Alastair Ross: There is no doubt that it has been an incredibly difficult time over the past two weeks for anyone involved in politics. It is quite clear that the public are, quite rightly, angry about a scheme that, with hindsight, was poorly designed and badly administered. It is remarkable to hear that some of the individuals who sat either as Chair or members of the ETI Committee or Members of the...
Alastair Ross: Again, I hear the leader of the Alliance Party chirping away in the background. I listened to her contribution, and she must have had 10 or 11 questions she wanted answered. Her constituents would quite rightly have expected her to turn up this morning when the First Minister stood at the Dispatch Box and to ask those questions and get them answered, but she did not. She chose instead to...
Alastair Ross: — which is used for the most serious of offences. Mrs Foster has not been found guilty of any offence. She has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. We absolutely want the facts to come out, we want to support the PAC investigation, we want an independent commission and we want fairness.
Alastair Ross: Following the considerable media attention that has been given to SIF in recent weeks, it was inevitable that a motion such as this would be tabled. Of course it is the role of the Assembly to scrutinise Executive programmes, but it is concerning that it seems to be in response to what could be described as sensationalist and at times ill-informed media commentary on the social investment...
Alastair Ross: That point about hypocrisy and who has funded that organisation has been well made and aired over recent weeks. However, I do not want to focus on one organisation because that does a disservice to the entire social investment fund. I want to make progress because I have a lot to get through and do not have a lot of time. I want to talk about some of the other projects, such as the West...
Alastair Ross: I am not giving way. I want to emphasise those points because the social investment fund really is making a difference to people's lives and benefiting communities. The negative press coverage and the continued focus on a process that was openly consulted on and finalised on the basis of the outcome of that consultation continue to distract from the real value that the programme brings,...
Alastair Ross: I will not give way because I have very little time left. If people want government to be innovative in policymaking, it requires continual review and adaptation and an agile response, and this is an example of the type of innovative project that government has tried to do. It is also worth saying that all government programmes are subject to internal and external audit, and SIF is no...
Alastair Ross: Our Department, in conjunction with the Victims and Survivors Service, the Commission for Victims and Survivors and key stakeholders, has been taking forward a collaborative design programme of work to develop a comprehensive and high-quality service which meets the needs of all victims and survivors. The outworkings of the collaborative design programme have clearly outlined the need for a...
Alastair Ross: The design programme team has been set up, and it comprises personnel from the Executive Office, the Victims and Survivors Service and the Commission for Victims and Survivors to ensure the development of an improved service delivery model capable of meeting the needs of victims and survivors. During the process, there was extensive engagement. A series of workshops were held to identify...
Alastair Ross: Yes, last week we were delighted to be able to announce new funding streams worth over £30 million. There were two identified. The first is the victims support programme which is worth £18·7 million, and the second is a Peace IV shared spaces and services programme worth €17·6 million. Both are designed to not only build capacity within groups who are supporting and representing...
Alastair Ross: I missed the last part of that.
Alastair Ross: Thank you for repeating the question. Significant progress has been made. Department of Health officials continue to lead on the establishment of a mental trauma service for Northern Ireland, which was announced by the Minister for Health in September 2015. It will meet the psychological needs of victims and survivors, and it is not a purely medical model either; it will be an integrated...
Alastair Ross: We continue, through the work of the Executive Office, to help victims and signpost them to the right place for assistance. We are also helping to build capacity within groups, and hopefully we will be in a better position in January to outline how we intend to continue to move forward in this area.
Alastair Ross: Pardon?
Alastair Ross: We will review it and see whether there are efficiencies that can be made. The motion does not talk about slash and burn; it talks reasonably about having a review and, where possible, reducing the number. That is perfectly acceptable language. I do not think it should challenge or upset anybody in the Housel. It is something that the public would support as well. I conclude by again...
Alastair Ross: I thank everyone who contributed to the debate this evening, and I thank my colleagues for tabling the motion. I am happy to respond on behalf of the Executive. It is worth noting at the start — a number of Members referred to this during the debate —that, as the motion acknowledges, on 9 May this year, which was the Monday after the Assembly election, we began a new Assembly mandate. We...
Alastair Ross: I am happy to say that we should proceed with caution in anything that we do, but I must agree with my colleague that nothing can be off limits. Even bodies that fulfil an important function should not be off limits in terms of reforming or restructuring them. That is something that we need to look at during a review. Mr McGuigan, in an intervention, pointed out that the SDLP amendment is...
Alastair Ross: Where some of the learning is concerned, the concept of the circular economy and putting an economic value on wastage was something there was a great deal of discussion about. Sometimes we see waste as having no value, but it has an economic value. I think it is important we recognise that recycling and reusing are good for the economy and for the environment. There is learning in that and...
Alastair Ross: There was a brief mention of it, and they certainly thought it had been proven to be relatively successful. I know our Minister is looking at that issue along with a number of others that other jurisdictions are doing. In particular, the Welsh Government have set themselves quite difficult targets for their initiatives, so the Minister is keeping under consideration a range of different...
Alastair Ross: The definition of natural capital is the elements of nature that produce value, directly or indirectly, to people, such as the stocks of forests, rivers, soils, minerals and oceans. It is, I think, fair to say it is a relatively new concept to the Department here in Northern Ireland, but it has monitored progress in the rest of the United Kingdom and in the Irish Republic to learn about the...