I beg to move

That this Assembly recognises the need for immediate and sustained action to protect and support vulnerable children and families; notes the recommendations in the Northern Ireland review of children's social care services report, published in June 2023; commends the thorough work undertaken by the review, including identifying systemic issues and outlining a clear path for reform; calls on the Minister of Health to provide a detailed timeline for the implementation of the review’s recommendations and to ensure adequate resources and funding are made available to enable the effective reform of children’s social care services; and further calls on the Minister to work collaboratively with statutory partners and relevant stakeholders, including the community and voluntary sector and children and young people with lived experience, to deliver improved and sustainable care for vulnerable children and families and to prioritise the welfare and protection of children.

The Business Committee has agreed to allow up to one hour and 30 minutes for this debate. The proposer of the motion will have 10 minutes to propose and up to 10 minutes to making a winding-up speech. All other Members will have up to five minutes.

Let me begin by first acknowledging that the scale and magnitude of the challenges in children's social care services are well rehearsed and widely accepted. The pressures and challenges that exist in the provision of children's social care services predate the damaging impact that the COVID pandemic has had. Indeed, in the independent review of children's social care services, Professor Ray Jones, who led the review, observed that the difficulties in children's social care services were both "systemic and endemic".

The report outlined that children's social care statistics showed that, on 31 March 2023, 22,875 children in the North were known to social services as a child in need; 2,171 children were listed on the child protection register; and 3,801 children and young people were in care. We understand from a recent written briefing from the Department that the latest unpublished figures show that the number of children in care has risen since March 2023, and the figure now sits at 4,134. That is an increase of almost 9% in just 18 months. Growing demand for services, increasing complexity of need and serious workforce-related pressures, including high levels of staff vacancy and high absence rates, all add pressure to an already struggling service, and, without a workforce, no plans will be deliverable.

At our meeting on 21 March this year, the Committee was extremely concerned to hear from Department of Health officials that, at the end of January 2024, there was a combined vacancy/absence rate of 358 social workers across the five trusts. One of the most alarming consequences of that is that a total of 1,479 cases were still waiting to be allocated to a social worker: that is 1,479 children. Following that, when the Committee met representatives of NIPSA in June this year, we heard harrowing reports of how matters had deteriorated further since the publication of the review report. That included reports of instances in trusts of no existing social work teams, children not having a social worker assigned to them and, in other trusts, social work teams operating with a less than 50% complement of staff. The Committee agreed that the situation puts children and staff at immense risk and cannot continue, and we subsequently wrote to the Health Minister to ask that that be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The Health Committee knows from its meetings and contact with children's stakeholders that our services are overwhelmed and struggle to meet the demand. It is therefore unsurprising that the independent review of children's social care services carried out by Professor Jones found that we have a higher rate of children being referred to children's services than England, Scotland and Wales; a higher proportion of children in need of help; a higher proportion of children with child protection plans in place; and a record number of children in care. None of that is anything to be proud of.

I put on record the Health Committee's appreciation for the work of Professor Jones, his advisory panel and the secretariat that was involved in carrying out the review of children's social care services. The report, which was published in June 2023, was the culmination of 16 months of endeavour that included wide consultation and engagement across the children's social care sector. It is very evident from the review report that the contribution of the children, young people, parents, carers and social care workers with whom Professor Jones engaged heavily shaped the review's conclusions and recommendations. Professor Jones and the children's organisations that we have heard from emphasised that children and young people want to be involved and engaged in the ongoing outworkings of the review. We ask the Minister to ensure that his Department makes that commitment going forward.

In June this year, Professor Jones briefed the Committee on the findings of the review. His passion to see the review recommendations taken forward to effect real change was evident to Committee members. The report contains 53 recommendations. Whilst the majority of the recommendations fall within the responsibility of the Department of Health, the Committee recognises that a number of recommendations cross into the policy responsibility of other Departments. A number of the recommendations are significant, including recommendation 7, which is to establish a region-wide children and families arm's-length body, and recommendation 39, which is to appoint a Minister for children and families.

The Department has acknowledged that the review report provides a robust road map that will facilitate improvement and deliver better outcomes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in our society. The Department also accepts that change will create the conditions that encourage social workers and social care workers into a career in children's social care. The Committee agrees, and that is why we have made children's social care services a priority in and a focus of our work programme. As a Committee, we believe that we can use our role to maintain focus, emphasis and pressure to ensure that the reform that is needed is progressed by the Department. The Committee can think of no better priority than to support the changes that will improve the lives of our most vulnerable children and families. We welcome the establishment of the Department's children's social care services strategic reform programme and commend the Department for progressing that in advance of the review's conclusion in order to begin to strategically address the range of challenges that evidently exist in children's social care.

At our meeting on 26 September, the Committee noted the most recent update on the work that the reform programme has undertaken since its establishment in April last year, including actions that relate to nine programme work streams. However, as individual members and as a Committee, we have been advised by children's social care stakeholders that the impact of the programme of work is not yet being felt by those on the ground who work directly with children and their families. Professor Jones shared with the Committee his frustration at the slow rate of progress when he briefed us in June.

At last week's Committee meeting, we heard from representatives of the Reimagine Children's Collective. The collective is a collaboration of 10 charities working with children and young people and their families. Its goal is to advocate for the implementation of the independent review's recommendations. I thank the collective's representatives for attending last week's meeting and for laying out, in sometimes stark terms, the urgent need for transformation and reform.

It is important to emphasise that, despite the challenges described, the organisations that we heard from believe that transformation is possible and that it is possible to make lasting change. We ask the Minister to commit to driving forward the change that is needed with urgency. The most vulnerable children in our society deserve better. Delay has a profound impact, and change will come too late for many of the young people who need our support. That was heard loud and clear from the review findings.

I want to emphasise that the Health Committee does not underestimate the extent of the changes required to transform children's social care services, but the time for change is now. When Professor Jones briefed the Health Committee in June, he said something that resonated with the Committee about the need to drive forward real and tangible change:

"There is a lot of activity but not enough action."

We all know that reform is needed. Professor Jones's report makes that point clearly. We now need to progress that reform at pace.

In the motion, the Committee calls for the Minister to work collaboratively with the community and voluntary sector, which knows the needs of children and young people. Organisations and charities in the sector were the constant in the lives of those children and families. While social workers were challenged and overstretched and changed frequently, the community and voluntary sector was there in the difficult times. We need to utilise the expertise, innovation and agility of the community and voluntary sector to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable children and families.

The Health Committee implores the Minister to take the action that is needed to bring about meaningful and lasting change. As Professor Jones recommends in his report:

"Now is the time for action".

That action needs to be taken without drift or delay.

I look forward to the debate today. I commend the motion to the House.

