Debate contribution: Core Grant Scheme

Debate contribution by Miss Nuala McAllister on 7 April 2025.

MLA

Miss Nuala McAllister

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

7 April 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

Core Grant Scheme

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4891250

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Committee motion. At the start, I highlight, not just to the Health Minister but to the public and those who received the core grant this year, the fact that the motion is specifically not aimed at those who got the funding. It is important to highlight that, and I understand that my colleagues on the Health Committee have done the same. We understand the difficult situation that the Health Minister and all our Executive colleagues are in with regard to funding in the upcoming year, but, as the Member who spoke before me stated, there are political choices on priorities that must be made. As the motion points out, only 25 of the 259 community and voluntary groups that applied for core grant funding were successful. As many of the organisations that reached out to us before we tabled the motion highlighted, the fact that the funding was reduced so drastically in 2023 could have resulted in only one thing: the service collapse that we see in the community and voluntary sector. At the Health Committee, we hear time and again from the Health Minister and his officials about the commitment to "Shift left" to ensure that we fulfil our promises on prevention before we need to spend significant money further down the stream. However, in order to support that "Shift left" agenda, I ask the Minister to reflect on the role that the community and voluntary sector plays. We will all have heard from constituents and organisations, both those in our constituencies and those related to our portfolios, that it affects not just organisations that are primarily healthcare providers but those that offer some services to do with health. Newington Day Centre, in my constituency of North Belfast, was one of the 259 applicants but, unfortunately, not one of the 25 that received the funding. Whilst all the services should be directly assisted with core grant funding, many of the organisations have, in the past, had to rejig their funding to make sure that they could make ends meet and are now having to do the same again. However, unfortunately, many of them will have to cease some of the operations that they run, and other organisations are worried about having to cease altogether. Newington Day Centre has highlighted to me the fact that it will potentially have to stop the provision of some of its services. That provision enables adults to avail themselves of respite day services. The reason why that is so important is that it is not just a health issue; it is a societal issue. Many people with complex needs, particularly adults and older people who rely on carers, often go without, particularly when it comes to being able to be fulfilled and enjoy aspects outside of their healthcare. Therefore, it is important to realise that this is not just a health issue. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that each of those organisations can maximise the funding that it gets. When I spoke to Newington Day Centre, I wanted to get an assessment not of what it offers but of what it saves the health service. Given the services that Newington Day Centre provides, if it were trust-run, it would cost the trust £144 per person, but, because the services are provided by a day centre that is not trust-run, £17 of funding per person is received from the trust. At some point, the people who will not be able to avail themselves of those services will have to avail themselves of trust-run services. Will we just not offer services to them at all? That is what it is coming to. We already see that in many other areas. When we removed funding for the Healthy Happy Minds pilot, that did not stop children needing counselling services; it just meant that they had to go to the statutory functions.

We all know that the first cull is of funding for non-statutory services. If we are truly to enable a shift-left agenda and put more into prevention, we need to put our money where our mouth is and prioritise what is needed in the Department of Health.

I look forward to hearing what the Minister will say. The carers' coalition has three asks, none of which is to remove the money from anyone who has received it. Rather, it has asked for an understanding to be provided of part of the scoring criteria, for a review to be undertaken of the funding scheme that will open again in the autumn and for a coordinated response from —

— the Executive. As I said, this is not just an issue for the Department of Health. Where it falls within that Department's responsibility, however, it must be prioritised.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:20 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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