Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he plans to uprate benefits in Northern Ireland in line with inflation in the absence of an Northern Ireland Executive.

Welfare policy and the provision of benefits is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. The UK Government will protect the most vulnerable in society by increasing benefits in Great Britain in line with inflation from April 2023. I am supportive of benefits being uplifted in Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK.

In the absence of locally accountable leadership in Northern Ireland, my department will work with the Northern Ireland Civil Service on the approach to benefits uprating in Northern Ireland, as has been the case throughout previous periods without a functioning Northern Ireland Executive.