Carla Lockhart

As of 10 March, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has paid over £2 billion in compensation. As of 1 October 2025, IBCA had asked every living infected person who is registered with a support scheme to come forward and start their claim. IBCA has now opened the service for the first claims from infected people who were never compensated, deceased infected people, and living affected people. This met the Government’s targets for compensation delivery in 2025.

With each new cohort, IBCA are starting small, allowing them to learn what additions to the claim service are needed. This will allow them to open their service to more people as the service is built around specific needs. Whilst the roll out of the Scheme is an operational decision for IBCA as an independent body, the Government fully supports their commitment to moving forward as swiftly as possible.

Based on community feedback, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) are prioritising claims for people who have been told by a medical professional that they may have 12 months or less to live. This is regardless of whether they are infected, affected, a beneficiary of an estate of a deceased infected person, or registered with an Infected Blood Support Scheme. IBCA collect information regarding this via their registration service, allowing them to prioritise claims appropriately.

The delivery of compensation is a matter for the IBCA as an operationally independent body. IBCA publishes regular updates on its website of the progress made in delivering compensation, including how many individuals have received compensation payments across all groups.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

As with all Royal visits across the UK, announcement timelines take into account a number of factors, including security advice.

The Business Growth Service and the broader SME Strategy, to be published later this year, will help small businesses including in Northern Ireland, grow, innovate and thrive.

The Government is committed to supporting small businesses across the UK, including Northern Ireland. As a result for example, 320 SMEs in Northern Ireland - 3% of the national total, have benefited from the Help to Grow: Management (HTGM) programme, as of 31 March 2025.

Invest Northern Ireland (InvestNI), the national counterpart to the Business Support Service, offers extensive support in areas such as Entrepreneurship, Exports and Funding. In 2024 –25, InvestNI backed 726 Innovation and R&D projects representing £245m in investment.

In November 2023, the Department for Education published a report showing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on areas within the UK labour market and education The impact of AI on UK jobs and training - GOV.UK. The report noted that professional occupations are more exposed to AI, particularly those associated with more clerical work and across finance, law and business management roles.

The government is committed to ensuring both learners and employers have access to crucial digital and artificial intelligence skills that have the potential to increase productivity and create new high value jobs in the UK economy. To achieve this, the government is reforming the skills system. The government has established Skills England to form a coherent national picture of skills gaps and to help shape the technical education system so that it is responsive to skills needs.

AI has the potential to bring significant benefits to legal professionals by automating routine work, allowing them to focus on matters of higher value and interest. AI and lawtech is also creating new jobs within the profession, such as legal technologists and tech developers.

Supporting the safe adoption of AI in legal services is essential to ensuring the sector remains world leading. The Ministry of Justice does this via LawtechUK, a grant funded industry led programme created to support the development of lawtech. Across the past year LawtechUK has hosted a series on Generative AI, brining experts in law, technology, and regulation to explore the benefits of AI and how to mitigate any risks.

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 guidance on minimising the impacts of fireworks on people and animals.

To inform any future decisions on the legislative framework, the Government intends to engage with stakeholders to gather evidence on the issues and impacts of fireworks.

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero works extensively with the energy sector to continually improve and maintain the resilience and security of energy infrastructure against risks including severe weather events, such as storms.

The Energy Resilience Strategy, due for publication later this year, will seize the unique opportunity presented by the energy transition to embed resilience into the design of our future energy system.

This Strategy will set out our priorities for building a secure and resilient energy system and explain how we will work with industry, infrastructure partners, and the public to strengthen prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Energy policy and electricity system resilience are transferred matters in Northern Ireland, falling within the legislative competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive The UK Government maintains a close working relationship with the Department for the Economy, supporting them in managing energy security and resilience, and stands ready to help Northern Ireland during significant disruptions, as demonstrated during Storm Eowyn.

Moyle is a point-to-point interconnector that has been in operation since 2002. It is a commercially developed interconnector and operates without government conducting ongoing assessments of its condition.

On future interconnection between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ofgem gave in-principle approval in November 2024 for the proposed LirIC electricity interconnector. This project is being taken forward under the Ofgem cap and floor regulatory regime.

Great British Energy (GBE) will operate in Northern Ireland as part of its commitment to deliver in all four nations of the UK. Recognising Northern Ireland’s distinct energy landscape and regulatory framework, GBE will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to explore ways it can best support the delivery of clean power, community energy and drive inclusive economic growth. The contribution of SMEs to the development of clean power including supply chains will be part of this consideration.

Earlier this year GBE committed £1.62 million for community and public sector renewable projects in Northern Ireland. On 10 December, we announced that this funding will help Further Education Colleges to benefit from clean energy, through installation of Solar PV at a number of sites.

