Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I acknowledge the feedback about the visit last week. It is heartening that visitors saw the direction of travel and what we are trying to do, albeit we still have a way to go and there is much work to be done. However, notwithstanding the challenges of that team or any other team, there are some positive things happenings.

In terms of what the committee might do with regard to support, at some point over the coming months the disability action plan the Department of Health has been leading on will come to fruition. It is seeking to set out specifically in respect of disability services what the level of need is and what type of planning is needed over the next number of years to grow and develop those services, and it is across government. As we have been working to develop that document it has included, for example, representation from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science so it is there as part of the discussion to understand what the need is into the future. As Mr. Reid and others have said, that is not only for disability services but for all health and social care services into the future. It is about supporting that whole-of-government approach and that long-term examining. We can sometimes become focused on the in-year, which is where we are all living our lives and where the realities are, but we also need to look at what must happen over the next number of years, as Professor MacLachlan was saying, so that we are growing the population of staff who are available to fill the roles we are going to have over the coming years as we continue to develop services and to respond not just to the current need but also the future needs that we know will need a response also.