Robin Swann MP: speeches

Speeches

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I am sure the Minister will come back on that point and say, “You can trust us, and you can trust this Government.” Does the shadow Minister agree, however, that this Government may not always be in power, and that the powers they are creating for themselves may be handed down to someone less responsible in future?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Regional Growth · Hansard source

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  The statement says that stronger transport links are crucial, and the Department for Transport has already paid, through the Union connectivity fund, for a feasibility study on the reopening of the Lisburn-Antrim rail line, which would connect to Belfast International airport in my constituency. Unfortunately, they have already told me that they cannot allocate funding until the next spending review is announced, so they have beaten the Chief Secretary to that answer. Given that the £15.6 billion that has been allocated today roughly equates to £450 million as a Barnett consequential, would he agree that investment in that Lisburn-Antrim-Belfast International line would be a good investment in Northern Ireland railways?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I know that the Minister does mean it in this case. He talks about the speed of moving this legislation on to the statute book. I note that legislative consent motions are in from the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, but as yet there is not one from the Northern Ireland Assembly. Can he give me clarification as to what implication that legislative consent motion not being in place will have for those businesses and individuals in Northern Ireland who will be affected by this legislation?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 2 Jun 2025 · Draft Human Medicines (Amendments Relating to Hub and Spoke Dispensing etc.) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. The regulation of medicines is a reserved matter for England, Wales and Scotland, but a devolved matter for Northern Ireland. The amendments aim to enable the same opportunities for hub and spoke provision across the whole of the Union, and as a former Northern Ireland Health Minister, I welcome that step. When I was Minister, I published and stood over the Northern Ireland community pharmacy strategic plan 2030, which aimed to maintain and modernise systems for the safe and reliable supply of medicines and professional advice from community pharmacies. In that regard, I have a question for the Minister. The decision has been made to enable only model 1 hub and spoke arrangements at this stage and then to revisit model 2 once the model 1 arrangements have been established. I notice that the consultation responses raise significant concerns about model 2. They outline the potential to undermine the relationship between pharmacies and patients, as well as the risks in sharing accountability for the supply of medicines and risks to patient safety. Although the spoke and hub model covers the supply of medicines, there is a danger of losing the professional advice that community pharmacists can supply to patients, which takes pressure off our health service and others. Before there is any further progress on model 2, which will be a devolved issue in Northern Ireland, will there be further engagement with the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland, the chief pharmaceutical officer and community pharmacy representative organisations?

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  In an earlier answer, the Prime Minister said that he would continue with the implementation of the Windsor framework. That will see more bureaucracy and red tape introduced between Great Britain and Northern Ireland before an SPS deal can be delivered. If the Prime Minister’s partnership with the EU is so positive, does he not agree that it would be better to pause the implementation of any more bureaucracy and red tape that would add costs to Northern Ireland businesses before his deal can be achieved?

• 16 May 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  On the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s point about the panel, the Royal College of Psychiatrists said in point 5 of its concerns: “It is not clear what a psychiatrist’s role on a…panel would be”.

• 14 May 2025 · Sanctions · Hansard source

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  On the regulations, does the Minister agree that work also needs to be done on the shadow oil fleet, which is out there supplying money and support to Putin?

• 13 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  The Minister has spoken about UK deals with India and the United States, and next Tuesday there will be a UK deal, or a reset, with the European Union. Where is Northern Ireland’s place in that? When the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) and I have asked where the benefit is for Northern Ireland from the UK-India and UK-US trade deals, we have had no answers from the Government.

• 12 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. Carers UK reports that unpaid carers are still receiving debt notices over carer’s allowance. Between May 2024 and February 2025, the number of notices increased by 9,000, so we are now talking about 144,000 people. Will the Secretary of State halt the creation of those overpayment debts until her independent review has taken place and the recommendations are implemented?

• 12 May 2025 · US-UK Trade Deal: Northern Ireland · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for his extended answers. In his original answer, he said that he had spoken with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister twice. Were they supportive of the Government’s approach? Did they raise any concerns? How were those concerns mitigated? Did they agree to the final deal? With regard to the EU re-set negotiations of 19 May, are the Government engaging with the Northern Ireland Executive parties?

• 12 May 2025 · Personal Independence Payment Assessments · Hansard source

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  Data shared with me by Dermot Devlin from Disabled People Against Cuts shows that £50 million has been spent on PIP appeals in the past year alone, and also that His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has reported that over 70% of those PIP appeals have been successful. When people are put through the harrowing process of being told that their PIP appeal is not appropriate and having to go through the entire appeal system, what are Ministers doing to ensure that any changes make that system friendly to those using it?

• 12 May 2025 · Personal Independence Payment Assessments · Hansard source

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  5. What steps her Department is taking to help increase the accuracy of personal independence payment assessments.

• 12 May 2025 · Protection of Prison Staff · Hansard source

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  Thirty-two prison staff were killed in Northern Ireland by terrorists and their criminal associates. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that our prison officer staff are safe both inside and outside prisons, as we see an escalation in terrorist activity across this United Kingdom? Will he raise that issue at the five nations forum on prisons?

• 8 May 2025 · Foot and Mouth Disease · Hansard source

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  I join in the Secretary of State’s words on VE Day, especially regarding Northern Ireland’s contribution to our armed forces and through the armaments we supplied. When I contacted the Agriculture Minister in Northern Ireland about his responsibilities, he actually told me that the issue no longer sits within his ministerial responsibility, but comes directly under the control of the Environment Secretary. What practical steps is the Minister taking to protect Northern Ireland farmers, especially in regard to the recent announcement of a case of African swine fever on 2 May in Slovakia, within the same geographical area as those foot and mouth outbreaks?

