Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to secure the return of Ministers to Northern Ireland Departments.

As my Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set out in his Parliamentary Statement on 9 November, he will be introducing legislation to provide a short, straightforward extension to the period for Executive formation, as set out in the Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petition of Concern) Act 2022.

This will extend the current period by 6 weeks to 8 December - with the potential for a further six-week extension if necessary. This creates the time and space needed for talks between the UK and EU to develop and for the Northern Ireland parties to work together to restore the devolved institutions as soon as possible.