Written questions by Lockhart.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to process claims made in a timely manner.

As of 10 March, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has paid over £2 billion in compensation. As of 1 October 2025, IBCA had asked every living infected person who is registered with a support scheme to come forward and start their claim. IBCA has now opened the service for the first claims from infected people who were never compensated, deceased infected people, and living affected people. This met the Government’s targets for compensation delivery in 2025. With each new cohort, IBCA are starting small, allowing them to learn what additions to the claim service are needed. This will allow them to open their service to more people as the service is built around specific needs. Whilst the roll out of the Scheme is an operational decision for IBCA as an independent body, the Government fully supports their commitment to moving forward as swiftly as possible.

How many Infected Blood Compensation scheme claimants, with a prognosis of less than 12 months life expectancy, are having their claims and registered intent notifications prioritised.

Based on community feedback, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) are prioritising claims for people who have been told by a medical professional that they may have 12 months or less to live. This is regardless of whether they are infected, affected, a beneficiary of an estate of a deceased infected person, or registered with an Infected Blood Support Scheme. IBCA collect information regarding this via their registration service, allowing them to prioritise claims appropriately.The delivery of compensation is a matter for the IBCA as an operationally independent body. IBCA publishes regular updates on its website of the progress made in delivering compensation, including how many individuals have received compensation payments across all groups.

What his timeframe estimation is for the final settling of all outstanding claims within the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, including those with registered intent.

The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) Framework Document, published in March 2025, sets out the timelines agreed between IBCA and Cabinet Office; namely for the bulk of infected people to be paid no later than the end of 2027 and the bulk of affected people to be paid no later than the end of 2029.These timescales have been agreed with IBCA, to ensure that the door is kept open for those who have not yet identified themselves as being infected or affected. In my oral statement to the House on 21 July 2025, I set out that these dates are not targets for delivery, but ‘backstops’, and I am pleased that all registered infected people have now been contacted to begin their claim, and that IBCA has started the first claims from all eligible groups.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure modelled increases in expected deaths are not used to retroactively redefine excess mortality as normal.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

What assessment his Department has made of the trends in the level of excess mortality above pre-2020 trends in the 50- to 64-year-old age group.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing prior public notice of visits by members of the Royal Family to Northern Ireland, in the context of practice in other parts of the UK.

As with all Royal visits across the UK, announcement timelines take into account a number of factors, including security advice.

What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on UK-wide civil contingency (a) planning and (b) response frameworks on cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

Devolved Governments (DGs) have a vital role to play in our national resilience and were closely involved in the development of the Resilience Action Plan.The UK Government is working hard to improve the cyber resilience of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), including by ensuring that CNI Owners and Operators are prepared to respond to, and recover from, cyber incidents through better planning and regular exercising. We work closely with the DGs to ensure appropriate resilience measures are in place and proportionate to the risks across all four Nations. Responding to a cyber incident is a cross-government responsibility with roles and responsibilities identified in the National Cyber Incident Management Framework.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Windsor Framework on SMEs in Northern Ireland.

The Windsor Framework established a broad set of arrangements to support businesses to move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including to small- and medium- sized businesses based in Northern Ireland. On 1 May 2025, we introduced under the Windsor Framework important new arrangements for freight and parcels movements to guarantee that goods can continue to move smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ensuring that goods sent to or from consumers will not be subject to customs declarations or duty. As set out in our Common Understanding, the Government will take forward a new UK-EU SPS Agreement, and this will further simplify the movement of agri-food goods within the United Kingdom. As a result, we expect there will no longer be a need for SPS paperwork when moving agrifood or plant products and the requirement to label goods ‘not for EU’ will diminish significantly. The Government works closely with industry stakeholders and trade associations on the implementation of these arrangements and will continue to do so.