Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether her Department plans to commemorate in 2021 the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Northern Ireland Office is involved in the planning of Decade of Centenaries commemorations in Northern Ireland, but does not yet have plans to commemorate the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland in 2021.
The Secretary of State and I will continue to work with all the NI parties, and with the Irish Government as appropriate, to remove the barriers to restoring the Executive and a fully functioning Assembly, leading to restored local planning and decision-making on issues such as the commemoration of this centenary.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will meet the Chief Electoral Officer to discuss the importance of verifying applicants for online voting; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
There are no plans to introduce online voting to Northern Ireland.
The verification of registration applications received from individuals using the digital registration service is an operational matter for the Chief Electoral Officer and is carried out in accordance with the law.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she has had discussions with political leaders in Northern Ireland and Scotland on proposals for a bridge being built between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Transport is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and policy issues of this kind would be for a restored Executive and the Scottish Government.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in how many Northern Ireland parliamentary constituencies she has had engagements since her appointment to that office.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has had engagements in twelve of the eighteen parliamentary constituencies since her appointment.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings has she had with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on the customs union since that Department's establishment.
Answered by Karen Bradley
I have regular meetings with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many staff were employed in her Department as of 1 May 2018.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
A total of 151 staff are working in my department as of 1 May 2018. This number is made up of directly employed staff from the Home Civil Service (73%), and staff seconded in from the Northern Ireland Civil Service (27%).
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the Government plans to release the funding for the Yorkgate Interchange project.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
In the Secretary of State’s Ministerial Statement of 8 March 2018, she set out resource and capital allocations for Northern Ireland Departments in 2018/19. These allocations included £410m in financial support arising from the financial Annex to the Confidence and Supply Agreement including a £200m boost in capital expenditure to fund key infrastructure projects, such as the York Street Interchange.