Question Time: Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister Monday 09 November 2015
Junior
Minister Jennifer McCann discussed preparations for the arrival of Syrian
refugees to Northern Ireland during today’s Question
Time. A commitment has been made to welcome between 50 and 100 refugees by
December under the vulnerable
persons relocation scheme, with the intention of welcoming further groups
on a phased basis. Ms McCann added “By taking this approach, we hope to resolve
any unforeseen issues that might arise before further refugees arrive. We
anticipate that the first group of refugees will arrive before Christmas. They
will spend a short period in a welcome centre to provide orientation and
prepare them for life here. Initially, they will be placed in temporary
accommodation, most likely in the greater Belfast area.” The strategic and
operational groups will be considering a range of factors including management
for their arrival, translators, health, housing and education requirements as
well as the impact on the local community. Local councils will play an
essential role in integrating the refugees, preparing communities for new
arrivals and ensuring that they are welcomed with dignity and respect.
Deputy First
Minister Martin McGuinness then provided the House with an update on Programme for Government 2011-15
targets. The Minister was pleased to reveal that more than 80% of the targets
have been achieved – a significant improvement on the 70% success rate in the last
Programme for Government. OFMDFM took the lead on 14 of the commitments
including the Delivering
Social Change framework, the social
investment fund and Together:
Building a United Community (T:BUC) – “Those projects have brought new,
innovative approaches and unprecedented levels of collaboration to bear on
tackling the most invidious issues facing our communities” adding “when the
First Minister and I published the Programme for Government, we were very clear
that it was an ambitious programme aimed at achieving deep and meaningful
change in the quality of people's lives. Our record and delivery demonstrate
that that was the right approach.”
Mr
McGuinness also answered questions on the victims and survivors severe injury
pension, the Community Safety College:
Desertcreat and the anti-poverty strategy. During the period for topical
questions the deputy First Minister also answered questions on good relations
in sport, the sale of NAMA assets, the disability strategy, criminality and
paramilitarism.
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