T2. Mr Carroll asked the Minister for Communities, having noted that there has been a lot of hand-wringing by the Minister to try to distance himself and his Executive colleagues from his decision on Friday 30 August at 3.30 pm to cut the winter fuel payment and without knowing whether that is the result of a guilty conscience, whether he regrets making that decision. (AQT 512/22-27)

I communicated my decision to Members as soon as I was in a position to do so. The urgent procedure request that I was granted was delivered to me, and I informed the Assembly as soon as I could.

When it comes to my role in all that, we were given the facts by the UK Government. We were told of the changes that they are going to put in place. After work that my officials did, I was informed about what it would cost. We were informed about the issues in and around the IT system as well. We were left in the position of being told that we do not have the resources to continue it or the means by which to take it on.

Perhaps the Member might have taken the approach of burying his head in the sand and pretending that the problem is not here, but officials made it clear that if we did not confirm our decision with the UK Government, they would go ahead and change the DWP system for only Great Britain. That would have meant that nobody in Northern Ireland would have had access to their winter fuel payment. The Executive were not pleased about the decision in any way, but making it was preferable to sitting on our hands and letting everybody in Northern Ireland lose their winter fuel payment.

The truth is, Minister, that you buckled under Keir Starmer. You could have stood strong against him, but you failed to do that. You also failed to listen to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be impacted by that decision. Minister, what work have you, your officials and your Department carried out to work out the number of excess winter deaths that will occur as a result of that decision? Make no mistake, that will be the result of it.

It is very disappointing that the Member simply cannot understand what I am saying to him. It is very straightforward and simple. It is very concerning that an MLA, as someone who sits in the House, is unable to process and understand that information and simply parrots the kinds of things that he says.

I share the concerns that many have expressed about the impact that the decision will have on people right across Northern Ireland. The UK Government's decision was given to us at very late notice. We did not have time to put in those sorts of assessments, but, unfortunately, the Government have not done so either. I do not think that that was because they did not have time; they have not bothered to put together an impact assessment of how their decision will affect the most vulnerable. That is shameful. I will do everything that is in my power to make sure that we get extra funding where it is available, support those who are in need and use our existing programmes to support people. Unfortunately, in Mr Carroll. we have a Member who does not even understand the process.