Member's statement: Child Safeguarding
Member's statement by Mrs Michelle Guy on .
- MLA
- Mrs Michelle Guy
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 23 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Child Safeguarding
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5129089
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to speak about children who are missing in education. I am specifically talking about children who are not registered in school or as being in home education. We do not know how many kids are in that situation, whether they are in harm's way or whether they need support. However, from speaking to the Education Authority, the British Association of Social Workers, the Children's Commissioner's office and other experts, I know that those who are responsible for safeguarding issues are worried. Having received internal minutes and briefings from the Department of Education through an FOI request, I know that the Department is, rightly, worried about the issue. We have seen heartbreaking incidents in the South that showed what can happen when children fall through the cracks in our systems. We need to do everything that we can to prevent that from happening. That requires better data sharing between our Departments and other jurisdictions, statutory guidance and legislative change, all of which, I know, are being looked at by senior officials in the Department of Education. I fully appreciate that that work is ongoing, but we need urgency. I will help in any way that I can. I will back legislative changes and statutory guidance to improve the situation. We must focus on closing those gaps in our system, and we must get it done in this mandate.
229 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: 0.03 (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 | 0.03 | 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 | 0.55 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.34 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.07 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.03 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:10 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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