I begin by thanking Professor Ray Jones, the author of the independent review of children's social services. It is also important to recognise the three experts who assisted: Marie Roulston OBE, Judge Patricia Smyth and Professor Pat Dolan. I commend the thorough work undertaken by the review team. Their efforts have provided a road map that contains 53 recommendations and has been informed by the lived experiences of children, young people, families, carers and those working in our care services. We thank them all for their input.

The welfare and protection of vulnerable children and families is certainly paramount. Those individuals rely on us and look to us for leadership, protection and action in the Chamber. It is a duty, both moral and legislative, to ensure that children are not left behind and that every family has access to the support it needs in times of difficulty.

The review of children's social care services report, published in June 2023, exposed the many challenges. It was a comprehensive evidence-based analysis that pointed to the weaknesses in our current system of services. Crucially, it also outlines a clear and actionable path forward. However, a report — there are many in our health service — no matter how well-written or researched, is only as effective as the actions that it inspires.

The Minister may view this as me challenging him unfairly, but I assure him that I do not; indeed, I welcome that it is recognised in his Department that the pace of reform needs to quicken. I also recognise that, ahead of the review being published, a strategic reform programme was established, a delivery plan is in place and that some additional funding has been made available to support the nine work streams in the plan. We welcome the quarterly updates to the Committee on this topic. However, as was said in the Health Committee recently, it feels as though another tier has been piled on another tier. Those at the heart of children's services just want the recommendations implemented. They want structural change because, as it stands, children are surviving but not thriving.

We hope that, today, we will receive a more detailed timeline for the implementation of the review's recommendations and specifically for those on waiting lists, fostering and workforce, which are heavily weighted among the 34 recommendations that the Department has accepted. It will be helpful to have a clear and accountable timeline that ensures that the reforms are enacted with adequate resources and funding.

I recognise that, without the necessary financial and human resources, any reform may remain aspirational at best. It is welcome that, so far in 2024, health trusts have recruited 200 new social workers. It is important that they are retained and not lost to other jurisdictions and that they have the skills mix to help address the wider issues in social care.

It is recognised that, whilst the review's recommendations fall within the Department of Health, this is not just a matter for that Department. A recent letter briefing to the Health Committee detailed that the Health Minister had written to the Education, Justice and First Ministers, highlighting the need for cross-departmental support. I will welcome the Minister's response to the outcome of that correspondence, and I would like to know when he expects to make a further announcement to the Assembly, especially around what many see as a key recommendation that calls for an arm's-length body for children and families. We have been told that, without that, the review becomes just a collection of recommendations. Effective reform of children's social care requires a collaborative cross-sector approach. We must remember that our ultimate goal is not merely to address systemic issues but to deliver improved, sustainable care for vulnerable children and families.

A child who is supported today becomes an adult who contributes to society tomorrow, but, when we fail, those consequences reverberate through generations. Therefore, it is imperative that the welfare and protection of children remain priorities, not just today but every day and in every decision that we make as a devolved Assembly. The children, the families and the supporting organisations count on all of us, and they deserve nothing less than a full commitment to a brighter, safer and more supportive future. We often hear in the House about the costs of reform: in this case, we need to hear more about the costs of not reforming.

I am so glad to get the opportunity to speak on the motion. Our children's social care services have been at crisis point for some time, and it is vital that they are given the platform that they rightly deserve. All children in Northern Ireland supported by the social care sector are our future. Every child deserves the very best in life, and, where that has not been possible, they deserve the very best support and response from the state. As the Chair of the Health Committee stated, there are over 4,100 children in care in Northern Ireland. My constituency of North Belfast is one of the worst-affected, with one in 20 young people in care in one ward in particular. That means that at least one child in every classroom in that area is in some form of care, whether it is residential, kinship or foster.

It has been over 400 days since Professor Jones published his review of the services. That is 400 days since we have had meaningful action on its implementation. This is a priority not only for me as an Alliance health spokesperson but for every spokesperson across the Committee. However, people have been working on the issue long before anyone on the Committee brought it to the Chamber today, and I pay special tribute to Professor Ray Jones. We had the privilege of hearing from him at the Committee, where he expressed concerns at the lack of movement since the 53 recommendations were published. Since then, we have also had the consultation and publication of the consultation responses.

As my Committee colleagues have done, I pay tribute to the work of the Reimagine Children's Collective for everything that it has done in amplifying the voices of young people and ensuring that evidence is heard on what is working and what is not. Voice Of Young People In Care (VOYPIC), Children in NI, Include Youth, the Fostering Network, Action for Children, Barnardo’s, the NSPCC and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) also want to see reform implemented urgently.

Will the Member take an intervention?

Yes.

Does the Member agree that, so often, those amazing community and voluntary sector organisations have to plug the gaps where our statutory services fail?

The Member has an extra minute.

Absolutely. I agree. They do so on a shoestring budget at times, focusing on fundraising and, at the same time, making sure that the children are their priority.

Most importantly, I pay special tribute to VOYPIC, the Experts by Experience reference group and every young person who has provided evidence to Ray Jones, to me and to the Committee over the past few months. I had my speech written out by yesterday, but, last night, I received an email from a young person who has given me permission to name him today and who wanted his thoughts to be read out:

"My name is Shea Taylor, and I am an expert by experience (EBE) based in the Derry office. First of all, I'd like to send my heartfelt thanks and appreciation" — for the —

"work on ... advocating for important issues and challenges young people face, particularly within the social care system itself. Advocating for positive change for young people across Northern Ireland is something I'm extremely passionate about, as I myself am a care experienced young person who has been in kinship care since 2021. Some issues that matter to me include: -The government's ignorance towards creating a suitable, appropriate and sustainable care system in which young people in care can receive help, support and gain skills, confidence and grow as young people in a safe environment in which they can thrive. -Lack of funding for youth organisations. -Flawed care system for young people, particularly the number of different health and social care trust areas which make it difficult to sustain a fair and effective care system. -The lack of care and attention paid by the government to young people's voices and opinions. -The lack of pathways for young people in care, such as sustainable employment, career and personal opportunities."

Those are not my words but the words of our young people who are living it, and they are the words of those who are able to speak up for themselves. We all know that there are others at a much younger age who enter the care system due to the failure of government to protect them and their families from the hardships that they face.

The Minister will get up here today and discuss the budget situation, which we completely understand, but many elements of Ray Jones's 53 recommendations can be implemented with little or no cost. I think about recommendation 25:

"Previous reviews of foster care policies and services should be updated and acted upon now".

Recommendation 29 states:

"Do not allow the privatisation of care of children."

I look forward to hearing from the Minister on that. Recommendation 30 states:

"Respite care for children with a disability should be expanded and with children receiving respite care not seen as looked after children."

