Written question AQW 35124/22-27
Written question by Ms Cheryl Brownlee on .
- MLA
- Ms Cheryl Brownlee
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 10 November 2025
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 35124/22-27
- Department
- Department for Communities
- Business
- To the Minister for Communities
- Assembly identifier
- Document 458280
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) any (a) charges; (b) fees; or (c) contributions, required of women staying in refuge hostels; (ii) how these charges are determined; (iii) any provisions that exist to support women who cannot afford these charges, including (a) waivers; (b) subsidies; or (c) emergency funding; (iv) whether his Department has assessed if the cost of refuge accommodation deters women from leaving abusive households; (v) any consideration that has been given to introducing additional funding mechanisms, or best practice models, to allow women in employment to access refuge accommodation safely, without financial hardship; (vi) any measures in place to ensure that women in paid employment are not prevented from accessing refuge accommodation, due to cost.
121 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.71 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.29 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 05:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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