AQW 33789/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 17/10/2025
Answered On Date: 03/11/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any work he is doing to expand day centre provision for adults with special educational needs.

Answer:

The Learning Disability Service Model is currently out for public consultation. Within this model my Department has proposed the extension of operating hours of Adult Centres for adults with Learning Disabilities to optimise existing capital resource.

Due to the urgent need to increase Adult Centre capacity, a pilot of extended operating hours is currently underway in 1 Trust. There is a plan to upscale this transformative work across all 5 Trusts, aligned to the Learning Disability Service Model. However, this will be dependent on the financial resource made available to my Department and workforce availability, due to the need for investment in staff to facilitate this work.