Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he is making on providing Global Health Insurance Cards to residents in Northern Ireland without the Union Flag on them.

The Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) provides necessary healthcare cover to United Kingdom residents when travelling in the European Union. It is important that the card can be easily identified as a UK document and can be recognised by healthcare providers internationally. The Union Flag is the official flag of the UK and therefore the appropriate branding for such documents.

The Government recognises the particular sensitivities around flags in Northern Ireland. As such, residents in Northern Ireland will be provided with an option to choose an alternative version of the GHIC which does not feature a Union Flag background. For security reasons all versions of GHIC have the same anti-fraud hologram which does feature the Union Flag. Residents of Northern Ireland can apply for the alternative GHIC design from 30 June 2021 at the following link:

NHS.UK/GHIC