Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive on (1) the recruitment of paediatric pathologists in Northern Ireland, and (2) steps being taken to enable post mortems of infants to be conducted in Northern Ireland.

The provision of paediatric and perinatal pathology services in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. It has been necessary for the Northern Ireland Department of Health to put in place, as a temporary measure, arrangements for the provision of hospital perinatal and paediatric pathology post mortems to take place at Alder Hey hospital.

In the meantime, as well as the temporary measures with Alder Hey, NI Department of Health officials will continue to work closely with the relevant Royal Colleges and training organisations to encourage training in this speciality in order to support the restoration of paediatric and perinatal pathology services for the long-term.

This situation once again underlines the need to restore the Northern Ireland Executive.