Chamber and committees

Basically, are you saying, then, that you do not feel that we have your back in making some of these judgments or that politicians and the Government do not back you up in making such difficult decisions?

Why is that voice for early intervention not stronger? We have debated that question for years. Why has it not gotten to where you would like it to get? What is stopping it?

I am sorry—it was probably a wee bit convoluted. What I am really asking about is wider change. What wider change do we need in the system? Do we need better leaders or more money? What do you need us to do? The fact is that we are not getting any clarity on what exactly the Parliament and Government should be doing.

I thank the witnesses for their clear evidence. I will ask about the interface issue, which you have kind of addressed already. There is a multitude of interfaces with the police, education services and various other bits. You have kind of answered my question on that, and the answer seems to be that the people who you work with are professionals who are trained to work together—in the way that Bob Doris outlined—and who will overcome any of the barriers that politicians frequently want to put in their way. That seems to be—[Interruption.] I am sure that that is what Bob meant. [Laughter.]

I really want to know whether any members of staff who you work with are crying out for this change and saying, “We must have a national care service to overcome the problems”? Is that happening?

The change of tone was interesting. You got really passionate about the issues that you face. It is encouraging that that is where your passion is.

What do the proposals for reform do to the individual staff members that you work alongside? Are those staff worried about their jobs? Are they worried about what their position will be? If they are already running a service, are they worried that they might not be doing that any more? What does that do for tackling the issues that you have just spoken about passionately? Perhaps Mike Burns could answer that.

Tony, have you come across staff members who are crying out for this change?

I have a nice, simple question to start off with. Is it essential to centralise the service—create a national care service—in order to deliver a human rights approach?

I have a short follow-up question. Do you know of people in your organisations or people you work with who demand, argue for or campaign for a national care service to deliver that approach?

You highlight the fact that, of course, you are all talking about change—Mike Burns just talked about trying to up the spend on prevention versus other spend—and you are constantly changing, but is it structural change that staff are crying out for?

Are staff in private and voluntary sector nurseries leaving because they are not getting paid enough? Is capacity in that sector reducing?