Carla Lockhart MP: written questions
160 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Police Service of Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland OfficeTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28643More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on (a) staffing levels, (b) recruitment challenges and (c) plans to address workforce shortages.
Answer: A well staffed and resourced PSNI is vital to the success and stability of Northern Ireland. I regularly engage with the Chief Constable and Justice Minister on issues of shared interest and concern.The UK Government’s Autumn budget delivered a record £18...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: FloodsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28641More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent flooding on agricultural productivity; and whether he plans to provide funding to help farmers improve drainag
Answer: The 2023 to 2024 Autumn and winter season were the wettest in 30 years, this meant that many farms in affected areas experienced difficulty cultivating or grazing over that period. The primary impact of this on agricultural productivity is a shift from wi...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordUK Internal Trade: Northern IrelandDepartment for TransportTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28640More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle changes in the levels of haulage costs for transporting goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answer: Hauliers play a very important role in supporting trade within the UK. The Government meets regularly with stakeholders involved in trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including representatives of the road haulage industry, particularly in v...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordNational Grid: WeatherDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28639More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to improve the resilience of the electricity grid to extreme weather conditions.
Answer: Great Britain has a highly resilient energy network. Network operators have completed a significant number of improvements to the resilience of Great Britain’s electricity network which means the electricity system is in a much better place to mitigate po...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordStudents: Northern IrelandDepartment for EducationTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28638More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) tuition fee, (b) financial and (c) other support to students from Northern Ireland studying at universities in Great Britain.
Answer: The Northern Ireland Executive has devolved responsibility for higher education in Northern Ireland and determines the student finance arrangements for Northern Irish students, including those students studying in England, Scotland and Wales.
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordVeterans: Northern IrelandMinistry of DefenceTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24496More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support veterans in Northern Ireland (a) to access UK-wide veterans' services and (b) in other ways.
Answer: This Government is committed to ensuring that veterans are able to access the appropriate support they require wherever they live in the UK. In Northern Ireland, the Office for Veterans Affairs, within the Ministry of Defence has established a local prese...
Answered 22 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordBroadcasting: Political ImpartialityDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24495More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of broadcasting regulations on the impartiality of news coverage in Northern Ireland.
Answer: The regulation of due impartiality in broadcast news is a matter for the independent regulator Ofcom.
Answered 22 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordBovine Tuberculosis: Disease ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24494More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to help tackle bovine TB outbreaks in areas of high incidence in each of the last five years.
Answer: Policy on bovine TB is devolved to governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, in the last five years, my department has spent approximately £100 million per year on disease control measures tackling bovine TB. It is not poss...
Answered 27 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAssistance Animals: Animal WelfareDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24493More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the protection of assistance animals from abuse and neglect; and what additional steps he plans to take to improve safeguards for the
Answer: Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, including assistance animals, is an offence under section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The maximum sentence for this offence is five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Those convicted of an offen...
Answered 24 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordParades CommissionNorthern Ireland OfficeTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24492More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland; and what steps he plans to take to help ensure (a) its decisions are transparent and (b
Answer: Decisions regarding parades in Northern Ireland are an operational matter for the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland in line with the legislation contained within the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998. Details of any determinations made by the Commiss...
Answered 24 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAvian Influenza: Disease ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24491More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department is providing to (a) poultry farmers and (b) wildlife conservation groups to help contain the spread of avian influenza.
Answer: Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency have stood up their well-established outbreak structures to control and eradicate highly pathogenic avian influenza, restore normal trade, and assist local communities’ recovery as set out in the Notifiable Avi...
Answered 24 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordApprentices: TaxationTreasuryTabled 25 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 15842More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in Northern Ireland on ensuring that businesses in Northern Ireland that pay into the Apprenticeship Levy receive direct funding from the levy.
Answer: HMT ministers engage regularly with the Northern Ireland Finance Minister through the Finance Inter-Ministerial Committee. While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. This means that the devolved governments r...
