To ask the Minister of Justice for an update on her Department's budgetary position following the in-year budget information gathering exercise.

Mrs Long

As reported to the Department of Finance in the urgent in-year budget information-gathering exercise, my Department is facing inescapable stabilisation pressures of £48 million. This position remains unchanged. In addition, my Department is facing exceptional pressures of £227 million in relation to legal claims from 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 action in recent years to ensure that we live within budget, we are now at the point where all options have been fully exhausted. Given the severity of the financial position and the demand-led nature of justice expenditure, there is really no scope for my Department to absorb the remaining pressures. I will continue to work with my Executive colleagues to ensure that the necessary funding for my Department is achieved in the October monitoring round.

Mrs Long

My Department has been proactive in taking difficult decisions to reduce the level of financial pressures to £48 million from £86 million after the June monitoring round. That has not been achieved without an adverse impact on the justice system, particularly but not solely on the PSNI in the recruitment of police officers. We are also having to manage significant pressures in legal aid, and the Department's payment policy is currently the matter of a judicial review. In the absence of sufficient additional funding being allocated to my Department, extremely difficult decisions on prioritisation and service provision will continue to be required. As always, our priority is to keep people safe. However, at this stage, it is hard to see how any of the things that we are doing, whether in policy development, legislative progress or funding the front-line services, do not contribute to keeping people safe. We are not running off on fool's errands; we are very focused on core issues that are addressing the key issues that are affecting society.