AQW 43430/11-15

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 09/03/2015
Answered On Date: 03/06/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the children's budgeting pilot.

Answer:

Research is being undertaken for the Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner (NICCY) by the Social Research Unit (SRU) in Dartington to identify the extent and effectiveness of direct public funding being provided for services impacting on the well-being of children and young people.

OFMDFM officials have been involved in providing data for this project. Junior Minister Bell and Junior Minister McCann updated the Delivering Social Change (DSC) Programme Board on 21 January 2015, encouraging all departments to work with NICCY in collating the necessary data for this research.

We await follow-up from NICCY to assess how this work can inform the approach we will take to any budgeting pilot taking account of available resources in light of budgetary constraints.