To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister, following the Minister of Health's comments that the Delivery Unit will be considering how to progress post-19 special educational needs provision, to outline any specific work that will be carried out in the remainder of the 2022-2027 mandate.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

Supporting young people with special educational needs is a priority for the Executive, and we all recognise the importance of clear, well-planned pathways into further training, education or employment and of providing access to appropriate health pathways. The delivery unit is overseeing a portfolio of transformation activity, within which a number of projects are aimed at strengthening pathways and outcomes for young people with special educational needs. Given the size of the unit and its agreed work programme, there is very limited further capacity to undertake an exercise of the scale recently suggested by the Health Minister. However, we have asked our officials to engage in wider discussions to help understand the scope and the trajectory of the work and whether there can be a role for the delivery unit in future phases.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

I thank the Member for her question. Like her, I have no doubt, I have heard very genuine representations about the challenges that many families and, indeed, young people face when they hit 19. I think that there is a shared desire to do more. We need to do more to support those families. I recognise, as I have already referenced, the incredibly constrained financial environment that we are all trying to operate in. However, where I agree with the Member is that getting adequate support for young people post-19 with special educational or other needs should be business as usual in Departments. Yes, it is a cross-cutting issue. Departments need to speak to each other on this important issue, and I believe that they should be able to do that. If we look back, we see that some of the funding for this very important area came from external funds, and it was never mainstreamed in Departments' budgets to the extent that it needed to be. That needs to change. I have a huge amount of sympathy with the lobby groups on the issue, but, more than that, I am determined that we need to do something meaningful on this, and that requires Departments to get their heads together to try to resolve the issue and take a look at what we can do. That will, of course, require looking at the finances of all of this, but let us start by seeing what the actions are and what they will cost and how we can work together to make something work for those young people and their families.

Ms Forsythe

There seems to be a lack of understanding among some Members about the role of the delivery unit. Will the deputy First Minister provide some clarity and explain how important it is that the unit is small and is able to be agile enough to deliver as intended?

Mrs Little-Pengelly

Absolutely. The delivery unit proposal is in the Programme for Government, and it is there because of some of issues that I have already mentioned. There is frustration that the way that we are doing things at the moment is not delivering in the way that we want. We have all heard the old adage that, if we continue to do things in the way that we have always done them, we are always going to get the same result. We have to change the way that we do business. That requires a lot of boring stuff and process stuff, including, as I said, upskilling to get the right people with the right skills in the right places to deliver on political agreements and the will of this place. It also includes looking at our processes to streamline those and get rid of anything that is unnecessary. It is important in all that and in introducing the delivery unit that it is agile and small and is able to add value. There are lots of lessons to be learnt from the Strategic Investment Board. What once should have been very strategic becomes something that is really about getting to grips in Departments and helping to deliver the nuts and bolts. That is important, but it is not strategic. We need to be careful that the delivery unit does not get pulled in that way and that it remains at the centre and able to come in on a task-and-finish basis and add value to what we need it to do.