Additionally, on 11 December, GBE also launched a £300m supply chain fund for offshore wind and networks. All areas of the UK will be eligible for funding, meaning projects may be located anywhere in the UK, including in Northern Ireland, subject to Windsor Framework considerations.

Moyle is a point-to-point interconnector that has been in operation since 2002. It is a commercially developed interconnector and operates without government financial support.

On future interconnection between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ofgem gave in-principle approval in November 2024 for the proposed LirIC electricity interconnector. This project is being taken forward under the Ofgem cap and floor regulatory regime.

Whilst energy policy and electricity system resilience of Northern Ireland remains a devolved competence for the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department has maintained a close working relationship with the Department for the Economy to support them in managing energy security.

Antisemitic content is divisive, hateful and has no place online. The government expects Ofcom to use its full powers in the Online Safety Act to tackle it.

Antisemitic material that meets the criminal threshold is illegal content, and the Act’s duties apply to all regulated services, regardless of size.

To address risks from smaller platforms, Ofcom has established a ‘small but risky’ supervision taskforce. This focuses on identifying smaller services posing severe risks, engaging with them, assessing compliance and escalating concerns to Ofcom’s Enforcement team.

Human trafficking is a priority offence under the Online Safety Act. The Act places duties on services to take steps to ensure they are not used for human trafficking.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, has strong enforcement powers under the OSA, including imposing fines, and—where necessary—using business disruption measures to ensure platforms comply with their safety duties.

The government wants all areas of the UK, including rural areas in Northern Ireland, to benefit from reliable and high-quality mobile coverage, and this is reflected in our ambition for all populated areas of the UK to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030.

My department continues to work closely with the mobile network operators to deliver on this ambition, ensuring the investment committed by operators delivers benefits to such communities, including by removing barriers to deployment where they exist and it is practical to do so.

Regarding next-generation broadband access, Project Stratum received £199 million of UK government funding and delivered gigabit-capable broadband to almost 81,100 premises in Northern Ireland. This project, delivered by Fibrus, completed delivery in June 2025.

The Northern Ireland Department for the Economy (DfE) is currently undertaking a Project Gigabit procurement to help fill remaining gaps in gigabit broadband coverage predominantly targeting rural and hard to reach areas.

Improving the cyber security of our nation’s small and medium-sized enterprises is critical to the resilience of our wider economy. We recognise many SMEs lack the resources to invest in their cyber security. As such, the government has developed a wide range of free tools, guidance and training to help SMEs implement cyber security measures, including the recently launched Cyber Action Toolkit which provides SMEs with tailored advice.

NCSC-certified Cyber Advisors are available to provide advice and guidance on commercial terms, including in Northern Ireland, and SMEs are eligible for a free 30- minute consultation. Additionally, the government’s Cyber Essentials scheme helps all organisations, including SMEs, implement critical cyber security controls, protecting them from most common cyber attacks. We recently completed a funding programme across the UK, which included supporting 170 organisations in Northern Ireland to get certified to the scheme.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology invests in cancer research via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Department of Health and Social Care via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). UKRI and NIHR support research which explores the impact of AI on cancer diagnosis, including the NIHR £11 million Edith trial (using AI to assist radiologists in breast cancer screening). AI presents significant opportunities for improving outcomes and diagnosis for cancer patients and driving faster triage of patients with suspected symptoms. Evaluations of the impact of AI on cancer diagnosis are ongoing.

This Government is doing much to reset the relationship with civil society and ensure we listen to - and heed - a broad range of voices from across the sector, including those from small charities. The Civil Society Covenant, launched by the Prime Minister in July 2025, sets out the ambition of this government to fully recognise the value of civil society. No.10 has established the Civil Society Council, to work in partnership with government at the highest level to drive and oversee the implementation of the Covenant.

Our recently-launched £11.5 million Local Covenant Partnerships (LCP) Fund puts many of the Covenant’s principles into practice, including testing new approaches to commissioning and procurement. The LCP Fund will invest in 15 places across England to develop innovative partnership models between VCSE organisations and local public sector bodies. This in turn will increase levels of local VCSE delivery of public services, including from small charities, and work towards developing the local sector’s knowledge and confidence of commissioning structures and procurement processes.

The Department offers support for the protection and preservation of historic places of worship through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which in January 2025 was extended for a further year to March 2026 with a £23 million budget. This scheme allows religious organisations to reclaim the VAT costs of eligible repairs and renovations, recognising the vital heritage and community role of these sites.

