Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking to ensure that in the absence of the Northern Ireland Executive NHS staff in Northern Ireland receive pay awards equivalent to those of NHS staff in other constituent parts of the UK; and if she will make a statement.

The UK Government has made the NHS its top spending priority. The Prime Minister recently pledged an additional £20.5 billion to the NHS by 2024, which means an extra £760 million a year by 2023/34 for Northern Ireland under the Barnett formula.

In the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive, it remains for the NICS to implement the NI departmental budgetary allocations flowing from the NI Block Grant.