Debate contribution: Cross-border Healthcare Scheme
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 10 March 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Cross-border Healthcare Scheme
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4841341
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for the question. The cross-border reimbursement scheme remains enduringly popular, certainly judging by the correspondence that I get from Members of the House, among others. Personally, I would very much like to reintroduce it. The Member talks about the Programme for Government commitment. I have to say that that commitment is qualified, because if you read what it says about waiting lists, you will see that it says, "with Executive support", we will get some money. It also says "up to £135m". It does not say that it will be £135 million. Therefore, I am hoping that the other £80 million, which is there to make sure that the waiting lists do not get any longer, will be forthcoming, because the key is to try to stabilise those waiting lists and not allow them to become any bigger. The £135 million was to start reducing waiting lists, and, as I have said before, we would need to spend that £135 million five times. It is over five years. I am not at all confident that the £135 million will become available during the financial year 2025-26. I am seeking clarity on how much I can expect to get, and I am also seeking clarity on when that money may start to flow, but I am instinctively thinking that what I should do is proceed at risk. That means thinking about a cocktail of new initiatives: talking to the trusts; talking, whether Members like it or not, to the independent sector; and thinking about reintroducing the cross-border scheme.
261 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: 0.02 (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 | 0.02 | 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 | 0.02 | 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 | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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