Mr. Paul Reid:

I will make three comments and then ask my colleague Mr. McCallion, who has done a lot of work on this, to contribute. The strategy is to continue with the PDS model, bringing the number of resource teams to 91. We spoke earlier about some of the gaps. Particularly in some, the gaps are significant. The Deputy will be aware that the assessment-of-need process was subject to a court finding, so the process we had in place has to be changed. I kicked off recently an engagement process with families, service users and NGOs, which provide some of the services with us, on a redefined assessment-of-need process. It is a challenge, with the volume we have, and it is a challenge to give the right timing. The revised assessment-of-need process will be finalised soon and rolled out through the PDS teams.

My colleague Mr. McCallion is doing some work on the schools model. There were inequities in the schools model in that some schools had expertise and others did not. We are trying to address that in a fair way through the PDS model, and we are engaging with both the Minister for Health and the Minister of State responsible for disabilities on this.