To ask the Minister of Justice for her assessment of the budgetary pressures facing her Department.

Mrs Long

My Department currently faces stabilisation pressures of £48 million. That projected potential overspend was reported to the Department of Finance as part of the recent in-year exercise. In addition, the Department faces exceptional pressures of £227 million in relation to legal claims for McCloud injury to feelings, data breach and holiday pay. Those costs are not affordable within my Department’s budget under any circumstance. Whilst my Department has been proactive in taking actions over the last few years to ensure that we live within budget, we are now at the point where all options have been exhausted. Given the severity of the financial position and the demand-led nature of Justice expenditure, there is no scope for my Department to absorb the remaining level of pressures.

Mrs Long

Not very well. That would be the best way to describe it. In measuring need, they looked at the allocation that was made to the Department in 2017-18. By then, the ring-fencing of the Department's finances that had existed from 2010-14 had been removed and there had been a bit of a raid, I suppose, on the Department's finances. Rather than reflecting what we needed to run the Department and provide the services that we are required to provide, it reflected what we actually had to do that and the envelope within which we were working. It is important to recognise that certain elements of policing and justice here, including their very nature, our geographical location and without any reference to special circumstances, require a higher level of investment. One example is the cost of mutual aid in comparison with other forces across the UK. We cannot provide that as cheaply. That is one reason why we need to look at that, and the Department of Finance and my officials are working hard to raise it with Treasury in order to ensure that our situation is properly reflected on the basis of evidence around the higher needs-based factor, which, I believe, Northern Ireland should achieve.

Mr McNulty

Will the Minister agree that ongoing underfunding of the police will continue to erode faith in the justice system to the detriment of victims? Will she also agree that the Chief Constable should take every measure possible to secure adequate funding to keep people and communities safe?

Mrs Long

It is important that we all take every possible opportunity to ensure that policing and justice are properly funded. I have the dual duty of ensuring that not only is policing properly funded but so too is the remainder of the justice system. There is no point in funding one at the expense of the other. That will not enhance victim confidence or confidence in the community. If people are arrested and then have to sit for five, six or seven years before they get to court, that will not help victims. It is important that, when I get resources into the Department of Justice, they are properly allocated in a balanced way to ensure that the entire system is able to function. At the moment, we do not have the resources to do that across the board.