Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the success of the New Decade New Approach investment in Health services in (a) implementing the Bengoa, the Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together, and the Power to People reports and (b) delivering more care in the community.

The Government is acutely aware of the pressures facing the health service in Northern Ireland. A programme of reform at the devolved level is needed to tackle long-standing and systemic problems. Consecutive Executive Ministers have failed to adequately address this issue.

Through the New Decade, New Approach Agreement, the Government is providing additional funding of £245m to the Northern Ireland Executive for public sector transformation.

The absence of a functioning Executive is exacerbating severe delays to health reform in Northern Ireland. I outlined to Parliament on Wednesday 9 November, my intention to introduce legislation to enable Northern Ireland Departments to maintain delivery of all vital public services, including health and social care, until an Executive can be restored.

The Government’s immediate priority remains facilitating the restoration of a fully functioning Executive that can progress long-term solutions to transform healthcare in Northern Ireland and maximise value from the UK Government funds announced in the Autumn Statement which will see the budget to the Northern Ireland Executive increase by £650m over the next two financial years.