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How many are there now?

There are now 23, so the intention to recruit has been fulfilled.

Thank you, Deputy First Minister, for the way in which you are dealing with all this. You mentioned the letter that you sent on the anniversary of the first year of the scheme, and I imagine that you got quite a lot of feedback from those to whom you wrote. One of the people who received your letter said that they felt that it was tone deaf and that

“deliberations are taking so long that most will be dead before they are given payment”.

That is obviously an emotional response from a survivor.

I have heard very clearly that you put the delay in the process down to the nature of the applications. You described that there was a problem with the capacity to process applications. Am I right in saying that? Is that the basic summary of why it is taking so long?

As the minister responsible, are you satisfied that applicants are getting the right level of support that they need at all stages of their application?

Your commitment is to expand that if necessary—is that correct?

I appreciate how you are responding to the voice, as it were, of the survivor, because it is important that their voice is heard in the proceedings of the committee.

Another survivor said in relation to the issue of support:

“It’s not acceptable for survivors to have to keep reliving their trauma because a public body can’t get their skates on and fix things.”

That is a reflection of the frustration that you have described.

Thank you for having me on the committee. I have had experience of work in connection with public affairs, and I advise those who are watching and listening to go to my entry in the register of members’ interests if they wish to know the details.

It is not dependent on structural change, is it? The way that you described it earlier is that it is about people and leadership—people taking the initiative to bring other people together to work on improving the delivery of a service.

There is no denying that things can be improved; you are making that clear. However, you have also raised the spectre of the way that the public sector, in particular, often struggles with change and the delivery of change—it is a red flag, actually. Will you comment on that?