Debate contribution: Speech and Language Therapy: Criminal Justice System

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 20 February 2024.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

20 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Speech and Language Therapy: Criminal Justice System

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4381155

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I officially welcome you, Mr Deputy Speaker, to your new role. This is the first time that I have faced you across the Chamber like this, and I hope that you will be gentle. I am grateful to the Members for Upper Bann, Lagan Valley and Strangford for tabling this important motion. I welcome the opportunity to respond. I thank all the Members who contributed to and participated in the debate, because it is important. While I am responding to the motion as Minister of Justice, it is important to explain at the outset, particularly to newer Members, that statutory responsibility for the adequate provision of speech and language therapy, including for children in the justice system, rests with the Department of Health, as with all healthcare provision in the justice sector. I will outline shortly the important work that speech and language therapists perform in the justice system, but the reality is that people arrive in the justice system with pre-existing, often complex and sometimes undiagnosed needs. Like Robbie Butler, I am constantly impressed by the work of prison officers in engaging with and challenging behaviours amongst the prison population. However, the best solution is, ultimately, more investment in early intervention, which is where it would achieve the greatest impact via early years, education and community provision. A number of Members highlighted that, including Patsy McGlone, Órlaithí Flynn and Nuala McAllister. There is recognition across government and society that the most effective route to positive outcomes in adult life is to provide early help and support to individuals, families and communities by intervening early before problems become entrenched. That is also critical to reducing interaction with the justice system, which, regrettably and too often, becomes a provider of last resort for those who have fallen through the gaps in other services in the community. As the financial pressures increase, so do the gaps, and, more and more, the Department's already overstretched resources, whether in probation, prisons, youth justice or policing, are under pressure to plug those gaps. That is not a sustainable model for justice delivery, and it needs to be addressed. I want to work with my Executive colleagues to deliver a coherent approach to early intervention with the aim of creating a long-term, whole-systems approach in collaboration with other Departments, criminal justice agencies and the voluntary and community sector. With that in mind, the aim of my Department and its agencies, non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and other partners, particularly those in the voluntary and community sector, is to align activities, support rehabilitation, improve outcomes for those in our care and, ultimately, build a safer Northern Ireland through a long-term reduction in offending behaviour. Evidence shows that it is only by working with those who offend that we can make communities safer and reduce future harm to victims. However, the criminal justice system on its own cannot provide the knowledge, expertise or access to the services that are needed in order to truly reduce offending alone. As my colleague Stewart Dickson highlighted, a range of socio-economic factors have been shown to have an impact on offending. Those include poverty and social deprivation; mental health issues; substance misuse; homelessness; and a lack of educational attainment and employment opportunities. As an illustration of what that looks like in practical terms, on 1 February 2024, some 54% — 1,001 people — of our prison population had a history of self-harm. Some 50% — 34 people — had an addiction, and 37% — 693 people — had a mental health issue. Those challenges are often linked to language and communication deficits, as Danny Donnelly highlighted in his contribution. Reducing offending and addressing reoffending means not only tackling those issues but creating positive connections with supportive families and communities so that they can become enablers of change. In the broad category of people who have offended, there are particular groups with additional needs, members of which require further support in order to address their offending behaviour and successfully reintegrate into the community. Children are one such example. Their offending behaviour is often a manifestation of underlying issues, whether those be problems in the family home, disengagement from the education system, poverty or social exclusion. That is why early intervention is so important as a preventative measure rather than only a rehabilitative measure. Likewise, women who have offended tend to have a history of domestic and sexual violence. A gender-responsive approach to reoffending is necessary to support them properly. Making real inroads into reducing offending behaviour requires effective partnership working between Departments and statutory agencies. One such area is through the provision of speech and language therapy. As Ciara Ferguson noted, speech, language and communication needs are often called invisible or hidden disabilities. They are not always obvious. As a result, their significance can frequently be overlooked, whether that is in prison or the wider community. In February 2021, I had the pleasure as Minister of meeting the head of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in Northern Ireland to hear at first hand the important work that its members undertake in the justice system and the opportunities to develop it further. Individuals in the justice system are more likely to have significant speech, language and communication needs compared with the general population. The concentration of people who have demonstrated offending behaviour in the prison system reflects the links between speech and language difficulties and offending behaviour, as Maurice Bradley acknowledged. Indeed, that was supported further by a speech and language communication screening carried out by a learning disability nurse of 20 young people residing in Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre in late 2019. It showed that approximately 50% of those young people identified as having difficulties that would require input from speech and language therapists. More recently, the screening of young men in Hydebank Wood Secure College in 2023 identified that up to 75% had speech, learning and communication needs. Such needs often manifest in the individual, whether they are young or old, in a complex range of ways. Those were outlined in great detail by Joanne Bunting, so I will not repeat them all. The implications for a person with a speech, language and communications need in the criminal justice system can be profound. Unidentified speech and language needs can prevent individuals from fully accessing rehabilitation programmes and employment and from building relationships, all of which can perpetuate the cycle of offending. In the Northern Ireland Prison Service, speech and language therapists play an important role. Since 2008, the Department of Health has had responsibility for healthcare services in prisons. My colleague Paula Bradshaw made a valuable point regarding the need for appropriate information-sharing between the Departments of Health and Justice, which does not always take place, particularly when it comes to more sensitive issues around learning difficulties, acquired brain injuries and how we can handle those behavioural issues. Those services are commissioned by the strategic planning and performance group in the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Public Health Agency, and provided by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. In acknowledgement of the impact that speech, language and communication needs can have on a person as they go through the system, the Department of Health has increased the provision of speech and language therapists in prisons over the past four years. In real terms, that means that there are now three therapists working across the three prison establishments, in contrast to there previously being just one therapist in Hydebank Wood Secure College. Recurrent funding for those three posts has also now been agreed, which is vital, as it allows the service to be developed and for the trust to make future plans. As currently delivered, the role of the service is to screen for speech, language and communication difficulties and to provide ongoing treatment and support to those who require it on an individual basis via group sessions or the provision of communication tips sheets, which individuals can use when communicating with others when the language therapists are not present.