• 8 May 2025 · Foot and Mouth Disease · Hansard source

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  8. What steps he is taking to help prevent foot and mouth disease entering Northern Ireland.

• 7 May 2025 · United States Film Tariff · Hansard source

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  The uncertainty of President Trump’s comments puts an unsettledness in the industry, especially in Northern Ireland, where we have the Titanic Studios and Northern Ireland Screen working away. Titanic Studios is already working on “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”, which is a prequel to “Game of Thrones”, so there is a lot of activity going on in the industry. Will the Minister consider including Northern Ireland Screen in his meeting tomorrow with the industry, rather than leaving it another week to engage with it?

• 6 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Getting It Right First Time is a clinician-led programme that leads on improvement and transformation. Can the Secretary State give reassurance that in any restructuring of NHS England, that programme will not just be continued, but expanded and still available to the devolved Administrations?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Irish Republican Alleged Incitement · Hansard source

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  The phrase, “Kill your local MP,” carries a sincerely sinister connotation right across this House. To my party, which has lost councillors, Members of the Northern Ireland Parliament and Members of this House to republican terrorists, those words are not clever or smart; they are an incitement to terrorist activity, which this band have glorified in the past. This band present a real danger, through what they call their art, of glorifying the actions that caused the murders and deaths of so many people in Northern Ireland. Can the Minister give a reassurance that the Government will do all in their power to look not just at what has been said in the recent videos that have come to light but at what the band have said in the past? As he looks to Glastonbury and gives the organisers advice, will he also look at a forthcoming event in Belfast and provide Belfast city council with the same advice?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Headingley Incident · Hansard source

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  I join all the other Members in wishing the victims of this horrific crime a speedy recovery. I note that Counter Terrorism Policing has been involved in intelligence-gathering, and that there is concern about online incitement to violence. Will the Minister join me in condemning the recent statement by the so-called Irish rap band Kneecap, who are reported to have told their audience that they should kill their local MP, and that the only good Tory is a dead Tory?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Apprenticeship Funding · Hansard source

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  As the Minister will know, employers in Northern Ireland pay substantially into the apprenticeship levy but have no direct access to it. What steps is the Minister taking to enable them to receive direct benefits through the levy, so that we too can enjoy the benefits of which she spoke in her answer when she was having a dig at the Conservative party?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Apprenticeship Funding · Hansard source

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  3. What steps she is taking to ensure that non-levy paying employers receive apprenticeship funding.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source

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  The motion starts by referring to “hospitals across the country”, but most of the debate today has been about England. I want to highlight the situation that has arisen from the decisions made in this House on capital investment and changes to fiscal rules, and how that affects Northern Ireland and the capital investment there. Capital investment in the health estate in Northern Ireland has been broadly stable for the 15 years prior to 2019—until 2020 when the covid pandemic brought about increased capital investment. The long tail of the pandemic, compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, significantly disrupted global supply chains and increased construction costs. Those price increases have compounded a subsequent and very serious problem in Northern Ireland: the outcome of the two most recent Budgets, which has meant that the funding available for capital investment in Northern Ireland is now projected to be 16% lower per head of population than England for ’25-26, and therefore much lower than any assessed relative need would suggest. While I listened to the complaints of many English colleagues across the House about capital investment, in some cases I am quite envious of what they are being allocated, because it is a contrast to what we have. Much of our health and social care capital budget is project-based. As the former Minister of Health in Northern Ireland, I am acutely aware that there is an increasing need to address the serious risks across our health and social care estate. That includes tackling its backlog maintenance liability, which currently sits at £1.4 billion. Now, as a constituency MP, I see the impact of below-needs budgets on projects in South Antrim. The new Birch Hill mental health centre is a much-needed, purpose-built facility to provide the very best environment for assessment, treatment and recovery. Yet under the budget that the Executive have provided the Department of Health, there is not enough to fund what has already been committed to, including the Executive’s flagship projects, to meet current contractual commitments, to progress projects in design or development, or to fund even limited maintenance of existing property assets. Good projects and massive potential are being lost because the Executive cannot seem to think even six months down the line, never mind one or two years. Nevertheless, Birch Hill remains high on the agenda of our Department of Health, and I hope that the Executive parties responsible for funding allocations consider the consequences of their decisions and recognise the critical need for the project. For mothers and babies in Northern Ireland, it would also provide a centre for perinatal mental health and wellbeing. I join the hon. Member for Milton Keynes North (Chris Curtis) who said that the motions are welcome but what we would like to see is action. That action would be the certainty of having budget, and assurance that it will be a recurrent budget. I look to the words of the Secretary of State for Health, who talked about transformation in the health service and how it needs both funding and political will. I hope that following today’s debate he can get both.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Plant and Seed Nurseries: Northern Ireland · Hansard source

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  5. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of support available to Scottish plant and seed nurseries to sell products to Northern Ireland.

• 23 Apr 2025 · Plant and Seed Nurseries: Northern Ireland · Hansard source

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  As the Minister will know, according to McIntyre Fruit in Scotland, which also sells plants, it is easier to supply Japan than to send plants to Coleman’s garden centre in my constituency, and the same company is now seeing orders cancelled in Northern Ireland. At the weekend, Ewing’s Seafoods, Northern Ireland’s oldest fishmonger, had a 40-foot container filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh fish returned from Belfast to Scotland owing to administrative paperwork errors on seven boxes. Will the Minister, or the Secretary of State, meet me and representatives of those companies to discuss what can be done to ease the bureaucratic burden on both Northern Ireland and Scottish business?