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I want to stick with the issue of domestic abuse a bit more generally, if I may. Minister, what is being done to support male victims of domestic abuse and coercive control and encourage them to come forward? Not to diminish in any shape or form violence against women and girls, I am concerned that men and boys could…
As I said, since the commencement of the pilot, there have been over 30,000 referrals to schools, which shows how necessary that information-sharing protocol has been. The sharing of information creates an administrative demand on policing, particularly on sharing and then on teachers receiving that information.…
Thank you, Minister, for your answer. Operation Encompass, as you outlined, came in under the Domestic Abuse Act, and it has been valuable. Do you see merit in broadening it out in its referrals to children who go into school?
The Domestic Abuse Information-sharing with Schools etc. Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022, which make statutory provision for Operation Encompass, came into operation on 1 April 2022. The regulations were drafted by the Department of Justice in partnership with the Department of Education, the Department for the…
There was no suggestion in the report that the current tripartite arrangements were not appropriate. However, what I think was suggested in the report, and something that I considered at length with the Policing Board in the previous mandate, was whether we needed, in light of there now being devolved institutions,…
Minister, you took us into the realm of the current tripartite arrangements. Will you outline your assessment, please, of the effectiveness of those arrangements with regard to accountability and delivery, given the recommendation in the review that they should be subject to a new partnership agreement?
There is always a danger that policing will become politicised — by which I mean party politicised — because, of course, policing is inherently a political issue. It requires the support of the public and of politicians, and it requires us to engender confidence in policing. Policing is an inherent part of the…
I thank the Minister for her response. Minister, do you believe that policing has been overly politicised in the past, as per the report? What action will you take to rectify that from a DOJ point of view?
The report was received by my Department on 22 January 2025 and was published on 30 January 2025. I will now take time to consider the report’s findings and afford the Policing Board and the Chief Constable time to reflect on the recommendations that are relevant to them. I will outline my response to the…
First, it was really important that we were able to have a recruitment campaign. It is very important that the PSNI is right-sized to be able to provide the critical service that it does. I encourage any young person, irrespective of their background, to consider a career in the police, because it is important for…
It is difficult to speak specifically about how much it will cost the PSNI. I know that stabilisation pressures have increased by about £60 million due to changes in employers' National Insurance contributions, and that includes things such as the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) pay award assumptions and legal…
I thank the Minister for her answer. To add to your woes, Minister, how much do you think the Labour Government's employers' National Insurance rise will cost the PSNI?
My officials have been working closely with the PSNI to develop a robust business case for the funding that will be required to recover workforce numbers over the course of the current mandate. I am pleased to confirm that that business case has been submitted to the Department of Finance for its consideration. I…
I thank the Member for his follow-up question. We need to build on our previous success in renewables development, and the Executive need to take a collaborative, whole-system approach in order to facilitate the delivery of the 80% by 2030 target. While my Department has legislated responsibility for the target,…
Thank you, Minister. As part of delivering 80% renewables by 2050, how is the Minister working with the UK and our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland and across Europe to ensure that those in the offshore maritime industry remain competitive and at the forefront of their industry?
I thank the Member for his question. My Department, in collaboration with other Departments and key stakeholders, has developed the offshore renewable energy action plan to enable offshore renewable energy development in the North's marine area from 2030. DFE recently appointed RPS Ireland to undertake an update to…
I thank the Minister for her answer. Figures are bandied about for the cost of actually building the interconnector and for the benefits that would then be derived from it, but those figures are now massively out of date. Can the Minister provide accurate figures for the cost to build and the benefit that will then be…
The Member may not have been in his place when I responded to a question from Mr Aiken on the North/South interconnector. I assume that he is referring to the delay that was announced in the South recently. SONI advised the Department of a delay in the construction following the assessment of the remaining programme…
I thank the Member for the follow-up question. I had the opportunity to meet Tourism NI last week. It was an introductory meeting, but that issue was actually mentioned in passing. I am happy to look at it in more detail. It is important that we look to where there are good examples of things that work and that we are…
Will the Minister, perhaps through Tourism NI, look at the best international examples of regulation — I am thinking particularly of Amsterdam's 30-day cap, which seems to have worked well there — to see what we can learn to bring better enforcement regulation here?
I thank the Member for his question. That issue was raised with the Communities Minister at a recent meeting in Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. When the Minister brought forward the housing supply strategy before Christmas, he asked officials across Departments to work on particular issues, with that being…
I thank the Member for her follow-up question. Creatives have engaged with me on that. There is significant concern about the potential implications. I am happy to engage with the sector to try to understand those challenges and to see if we are able to bring any influence. It goes back to the point that, while there…
My question is a perfect follow-on from that because it is about the UK Government's consultation on the legal framework for copyright and artificial intelligence. Will you commit to engaging with representatives of the creative sector to understand their worries about that and ensure that they can meaningfully…