Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 28 January (HL5591) concerning the Belfast Agreement 1998, why they have not answered the question, and whether the Belfast Agreement applies to members of the British Security Forces.

My previous replies to the Noble Lord on questions about the application of the Belfast Agreement to specific groups explain that the Agreement, with its three-stranded approach, paved the way for power sharing in Northern Ireland and provides the basis for devolved government there. The three-stranded approach is:

• Strand 1 concerns the status and system of government of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. This provides for the creation of a democratically elected Northern Ireland Assembly.

• Strand 2 concerns the relationship between Northern Ireland and Ireland. This provides for the creation of a North /South Ministerial Council.

• Strand 3 concerns the relationship between the Ireland and the United Kingdom. This provides for the creation of a British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.