I propose to take Questions Nos. 232 to 234, inclusive, together.
The proposal to establish a cross-governmental youth mental health Pathfinder unit, with participation from the Department of Health, the Department of Education and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, received Ministerial approval during the previous Government. Its establishment is contained within the current Programme for Government.
The proposal is to formalise a new model for collaborative working within Government and place a Pathfinder unit on a statutory footing, through section 12 of the Public Service Management Act 1997. As this section has not been used before, various administrative, budgetary, governance and legal arrangements need to be developed and agreed with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure a robust and workable model for the Pathfinder unit.
The demands on both Departments during the pandemic have presented challenges to progressing the proposals. Nonetheless, the Department of Health has engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to develop an implementation option that fully addresses these issues. The realignment of Departmental functions in the education sector, specifically the establishment of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, has necessitated some further consideration of the initial proposal and makeup of the Pathfinder unit.
Officials from the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform discussed improved proposals for governance and legal arrangements at their last meeting on this issue. Subsequently, the Department of Health worked with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on the proposals for governance and legal arrangements to advance the establishment of the unit. These draft proposals are currently being considered with participating Departments.
As mentioned above, the makeup of the Pathfinder unit is under consideration. As such, it is difficult to provide an estimate of initial set up costs at this time. Additionally, as work continues in relation to developing an implementation option, it is not possible at this time to further estimate the cost of implementing this project.
I will continue to keep this matter under close review in the context of progressing Sharing the Vision and the Programme for Government.
In relation to the establishment of an adult Pathfinder, the Pathfinder youth mental health project team worked for six months, in 2016, to produce a report on what might be achieved by cross-government working on youth mental health. The report project team made clear choices about priority areas and actions that should be progressed. The key recommendation was that a cross-departmental Pathfinder Unit should be established, with staff seconded from participating Departments. It would be necessary to conduct a similar examination of the adult system to determine the most appropriate course of action to achieve the best outcomes for adults. In the absence of this, it would be difficult to advise on the cost of establishing an adult Pathfinder project.
