To ask the Minister of Health what the timescale is for the provision of proof of vaccination for the purposes of essential travel outside the Common Travel Area for people vaccinated and resident in Northern Ireland.

A NI specific, multi-channel solution to enable verification of Covid vaccination and test result status incorporating an app is under development. Initially a paper based system using the agreed UK format will be launched but an app, similar to the NHS app, will follow shortly after that.

There are a number of components that make up the overall solution which will require rigorous testing against data protection and information security standards. Therefore it is not possible to provide definitive dates for its release at this time but I can confirm that officials are aiming for early summer.