United Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint Board

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My noble friend is right: after three years of no Assembly, there is much work to be done. The UK Government will work with the restored Executive in fora such as the joint board to continue making Northern Ireland a great place to live, work and do business. I believe that this is one of the best ways in which we can strengthen Northern Ireland’s place in the union. On his point on spending, the Government have provided the Executive with a substantial financial package, with necessary checks and balances, to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. This includes boosting infrastructure and transforming public services. On RHI, very briefly, we will be looking very carefully at the 44 recommendations from Sir Patrick Coghlin’s report.

[Lord Alderdice (LD)]

My Lords, given that I trained and worked as a doctor in Northern Ireland, the Minister will not be surprised that I turn to two of the health issues mentioned in the Statement of 15 January, particularly given the parlous state of the health service and the crisis of Covid-19. First, by what date does the Minister expect the first tranche of medical students to start medical training in the new postgraduate faculty in Derry? Secondly, have the problems of pay for nurses been resolved, two months on from 15 January? We desperately need the nurses.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

The noble Lord makes some very good points. It is critical that we do whatever we can to support the health service in Northern Ireland and that the Executive take the issues forward. There is some £245 million to support the transformation of public services, which includes health, and the rapid injection, which he will know about, of £550 million to resolve the nurses’ pay dispute. These are just two of the measures that are happening immediately.