Furthermore, DCMS arm's length bodies provide additional funding. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is committing around £100 million between 2023 and 2026 to help secure the future of places of worship across the UK. This includes £15 million dedicated to large-scale projects aimed at enhancing the heritage sector's sustainability and security. A further £85 million is expected to be awarded through National Lottery Heritage Grants over the next three years to improve the condition of places of worship and help develop the necessary skills for their future preservation.

In exceptional circumstances, some listed places of worship may also be eligible for Heritage at Risk funding provided by Historic England. In addition, the Department funded a Heritage At Risk Capital Fund in 2025/26 and of 37 projects awarded funding, 4 were places of worship receiving £1,387,842 in total.

DCMS recognises the value and expertise of the National Churches Trust in supporting the protection of historic places of worship.

Baroness Twycross, the Minister for Heritage, is open to meeting with the National Churches Trust. The Department has engaged in various meetings with representatives of the sector, including the National Churches Trust, throughout the year, and the Minister looks forward to continuing this important dialogue.

Public service media plays an important role in terms of providing news and other content which reflects the full diversity of people, communities and experiences across the nations and regions, including Northern Ireland.

Currently under their Operating Licence, the BBC has to produce 3% of its network programming output in Northern Ireland each year, by spend and hours. Meanwhile Channel 4’s nations quota for content spend and hours has recently been increased by Ofcom from 9% to 12% from 2030 which Channel 4 have committed to delivering by 2028.

Ofcom has overall responsibility for these quotas and monitoring compliance.

DCMS ministers have recently met with both Church representatives and Historic England, however discussions have not covered the specific issue of increasing flexibility in the renovation and adaptation of listed churches for community use and accessibility improvements.

Through the Ecclesiastical Exemption, many denominations are already able to manage alterations to their own listed buildings, including adaptation to community use and greater accessibility, through internal permission systems.

Education is devolved, but the department collaborates with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to share learning and improve standards. Ministers and officials meet throughout the year, including at the UK Education Ministers Council (UKEMC). My noble friend, the Minister for Skills, attended the last UKEMC in November 2025, which was attended by the Northern Ireland Minister of Education and focussed on curriculum reform, behaviour in schools and the use of artificial intelligence in schools.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Sex education is not compulsory in primary schools, but the statutory guidance for relationship, sex and health education (RSHE) recommends that primaries teach sex education in years 5 and/or 6, in line with content about conception and birth, which forms part of the national curriculum for science.

The guidance is absolutely clear that schools are responsible for ensuring that lesson content is age-appropriate, whilst trusting teachers to respond to issues at the right time, allowing flexibility to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their pupils, and this is one of the guiding principles of all RSHE.

The guidance is also clear that primary schools should consult parents about the content of anything that will be taught within sex education, including giving advice about parents’ right to request withdrawal from sex education.

Apprenticeship and skills policy is devolved to Northern Ireland, and any measures regarding apprenticeships there are a matter for the Northern Irish government.

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.

Each of the three devolved Governments, along with the UK Government, is an integral part of the decision-making process for avian influenza control. They are core members of the regular chief veterinary officer strategic stocktakes and they also sit on the Animal Disease Policy Group (a UK-wide policy decision making group).

The food strategy recognises the key role that regional and local food systems can play in supporting delivery of the growth, health, sustainability, and food security/ resilience outcomes. Defra wants to create an environment that champions UK food cultures and celebrates British food. The strategy is an opportunity to celebrate the food we make which is uniquely British, combining our heritage and the expertise and innovation of our food businesses.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Replacing Animals in Science strategy uses a ‘baskets’ approach to group animal tests according to how ready they are for replacement, based on the maturity of potential alternative methods. In addition, the Government-funded National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) has ongoing work to replace, reduce and refine LD/LC50 tests.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate may also require animal testing in either the development of new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control to ensure that only safe and effective veterinary medicines are marketed and supplied.

The Government continues to engage extensively with industry stakeholders across the supply chain to support them with continued availability of veterinary medicines beyond the grace period. This includes engagement with veterinary and farmer associations and businesses to discuss their preparedness and any concerns they might have. The Government has also issued extensive guidance and intends to publish several webinars shortly. This guidance provides information to help veterinary practices and farm businesses prepare.

The Department will continue to engage extensively with stakeholders across the sector beyond 31 December, including those representing vets and SQPs. Should unanticipated disruptions emerge, the Government will work closely with industry, as we are doing now, to address the issues and communicate promptly to stakeholders. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) currently already seek feedback on supply issues with the 'report a supply problem' form, and this has been promoted to all stakeholders as one of their routes to notify us of any issues. The Government remains confident that the two schemes being introduced can address any supply gaps if they emerge. The Veterinary Medicine Health Situation list will be updated as necessary.