3. Mr Frew asked the Minister of Health to outline the total cost of the COVID certification scheme in Northern Ireland. (AQO 557/22-27)

I thank the Member for his question. The Health and Social Care COVID certification scheme was introduced at the start of July 2021. It was to enable Northern Ireland's citizens who wished to undertake international travel to satisfy the requirements of the destination countries. Without the service, citizens would have been unable to avoid restrictions such as a 10-day quarantine on arrival that other countries imposed. The service closed to new applications on 19 December 2023, when the last remaining countries withdrew their requirements for vaccination certification. Between —.

Mr Frew. Sorry, Minister.

Between July 2021 and December 2023, the COVID certification scheme in Northern Ireland cost a total of £21·5 million. The funding covered the creation and use of a Civil Service identity authentication service; the creation and maintenance of an internationally trusted mobile app and paper certificates; and the provision of a helpline to assist those experiencing difficulties with the automated process and to assist in obtaining secure paper certificates, as well as further guidance.

Had the service not been available, patients would have inundated GPs and vaccination centres with requests for documentation to allow them to undertake international travel. In November 2021, the Executive also agreed restrictions on access to a range of venues. Northern Ireland's citizens were able to use the COVID certification app to meet the criteria for access. The creation and maintenance of the service helped to allow continued access to a range of businesses during the pandemic.

I thank the Minister for his answer. Given the fact that the vaccine certification scheme was used to discriminate against people and coerce them to take a medicine that could cause serious side effects, making them very sick, and that some people lost family due to vaccine injury, will the Health Minister acknowledge that some people's lives have been destroyed? Will he commit to meeting the vaccine-injured and bereaved community, something that his predecessor refused to do?

I acknowledge the Member's long-standing interest in those issues. I have no difficulty in saying that I will meet members of that group. It is very important for me to understand their viewpoint, but it is also important for the Member to understand that that was, effectively, an unprecedented time for the devolved Administration and that decisions were made at pace. I regret utterly and absolutely any damage that a vaccination programme caused to any citizen in this country. That is the last thing that any Member would want. However, I encourage the Member to understand that a balance had to be struck. He asked about the cost of the certification scheme. You have to balance the cost of that against the almost certain chaos that not introducing such a scheme would have caused.

Will the Minister provide an update on progress towards the introduction of the public health Bill?

I thank the Member for his question. I have been discussing the public health Bill in my early days. We are currently governed by an Act dating from 1967. It seems to me that that Act is all well and good if the issue is noted on the face of the Bill, but that, if it is not, there is a problem. I am in the early stages of taking briefings, with colleagues, about introducing a new Bill that will, effectively, cover all hazards, so that we can be much more fleet of foot. That will, obviously, require cross-departmental agreement at Executive level. I am keen that any regulations that may be contained in such a Bill will be subject to affirmative action — in other words, the Assembly would very much have its place in making the final decisions.