Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 21 March (HL Deb, col 345), what plans they have to ensure that NHS staff in Northern Ireland are properly rewarded.

The Government has long recognised the vital role that all public sectors workers play in our society including those in the National Health Service. That is why we have agreed to NHS Employers and the NHS Trade Unions going out to consultation on a three year pay agreement for NHS staff employed under the Agenda for Change Pay Agreement.

This agreement covers over a million staff employed in the NHS in England and is a good example of where public sector employers and Unions can work together to agree a pay rise in return for wider reform. The three year deal targets recruitment, retention and capacity issues and will help to improve productivity within the NHS to support staff and help them meet demand.

However, public sector pay in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. The Northern Ireland Administration will receive Barnett Consequentials on the additional funding provided to the Department if, following union ballots the deal now under consultation is implemented. Then that will mean over £25 million in 2018/19 and over £130 million in total over the next years from 18/19 to 2020/21.

The Government is continuing to work towards the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland and in the absence of Executive it will be for the Northern Ireland Administration to allocate this funding in the absence of a functioning Executive.