Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to process claims made in a timely manner.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
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.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Infected Blood Compensation scheme claimants, with a prognosis of less than 12 months life expectancy, are having their claims and registered intent notifications prioritised.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
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.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the trends in the level of excess mortality above pre-2020 trends in the 50- to 64-year-old age group.
Answered by Josh Simons
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.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure modelled increases in expected deaths are not used to retroactively redefine excess mortality as normal.
Answered by Josh Simons
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.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing prior public notice of visits by members of the Royal Family to Northern Ireland, in the context of practice in other parts of the UK.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As with all Royal visits across the UK, announcement timelines take into account a number of factors, including security advice.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on UK-wide civil contingency (a) planning and (b) response frameworks on cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
Devolved Governments (DGs) have a vital role to play in our national resilience and were closely involved in the development of the Resilience Action Plan.
The UK Government is working hard to improve the cyber resilience of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), including by ensuring that CNI Owners and Operators are prepared to respond to, and recover from, cyber incidents through better planning and regular exercising. We work closely with the DGs to ensure appropriate resilience measures are in place and proportionate to the risks across all four Nations. Responding to a cyber incident is a cross-government responsibility with roles and responsibilities identified in the National Cyber Incident Management Framework.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Windsor Framework on SMEs in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Windsor Framework established a broad set of arrangements to support businesses to move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including to small- and medium- sized businesses based in Northern Ireland.
On 1 May 2025, we introduced under the Windsor Framework important new arrangements for freight and parcels movements to guarantee that goods can continue to move smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ensuring that goods sent to or from consumers will not be subject to customs declarations or duty.
As set out in our Common Understanding, the Government will take forward a new UK-EU SPS Agreement, and this will further simplify the movement of agri-food goods within the United Kingdom. As a result, we expect there will no longer be a need for SPS paperwork when moving agrifood or plant products and the requirement to label goods ‘not for EU’ will diminish significantly.
The Government works closely with industry stakeholders and trade associations on the implementation of these arrangements and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Veterinary Medicines working group has made on increasing access to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland since its inaugural meeting.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government’s priority is to secure a long-term sustainable solution on veterinary medicines. We aim to settle on a solution through discussions with the EU, as well as continuing to consider all available flexibilities as necessary to safeguard and sustain the supply of veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland. To support that work, the Veterinary Medicines Working Group was established in March. It has met twice so far, and is serving as a forum for constructive and detailed exploration of next steps.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the total sum accrued by the Exchequer in fuel duty in each of the last 4 years.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 24 May is attached.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what advice the Government has published on non-freight trade travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland after the transition period.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government has published a broad range of guidance for businesses moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland from 1 January 2021. This includes arrangements for non-freight trade. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trading-and-moving-goods-in-and-out-of-northern-ireland-from-1-january-2021