Written question AQW 36523/22-27
Written question by Mr Peter Martin on .
- MLA
- Mr Peter Martin
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 November 2025
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 36523/22-27
- Department
- Department for Communities
- Business
- To the Minister for Communities
- Assembly identifier
- Document 461711
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) how fostering allowance is considered as part of the monthly Universal Credit assessment period, given that foster carers incur significant and often uneven expenses throughout the year, including costs for setting up a bedroom, purchasing bedding and equipment, and ensuring the foster child is fully included in family life through holidays, birthdays, and other events; (ii) any guidance in place to ensure (a) that this non-regular expenditure pattern is fully considered; and (b) that fostering allowance continues to be disregarded when calculating Universal Credit entitlement, ensuring that foster carers are not financially penalised for providing care, and are not deterred from continuing in their role as a foster carer.
118 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: 0.03 (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 (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | 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 |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.90 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.05 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 05:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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