5. Mr McMurray asked the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline any actions that he is taking to embed within his Department the importance of science and research. (AQO 1769/22-27)

I recognise the crucial importance of science and research in helping to achieve my Department’s strategic goals and objectives by ensuring that policy is evidence-based and delivers tangible actions. I personally believe in that. We need to get back to making decisions that are based on science and evidence and away from populism. Also, science is key in developing innovations to address the strategic challenges that we face on issues such as climate change and the nutrient pollution in areas such as Lough Neagh. I want policymakers to have access to the best available data, evidence and knowledge, which will benefit every citizen in Northern Ireland.

As set out in my Department’s business and corporate plans, championing and investing in science, including social sciences, innovation and knowledge transfer is a means of addressing policy challenges and unlocking new economic opportunities. My Department invests significantly in science services each year, and its science strategy framework guides how that investment can be optimised. DAERA’s science system has three goals: get the best science, get the best value from science and make the best use of science. Under the guidance of my Chief Scientific Adviser, a series of project-led science transformation initiatives is being embedded across multidisciplinary teams in the DAERA family.

Thank you, Minister. How are science and evidence helping to inform actions to tackle the blue-green algae in Lough Neagh?

The Chief Scientific Adviser's office is working with senior science representatives from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), DAERA's environment, fisheries and marine group, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Northern Ireland Water, Queen's University and Ulster University to help to oversee a joined-up programme of scientific work for the lough and take forward work on science-related actions in the Lough Neagh action plan. That includes the development of a Lough Neagh science platform and the development and validation of models to apportion nutrient loadings from agriculture and non-agriculture sources, river catchment and sub-catchment levels.

Turning to the resultant recovery times of the lough itself, I have highlighted before the fact Lough Neagh has suffered from decades of pollution from nutrients from agriculture, waste water, septic tanks and industrial processes. Modelling work undertaken by AFBI and Ulster University scientists indicates that it may take as long as 40 years for the lough to return to a "good" classification. However, it is important that timescales for full recovery do not deter the implementation of actions set out in the action plan, which includes the science platform.

Minister, what steps are you taking to enhance cross-border collaboration on science and research, particularly in areas such as climate, animal health and sustainable farming?

That is a really important question. We have quite a lot of good cross-border cooperation as part of the co-centres, which are absolutely key. One key area on which I want us to do a lot more cross-border cooperation is that of TB. That is a significant issue for farmers in Northern Ireland and for my Department, and I can see the mental anguish on the faces of a lot of farmers when they are suffering a herd breakdown as a result of TB. Therefore, significant engagement has taken place between officials, North and South. I met my previous counterpart, Charlie McConalogue, last year, and I hope to have a meeting with Martin Heydon. We talked about it briefly recently. A lot of our meetings to date, unfortunately, have been around issues such as avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease. We are looking to redouble those efforts and to cooperate a lot more on the issue. These are common challenges: where we can work together, I am up for it.

I want to turn back to science and research. What initiatives has DAERA taken to increase the number of women and girls pursuing a career in science and research?

That is a wider issue that would probably be led primarily by the Department for the Economy, but we are conscious of our commitments around it. I am proud to have Katrina Godfrey in the role of permanent secretary as a champion of those issues. It is something that I am keen to do. The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) student intake that is coming through has a good gender balance. We can do more, and Katrina is doing excellent work in that regard.