Minister's Answer The December Monitoring round was commissioned on 22 October, with departmental returns due last Thursday 20 November. These returns, combined with the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget announcement on 26 November, will inform the level of funding available for allocation in the December Monitoring round. I will bring proposals to the Executive for agreement shortly after the Autumn Budget.

Minister's answer As stated in the three-year Health and Social Care Plan, it is intended that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, to have a targeted lung screening programme in Northern Ireland. The aim of this new targeted screening programme is to improve earlier diagnosis. If the individual has a higher risk of developing cancer, they will be offered a low dose Computerised Tomography (CT) of their lungs.

Minister's answer Reducing health inequalities is one of my key areas of focus and shortening the period of life spent in ill-health will help to reduce pressures on our health services and improve the quality of life for many of our population Smoking is one of the key drivers of health inequalities in NI – with the smoking death rate in the most deprived communities twice as high as in the least deprived communities. Similarly, the NI Cancer Registry published statistics in

Minister's answer As stated in the three-year Health and Social Care Plan, it is intended that by April 2027, subject to additional funding, to have a targeted lung screening programme in Northern Ireland. We are at the early stages of scoping out what the requirements of the new programme for Northern Ireland will be. This requires a significant amount of work on the supporting pathways (including call/recall, additional diagnostics, workforce, pathways for incidental find

Minister's answer The Department of Health facilitates access for patients to clinical trials through the work of the Health and Social Care (HSC) research and development division in the Public Health Agency (PHA). The division oversees participation in UK-wide clinical governance and trial approval processes. In addition, it funds core research infrastructure, which, in turn, supports access to clinical trials. That includes the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network, a

Minister's answer The consultation on Northern Ireland’s first Climate Action Plan recently closed and I want to express my gratitude to the 224 individuals, businesses and organisations who provided consultation responses and to the approximately 700 people who attended the wide range of consultation events across Northern Ireland. It is important that we take the appropriate time to consider these valuable insights and that the views of consultees are incorporated into the

Minister's answer Further Education Colleges have provided data which indicates that since 31 January 2020, 796 FE students have secured a place on the Turing Scheme and 203 students have participated in the Irish Government Mobility Scheme. It should be noted that the colleges have stated that some figures are unavailable for the year 2021/22 and so the actual number could be higher. Higher Education Institutions have provided data to my Department which indicates 1,185 high

Minister's Answer That is one of the reasons why there are higher standards for HMOs. It is set out in the Act, and landlords are subject to more stringent standards because of the nature of those who may need to use HMOs. Additional concerns can come from local residents in those areas about the proliferation of HMOs. That is why higher standards are already in place. Of course, they can be reviewed if necessary.

Minister's Answer Just last year, we led an academic delegation to North Carolina. As part of the new international relations strategy, there will be an opportunity for us to work more collaboratively. We are in a small part of the world where we all know one another. Our strengths include our connectedness and agility. For example, where industry has a need, we can work with our local universities and have a partnership between academia, government and industry. That needs t

Minister's Answer My Department has not carried out an assessment of the impact of the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022. Following the implementation of the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 employing authorities (Education Authority (EA) and Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS)) and Board of Governors were required to review their recruitment and selection procedures, ensuring that they address the implicatio