Lord Browne of Belmont
Main Page: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
Lord Browne of Belmont Excerpts
Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP) [V]
My Lords, these regulations inexplicably fail to provide for the inspection of NHS abortion provision. Last Monday, the Minister in the other place said that
“we have sought to achieve the same outcomes as the frameworks in place across the rest of the UK.”—[Official Report, Commons, 8/6/20; col. 44.]
A recent Northern Ireland Assembly question confirmed that the relevant NI inspection body, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority,
“do not have any powers specifically in relation to abortion providers as they are not a discrete category of provider required to register with, and be inspected by, RQIA.”
Regulation 8 could have been drafted so that when the regulations came into effect there was a proper inspection regime in Northern Ireland, as in England. Without such a regime, the regulations carelessly leave women significantly less protected than in England and Wales. Consequently, the regulations are not fit for purpose. I will vote “Content” on the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan.