Debate contribution: Nexus NI

Debate contribution by Mr Robin Swann on 4 March 2024.

MLA: Mr Robin Swann
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 4 March 2024
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Question for Urgent Oral Answer
Heading: Nexus NI
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4254612

Text

I want to reassure Members of my recognition of the absolute importance of sufficient specialist counselling for victims of sexual abuse. I can advise the Assembly that Nexus was awarded a three-year contract in April 2019 to provide a specialist counselling service for victims of sexual abuse, with an option for two one-year extensions. The second of those extensions ceases on 31 March 2024. My Department has been in communication with Nexus over many months in connection with the contract and has worked extensively with the organisation to improve waiting list times and the standard of service that is being delivered. Unfortunately, significant performance and operational issues have been identified in the delivery of that contract. I should clarify that those issues relate largely to efficiency and lower than expected numbers of sessions, rather than the quality of the counselling that is being provided. The areas of underperformance that were identified include the number of counselling services provided, with a projected 24% gap this year between the contracted sessions and the total delivered. To put that in perspective, on the current trajectory, that is over 4,000 fewer sessions being delivered than expected. Considering the need and demand for such services, that causes concern. My Department has been examining potential alternative arrangements, following the conclusion of the Nexus contract. A number of options have been identified, including the provision of support from the community and voluntary sector, our health and social care trusts or primary care. However, having discussed the situation with officials, it is clear to me that further work is required on mapping out future sustainable arrangements. In that case, I have therefore instructed that the Nexus contract be extended for a further 12 months, with close monitoring of performance throughout that period. Whilst there may be some deep concerns about the broader delivery of the contract, equally, I am not prepared to tolerate a position in which, come April, new victims and survivors have no service at all. This one-year extension will allow proper consideration and a decision on and implementation of the best way forward for counselling services of this nature. I should also advise Members that the planned ending of this contract was not a cost-saving measure. The intention has always been to use the available funding to continue to support people who are victims and survivors of sexual abuse, in line with the draft domestic and sexual abuse strategy 2023-2030. A priority had been to ensure that clients currently in receipt of counselling services would continue to receive them after April 2024, and my Department has been involved in detailed discussions with Nexus to make the necessary arrangements. That was intended to ensure that anyone currently in receipt of counselling, or who has had an initial assessment, will receive an appropriate service from Nexus. However, that still left a potential gap in provision for new people coming forward for counselling, and I believe that the one-year extension that I have announced today addresses that concern.
That is the question that I have asked departmental officials. I asked how this was being managed in identifying alternative pathways to ensure that, come 1 April, no woman was left without a port of call and without that support mechanism. That is why I have taken the decision and directed that the contract be extended for one year, with the caveats that I outlined in my initial answer.
My officials have been engaging extensively with Nexus in the past few months, as we approached the end of the contract, to ensure that those who had already engaged with the service received the support that they need. The challenge was identifying who would take over and provide that support, because, as I said, this was not about funding; it was about ensuring that we had the appropriate support and mechanisms in place. The conversations between my Department, the strategic planning and performance group (SPPG) and Nexus have been looking towards how, in the last two years, we have addressed the underperformance that I spoke about in my initial answer.

679 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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