Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
I welcome the additional funding, which has come as a lifeline for a system and a service that are under real strain. We must remember, of course, the families and young people at the heart of all of this. How important a partner is the community and voluntary sector in the delivery of the additional actions?
I thank the Member for his question. Directly, the answer is no, I have not personally been involved. I would be more than happy to meet, but the Member will be aware that my officials meet all sorts of groups every day, and, if there were proposals, I would expect them to come to me in the normal course of work.
Has the Minister had any engagement with disability organisations such as the Centre for Independent Living to determine how we can best support people with disabilities to live independently in their own homes?
I thank the Member for his question, and, indeed, I applaud his continued interest in and support for the Children's Hospice. As he said, I visited that facility, as well as the Northern Ireland Hospice, a few weeks ago. I was impressed with the facilities. I was impressed with the level of joy at the Children's…
I thank the Minister for announcing the funding increase. It is a vital service. One of the main providers of respite care in my constituency is the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice. I was delighted that the Minister recently visited it to hear of the funding difficulties that it has had. Will the Minister provide…
I thank the Member for her supplementary question. It takes me to a point that I came to early in my tenure as Minister. We have five geographical trusts for what is a relatively small geographical area and, indeed, a relatively small population, at just under two million people. Rather than introduce what might be…
I thank the Minister for his answer. Minister, will you throw some light on how the health and social care trusts will continue to work collectively to maximise service delivery across the whole of the North?
On 23 October this year, I was pleased to be able to approve additional regional funding for the children with disabilities service. That funding is intended to assist with increasing short-break capacity and with expanding family, therapeutic and behavioural supports. Following that announcement, the strategic…
I do not have the specific figures with me, but I can say that the offices that we have in Washington and Brussels represent value for money and that it is important that we have networks. Alongside that, remember that Invest NI also has premises all over, internationally, which gives us a global footprint for…
One good example is our ending violence against women and girls strategic framework. That was based on data that was garnered from different sources and brought into one home, which then allowed us to develop our policy and strategy accordingly. We must be data-informed. We cannot just do things on a whim. We must…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chéad-Aire as a freagraí go dtí seo. Will she detail areas of work in which data sharing has informed several strategic Executive Office policy areas?
We work right across Departments to try to share as much information as we can, because each Department holds different information. As part of the development of the Programme for Government, we now have a portal that we can access to look at different data. That is important, because we need to be able to measure…
Yes, absolutely. The North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) and the British-Irish Council are among the bodies that were established under the Good Friday Agreement, and they remain key components of it. All the bodies that were established must work. We take the opportunities that are presented to us to learn from…
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chéad-Aire as ucht a freagra. Does she agree that the North/South and east-west bodies are important pillars in the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement?
Yes. The deputy First Minister and I, the Economy Minister and the Agriculture Minister all travelled to Edinburgh to be part of the BIC meeting. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Prime Minister and the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales were all there, and the conversation was about just transition financing.…
I do not think that I can thank the First Minister for her response. Does she agree that those actions were wrong and will be perceived as a bid to influence the Chair of the Committee to achieve her desired outcome of closing down the opportunity for Committee members to conduct their scrutiny role? Will she commit…
I will write to the Member so that I do not give her misinformation about who exactly we have contacted, but I have no doubt that that work was followed up, given that we had that protection. As we know, it is an issue across this island, and I can assure you that we raised it at the North/South Ministerial Council,…
I thank the First Minister for her answer. You will be aware, of course, that the preservation of documents will be very important for many mothers and the babies who were adopted out of the mother-and-baby homes. There are other documents that need to be preserved and maintained, particularly those held by the…
Not in relation to the Programme for Government consultation, obviously, but, previously, I, as deputy First Minister, met the religious institutions about their contribution. We need to continue to do that where appropriate. As you will be aware, negotiations are under way to try to ensure that all the institutions…
I thank the First Minister for her answer. It is important to advertise Civil Service jobs and either make new appointments or make temporary appointments permanent. It has to be done sooner rather than later. Over 2,000 temporary appointments is too many.
I can only make a general point on that, given that the remit for Civil Service employment falls under DOF. Where we have temporary positions, we should move to make them permanent. We should have proper workforce planning. We insist on that across the public service, and we should also have that in the Civil Service.…
Sorry, I missed what you said. Did you mean an options paper in relation to waste water infrastructure? Yes. I know that there is a question for urgent oral answer to DFI today as well. This is one of the biggest issues that we have to grapple with as an Executive. Investing in waste water infrastructure will take…