Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2020 to Question 91890 on abortion: Northern Ireland, what plans he has to conduct an assessment of the infection risks to the pregnant women forced to travel to the British mainland to access abortion care; and whether he has raised the issue of those potential infection risks with the Northern Ireland Minster for Health.
Answered by Robin Walker
Women and girls resident in Northern Ireland continue to have access to safe, fully-funded abortion services in England through the Government-funded scheme. The Government continues to monitor and keep these services under review.
The health and safety of women and girls in accessing abortion care remains paramount right across the UK. No assessment has been made of the infection risks to pregnant women travelling to Great Britain to access abortion care, on the basis that abortion services are provided within professional standards of practice to the highest standards of patient care.
Some abortion service provision commenced in Northern Ireland through existing sexual and reproductive health clinics across most Health and Social Care Trusts from April 2020. My Department and I are continuing to engage with the Northern Ireland Minister of Health and his department on progressing with the full commissioning of services for access to safe and lawful abortion care for women and girls in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with respect to the cessation of abortion services in the Northern Trust in Northern Ireland, what assessment has been made of the infection risks to the pregnant women forced to travel to the British mainland to access abortion care.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No.2) Regulations 2020 that the Government made have been in place since March 2020. Some services commenced on the ground in Northern Ireland through existing sexual and reproductive health services across most Health and Social Care Trusts from this time.
The Regulations deliver rights that are equivalent in practice to the rest of the UK so that women and girls in Northern Ireland can enjoy similar rights in accessing abortion services locally going forward.
Informing Choices Northern Ireland has been acting as the Central Access Point in order to provide a local pathway to this abortion care, and the Central Booking Service in England can also continue to be contacted for support and advice on options available to access abortion services at present.
No assessment has been made of the infection risks to the pregnant women travelling to Great Britain from Northern Ireland, to access fully funded abortion services. However, as is the case with the rest of the UK, the protection of women and girls in Northern Ireland and the promotion of their health and safety remains paramount.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, (a) how much has been paid to officials of her Department as an additional incentive for working overtime on top of their normal overtime payments, (b) how much has been offered to any individual staff member for a one-off occurrence, (c) how many staff received such incentivised additional payments, (d) from which budgets such payments were made and (e) at which Ministerial or official level the business cases or payment approval for such payments was made in (i) each of the last five years and (ii) 2016 to date.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
My Department has not made any payments to officials as an additional incentive for working overtime on top of their normal overtime payments during any of the periods you have specified.