Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has expressed astonishment that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have yet to give a formal response to a report from the Children’s and Young People’s Commissioner which was first submitted in 2007.
Mr Nesbitt said:
“The first review report was submitted to OFMDFM in May 2007, clearly sat on the shelf, and led to the need to commission a second review in 2013. Here we are in mid-May 2015, and the Commission still await a formal response to a report that includes no fewer than twelve recommendations.
“As one of the Sinn Féin members of the OFMDFM Committee put it today when the matter was discussed, this is both incomprehensible and unacceptable.
“One recommendation is to give the Commission victim status, which would greatly enhance its power to take legal action where there is clear evidence of a systemic problem, and avoid having to expose children unnecessarily to the challenging and adversarial environment of the courts.
“This is a serious failure by OFMDFM and needs urgent redress.”