoiseach include establishing an Ireland-UK Youth Forum as a way to bring together young people to understand, discuss and respond to their views on how they can be considered by both of our governments.
We also look forward to jointly hosting the upcoming EURO2028 Men’s Football Championships and the 2030 T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in the last 12 months who were categorised as (1) refugees, (2) having pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (3) having settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (4) having indefinite leave to remain, and (5) having limited leave to remain.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (see attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from August 2024 to July 2025. The additional breakdowns requested for the EU Settlement Scheme are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status each month from August 2024 to July 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Jul-25 | 6,702,864 | 770,213 | 54,259 | 120,040 | 213,666 | 75,471 | 33,387 | 31,340 |
Jun-25 | 6,567,506 | 764,429 | 53,810 | 117,623 | 210,513 | 74,694 | 32,998 | 29,912 |
May-25 | 6,457,433 | 763,687 | 78,323 | 90,709 | 208,348 | 74,322 | 32,880 | 30,789 |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Mar-25 | 6,321,762 | 764,489 | 76,418 | 91,350 | 198,973 | 76,960 | 32,829 | 32,315 |
Feb-25 | 6,249,383 | 762,478 | 75,466 | 90,619 | 194,303 | 76,918 | 32,866 | 33,054 |
Jan-25 | 6,138,815 | 757,768 | 68,526 | 95,882 | 187,556 | 77,237 | 31,908 | 34,060 |
Dec-24 | 6,104,580 | 759,179 | 53,291 | 112,472 | 179,482 | 79,539 | 32,141 | 34,792 |
Nov-24 | 6,034,441 | 755,941 | 52,210 | 113,186 | 165,869 | 86,973 | 31,783 | 35,770 |
Oct-24 | 5,935,808 | 748,299 | 51,214 | 110,816 | 160,615 | 89,054 | 30,840 | 37,059 |
Sep-24 | 5,862,022 | 739,155 | 51,132 | 110,535 | 159,504 | 88,326 | 29,957 | 38,184 |
Aug-24 | 5,760,130 | 734,637 | 51,309 | 110,834 | 155,939 | 87,182 | 29,451 | 39,332 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in non-UK immigration status groups in each year since 2019.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (further details provided in Table Guidance in the attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each April from 2022 to 2025. Data is not held prior to April 2022.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status for April 2022 to April 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Apr-24 | 5,519,088 | 720,365 | 49,817 | 107,486 | 142,884 | 84,558 | 27,134 | 25,894 |
Apr-23 | 4,859,348 | 671,620 | 47,020 | 75,372 | 113,548 | 77,363 | 16,590 | 35,846 |
Apr-22 | 4,611,046 | 644,847 | 3,221 | 64,423 | 95,612 | 68,883 | 6,484 | 51,600 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants recorded to be in non-UK immigration status groups are (1) in work, and (2) not in work; and what proportion these claimants represent of the total Universal Credit caseload.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics and the relevant information from those statistics is displayed in Table 1 below.
For the purpose of statistical production, immigration status data has been categorised into the following 8 groups:
Table 1: Number and proportion of People on Universal Credit by immigration status and employment status June 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status | Not in employment | % of all on UC | In employment | % of all on UC | Total |
CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | 4,418,544 | 56.3% | 2,148,966 | 27.4% | 6,567,506 |
EU Settlement Scheme | 403,956 | 5.1% | 360,473 | 4.6% | 764,429 |
Humanitarian | 32,085 | 0.4% | 21,726 | 0.3% | 53,810 |
Refugee | 90,403 | 1.2% | 27,214 | 0.3% | 117,623 |
Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | 141,958 | 1.8% | 68,558 | 0.9% | 210,513 |
Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including family reunion | 50,010 | 0.6% | 24,692 | 0.3% | 74,694 |
Other | 21,705 | 0.3% | 11,289 | 0.1% | 32,998 |
No immigration status recorded on digital systems | 19,258 | 0.2% | 10,646 | 0.1% | 29,912 |
Total | 5,177,927 | 65.9% | 2,673,559 | 34.1% | 7,851,487 |
Source: Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) Extract
Notes
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of women identified as "pregnant from Ireland" who were forcibly returned from Britain to Ireland in the 20th century and what plans they have to offer recompense to those affected.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Irish Government is implementing a redress scheme which provides compensation to survivors of historical wrongs in Ireland. The Department for Work and Pensions is considering how to legislate so that UK residents who receive this compensation do not have their benefits affected. The ongoing legalisation the PQ is in relation to is Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill
The Home Office has, to the best of its knowledge, confirmed that it does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent illegal migrants who arrive in the Republic of Ireland from travelling into Northern Ireland and then to Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK and Ireland have a close and collaborative working relationship on a range of issues, including migration and border security. That collaboration includes a joint commitment to protect the Common Travel Area (CTA) from abuse while preserving the rights of British and Irish citizens.
The UK operates intelligence-led operational activity across the CTA and everyone entering the UK, regardless of where they enter from, is required to meet UK’s immigration requirements. Anyone identified attempting to circumvent UK border controls is liable to be detained and, if they are not lawfully present within the UK, removed.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to meet with her Irish counterpart to discuss the increase in the amount of illegal drugs being smuggled into that country.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Crime Agency’s latest National Strategic Assessment notes the Common Travel Area, and particularly the routes between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, continue to be exploited by criminals for the purposes of serious and organised crime including the smuggling of illicit commodities.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland have a strong operational relationship which includes continual engagement and practical joint operations to present a combined deterrent to organised criminals targeting both the UK and Ireland.
This is supported by senior twice-yearly dialogues, which Home Office officials feed into. At these we discuss key issues that are shared between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
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 recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of cross-border drug trafficking between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and what steps she is taking to disrupt such activity.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Crime Agency’s latest National Strategic Assessment notes the Common Travel Area, and particularly the routes between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, continue to be exploited by criminals for the purposes of serious and organised crime including the smuggling of illicit commodities. It is highly likely that organised crime groups are taking advantage of additional ferry routes between mainland Europe and Ireland in order to avoid detection at the UK border.
Since the beginning of 2023, there has been a notable increase in seizures of cocaine in excess of 100kg at Irish ports from ferry routes originating from within the European Union.
UK law enforcement organisations, including the Police Service Northern Ireland, NCA and Border Force work with An Garda Síochána, to target those who might attempt to smuggle illicit drugs between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, including via the sea.