To ask the Minister of Health to detail the funding provided by his Department for (i) rape crisis referral centres; and (ii) sexual assault referral centres in each of the last three years.

In NI, we have only one Sexual Assault Referral Centre, which is funded by Department of Health. The Rape Crisis NI is a voluntary sector organisation which is funded by the Joseph Rountree Foundation and the Justice and Equality Fund.

Sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) offer medical, practical and emotional support to anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted or abused. The cost of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre, operated by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT), was:

2020/2021 £1,035,045

2021/2022 £1,067,132

2022/2023 £1,612,204

Please note:

2023/24 costs are not yet available

The figures above are sourced from Trust Cost Submissions.

These figures represent actual expenditure including any non-recurrent expenditure by Trusts.

Expenditure is quoted as fully absorbed costs; this means figures include direct, indirect, overheads and capital charges costs.

From 2020/21 to 2021/22 per Ministerial agreement, the annual costing returns were temporarily suspended during the Covid Pandemic and to allow a regional costing system to be implemented.

During this period, it was agreed that the 2019/20 costs would be uplifted by 2.5% for 2020/21 and a further 3.1% for 2021/22.

Costs produced for 2022/23 are the first through the new regional system for 2022-23 and therefore are subject to further review and refinement.

The reporting period is financial year April-March; i.e. '2022/2023' is financial year ending March 2023.

In addition to the expenditure identified clearly above as relating to sexual assault, there may be other relevant support services being provided for which the expenditure is not necessarily labelled as for sexual assault victims, as costs are not recorded by reason for referral.