All of Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
As I outlined, the delivery unit works with officials in other Departments. At the moment, it is focused on the nine key priorities in the Programme for Government. However, it is about learning from best practice regarding delivery units. I believe that the Member was involved in London when the delivery unit there…
The delivery unit is a new concept for the Northern Ireland Executive and Departments, but it is not a new concept. It is a concept that has been rolled out successfully in many other jurisdictions. Before we set it up, we had conversations at a high level to make sure that whatever structure we put in place was based…
Again, the delivery unit is designed to work closely with the officials who are taking the lead in the relevant Department. They support them with data analytics, for example, the examination of that data and looking at ideas from elsewhere. We have good people working in our system, but, often, we find that the best…
There is a lot of misunderstanding about what the delivery unit is. It is a unit in the Executive Office made up of civil servants. It is a small unit, and it is designed to be small and agile. When we were setting up the unit, we took advice from the experts in delivery units. We spoke to officials in Whitehall about…
Supported by a £61 million investment from the transformation fund, the delivery unit has been overseeing the implementation of a transformation project to expand multidisciplinary teams in GP practices. That is a core element of the wider health reforms aimed at strengthening early intervention and prevention,…
Thank you. That is an absolutely essential issue in an emerging and evolving area. I know that, like me, the Member has been a victim of violence online. It really is disgraceful. Some of the recent deepfakes and other issues demonstrate how the issue continues to evolve as technology advances. The issues continue to…
Thank you. That is really important. Often, the people who have been most involved in the campaign to get a strategy, ring-fenced funding and a delivery plan are those who have seen the issue at first hand. They are women who have been the victims of such violence and people who have worked with those women and the…
I thank the Member for his important question. It is critical that not only the strategy but, indeed, the delivery plan are multifaceted and take into account all aspects. We often talk about the fact that prevention is at the heart of the strategy and that that must start at an early stage — that is why we are…
Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) is one of the most pressing challenges facing society today. That is why we have invested over £5 million in communities to raise awareness of the issue and the role that we all must play in prevention. We have submitted bids that reflect the level of investment required…
I welcome the opportunity to address the Chamber on a motion of profound importance. I begin by expressing my deepest sympathy to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse and crime. I have met victims of such crimes, and I am always struck by the impact of such trauma and inspired by the resilience and dignity that…
I thank the Member for his question. The Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons, is one of the most empathetic and compassionate people who I know, and he brings that into his politics day in and day out. I see the people whom he helps, and I see the way that he speaks to people. It is absolutely wrong that, on the…
I am more than happy to go with the Member to Ballymena to talk to people. In all that we do, it is incredibly important that we listen to people on the ground, see what their needs are and see how we can help and support them. As I indicated, there are some examples of really good best practice in the system, and it…
I thank the Member for raising what is an important and timely issue. When I saw the Northern Ireland Audit Office report last week, I was dismayed, because reform is a key issue that I have been raising with the head of the Civil Service for some considerable time. It is absolutely clear that we need reform and…
I am not sure that I can be any clearer. I said very clearly that all families deserve truth and justice. Too many families have been denied truth and justice, and that includes the 90% who were victims of terrorist acts and atrocities. People across Northern Ireland are appalled by the hypocrisy of some, who demand…
I thank the Member for his question. As he knows, I have worked very closely with victims and survivors right across Northern Ireland for many years, and I always believe in taking a very sympathetic and empathetic approach to them. Legacy is one of the big issues that was not resolved in the Belfast/Good Friday…
As the Member will know, I am hugely enthusiastic about trying to re-establish transatlantic flights from the US to Northern Ireland and, indeed, other transatlantic flights if we can secure them. I can confirm that we have been working constructively with the airport on looking at the opportunities around that. I…
Certainly, I am enthusiastic about the proposals. There is, of course, a significant cost attached to that. As the Member will know, there are huge pressures on the system, and that is something that we need to feed into our wider infrastructure plans. On infrastructure, we need to do not only what needs to be done…
I know how I spend the majority of my time; I do not need to ask anybody about how I spend it. I spend it trying to drive forward delivery from a very difficult system. I remind the Member that there has been a significant amount of delivery thus far, but we are not done. There is much more to do. I am not standing…
I thank the Member for his question. This week marks two years since restoration, and I stand over the fact that I have worked tirelessly to drive progress. There is no doubt that our system of government is a challenging one. I do not believe that there is a more difficult form of government than a four-party…
Absolutely, it is a unique opportunity. It celebrates and marks the US leaving the United Kingdom, but of course the Ulster Scots, or the Scots Irish, as they are known in the US, played such a pivotal role in that. I note that, last year, the Taoiseach made reference to a number of the Ulster-Scots/Scots-Irish people…
I absolutely agree with the Member: it is incredibly important for us to engage. A number of people in the Chamber attended the St Patrick's Day celebrations in the US last year. There are so many events offering so much access not just to the key policymakers and the president himself but to a range of businesses and…
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will answer questions 6, 9 and 11 together. The US is the largest economy in the world. As our second-largest export market and our third-largest source of imports, it is a critical market for our economic development. Our relationship with the US is a long-standing one reflected in…
As I indicated, the Executive have previously agreed on a number of strategies, and there are a number of existing strategies. It is not the case that the group is necessarily developing policy or pushing forward new actions. We know that the actions that have already been agreed are underfunded, and some of those…