Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he plans to take to ensure fully-funded and commissioned abortion services are made available to women in Northern Ireland as soon as possible following the Northern Ireland Assembly election; and what his planned timetable is for taking those steps.

Today I have laid Regulations to ensure abortion services are commissioned for women and girls in Northern Ireland. I have made a Written Statement in Parliament to set out the details of those regulations.

These regulations mean that the Northern Ireland Department of Health will have no further barriers to commission and fund these services, and if it does not do so as directed, the Government will then move to intervene further.