All of Mrs Naomi Long’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
The issue is about which organisation is the employer and therefore should carry forward the scheme. Frankly, the issue of which has primary responsibility is a matter for the Policing Board to resolve with the PSNI. Until there is agreement on that, there is no point in our preparing legislation with respect to what…
First, it is now on a statutory footing, and that overrides the content of the document. However, to be clear, the Northern Ireland Policing Board officials are reviewing the current medical guidance document with a view to updating it, and we look forward to the 'Version 2 — September 2016' advice being updated in…
The Police Service of Northern Ireland and Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 set out the requirements of the PSNI injury on duty award scheme. My officials are engaged with their colleagues in the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the PSNI to consider what administrative…
Child safety and child protection are at the very core of everything that PPANI does. Ensuring that there is proper safeguarding in place is the priority. The focus on the management of offenders is with a view to keeping people safe, not keeping offenders safe, though that is, of course, part of our responsibility in…
First, from our perspective, it is about ensuring that the PSNI, the Probation Board, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and others are able to come together to manage sexual and violent offenders who create a risk of serious harm. They take into account a range of factors when assessing the suitability of…
The Member asks a question to which there is no answer. Unfortunately, no one is in a position to consent to who else will live in their neighbourhood. Bear in mind that there will be sex offenders living in every neighbourhood who have never been convicted or discovered but are living in those communities. The issue…
I have not had any formal engagement with parents on that matter recently. However, I can confirm that senior officials from my Department have previously met concerned parents to discuss the issue. I can also confirm that, as the management of individuals convicted of sexual offences who live in the community is…
The Member has, as always, started from the position of assuming that I am in the wrong. It is always helpful for me to have the opportunity to correct that notion. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing to stop the criminal Bar coming back to work at any time. That is the first thing. The criminal Bar…
It does not play into the victims and witnesses of crime Bill. When it comes to the wider legislative programme, however, we are still bottoming out the issue. I have invited the Chief Constable and the Infrastructure Minister to a meeting so that we can determine whether there are gaps in legislation, because it…
I thank the Member for raising the issue. I recognise how distressing it is for victims to listen to good-character references for a perpetrator who has harmed them and to feel that those references could influence the outcome of the trial or of sentencing, given that character references can play a part in both. My…
The Bill is focused on a small number of very significant measures that will have the most impact on victims and witnesses of crime in order to improve their experience of the criminal justice system. That is a priority for me and something that, I know, partner organisations are also keen to progress. The provisions,…
First and foremost, I would prefer that nobody had to carry a personal protection weapon, because we want to be in a very different situation. I put that on the record. As to any exemptions and how those are handled, I again say that there is a consultation under way, and I encourage the Member to contribute to it.…
The reason that I have consulted on firearms is that the PSNI raised the issue with me when it was looking at its budget. As I said, £2 million went on subsidising applications for firearms last year, yet the police were unable to sign off on pay for police officers because there was a deficit of around £5 million in…
There are two separate issues. The PSNI's firearms and explosives branch is the licensing authority in Northern Ireland, and it processes applications on behalf of the Chief Constable. The licensing service has to be appropriately funded for the PSNI to be able to safeguard the public. At the moment, it is not a full…
The first issue is that the number of appeals that the Department receives annually does vary. It is between 40 and 70 in an average year, but we have seen over 100 in some years. In 2025, the number was particularly low. There were only 22 appeals, which may explain why the backlog started to clear, and 14 of those…
As the Member will be aware, before taking a firearm appeal decision, it is necessary for the senior officer to consider whether the appellant is a fit person to be entrusted with a firearm, without danger to public safety or to the peace, and that they have good reason to possess each firearm or ammunition applied…
I thank the Member for giving way and for raising that issue. I am sure that he is aware of the report by Dr Aisling Swaine that looked at the intersection between paramilitary coercive control in our communities and domestic violence and abuse and at the significant overlap that exists, with community surveillance…
I thank the Members who tabled the motion as well as all those who participated in the debate. The motion draws attention to how perpetrators may seek to use the family courts, in particular, as a way of continuing such abuse. I was speaking to the former Justice Minister in Québec, where they refer to it as "judicial…
On those protections that are partially implemented, the context of what that means needs to be understood. Many are being fully implemented at this time. The reason that they are referred to as "partially implemented" is because they cannot be mainstreamed until the funding is there, so they are there on a…
Does the Member agree that it is somewhat shocking that, after those women met me and mentioned that, I was served with a solicitor's letter that stated that family proceedings cases are entirely private and that I and, indeed, those women may have been somewhat in breach of the law for even discussing their…
I beg to move Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I am grateful to the Justice Committee and to the Examiner of Statutory Rules for their scrutiny of the order. Article 2 of the order extends the provisions allowing courts and tribunals in Northern Ireland to receive evidence wholly or in part using audio or…
As I said at the outset, the review was not on a statutory footing in the same way that a domestic homicide would be; it was a different kind of review, which I instigated specifically because I believed that the seriousness of the failures were such that we needed a proper, independent investigation of the system. On…
I have already dealt with the fact that so many people who were being investigated for the mishandling of the case were able to retire, and I have set out the changes that I intend to make to ensure that there can be no repeat of that. In addition to the review report, which clearly identifies the misogyny,…