Debate contribution: Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 10 November 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5224660
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Yes. Projects that offer vital support to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse have recently received funding from my Department and the Department of Health. A total of £259,091 has been allocated across 10 organisations by the scheme for 2025-26. That money will enable them to deliver a range of services, including trauma-informed counselling, crisis de-escalation therapy and one-to-one legal advice clinics. Those interventions play an important role in helping individuals recognise harmful behaviours, seek support at an early stage and navigate what can often be a challenging and complex process. The community and voluntary sector continues to demonstrate innovation and dedication in its working with victims and survivors. It is important that we continue to fund the sector and that we try to ensure that it can bring its expertise to bear. The domestic and sexual abuse strategy small grant scheme is a key initiative under the jointly led domestic and sexual abuse strategy. It supports organisations that are represented on the domestic and sexual abuse expert reference group and on the five domestic and sexual violence and abuse partnerships. We have made the second round of awards, so the total funding that has been allocated under the scheme to date is £568,718.
206 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 (0.66).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.66 | 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 | 0.85 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.11 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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