Debate contribution: Domestic and Sexual Abuse Small Grant Scheme
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 29 April 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Domestic and Sexual Abuse Small Grant Scheme
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4922069
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The plan is that, when we get the post-project evaluation reports, we will see where, we feel, further roll-out, for example, might be appropriate. Such things, as the Member will appreciate, depend entirely on having the resources available to do them, but, when we looked at how the projects work, we were robust in scrutinising them. We wanted to bring additionality so that we were not just looking at things that are already being done, and we wanted to look at innovation so that we were looking at new ways of tackling the issues. Through those projects, we have been able to find new ways in which we can better support families who are experiencing domestic violence and abuse and better ways in which we can, in particular, provide the support needed by young people, who are often casualties of domestic violence, although they may not be the intended victim. Such abuse can have long-term consequences. I spoke to one of the women who have worked with some of the families, and she told me how some of the children, as a result of domestic abuse and upheaval in the home, had been absent from school for long periods and had started to refuse to go to school. She talked about how she worked with a mother who was afraid to take her child to school, because even the routine of doing that left her feeling exposed to her abusive partner. She then worked with the school and the mother to arrange different pickup and drop-off times, breakfast club membership and things like that so that the mother had the confidence to take her child to school, to make that part of his day and to allow him to reintegrate with children in the school. The learning from that will allow us to inform other strategic decisions that we can take in the Department of Health and the Department of Justice on how we better support people.
327 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 (0.86).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.86 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.77 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.22 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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