Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, further to his written statement of 24 March 2022, what recent assessment he has made of the Northern Ireland's Department of Health's levels of compliance with the direction to provide access to abortion for women in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

On 24 March, I made a commitment to return to Parliament after the Assembly election to make regulations on abortion, if no progress had been made by the Northern Ireland Department of Health towards the provision of services.

Regretfully, the Department of Health failed to make progress. That is why, on 19 May, I 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 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.