Mr. Peter Tyndall:

I refer to a quote from a politician from elsewhere regarding his first law of politics: “When you're in a hole, stop digging.” In this particular instance, preventing admissions or, at least, preventing permanent admissions, must be an absolute priority. I am heartened by everything I hear. As I said at the outset, delivery is where this will be measured. We are hearing the right things politically, which I am pleased about.

I had the opportunity to contact party leaders when the programme for Government was being prepared to highlight some of the emerging conclusions from the investigation, which had not yet resulted in a report at that point. I was pleased to note the commitments in the programme for Government and am pleased now to see that the actions are starting to be taken. However, I would continue to emphasise that there has to be delivery and there has to be urgency. Members have made points about incrementalism. Unfortunately, we have seen, for instance with the decongregation programme, that it stalled at a particular point. It is taking a long time to reach a conclusion. We need to be better at getting to the end of these programmes, once we initiate them, and at doing it in a reasonable time.

The personal assistants point is important. I have been lucky enough to see the way people I know who have had catastrophic injuries can come back from them, or people who have managed to carry on through the impact of degenerative illnesses, which have rendered them disabled. In both instances, by being able to manage their personal support packages, they have been able to make substantial contributions to the world of work in one instance and to the life of their community in another and to the arts. When we talk about this group of people as dependents, we lose sight of fact that they have a rich contribution to make to our communities. Our job is to facilitate and enable them to make that contribution. Often, the best way of doing that is by enabling those who are well placed to do so to control their own support arrangements. If those support arrangements are adequate, they can then tailor them through a personal assistance method to fit them around their work, their daily life, or whatever the case might be. As part of any package of measures, the greatest emphasis that can be placed on giving people decisive ability to manage their own support mechanisms should be an important part of any programme.