To ask the Minister of Health (i) for an update on the provision of respite services at Whitehaven in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust; and (ii) whether his Department has completed any work in relation to the shared use of sites for permanent residential and temporary respite provision.

(i) Whitehaven continues to have resident children with plans in place to transition to supported living accommodation. These plans mean Short Breaks at Whitehaven will reopen on a phased basis from Summer 2025. The RQIA have a requirement to only permit limited Short Breaks to reopen alongside the resident children - given the complexity of these children’s needs. This is based on the compatibility of the children and a risk assessment, and has only offered very limited opportunity to provide Short Breaks. Whitehaven expects to resume reduced Short Break capacity in Summer 2025, and increase to full capacity from Autumn 2025.

(ii) My Department is leading on a Children’s Social Care Services Strategic Reform Programme, which was established in response to Professor Ray Jones’ Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Services. The Reform Programme contains a specific workstream (Workstream 3: Residential Care) which is tasked with determining how we can better understand and meet the residential needs of children and young people in care across Northern Ireland. This work is aimed at improving the living arrangements, and ultimately the outcomes, for children and young people who are being cared for in residential care by our Health and Social Care Trusts.

Within this workstream, a specific task and finish group is considering the introduction of multi-site children’s homes. This means an arrangement where children are cared for across a number of buildings, which are collectively registered as a single children’s home. The scope of this model of provision to accommodate respite or short break care remains to be determined.

It is anticipated that recommendations in respect of multi-building children’s homes will be considered by the Reform Programme Board in the first half of 2025.