Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the Government of the Republic of Ireland on the impact of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme on those eligible living in the UK.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I have not had any discussions with the Irish Government on this topic. Details of the scheme are ultimately a matter for the Irish Government.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of introducing a disregard for recipients of the Republic of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme compensation.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I have not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on this topic. Details of the scheme are a matter for the Irish Government.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what local revenue raising conditions were attached to the recent financial package awarded to the Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government remains determined to support the Executive to maximise the opportunities presented by the financial package.
To help stabilise the Executive’s financial position, the UK Government has agreed to pause its debt repayments from 2022-23 and 2023-24 of up to £559 million and will no longer require these funds to be repaid, subject to the Executive publishing a plan, which outlines how it will deliver sustainable public finances and services, and demonstrating implementation of that plan by May 2025.
This sustainability plan must include the delivery of a balanced budget for 2024-25 by raising a minimum of £113 million through locally generated income. It will be for the Executive to determine if it will consider a different course of action to deliver the public services that Northern Ireland needs as part of its plan for financial sustainability.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the destinations were of domestic overnight visits undertaken by Ministers within their Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to UIN 17536 on 13 March 2024.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the cost is of Operation Kenova.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
Operation Kenova is an independent investigation commissioned by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The PSNI is therefore best placed to provide an accurate estimate of its cost.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland administration on pay for (a) health and social care and (b) NHS workers.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
In the months leading up to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland engaged with the Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the issue of pay awards for healthcare workers in Northern Ireland. In addition to these meetings, he met with trade union representatives on this important matter.
Healthcare is a devolved matter and pay awards are ultimately a matter for the Department of Health. The UK Government has provided the Executive with a £3.3 billion financial package to stabilise Northern Ireland’s finances. This package includes £584m to provide public sector pay awards for 2023-24. It will be up to the Executive to decide on the level of pay awards and to balance these costs against other priorities.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the (a) Department for Health and Social Care and (b) Department for Transport on providing financial support for young cancer patients (0-25) and their families travelling from Northern Ireland to receive treatment in England.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
This matter is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. Arrangements for financial support for young cancer patients and their families travelling from Northern Ireland to receive treatment in England is a matter for the Northern Ireland Department of Health and local Health and Social Care Trusts.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16419 on Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland, on what date the Northern Ireland Executive was informed of the removal of the ring-fence for the £150m Fresh Start Agreement funding.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
HM Treasury officials wrote to their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department of Finance on 1 March 2024 formally confirming the removal of the ring-fence for £150 million of Fresh Start Agreement funding.
This formal confirmation followed official level discussions between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service on UK Government funding streams being made available within the financial package to support the restored Executive.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Caine on 4 March and with regard to paragraphs 54 and 65 of the relevant Supreme Court judgment, whether they can confirm that the inconsistency between the Acts of Union and the protocol was not at issue before the Supreme Court because the Government did not lodge any cross appeal from the Court of Appeal’s decision that such inconsistency existed.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Supreme Court clearly set out in its judgement of 8 February 2023 the issues it considered and its reasoning for reaching the conclusions it did.
The Government’s consistent position on these matters is set out in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper, which is that the Windsor Framework (which replaced the old Protocol) applies entirely consistently with Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the United Kingdom, including as expressed in the relevant statute today.