I hope that the Minister has watched the 'Spotlight' documentary from last week, and I look forward to hearing his thoughts on it.

Recommendation 50 states:

"The difficulties facing children's social care services need to be tackled with pace."

I am looking forward to the annual conference this year, which is something that Ray Jones proposed, to hear further about the progress made on the recommendations. There is, however, a review. It is here, it is being conducted in good faith, it has been consulted on, and decisions must now be taken. We need to ensure that the big policy areas, such as the policies on an arm's-length body and a single children and families social care division, are pushed forward. That responsibility is on all of us. Of course the entire Executive must work together, but the Minister of Health must lead. We must show leadership on the issue and work at pace to ensure that the life of every young person is a priority.

Much of today's debate has been and will be informed by the work of Professor Jones. Once again, I put on record my thanks and that of my party for the passion and commitment that he and his team displayed in conducting the review. The review also greatly benefited from all the young people, parents and carers engaging and sharing their lived experiences. Those experiences — the positive and the not so positive — so powerfully added to the review's final report.

Professor Jones's report was comprehensive and far-reaching, but we should not have expected anything less, because, by late 2021, it was becoming clear that children's social care services were starting to reach crisis point. At the time that the review commenced, record numbers of children and young people were in care. There were also very high rates of staff vacancies and overall increasing child protection workloads.

Unfortunately, young people, like others, were not always receiving the timely and quality support that they deserved. It was clear that something needed to be done. It was a case of either making changes or seeing services collapse, yet, for many of our young people, we simply cannot allow the safety net of children's social care services to fail. Sadly, the problems were not easing, and, crucially, demand was only continuing to grow. Professor Jones's review is a reliable and accurate benchmark against which we must measure future provision.

From looking at the final report, which was published last summer, it is clear to me that the review left no stone unturned. The recommendations are ambitious but ultimately achievable. As the motion makes clear, our vulnerable children and families need "sustained action". Short-term fixes will no longer cut it. It is the role of the Assembly to help deliver the necessary changes set out in the review. Thankfully, a number of them were accepted even in advance of the public consultation.

Although the vast majority of recommendations fall within the remit of the Department of Health, and I look forward to an update from the Minister, others are broader, reaching across more than just one Department. I hope that the Executive as a whole keep an open mind on the organisational and service changes recommended, because, although there are still challenges, there are also opportunities.

We have to be realistic, however, and recognise that some of the recommendations will require additional funding. If the Assembly is united in its desire to deliver improved services, it should also be mindful of just how difficult that task has been made as a result of the most recent funding allocations. Nevertheless, wherever improvements can be made, they must be made. Our young people deserve no less, and the review has shone a spotlight on what needs to be done.

We are here today to discuss a matter that is of the utmost importance: the well-being of some of our most vulnerable children and families. It is our task to ensure that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, nurturing environment.

It is clear that immediate and sustained action is required to protect those who are at risk.

The independent review of Northern Ireland's children's social care services, which was published in June 2023, provides us with the critical road map for reform. The Ray Jones review, as has been mentioned, is a comprehensive piece of work. It not only identified the systemic issues in our social care framework but outlined a clear way forward. We must commend the thorough work that the review team and Professor Jones undertook, which shines a light on the challenges that our children and families face and which emphasises the urgent need for change.

Vulnerable children and families often navigate a complex web of social, economic and emotional challenges. We must act decisively to address their needs and ensure that they receive the care and protection that they need. To that end, the SDLP calls on the Health Minister to provide a detailed timeline for the implementation of the review's recommendations. It is only when we know when things will happen that we can adequately hold the Department to account and see the change that is needed. It is not enough to simply acknowledge the findings of the Ray Jones review: we must translate words into action. The timeline must be clear, it must be realistic and it has to be achievable. It is about ensuring that we do not lose the momentum that there is in that critical initiative at the moment.

Moreover, we must ensure that adequate resources and funding are allocated to ensure the effective reform of those services. I have to say that I do not have a massive amount of faith that we will do that. Since June of last year, we have continued to have lots of words from the Executive and lots of good feeling that things need to happen. It was mentioned that there were 53 recommendations. Some are easy to do; I think that they have started. There are a couple of big bruisers that would provide the fundamental review that is required, and they are not just as forthcoming. There is an obvious answer as to why they are not happening.

Reform cannot happen in a vacuum. It requires investment of both financial and human capital to create a system that is responsive, compassionate and effective. We need to equip our social care workforce with the tools and support that it needs to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children and families. Collaboration is the key to success. I urge the Minister to work closely with —.

I thank the Member for giving way. On his point about collaboration, does the Member agree that work needs to be taken forward on engaging our statutory youth workers, who are qualified individuals with a good role to play in that space?

The Member has an extra minute.

I commend the Member's eyesight. My next sentence is, literally, "I urge the Minister to work closely with statutory partners and relevant stakeholders". That includes youth workers and others, including in the community and voluntary sector, in order to create a holistic approach.

We also need an interdepartmental working group, if not a subgroup of the Executive, to take some of these moves forward. The changes that are recommended in the review go as far as the recommendations of the review of public administration years ago. They ask some Departments to give up massive agencies within their remit and pass them to an arm's-length body. Let us be clear about it: we know that Ministers, along with their civil servants, do not like to let go of and pass on big swathes of their Departments. If that is going to happen, we need to see commitment to it from all the Ministers involved.

It is not lost on me that eight of the nine members of the Health Committee belong to Executive parties. I hope that every Health Committee member who is a member of an Executive party encourages their Ministers to make sure that they work with the Health Minister to deliver the change. Otherwise, the Committee's motion could be accused of being simply warm words. For the sake of our young people, we cannot allow that to happen.

I apologise for my late arrival in the Chamber.

One thing is clear from the contributions: the review of children's services and the debate that we are having will be meaningless and, as Mr McGrath said, just "warm words" if we do not hear from the Minister about the positive action that will come out of the debate. The review report was published about 18 months ago. The Department has been working on aspects of the review, but we really need to hear about decisions. Minister, the message from the Chamber today is about the importance of making decisions for some of the most vulnerable children and families in our community. Members have mentioned many aspects of the review, so I will highlight some issues, particularly those in my constituency that I have found harrowing and very difficult to deal with.

The independent review by Professor Jones found that referrals to children's social services are consistently higher in Northern Ireland than they are in England, the Republic of Ireland or Wales. Also, a higher proportion of Northern Ireland's child population are considered to be children in need and have a child protection plan. In recent years, there has been a proportionately greater growth in the number of children in care in Northern Ireland. That should be a stark warning to us all. High levels of staff vacancies are leading to large numbers of cases being unallocated and over 4,000 children and their families waiting after crossing an initial threshold for involvement with statutory children's social care.

