Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the implications of his policies of the request made by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland for additional funding to implement changes to the law on abortion.

I recently met the Northern Ireland Health Minister, Robin Swann MLA, to discuss the abortion regulations which will be laid in Parliament shortly.

Once the law comes into force on 31 March 2020 it will be for the Northern Ireland Department of Health to commission abortion services through the health and social care system.

The Northern Ireland Department of Health is continuing to work to explore the full costs of commissioning and operating the new services.