To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to outline any actions their Department is taking to ensure rural and semi-rural communities in North Antrim, which are impacted by paramilitarism and drugs, benefit from equivalent investment and support.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

We are aware that many of our communities continue to be impacted on by paramilitarism and drugs, including those in rural and semi-rural areas. Communities in Transition (CIT), which is part of the Executive programme on paramilitarism and organised crime, delivers support across the eight designated areas identified as those most impacted on by paramilitarism and organised crime, with a key focus on paramilitarism and drugs. Although North Antrim is not formally included in CIT, it is part of the planned interventions programme, which funds community activity to engage young people most at risk of entering the youth justice system and/or at risk of paramilitary recruitment. By providing positive alternatives for our young people, the programme mitigates the impacts that antisocial behaviour can have on community tensions.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

I thank the Member for her important question because that is an issue that is very close to my heart. Very often, the challenges that a community faces can be hidden because of its location, whether in a rural area or in a city or town, where it is surrounded by relative wealth. That is why, over the years, I have supported schemes that are nuanced enough to pick up on those challenges. The reality is that if you have a need, it does not matter where you are living, and your ability to access the services can be very different depending on whether you live in a rural area or one that does not score under neighbourhood renewal or other schemes. We have asked the Department to pick up on that, and Urban Villages is good at picking up on those needs, but we are conscious that it does not have a rural aspect — the clue is in the name "Urban Villages". We want to extend the scheme and take the learning on co-designing a series of interventions to increase community resilience and community social capital to ensure that all communities are able to engage in enduring cross-community work with confidence. We can spread the work outside the urban areas into the rural areas.

We are trying to integrate more flexibility into the planned interventions programme. In the aftermath of what happened in the summer and the previous summer, we need to have programmes that can commence really quickly and work with young people. The idea of having a lengthy application process, where it is six or 12 months before the outcome is found out, is not fit for purpose. We are actively looking at that, and we want to work with all communities to make sure that programmes are fit for purpose.

Ms Sheerin

Minister, you will know that the Communities in Transition programme made a significant contribution to building communities that are equipped to deal with paramilitarism and organised crime. Can you set out how the Communities in Transition programme is currently being delivered to achieve that outcome?

Mrs Little-Pengelly

There has been huge investment made under the programme, with £29 million invested across the eight CIT areas. The real focus has been on tackling some of the root causes that can create the vulnerability through which people are dragged into antisocial behaviour, paramilitarism or crime. We are looking at community resilience, prevention and support for addiction and mental health. We are looking at trying to provide better opportunities, with ambition for the young people who live in those communities. There has been a huge amount of success. Yes, there is frustration that it has been limited to some geographical locations, but there is lots of really good practice that we can roll out. One of the issues that I am passionate about is making sure that we get better collaboration. If something works in a particular scheme, let us look at expanding it and mainstreaming it into other interventions that we have. We need better collaboration and cooperation. There is so much to work with, because there have been examples of really good practice here.

Mr Dunne

What assessment has the deputy First Minister made of Communities in Transition, specifically on how it has tackled paramilitary coercive control in communities across Northern Ireland?

Mrs Little-Pengelly

With such projects, it can be difficult to drill down into them, because a lot of what they are trying to do involves stopping things happening. They are trying to stop young people being dragged into antisocial behaviour. They are trying to stop young people being pulled into paramilitary organisations and criminal gangs, and they are trying to provide better opportunities and outcomes for young people. It can therefore be difficult to determine some of the outcomes, but I am really pleased to say that, since the beginning of the programme — not that programme alone, because there are communities working together across so many interventions — we have seen a 60% reduction in paramilitary-style attacks. There has been a 70% reduction in the number of households reporting homelessness due to paramilitary intimidation. The number of convictions for paramilitary-related and criminal gang-related offences has increased sevenfold since the beginning of the programme. That is evidence that it is working, but we should stand together and say clearly that criminal gangs and paramilitarism are absolutely wrong and that there is no place for them in our society. They need to go away. They should never have been there in the first place. I really support all such interventions to support communities to be resilient against such organisations.