Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to engage with the Northern Ireland Executive on his departmental priorities.

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 places a duty on Ministers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to consult one another with a view to securing, to the extent agreed between them, single systems of social security, child support and pensions across the UK.

To support this duty, DWP Ministers and officials maintain close and constructive relationships and remain in regular communication with their counterparts in Northern Ireland, principally the Department for Communities (DfC) and the Department for the Economy.