To ask the Minister of Health how each Health and Social Care Trust measures assessed need for children and families seeking children's respite services.

It is important that HSC Trusts identify and assess the needs of vulnerable children to ensure that needs are appropriately met at an early stage.

Across all HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland – the Understanding The Needs of Children In Northern Ireland (UNOCINI) assessment framework is the standardised assessment model that is used within children’s services to measure assessed need for children and families – this includes assessed need in terms of short break / respite support. The UNOCINI is an inter-agency assessment model that was developed in Northern Ireland to:

improve the quality of assessment within stakeholder agencies.

assist in communicating the needs of children across agencies.

avoid the escalation of children’s needs through early identification of need and effective intervention.