To ask the Minister for Communities what co-production and co-design she plans to undertake on the outstanding social inclusion and social change strategies.

Ms Hargey

I thank the Member for his question. My Department is the lead on producing a number of strategies that could support the Programme for Government as outlined in New Decade, New Approach. Those include the anti-poverty and child poverty strategy, a disability strategy, a gender strategy and a sexual orientation strategy. The principles and practice of people and community engagement, co-design and co-production will be a key part of the development and delivery of each of those strategies. The approach that is taken will be tailored to each individual strategy, depending on delivery timescales and work that has been completed to date. I am keen to involve people who will be most affected by the strategies at all stages of their development and will ensure that steps are taken to allow them to make a meaningful contribution to that work. I am committed to ensuring that the most vulnerable people in society have their voices heard and their views taken into account.

Ms Hargey

I thank the Member for his supplementary question. It is an important area. If we are to take a co-design approach, that has to be built in from the very start. It cannot be just attached to the end. As I said in my opening remarks, we have to ensure that our policies and strategies impact on those who need them the most: service users and those who will feel the impact. They have to be an integral part of the co-design process. That will be built in from the very start.

Ms Sheerin

Campaign groups have been promised a disability forum for a number of years now. When will that be implemented? Can the Minister advise if that forum will be the vehicle for the co-design of a new disability strategy?

Ms Hargey

I am obviously considering the establishment of a disability stakeholder forum as part of the development of the new disability strategy. The role and remit of that forum will need to be considered in the context of the Programme for Government and enhanced arrangements for cross-departmental collaboration. Once I have considered it in the coming weeks, I will outline plans to Members in the time ahead and will say what the composition of the forum will be.

Ms S Bradley

I welcome the Minister's comments about reaching out to vulnerable groups. Can she give an assurance that those hard-to-reach minority groups will be included, particularly those that will be directly affected by any strategies?

Ms Hargey

Thanks very much for the question. It is essential we reach out to all groups, particularly those that are furthest removed. A co-design process works with those who have a lived experience of the topic at hand, and we will look at professional expertise to try to bring both together. We want to democratise those policies and strategies as much as possible, so I will be looking at who can be involved and at how we can use, for example, the community and voluntary sector to reach out to those hard-to-reach communities and individuals. As we start to move through each of the strategies, co-design around the policy development and methodology will be key, and I will outline how we are going to approach that as I move forward.

Mr Muir

First, I welcome the Minister to her post. I have enjoyed working with the Minister over the last number of years, and I look forward to working with her in her new position as Minister for Communities. Part of her ministerial responsibility includes policy responsibility for sexual orientation. What does the Minister plan to do to discharge that to improve the life of LGBT citizens in Northern Ireland who, frankly, have not been very well-served previously by the Assembly? This is an opportunity for the Minister take forward action on that. What practical actions is the Minister planning to take to improve the life of LGBT citizens in Northern Ireland?

Ms Hargey

Thanks very much for your question. All these strategies are in ways interdependent, and, in New Decade, New Approach, there is a commitment for me to publish, within three months of the institutions being up and running, a comprehensive timetable for the development and delivery of each of these strategies, and that is something I will keep to. In looking at our LGBT-plus community in the sexual orientation strategy, the first thing is to ensure that I engage with and listen to the community from the outset. Indeed, I am in the middle of arranging meetings to start those initial engagements. There is the draft of a sexual orientation strategy sitting there. We need to make sure that it is fit for purpose for now because things have moved on. The big issue is to make sure that all those strategies support and give visibility and respect to the community. Importantly, we should embed international human rights into our own domestic situation. We should uphold it and have a co-design approach that the community itself is involved in, particularly the hard-to-reach voices that may not be heard at the moment. There is a commitment to do that. We will also, of course, listen to Members who work with communities already to ensure that the strategy and the policy are fit for purpose.