Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families subject to no recourse to public funds in Northern Ireland (a) are in receipt of Healthy Start and (b) have had their application for Healthy Start rejected.

The Department transferred the Healthy Start Extension Scheme to the NHS Business Services Authority at the beginning of April 2025.

Since April 2025, and as of the 11 June 2025, there are no families in Northern Ireland subject to no recourse to public funds who are in receipt of the Healthy Start Extension Scheme, or who have had an application rejected.

The Department does not hold data on the number of rejected applications prior to the NHS Business Services Authority taking over the running of the extension scheme in April 2025.