Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October to Question 59997 on Abortion: Northern Ireland, when he expects the provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland- to start.

On 24 October, I announced the UK Government’s intention to commission abortion services in Northern Ireland in line with my statutory duty under section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation Etc.) Act 2019. I will be meeting with Chief Executives in the coming weeks and will provide assurances to Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts to ensure that they can start to build up the required services.