Mr. Shane Hamilton:

I thank the Deputy. It is a great question and one I welcome. I celebrate the fact we are looking at how we invest better in front-line community projects. The clinical and social care governance and every other requirement that has been expected of the community sector has been met head-on, celebrated and invested in, and we continuously meet these standards. It is based on the passion and the belief that we always want to provide the best possible services. What I always encourage, and what I welcome, is for this conversation to look at not removing powers from community projects but encouraging the conversation that we should be investing more, professionalising the service more and making sure community settings and community front-line services are always to the best possible standard. I would always encourage that conversation to happen in the future.

We have the best skilled staff in the community doing this job. The challenge has always been, however, how we can continuously meet these standards without the funding and without the resources being put into it. We are dealing with increased population size, increased insurance costs and increased social care, financial and clinical governance, without competitive salaries to keep skilled and educated staff within the sector. That is a challenge. How do we keep quality staff working on the front lines when we refuse to pay them? It is difficult.