Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

What assessment he has made of the effect of Budget 2021 on the ability of the Northern Ireland Executive to reduce NHS waiting times in Northern Ireland.

It is clear that waiting times in Northern Ireland are too long and the Executive has committed to the transformation of the health service and tackling waiting times.

Naturally, the Executive’s focus over the last year has been on responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, as we now recover from the pandemic, I know the Executive will want to build back better and I welcome the fact that the Executive’s Health Minister yesterday set out his plan to tackle these waiting times by 2026. That is why it is important we continue to see the Executive in place to deliver for all the people of Northern Ireland.

In support of this, the UK Government is providing substantial funding to enable the Executive to deliver excellent public services, with £15.6bn provided in 2021/22. This is in addition to £445m explicitly to support the transformation of public services from NDNA and Confidence and Supply.