Topical question AQT 1022/22-27
Topical question by Mr Phillip Brett on .
- MLA
- Mr Phillip Brett
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 17 February 2025
- Type
- Topical question
- Assembly reference
- AQT 1022/22-27
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4802696
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Mr Brett asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether they agree with him that the outworkings of the current recruitment exercise by the Police Service of Northern Ireland should result in appointments being made on the basis of merit and whether, as they continue to lead this Executive, they will not endorse a return to discriminatory practices when it comes to employment in the PSNI.
67 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Follow-ups by the same MLA in the Chamber
These were assessed together with this record:
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: 0.60 (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 (0.66).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.44).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- None of the culture-war criteria came close to being met, and the subject matter alone is not enough for it to be flagged.
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 | 0.26 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.05 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.11 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.23 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.26 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.66 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.60 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.26 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.44 |
| Adopts it | 0.29 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.55 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.26 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.08 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.07 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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