I was particularly concerned about the review findings on fostering and, specifically, the recruitment of foster carers. Foster carers play a vital role in supporting vulnerable children and young people, and we commend those who provide high-quality care to our families and communities. Despite rising demand, there is, according to estimates compiled by the Fostering Network, a deficit of almost 300 foster carers locally. As I said, through my constituency service, I have seen some harrowing examples of families that are at crisis point and need foster care. The pressures on the service have knock-on effects on the pathways of the young people and their ability to succeed throughout their lives. People offer to help with emergency fostering when a young person has no other options available to them, but, having been good enough to take that step, the new emergency foster family is sometimes left helpless, unable to obtain the assistance or reassurance that it feels it needs because some of the social workers are, for whatever reason, continuously unavailable.

The gap in supply here has had huge consequences, given that four in five children who go into care are supported through fostering. A lack of available foster carers means that some children will experience multiple moves, leading to poorer outcomes for stability, personal health and well-being. It is welcome that the delivery plan for 2024-25 for the children's social care services strategic reform programme contains plans to, by April 2025, conclude a review of fostering service models to improve performance in foster care recruitment and retention and develop additional short breaks provision. That is not a long time, Minister, and we need action in that respect.

A lack of respite services is also placing a huge strain on many families, particularly the parents and carers of children with a disability or special educational needs.

I thank the Member for giving way. I met some of the mums who participated in the recent documentary. They disclosed to us that they — parents who are not able to get respite care — have been sent emails asking whether they could be foster carers. It goes back to your previous point about needing to ensure that there are more services. Do you agree that asking those who are already stretched to the limit is not the right way to go about getting more foster carers?

The Member has an extra minute.

Thank you. The Member is absolutely right. Anyone who watched the programme on the BBC could not help but be affected by it. It is a shame on us all that so many families are left to cope on their own with so few short breaks. What I find really difficult about that is the difference between trusts in the services that they offer. Some trusts have very few or no programmes for short breaks; others manage quite well. When families move from one trust area to another, they find that their respite care is suddenly removed from them. I have said before and will continue to say that those are the strategic, inherent and inbuilt inequalities in the health system that we really need to tackle.

The Member's time is up.

I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of frustration and disappointment. It is 16 months since the publication of the independent review of children's social care services — the same length of time that it took Ray Jones to gather his evidence and compile that thorough report — yet here we are discussing the same issues with little or no tangible progress. The review's findings and recommendations were clear and painted a distressing picture of a system that intervenes too late, failing to offer support until a family is in crisis.

Recommendation 2 emphasised the critical need to address child poverty through changes in our welfare system. Tackling poverty is an essential step in preventing children from being placed into care: we know that. We cannot continue to allow families to face the burden of poverty without providing them with the financial support that they need to care for their children. If we tackle poverty upstream, we reduce the need for social services' involvement downstream.

Ray Jones's report emphasised that doing "the basics well" is a crucial foundation of any successful intervention. That means being reliable and respectful, thereby maintaining the trust in our social services. Unfortunately, many families interact with the system only when a crisis is imminent or under way. That is a fundamental failure of our current approach.

I thank the Member for giving way. Does she agree that a good start would be to expand the Sure Start programme? We know that it works, we know that it is effective and we know that it can be done. The work is done in communities and is really impactful for families.

The Member has an extra minute.

Thank you. I will come on to Sure Start later.

The report called for cooperation between Departments and agencies to ensure that families do not fall through the cracks of a fragmented system. Sixteen months later, we are still waiting for that cooperation. We are still waiting for the early interventions across all Departments that can save families before they reach breaking point, and the lack of collaboration between agencies remains a significant barrier to delivering the effective and compassionate care that families so desperately need. That collaborative and supportive approach is key to creating a system that prioritises family welfare over crisis management.

Recommendation 4 called for:

"more help for families to assist them to care well for their children."

That is more about assistance than confrontation. As Jones noted, "stability and continuity" are essential. Families should not have to deal with multiple social workers. They need consistent support to build a trusting relationship, something that is sorely lacking with the constant churn in personnel.

As Mrs Dillon pointed out, recommendation 23 reminds us of the crucial role that early support programmes such as Sure Start play in keeping families together. My party believes strongly in the expansion of Sure Start to include children aged from four to 10. Family support should not be limited to children under three years of age. We need a system that addresses the needs of children and families beyond those early years and ensures that no family is left behind due to postcode lotteries or geographical barriers, particularly in rural areas such as my constituency. We acknowledge the complexities involved in implementing that expansion, but the principle is clear and aligns with our guiding theme, which is that social services should be based on family support.

As we reflect on the challenges that children and families face across Northern Ireland, we must not lose sight of the crucial role that youth services play in preventing those crises. Youth services, especially those for care-experienced young people, such as Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC), must be a priority. Young people with care experience need access to services that are specifically tailored to their needs, services that provide stability, emotional support and guidance as they navigate the complexities of life without a stable family environment. We cannot allow those children to be left behind.

At the same time, we must address the gap in general youth services. There is an urgent need to provide structured supportive environments for all young people, not just those in care, so that they have a safe place where they can grow and develop.

Those services are vital in helping to prevent issues before they escalate; again, it is about nipping it in the bud before there is any escalation that requires intervention from social services.

Youth services for children in care, general youth services and family support are all essential elements of a compassionate and effective system. Families and children across Northern Ireland depend on us in the Chamber and you, Minister, to deliver those services. They cannot wait any longer, and nor should they.

I begin by putting on record that I fully support the motion, and I thank the Chair of the Health Committee for tabling it. I also recognise the Northern Ireland review of children's social services report and the work of Ray Jones, which has been spoken about in the Chamber this morning. A number of years ago, I conducted a piece of research on adverse childhood experiences. As part of that process, I interviewed young people who had a care experience. I still recall vividly those interviews and the highly articulate and passionate young people who shared honestly with me their experiences of care. I will be frank and say that some of those were heartbreaking to hear.

I will make some points on a fairly specific aspect of the motion that the Member has just touched on. Research is clear that there is already a strong evidential base that early intervention in supporting children and families results in better and improved outcomes and happens to be more cost-effective. In England, for example, research has been carried out into the evidential impact of early interventions such as Sure Start, which was just talked about. It appears that, over a period of about 10 years, while spending on early interventions has reduced in England, spending on latter interventions, such as youth justice and safeguarding, has increased by a similar amount. I imagine that, if you are a policymaker in England, that is exactly the opposite of where you would want to be. It is, therefore, clear that we must continue to articulate in the House that we need to treat those issues upstream rather than downstream, and the best methodology for doing that is early intervention and prevention.

