Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has had made of the implications for his policies of the findings on pages 24 and 26 of the APPG on Endometriosis Inquiry Report 2020 entitled Endometriosis in the UK: time for change, that suggests prior to covid-19, a person suffering from endometriosis in Northern Ireland will wait on average more than 2 years for a laparoscopy, compared to 4 months in England, and what steps he is taking to address this.

The Executive’s focus, rightly and understandably, has been on Covid-19. But the pandemic has highlighted the need for urgent health reform in Northern Ireland and as a result, the Rebuilding Health & Social Care Strategic Framework was published by Minister Swann on 9 June.

The UK Government supports the Executive’s commitment to health and social care reform and the £2 billion committed over five years to facilitate NDNA commitments includes around £245m to support the transformation of public services.

As the hon Member will be aware, health and the allocation of funding for public services are devolved matters, within the competence of the Northern Ireland Executive. This includes consideration of the APPG’s recommendations on diagnosis times and surgery waiting times.