Ms Anne O'Connor:

If they want extra funding, they go through a process in terms of development funding. Development funding is where we have the flexibility to give extra funding to services on an annual basis in line with the initiatives we agree with the Department of Health, whether for a clinical programme, the development of a new unit or whatever. Organisations can put that into their annual proposal. The budget is assigned.

The recruitment of assistant psychologists is an initiative driven through primary care and the interviews took place last week. It is a significant initiative that has not been done before and its lead-in time was quite significant due to agreeing on the job spec etc. and working with the Departments of Health and Public Expenditure and Reform on that. We have a couple of other initiatives. The Senator mentioned the Little Things campaign, and we are now doing tailored campaigns for priority groups. We are also looking at how we support those priority groups. For example, we have a significant service improvement initiative in respect of homeless people and new mental health co-ordinators for Travellers that is commencing in each CHO area, so we are promoting and supporting the service delivery for all priority groups at a CHO level. In terms of our investment, we are gradually covering all of the priority groups as set out in Connecting for Life, which guides the work we do in many mental health services.