One of the key measures of the success of the reform programme should be an outcome where fewer children have to enter care, fewer children are subject to child protection arrangements and more children live healthily and happily with families. I do not underestimate the challenges in embedding the review findings, but, as other Members have said this morning and as I highlighted, we must know now where the Department is on the issue and the timescale for where it is going.

I fully support the motion with, like the Member who just spoke, a particular emphasis on the value of prevention, early intervention and ongoing support for our children and young people. The motion should be more than just words: it should be about demonstrating in our words and, more importantly, our actions, that their lives matter. Regardless of the start that they have had in life and regardless of their circumstances and of how bereft of hope they have been made to feel, we are here to say that we care. However, it is not just about caring. We must care enough to act on the far-reaching recommendations set out in Professor Ray Jones's review of children's services. Let us make no bones about it: those circumstances existed more than 16 months ago; they existed more than 32 months ago; and they extended before my time in the Assembly.

As an Assembly, we stand at a great moment of scrutiny in our attitude to children and young people. However, I refer to when we walk off the pitch in political protest at failures, whether they are perceived or real. When we do that, we abandon the first and most crucial pillar of reform, transformation and change that a Minister can affect. I will continue to remind those in the House who still justify their three- and two-year absences that those five years of lost time will be measured in five years of lost progress and five years of lost transformative opportunities to bring and manifest changes in the life of those young people.

Please, when you speak about change and transformation, review what we have done and not done in the House. I will not get tired of reminding people in here of that, because those children, over that period, did not have advocacy in the House. It is time that we shook ourselves up and wobbled our heads. It is imperative that we stay committed to the work, as our absence removes the possibility of the very progress that we claim to seek. The Reimagine Children's Collective has been a shining example of collaborative advocacy for some of the most marginalised children in our society. Its work shows us the power of standing together to push for meaningful change.

Let us not forget the grim reality that we face: rising rates of child poverty; record numbers of children in care; a shortage of foster carers, which has been talked about; and the multiplicity of challenges faced by prospective adopters. Those children are not just statistics; they are lives in need of urgent care and compassion, as were the children who did not have advocacy here when we were not here for five years.

I pay tribute to those working in social services, who face overwhelming bureaucratic challenges, increasingly complex workforce issues and the difficult task of helping families to navigate complexities that are never easily untangled. I am sure that Members come across those examples. I pay tribute to the health professionals working in paediatric care, both physical and mental, and to those in the community and voluntary sector, in particular, to whom we owe our utmost gratitude. Their essential, life-breathing support is nothing short of amazing.

The recommendations in Professor Ray Jones's review are not just guidelines; they are a blueprint for the transformation that we desperately need. When we look at the rising rates of child poverty and the record numbers of children in care, we see that we really are failing too many of our young people. Each of those children deserves the opportunity to thrive, and the growing complexities of their needs cannot be ignored.

The key theme from Reimagine Children's Collective, which has tirelessly advocated for some of our most marginalised children, reminds us that progress is possible but only through collaboration. The collective has shown that we can bring about real change and that we can and do need to work together. That is something that, as an Assembly, we strive to do. In particular, the Minister of Health will need that intervention and help from the Minister of Education, the Minister of Justice, in particular, and the Minister for Communities. We all need to face in the same direction to deliver transformative change.

I will go back to it: to those who have previously felt compelled to walk off the political pitch in protest I say this: "When you do so, you remove a vital pillar of reform, a vital pillar of transformation, and you remove hope. If you ever feel compelled to do it again, remember that". If we abandon our responsibility, we leave behind the very children who need us most.

The motion calls for immediate, sustained action and demands collaboration across sectors. We must work together to ensure that the recommendations of the review are not just implemented but properly funded and resourced. Children and families across Northern Ireland depend on us to deliver. Let us not fail them again.

I welcome the comments of the Member who spoke previously. It is really important that we have this place up and running, seeking to deliver for our young people.

First, I thank Professor Ray Jones for his work on the issue and for his 53 recommendations. I will speak briefly in my capacity as my party's education spokesperson.

Our children's social care services are not fit for purpose, and our children are being failed. We have a responsibility to make this Government work for our people and deliver quality, functioning public services, and we have a responsibility to ensure the well-being and prosperity of our children here. Transformation is urgently needed to support our most vulnerable children, particularly those in care, who have faced some of life's greatest and most isolating challenges.

I also thank VOYPIC for giving a platform to our children and young people to share their journey and lived experience of life in care. On that topic, it links so closely with the fact that there are over 100,000 children in Northern Ireland living in poverty, with families who struggle to provide for their basic needs — a warm house, nutritious food and appropriate clothing — and to pay for childcare. With close to one in four children living in poverty in the North, I emphasise that that should be a priority for all Departments and our Executive.

Children living in poverty are twice as likely to leave school with fewer than five GCSEs and are twice as likely to receive a SEN diagnosis. We must do more to ensure that our services for them are well connected, that communication in Departments becomes more fluid and more flexible, particularly when discussing matters related to our vulnerable children, and that they work closely together for the best possible outcome for our young people.

Outside of this topic, I must also raise the challenge faced by vulnerable children and parents in my constituency with respite services, which are really dire. I do not need to echo that across the House because other Members know about it. Recently, I met stressed parents who are fantastic people and wonderful parents but simply cannot cope. They are being left without a break and without answers and support.

Minister, you have big challenges ahead when it comes to transforming services, but it is really important today that we do not forget the lived experience of vulnerable children and the parents and families who are wrapped around them and who rely on those services. The important thing is to ensure that vulnerable children are looked after by the state and live happy and healthy lives.

It is beyond ironic that, after yesterday's farce, the Assembly should find itself debating a motion recognising the need for immediate and sustained action to protect and support vulnerable children and families. Where was the concern for the vulnerable children who regularly visit the Building when the party that is leading on the motion on behalf of the Health Committee allowed a paedophile to have access to the Building that was revoked only last week? How can the House deliver lectures on the need for immediate action when some of the Members who are here, potentially, were so laissez-faire when it came to such a vital issue?

Where was the outcry from my fellow members of the Executive Office Committee when Ministers were shielded from questions last week? Where is the demand for immediate action against a Minister in the Executive who is supposedly accountable to the House and who, just a few days ago, gave the public inaccurate information about the duty of previous employers when it comes to passing on information about those who pose a threat to vulnerable children?

Mr Gaston, I ask you to return to the subject and the details of the motion, which are laid out clearly in the Order Paper.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I feel that this is very relevant to the topic, as I outlined at the start. If you allow me to continue, I will develop that further.

Where was the concern in the House yesterday, after I challenged the First Minister on when we can expect the party that brought us the Liam Adams scandal, the Máiría Cahill scandal, the Seamus Marley scandal and now the Michael McMonagle scandal to bring us another scandal? Where was the condemnation when the First Minister, on getting up to answer my question as to whether she could assure us that there will not be more paedophile scandals —.

