Mr. Pat Healy:

Just to reassure members, everything we have done in respect of school leavers and those exiting rehabilitation training, RT, is based on New Directions. It is taken as read in the system that everyone must have due regard to New Directions. Since I entered office last year, the committee and others have identified this issue as a top priority for us in 2014. Indeed, it has been identified specifically in the operational plan. The oversight group, which has met four times, is driving that work. The intention is for a more co-ordinated process in 2014. In my response, I tried to outline the specific targets that we set for people to meet by February, March, April and June. We have met the February, March and April targets. We have identified more than 1,400 people who require the service, approximately 900 of whom are school leavers while the remainder are seeking RT exits. We are going through the process of working with service providers and families to settle on the types of service to be offered. This will be done by June. I do not doubt that we will not get it exactly right, but there will be a significant improvement on last year. With the oversight group, we intend to undertake a review of performance in September or October, learn from that and ensure that everything is right by 2015.