Public Services

Public services in Northern Ireland continue to fall behind, and the people of Northern Ireland deserve better. I raise this regularly with Northern Ireland Ministers including the Education and Health Ministers, and the Government are fully committed to helping the Executive to make the urgent reforms that are needed.

Integrated education is an essential part of reconciliation, so does the Minister share my disappointment at the Northern Ireland Education Minister’s decision last week to reject the bids by Bangor academy and Rathmore primary to become integrated schools, which had the support of a majority of parents at both schools?

Yes, I do. Integrated education is a devolved matter for the Executive, but this Government are unapologetically supportive of integrated education. I have spoken to the headteachers of Bangor academy and Rathmore primary school this week, and they, as well as parents and pupils at the schools, are shocked by the decision. I hope that the Education Minister will work with them to resolve his concerns and listen to parents, who overwhelmingly want their children to benefit from integrated education.

The Minister talks of transformation. When the Executive were restored at this time last year, the Government put a pot of £235 million into transformation. A senior Northern Ireland Office official sits on the board. To date, not one penny has been spent on supporting the transformation of either the health service or the education service. Can the Minister update the House on what the hold-up is in regard to spending that money?

I thank the hon. Member for raising the issue of the Public Service Transformation Board. As he says, the interim board has a £235 million budget for transformation. Several major projects—on health, special educational needs and justice—are now being sent to the Northern Ireland Minister of Finance for agreement, and I have pushed for the full board to be set up by the end of this financial year. I agree that it needs to move ahead and get those projects done.

I call the shadow Minister.

The Executive have warned of very serious pressures facing the NHS in Northern Ireland, which has the worst waiting times in the United Kingdom—more than six years for some surgeries. Labour’s manifesto committed to improving public services in Northern Ireland, and it is clear that money alone is unlikely to solve the problem. What other tangible support will the Government offer the Executive to reduce waiting times for people in Northern Ireland, or will they just devolve and forget?

The hon. Member is correct to raise the issue of public services, especially health services. The winter pressures on hospital care and other areas have been shocking to see, and I am grateful to health workers for their work on the frontline at the moment. This week, I met the UK Government’s Health Minister to talk about how we can provide tangible support, and we have already done so. As the hon. Member says, funding is not the only answer; it is also about sharing best practice and expertise. This Government have committed to doing that through the Public Service Transformation Board, but there are other practical ways in which we can work together on the best ways to reform.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

A&E waiting times in Northern Ireland now exceed 12 hours in some hospitals, patients are being treated in the back of ambulances because of a lack of beds, and Dr Alan Stout, the chair of the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland council, has told the Northern Ireland Committee today that Northern Ireland is in a particularly bad place when it comes to health services. What conversations have the Secretary of State and Minister had with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that they have the resources that they need to cope with this immediate crisis? Are Ministers convinced that the 124% fiscal floor is adequate for addressing this issue in the long term?

I have met the Minister for Health, and I have been round and visited many of the healthcare provision services, all of which are feeling pressures at this time as a result of successive Executives not tackling reform and being absent along the way. That is why we set up the Public Service Transformation Board. The Executive face huge challenges, and this Government’s priority is to work with them. The funding is there, the Executive are committed, and they need to work together to deliver change urgently.