Mr Gaston, I ask you again to return and adhere — strictly adhere — to the reference of the motion, which is laid out clearly to all Members, including you.

Where I was getting to in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker, was that, if the Executive and the Chamber are to have any shred of credibility on issues such as this, I encourage all Members to go to the Business Office and sign my motion of no confidence in the First Minister and Minister Murphy —.

Mr Gaston, address the motion or resume your seat. The motion is clearly laid out.

Until the Executive and the Chamber take action on those matters, they cannot lecture anybody else.

The Chair of the Health Committee mentioned that services for children and young people are overwhelmed. A more accurate description, as it was described to me in recent days, is that the services are in complete meltdown. Obviously, staff are working as hard as they can, but they are effectively trying to move water in a bucket full of holes. It is worth saying that there are many holes and problems in the current system and that has an impact on children, looked-after children and young people in particular. If we cannot ensure that those people receive the support and protection that they so rightly deserve, what chance does everyone else have across our society?

It is also worth mentioning in the debate that it is pertinent that social workers have been and are still in dispute with several health trusts across the North. Let us just think about that for a second. The people whose job it is to support and protect looked-after children have had to take strike action and other industrial action because of the state of the sector and the lack of support for those who work in it and for young people. The workers and their unions have three main demands: a recognition payment for the work that they do; a career pathway for people in the sector; and an effective caseload ceiling, so that people are not covering a ridiculous number of cases.

I urge the Health Minister and his Department, along with the Executive, to cede to and implement those demands, otherwise the Minister, his Department and the Executive will oversee the further decline of those essential services.

How many more unallocated cases are too many — 100, 200, 300, 1,000? Are those numbers acceptable to the Minister or any Member in the House? We are talking about young people without a social worker. Who is measuring the impact on that young person? Those are valid and pertinent questions. To make an obvious point, there is no social work without social workers, so it is time that their conditions were sorted out. It is my understanding that talks between the trusts and the unions have broken down because of the attitude and approach of upper management. If that is indeed the case, a new attitude and a new approach towards social workers and their unions is needed.

The Treasury economics of obsessing about financial prudence needs to go completely out the window, especially when we are talking about supporting young people and protecting them from harm. That is what we are talking about: supporting young people and protecting them from harm. It is also about giving people who have had a difficult and challenging start in life another chance and a better shot. There should not be an attempt — it has been alluded to in the debate — to, through further processes, sneak privatisation or payment in through the back door or the front door, as the 'Power to People' report attempts to.

I have to mention, as has already been referred to, that there are no specialist facilities for children with severe disabilities and no respite services. Not only is that cruel, unfair and difficult for families and young people, but it is penny wise and pound foolish. Again, who is measuring the impact on families, young people and carers?

It would be unwise not to mention the fact that a pre-determining factor in whether someone is likely to need care or come into the care system is economic class. Those who cannot afford the essentials of life, who are ground down by exorbitant costs effected by a system that historically has huge levels of wealth but so much misery and difficulty, are more likely to be affected and impacted on by the care system. If we are not looking at that simultaneously, we are missing the bigger picture in this debate.

I call the Minister of Health to respond to the debate. Minister, you have up to 15 minutes in which to speak.

Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. I begin by recognising the need for immediate and sustained action — action — to protect and support vulnerable children and young people. I also acknowledge, as many Members have done, the excellent work of Professor Ray Jones in reviewing children's social care in Northern Ireland — not just the work of the report but his work since then, and his continued focus on ensuring meaningful change for children and families. I assure you that I share his determination to deliver that change. It is a fact, though — it will not be welcomed, I am sure, by Members — that the pace of change in some areas will be determined by factors beyond my control.

Children's social care services have experienced significant pressures over the past number of years, made worse by COVID-19, workforce issues such as high vacancy and turnover rates, and increasing family complexities. We know that there is a strong correlation between deprivation and the need for intervention in family life. Around 43% of children in care come from the 20% most-deprived areas in Northern Ireland compared with 5% from the least-deprived areas. Previous research identified that children in the 10% most-deprived small neighbourhoods here were nearly six times more likely to be on the child protection register. We also know that child poverty rates have been rising.

The review found that we have a higher rate of children being referred to children's social care services compared with the rest of the United Kingdom. We have a higher proportion of children in need of help, a higher proportion with child protection plans, and record numbers of children in care. The review, as Members will know, was commissioned in 2022, and reported in June 2023. The report made 53 recommendations along a continuum, ranging from the establishment of new ways of delivering and overseeing services through to hosting an annual conference. My Department consulted on 51 of the recommendations. We received 134 responses. Some recommendations were accepted in advance of that consultation, either on the basis that they were necessary things to do or on the basis that they reflected work that was already in train.

Of the 53 recommendations, I have accepted 34. Three are now considered closed, four have not been accepted, and two are beyond the scope of the review.

Will the Minister take an intervention?

I would like to make some progress.

Ten of the 53 recommendations are subject to ongoing consideration, because they either are the responsibility of other Departments or require cross-departmental support in order to progress. Those include the recommendations that relate to having a Minister for children and families, the expansion of the Sure Start programme and the implementation of the Gillen review of civil and family justice and seven recommendations that relate to what Professor Jones termed:

"the most significant and core and crucial proposal", which was the recommendation for a region-wide children and families arm's-length body. I think that Members will accept that those are significant steps to take, and we need to be assured that they have real potential to deliver the change that is being sought and that they will not destabilise services.

Professor Jones concluded that there is a "systemic and endemic" children's social care crisis in Northern Ireland, caused not by individual failings but by the current children's social care structures, systems and processes. In August, I met Professor Jones, and it was clear that he had not changed his mind since the publication of his review report. It remains his view that the crisis needs to be addressed through changes in governance and organisational arrangements and through a renewed focus on supporting families, in line with the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Members have mentioned that he deemed us to be heavy on activity and rather light on action. I agree with him that, as I have said often, government is not about inputs and outputs but about outcomes and whether we deliver better ones.

Members will understand that decision-making on those recommendations extends beyond my Department's remit. What is proposed is an arm's-length body that would incorporate not only children's social care services but potentially education welfare services, youth services and youth justice services.

I thank the Minister for taking an intervention. I completely understand that it is not just his responsibility. Has he prioritised bringing the issues of a Minister for children and families and an arm's-length body to the Executive for discussion with his colleagues?

