Slashing the North’s spiralling hospital waiting lists and building more social housing are the two concrete targets in the Stormont Executive’s programme for government, which was published on Monday – amid criticism from the Assembly’s Opposition that the document is “remarkably vague” on outcomes.
With one in four of the North’s 1.9 million population on a waiting list, ranking it the worst performing in the UK’s National Health Service, the Executive has committed £135 million (€164 million) per year until 2027 (when the current Assembly mandate ends) to treat an additional 70,000 patients facing delays.
Multiple heath service targets have not been met in the past, with many clinicians arguing that the system needs considerable reform along with increased investment.
On housing, the Executive admits it has not been able to deliver on its ambition of building 2,500 social homes a year. The paper commits to “start work” on at least 5,850 new social homes.
Latest figures show there are 47,936 households on the social housing waiting list in the North. Soaring private rents are cited by one housing charity as among the top three reasons for forcing people into homelessness.
Special needs education
Dire shortages in school services for children with special educational needs in Northern Ireland have escalated over the past decade, as the latest estimates show that almost one in five pupils are now identified with special educational needs and disabilities.
School placements, accessing one-on-one teaching support and post-primary provision are among the challenges facing children and their families.
For Stormont, funding these services is a big challenge over the next two years. While no specific costings or detailed proposals are outlined, the document states that the Executive will deliver a comprehensive reform agenda and delivery plan to “transform” the education system for those children and young people with special educational needs.
Casement Park
The row over the stalled redevelopment has resurfaced over the past week with DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons criticised by GAA president Jarlath Burns over his handling of the project.
There is a single reference to Casement in the programme for government – but only in the context of a general commitment to finish the regional stadiums programme.
The Executive pledges to “make progress” on the west Belfast’s stadium’s transformation – it has lain derelict for over a decade and requires at least a £140 million investment – but there is no detail on costings or when construction work will begin.
The limbo continues.
Crime
As PSNI numbers fall to their lowest in the service’s 24-year history – there are about 6,300 officers, with a “recovery plan” under way – and attacks on officers increase, the programme states the importance of “adequate resources” to “respond to and deal with crime”.
It supports a drive to achieve a sufficient number of police officers alongside other aims to speed up the justice system.
Chief Constable Jon Boucher has sought £200 million over the next five years to recruit more officers and staff yet the document does not address this request.
The organisation representing rank-and-file police officers in the North said its members will feel “abandoned” by the programme, as there is “no promise on funding to reverse ten years of decline” or target to push officer numbers up to 7,000 by 2028.
From where will the funds come?
Only one page in the 100-page document is dedicated to funding the programme for government, but it fails to flesh out where the money will come from amid mounting pressure on the Stormont budget.
Despite a sting of pledges listed under a “we will” headline on investing in public infrastructure projects – including an overhaul of public services, improving the water system and supporting a net-zero future – it is unclear how the initiatives will be funded.
During the Assembly debate on the document, SDLP Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole said there was “no clarity on whether any promises, such as they are, will be funded”.
He said the document was “a thousand days late and there is no budget at all”.
The Ulster Unionist Party also called for a “a budget framework that matches these targets”.
