Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 30 January (HL4226), what discussions officials in any department have had with European Union officials before rejecting a request from members of the Northern Ireland assembly to apply "the Stormont Brake" procedure to the Chemical Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/2865).

The Government routinely engages with the European Commission on the Windsor Framework and those discussions are confidential. However, I can confirm that no discussions were held between Government and European Union officials that affected the decision by the Secretary of State on the notification in question, which was made solely in accordance with the terms of Schedule 6B to the Northern Ireland Act 1998.