I thank the Member for her intervention. To answer the direct question in a strict sense, I have not brought those issues to the Executive. I have taken the issue of the arm's-length body to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Education, because they would be most involved with Health were an arm's-length body to be established. I took the issue of a Minister for children and families directly to the Executive Office, to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister. For clarity, the Minister of Justice is supportive of the establishment of an arm's-length body. The Department of Education has engaged with my departmental officials to seek further clarification and to explore further the implications of an arm's-length body. I have not received a definitive response from the First Minister and the deputy First Minister on the issue of a Minister for children and families. I will say this to the Member: the appointment of a Minister for children and families could be repercussive. For example, why not then have a Minister for older people? Those are the considerations that I imagine are being discussed in the Executive Office.

There is scope for a new arm's-length body to be central to the implementation of the Children's Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015: a lead "children's authority", to use that Act's terminology. I pause at this point to pay tribute to former Member Steven Agnew, the man who brought the private Member's Bill to the Assembly that became that Act. My view is that a new ALB has to be more than the drawing together of children's social care from the five trusts. While Professor Jones proposed that the ALB should have a local footprint aligned to trust areas, I believe that we need to look at the regionalisation of some services, with them being provided in one place rather than five. That is consistent with my view that we must identify best practice where it exists and turn it into common practice across the five geographical trusts.

The decision on the arm's-length body will mostly impact on the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, so, as I said, I have asked those Ministers for their views. These are not minor decisions, and I appreciate that the Education Minister wants to consider this very carefully, as I do. However, I know that we cannot ponder forever, and I do not intend to. It is my intention to bring a paper to the Executive in the coming weeks to seek their consideration of the recommendation that calls for a children and families arm's-length body. I also intend to seek Executive support for additional funding to enable a shift away from statutory intervention in family life. I totally agree with Professor Jones that greater and earlier support for families is needed in order to keep them together. I also agree with him that making that shift will require additional funding, at least in the short to medium term. Once the Executive process concludes, I will make a statement to the Assembly.

I thank the Minister for giving way. To quote the incisive words of the poetic group ABBA, this is about, "Money, money, money". Have you had any indication from the Finance Minister that additional funding will be made available or that there is an opportunity for money to be made available? Do you have a sense, within your Department, that you will not be able to progress matters unless there is additional money? We know that it will not work if you are left to divert money from other parts of your Department, so Executive buy-in is needed.

I thank the Member for his question. There was an opening Budget position, and then there was the June monitoring round, which released significant funds to the Department. We are optimistic that we will receive Barnett consequentials between now and year end. That is not to say, however, that that will ease our budgetary pressures. We are finding it extremely difficult to balance the books, and that is without considering pay pressures, which will need to be met in some form. There is no easy answer or good news on the budget for this year, and I anticipate that the same may well be the case in the next financial year.

Work is in train to deliver against the 34 accepted recommendations, of which 27 have formally been assigned to the children's social care services strategic reform programme, including eight that we categorise as being guiding principles. The remaining seven recommendations are the responsibility of my Department to progress. That reform programme was established in April of last year and is overseen by senior leaders in children's social care within the Department, by the health and social care trusts and by other departmental arm's-length bodies. The Department of Education, the Department of Justice and trade union side are also represented. The voluntary and community sector is embedded at all levels of the reform programme, including in a dedicated work stream built around the Reimagine Children's Collective. I express my gratitude to the collective for the leadership that it has shown.

Among other things, the reform programme identifies effective practice in Northern Ireland and beyond, and plans to replicate that practice, where appropriate, to ensure that the best use is made of existing resources in order to achieve consistency across the region. For example, work is ongoing to identify the root causes of waiting lists across children's social care services and to test solutions. Models of best multi-agency, front door practice in children's services across the UK and internationally have also been reviewed. A children's residential care strategy is being developed and work is under way to enhance residential capacity in the immediate term, including looking to new models of residential care to enable trusts to respond more flexibly to meet need and to enable children with complex needs to remain in Northern Ireland.

We are also looking at the potential of introducing multi-site children's homes: homes with one manager and staff team that have the capacity to use space across multiple sites in order to better meet the needs of children by, for example, supporting time out or enabling children with acute needs to live in a smaller home environment.

I thank the Minister for giving way; I appreciate that he has already given way a number of times. Can we get some reassurance that that provision will not be privatised and that it will be provided under your Department? The potential for privatisation is a real fear, particularly for the Reimagine Children's Collective. It is also a fear of mine, because starting to make money off the back of children's services is a dangerous place to go.

I thank the Member for her intervention. Professor Jones raised concerns about the private sector beginning to infiltrate the provision of residential care for children in Northern Ireland. The absence of the private provision of children's social care was identified by him in that review as a strength. We have a small number of independent sector providers of residential homes. At 11 April this year, there were 55 registered children's homes in Northern Ireland, seven of which — 12·7% — were run by independent sector providers. Only two of the seven were operated by for-profit providers. That having been said, the pressure on statutory sector provision points to the need to work differently to fill placement gaps. We need to plan for and develop a wider range of accommodation options for children and young people, but I assure the Member that the private sector is not top of my list.

Policy and legislative reform under the programme includes the continued implementation of the Adoption and Children Act and the A Life Deserved: Caring for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland strategy. Care-experienced children and young people are central to ongoing work to review care planning and looked-after child review arrangements, and a care pilot that aims to improve the quality and responsiveness of care planning is due to commence this month. Those are only examples; the time available does not permit me to do justice to the breadth of activity that is being undertaken. A paper that we prepared for the Health Committee, which was issued last week, gives a better sense of the ongoing work and the progress that is being made.

The reform programme and the implementation of the review recommendations are now firmly interconnected. Other programmes of work are also relevant, principally work related to the reform of the social work workforce, which is being led by the Chief Social Worker in the Department. The number of social work training places funded by the Department increased from 260 in 2020 to 325 in 2024, which is the highest number on record.

As I begin to run out of time, I want to touch on a couple of things. Mr Robinson was keen to know about the implementation programme. To do a whole-system reform, including the implementation of the review recommendations, will take not months; it will take years. I say that to be honest and practical about the timescales that are needed. One of the Members said that we should be boosting Sure Start. That belongs with the Department of Education. The Gillen review belongs with Justice, so, as I said, it is not just me.

Finally, I commend the BBC and Tara Mills for the excellent programme 'I Am Not Okay', which was a wonderful piece of journalism that has had a huge impact on my thinking.

I call the Deputy Chair of the Committee for Health, Danny Donnelly, to conclude the debate and make a winding-up speech. He has up to 10 minutes.

On behalf of the Committee, I thank all the Members for their contributions and the Minister for his response. I look forward to continued engagement with the Minister and the Department on implementing the recommendations of the Ray Jones report.

