The Budget went out for consultation with a vote in the Executive. The Majority of Executive members voted to support the beginning of the consultation. The DUP voted against its going out to consultation. We have heard, as you would expect to, from Ministers about the Departments that they currently represent. In my opening discussion with Executive colleagues, I said, "We are setting a Budget for an incoming Executive. At that stage, it may be that no one sitting around this table is in the position in which they are in now".

We needed to take off our departmental silo hats and figure out a way of matching the collective priorities that the Executive set themselves. That is what I attempted to do in the Budget. It is out for public consultation, and of course there is further discussion to be had with Ministers, but the core proposition of the Budget remains. If the Executive are to prioritise Health, as we have said collectively and repeatedly since we came into office prior to the pandemic, there is only one way in which to do that with a finite Budget. That is to make the funding available to Health by taking it from other Departments. That is the central proposition.

I am not sure how that could change without us deprioritising Health, taking the money back from it and from tackling waiting lists, cancer services, mental health strategies and transformation costs. That is the only change that could be made. The moneys would then go back into other Departments for other public services. Ultimately, that is a decision that the Executive and the Assembly will have to make. However, I am very committed to the priority that I set in the Budget to prioritise Health and to see that followed through.