I will give way briefly.

That is what I described. The service screens for speech and language needs; that is what the service does. In addition, speech and language therapists can provide education and support for healthcare and prison staff, as well as prison officers themselves — the people who are working daily with individuals who have communication needs. There have been examples of excellent collaborative working between the trusts and the Prison Service, which has resulted in speech and language therapy representation at prisoner safety and support meetings. Therapists also provide input when required around those held in our care and supervision units to highlight patients who have speech, language and communication difficulties and advise on how best to support them. Another of the important roles that the speech and language therapists provide in the justice system is through registered intermediaries. Communication in legal settings, which was referenced by my colleague Nuala McAllister, is often complex, so the Department recruits, trains and currently maintains a panel of 35 registered intermediaries who are communication specialists from a wide range of backgrounds, including speech and language therapists and social workers. Registered intermediaries can assist vulnerable victims, witnesses, suspects and defendants with significant communication deficits to communicate their answers more effectively during police interviews and when giving evidence at trial. The Department provides a registered intermediary on request of the PSNI, PPS or defence counsel, and approximately 1,300 requests are received each year, with about 80% received from the police. The scheme currently operates in respect of criminal cases being heard in all Crown Courts, Magistrates' Courts and youth courts. On occasion, registered intermediaries will assist prisoners who are participating in court proceedings by video link from a prison establishment. I am sure that, when we consider young people in contact with the justice system, we all agree that this cohort requires a specific focus in order to support them to turn away from offending behaviour at the earliest opportunity. The Youth Justice Agency works with children in custody and community settings, and, last year, this involved working with over 2,400 children and young people. Of these, 110 individuals spent time in a custodial environment. Woodlands juvenile justice centre is the only custodial facility for children in Northern Ireland. The Youth Justice Agency has worked closely with the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust to develop shared therapeutic and mental health services that operate across both Woodlands and Lakewood, Northern Ireland's regional secure care centre for children. This service, Acorn, is co-funded by the Youth Justice Agency and the Department of Health and consists of a multidisciplinary team that covers a number of professional disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy and mental health nursing. There are plans in train to expand the team to include speech and language therapists. That will be implemented if and when funding can be made available. The Youth Justice Agency also carries out extensive work in community settings with children who have offended, to assist those children to avoid further offending. The agency also advocates on their behalf with relevant statutory services such as health-related services, including speech and language, to help the child to address their offending behaviour and reach their full potential. Ultimately, decisions on clinical priorities for health-related services are a matter for the health and social care trusts and primary care services. However, the Youth Justice Agency's staff, many of whom are professionally qualified as social workers and youth workers, will advocate on behalf of a child where they believe that it is necessary. In spite of the challenging financial landscape, the agency recognises the impact that the prevalence of mental health issues has on youth offending behaviour. Unfortunately, children who have offended often struggle to consistently access mainstream child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). To address this, the agency has worked closely with health and social care colleagues to trial a bespoke co-located CAMHS service in the Southern Trust and Western Trust areas. The results have been very positive. The initial trials show significantly improved levels of engagement. Pre-trial, 14% of children known to the Youth Justice Agency exited CAMHS with their aims achieved. This has risen to 88% during the first full year of the trial. We would like to identify funding to extend the trial across Northern Ireland beyond those two trust areas, but there is an issue with budget constraints. Developing and implementing a similar bespoke provision in community settings for other social care services, which are the statutory responsibility of the trusts, is not something to which I can commit, but we will continue to advocate for the young people whom we work with to receive the speech and language therapy and other services that they need to help to address their offending behaviour. In conclusion, I am grateful to the Members who brought the issue before us today and who participated in the debate. While support is being provided through the registered intermediary scheme in prisons, further work is necessary to ensure that timely access is provided in the youth justice system. Greater collaboration is needed with the Department of Health on a number of key issues to improve health outcomes for those in contact with the justice system. To that end, I have already raised informally with the Health Minister my intention to seek an early meeting to facilitate a discussion on how we can build on previous collaboration together and with other Ministers, including the Minister of Education, the Minister for the Economy and the Minister for Communities, to bring about more positive outcomes for adults and children who are engaged in the justice system.

They may, for now, be apart from our society, but they remain, at all times, a part of our society.

2,305 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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