Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Community Pharmacy NI about funding for pharmacies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government has had no discussions with Community Pharmacy NI about funding for pharmacies in Northern Ireland.
The former Minister of State for Northern Ireland met a member of the Community Pharmacy NI board in December 2021 as part of a wider visit to businesses in Northern Ireland.
The Government is acutely aware of the broader pressures facing health and social care services in Northern Ireland. A programme of reform at the devolved level is needed to tackle long-standing and systemic problems. Consecutive Executive Ministers have failed adequately to address this issue.
In the absence of an Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has introduced a Bill that clarifies the powers for Northern Ireland Departments to maintain delivery of public services. These powers are, however, limited. The Secretary of State has also set a Budget for this financial year. This Budget for Health provides £7.28bn in funding which is an increase of £228m above 2021/22 spending which included significant COVID-19 funding, or £786m if we compare to last year’s funding excluding the one-off COVID-19 funding. This will protect spending to address the critical health pressures in Northern Ireland.
The Government’s immediate priority remains facilitating the restoration of a fully functioning Executive that can progress long-term solutions to transform healthcare in Northern Ireland. That is the best way to progress the necessary long-term solutions to healthcare.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of ministers in the Northern Ireland Office in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK Government has no plans to increase the number of ministers in the Northern Ireland Office in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of holding new Assembly elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The maximum amount that can be recovered by the Chief Electoral Officer in relation to the costs of an Assembly election is currently £4.4m and this is set out in The Northern Ireland Assembly Elections (Charges Order) 2022. This does not include the costs of candidates' free election mailings which is difficult to estimate as it depends on the number of candidates and the take up of mailings by candidates.
The Government plans to uprate the existing charges order and bring a new one into force in advance of the next Assembly election.
The Chief Constable of the Police Service for NI (PSNI) has said that he estimates the cost for a future Assembly election for the PSNI to be in the region of £670,000.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister will participate in direct talks with the local political parties in Northern Ireland before 28 October.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has met and continues to meet all the Parties in the Executive. This will continue in advance of 28 October.
The Secretary of State has made clear that there is no reason not to have a fully functioning Executive. The Government continues to urge the parties to form an Executive before the deadline of 28 October when the Secretary of State will fall under a duty to call a fresh election.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had since September with trade unions representing teachers in Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Northern Ireland Office has not met any trade unions representing teachers. Education policy is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. While there is not an Executive in place at present, the Northern Ireland Education Minister remains in post and as such has responsibility for engaging with trade unions.
We continue to engage with local parties and urge them to reform an Executive to tackle the issues affecting Northern Ireland, including education.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement in 2023.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Preparations are underway to mark this historic milestone appropriately and give it the recognition it deserves. Further details will be announced in due course.
This Government remains totally committed to the 1998 Agreement which has underpinned so much of the progress that we have seen in Northern Ireland for almost a quarter of a century.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has travelled to Northern Ireland in each of the last 12 months; and how many of these visits included an overnight stay.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Between February 2021 and February 2022, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland made the following visits to Northern Ireland:
February 2021: 3 trips
March 2021: 5 trips
April 2021: 5 trips
May 2021: 4 trips
June 2021: 4 trips
July 2021: 2 trips
August 2021: 1 trip
September 2021: 2 trips
October 2021: 2 trips
November 2021: 2 trips
December 2021: 2 trips
January 2022: 4 trips
February 2022: 2 trips
These include 22 overnight trips.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for ministers to meet (1) the Northern Ireland Football League, and (2) the Irish Football Association, to discuss the funding of sub-regional stadia.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The sub-regional stadia programme is a devolved matter for which the Executive is responsible. I understand the Northern Ireland Communities Minister recently met local representatives to discuss the funding of the programme.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to legislate to introduce a commissioner to "enhance and develop the language, arts and literature associated with the Ulster Scots/Ulster British tradition" in Northern Ireland, as set out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, published on 9 January 2020.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government remains committed to the introduction of legislation for the package of identity and language measures as set out in New Decade, New Approach. The legislation will faithfully deliver what was contained in that document.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they held in relation to amending the Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill to allow an MP to (1) seek a dual mandate as an MLA, and (2) hold both mandates for the duration of the current Parliament; which political parties participated in these discussions; what agreement was reached; and (a) when, and (b) by whom, the decision was taken not to move any relevant Government amendments at Report stage in the House of Lords on 19 January.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The subject of dual mandates was debated extensively in the House of Lords during Committee Stage of the Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill, following the tabling of an amendment by Lord Alderdice, which was supported by a number of noble Lords. At the conclusion of the debate, I undertook to consider the matter further with a view to returning to it at Report Stage. Following this, I carried out broad engagement in parliament, and spoke to representatives from a number of political parties setting out the Government's proposed approach.
After the Government tabled the amendment, however, the majority of Northern Ireland parties made clear that they did not wish to see any change to the current arrangements. As a result of this widespread opposition, the Prime Minister announced to the House of Commons on 19 January the Government’s decision not to move its amendment.