Answered 3 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordCybersecurity and Hybrid Warfare: Northern IrelandMinistry of DefenceTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12161More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that Northern Ireland is integrated into the national defence strategy for (a) cyber defence and (b) hybrid threats.
Answer: Cyber defence and hybrid threats are crucial considerations as part of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which will establish the roles, capabilities and reforms required by UK Defence to meet the challenges, threats, and opportunities of the twenty-fir...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordVeterans: Northern IrelandMinistry of DefenceTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12160More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that former Armed Forces personnel based in Northern Ireland are adequately supported through veterans' services.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring that veterans are able to access the appropriate support they require wherever they live in the UK and will be seeking to more effectively coordinate and cohere the support that is available. Specialist statutory su...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordSocial Rented Housing: PetsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12159More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a right of tenants in social housing to keep a pet.
Answer: Many social landlords set out their pet policies in their tenancy agreements and will allow tenants to keep pets where it is appropriate to do so. Consideration is given to whether the pets can be well looked after and any adverse effects on the lives of ...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordFireworks Regulations 2004Department for Business and TradeTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12158More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Fireworks Regulations 2004 in protecting (a) people and (b) animals from negative impacts of fireworks.
Answer: The current regulatory framework is designed to support people to enjoy fireworks whilst lowering the risk of dangers and disruption to people, pets, and property. The Government recently launched an awareness campaign on the Gov.uk website to provide gui...
Answered 6 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordDogs: SmugglingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12157More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) resources and (b) training his Department provides to the Animal and Plant Health Agency to assist in the detection of puppies being smuggled through UK ports.
Answer: The Government takes the illegal importation of pets seriously. It is an abhorrent trade which causes suffering to animals. We work closely with UK enforcement bodies including the Animal and Plant Health Agency to develop guidance and ensure they have th...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordReligious FreedomHome OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10527More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance she has issued to police forces on ensuring that their methods of assessing silent prayer respect individuals' rights to freedom of (a) thought, (b) conscience and (c) religion.
Answer: The Home Office has not issued any guidance to police forces on the topic of silent prayer.The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent from Government.
Answered 30 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordReligious Freedom: DemonstrationsHome OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10526More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on assessing whether silent prayer is taking place during public protests or gatherings whereby that action may constitute a breach of the law.
Answer: The Home Office has not issued any guidance to police forces on the topic of silent prayer.The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent from Government.
Answered 30 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordNigeria: ChristianityForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10525More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) scale and (b) nature of the persecution and murder of Christians in Nigeria.
Answer: Terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa have sought to undermine the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) by attacking those who do not subscribe to their extremist views, including both Christians and Muslims. These incide...
Answered 30 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordChina: UyghursForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10524More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Chinese government on the treatment of Uighur peoples in Xinjiang.
Answer: This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. These concerns were raised directly by the Foreign Secretary on his recent vis...
Answered 30 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordChina: UyghursForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10523More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the treatment of Uighur peoples in Xinjiang, China.
Answer: This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. These concerns were raised directly by the Foreign Secretary on his recent vis...
Answered 30 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordFirearms: Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10522More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many firearm licenses have been revoked in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answer: Policing and justice are devolved matters. The control of firearms in Northern Ireland is exercised by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Figures relating to firearm licence revocations are held by the PSNI.
Answered 29 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordFirearms: Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland OfficeTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10521More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many firearms have been registered in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answer: Policing and justice are devolved matters. The control of firearms in Northern Ireland is exercised by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Figures relating to firearm registration are held by the PSNI.
Answered 29 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPalliative Care: Per Capita CostsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 22 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 10520More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average cost per patient for palliative care was in each of the last five years.
Answer: Palliative care services are included on the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) in England must commission. It is difficult to quantify the total provision of, or spend on, palliative and end of life care at either a national or local ICB lev...
Answered 29 Oct 2024
Original Parliament record
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