Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission an update to the assessment of the structure, role and purpose of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland published on 19 October 2015.

The ‘Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland’ report was published in 2015 by the UK Government in order to provide a one-off factual assessment from the UK security agencies and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on the structure, role and purpose of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland.

The then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Theresa Villiers) made clear at the time that this assessment was commissioned due to specific concerns, and was intended to inform the then ongoing cross-party talks.

The PSNI and UK security agencies continually assess the threat, risk and harm posed by paramilitary, terrorist and organised crime groups to inform the most appropriate operational response.