I pay tribute to Professor Jones for his invaluable work on the review. He ensured that the report was centred on the best interests of children, young people and families. I thank those young people and families who were directly involved in the formulation of the report. My hope is that your work on producing the report and its recommendations will result in changes to policy, practice and procedure that will benefit people who are, or will be, in your position for decades to come. I thank the community and voluntary sector for all the work that it does in that area. We can clearly say that, without your ongoing work and support to children and families, we would be looking at a complete breakdown in the services provided. I ask that you continue to advocate on behalf of children, young people and families in that way.

Our Committee Chair, Liz Kimmins, said that pressures on social care are systemic and endemic. She noted the growing demand for services and the worrying vacancy rates in the service. Committee member Alan Robinson noted that it was a moral duty to legislate so that no children are left behind, and that families must have access to services. He stated that the pace of reform needs to quicken, and asked the Minister for a clear timeline for enacting the recommendations. Committee member Nuala McAllister noted the high rates of children in care in her constituency of North Belfast. She mentioned Shea Taylor, who is an expert by experience. He cited several issues that he wanted to be raised, including the Government's ignorance in creating a social care system and the lack of funding for youth organisations. Nuala also highlighted that many recommendations could be implemented without much cost and encouraged the Minister to look at those. She said that we must show leadership and work at pace.

Colin Crawford said that the report's recommendations are ambitious but achievable and that the Assembly must implement them.

Colin McGrath called for a detailed timeline for the implementation of the recommendations in the Ray Jones report and said that we must equip our social care workforce to care for children in care and work with youth leaders and particularly the community and voluntary sector to get a holistic approach to caring for children in care.

Committee member Diane Dodds said that the debate will be meaningless unless we hear of actions from the Minister. She referred to a deficit of 300 foster carers. She spoke of working locally with families in need in her constituency. She mentioned the pressures on foster families and said that, at times, children who are moved between them have poorer outcomes.

The lack of respite services came up again and was referenced in the BBC 'Spotlight' programme, ''I Am Not Okay'. I know that many Members and the Minister have met families. Members highlighted differences across trusts in Northern Ireland. Sian Mulholland mentioned that the system intervenes too late, waiting until families are in crisis, and that tackling poverty is an essential first step in order to support families. She said that we need a collaborative approach to provide support for families in need and that consistent support is needed to be able to build relationships with those families.

Sian also mentioned that Sure Start should be expanded. Linda Dillon also mentioned that in an intervention. Sian said that youth services are necessary to support young people in care and that we must fund general youth services in order to be able to go upstream and prevent problems from arising.

Peter Martin recalled his research on childhood experiences of children in care and said that there is a strong evidential basis that early intervention results in better outcomes for children and that such interventions are more cost-effective when we go upstream and provide them early.

Robbie Butler said that we stand at a great moment of scrutiny of how we treat children in care. He highlighted very strongly and repeatedly the fact that there were five years of lost opportunities when the Assembly was shut down and children lost out. He said that the Ray Jones report is a blueprint for transformation and that collaboration is necessary to deliver transformative change. Cara Hunter also mentioned the importance of having a functioning Assembly in order to deliver the recommendations and the change that is necessary. She referred to the impact of poverty on educational attainment. Having met families, she also mentioned respite services.

Timothy Gaston, as mentioned by the Speaker, spoke on an issue that was unrelated to the motion and was censored several times.

Gerry Carroll said that the services are overwhelmed and in complete meltdown. Some social workers are in dispute with the trusts, and he highlighted the breakdown of talks between the unions and the trusts. He also said that there are no specialist services for families with children with complex needs, which has come up again and again.

The Minister of Health addressed us and recognised the need for immediate and sustained action, which all Members will be very glad to hear. He mentioned the correlation between deprivation and the need for social care and acknowledged that childhood poverty rates are rising.

The Minister said that there is real potential to deliver the change that is being sought here and mentioned several of the recommendations, including, in particular, the arm's-length body that was proposed. He highlighted the point that such a body requires input from other Departments. The Minister updated us on discussions with other Ministers about having a Minister for children and an arm's-length body that could be the lead children's authority. He also mentioned the former MLA Steven Agnew as being responsible, via a previous private Member's Bill, for the 2015 Act.

The Minister mentioned that he intends to bring a paper to the Executive in a couple of weeks on the provision of an ALB, including a call for additional funding. He also outlined the work that his Department is doing to progress reform programmes. Following an intervention from Linda Dillon, he noted concerns highlighted in the report that the private sector is beginning to infiltrate the provision of children's services here in Northern Ireland.

I just want to clarify that I said that I will bring a paper to the Executive "in the coming weeks" rather than in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for that confirmation, Minister. I hope that "the coming weeks" means a short period.

One thing that was very clear in all the contributions was the need for us to go upstream and have important early interventions. Many Members noted that again and again. There is no denying the fact that the group of people about whom we are talking is one of the most vulnerable. We, as an Assembly and an Executive, should be judged on how we look after the most vulnerable. We can go over all the reasons and the context as outlined in the Ray Jones report and we can talk about the impact of COVID, the increasing numbers and complexity of cases and the decreasing budgets, but we have to be honest and say that we must do better.

We need to stop looking for all the reasons why we cannot move forward and start to identify ways to do better and support those families and their children. We need to make use of the experts in the area, and those are the children, young people and families who are going through the process. They are the people who know what support they need and where the gaps in services are. That is why Professor Jones's report hits the mark. Children, young people and families helped to shape that report and its recommendations. They are the experts. That is why we call on the Minister to work collaboratively with statutory partners and relevant stakeholders, including the community and voluntary sector and children and young people with lived experience, to deliver improved and sustainable care for vulnerable children and families and to prioritise the welfare and protection of children. Implementation of the report's recommendations must be co-designed and co-delivered with the community and voluntary sector and those with lived experience.

Children's social care services will remain a key priority over the coming period, and we look forward to engaging directly with young people and families over the coming months to hear at first hand their experiences and suggestions on how support could be better provided. The Committee has a programme of regular briefings over the coming session, and the Assembly can be assured that the Committee will hold the Minister and the Department to account on the implementation and delivery of the report's recommendations. As the Chair said in her contribution:

"Now is the time for action".

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Assembly recognises the need for immediate and sustained action to protect and support vulnerable children and families; notes the recommendations in the Northern Ireland review of children's social care services report, published in June 2023; commends the thorough work undertaken by the review, including identifying systemic issues and outlining a clear path for reform; calls on the Minister of Health to provide a detailed timeline for the implementation of the review’s recommendations and to ensure adequate resources and funding are made available to enable the effective reform of children’s social care services; and further calls on the Minister to work collaboratively with statutory partners and relevant stakeholders, including the community and voluntary sector and children and young people with lived experience, to deliver improved and sustainable care for vulnerable children and families and to prioritise the welfare and protection of children.

I ask Members to take their ease while we move on to the next item in the Order Paper.

(Madam Principal Deputy Speaker in the Chair)