To ask the Minister of Justice for an update on the new Adult Restorative Justice Practice Standards and Accreditation Framework.

Mrs Long

With your permission, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 4 and 13 together. Restorative justice is a well-established practice in Northern Ireland, both in the formal youth justice system and through community-based initiatives. It aims to address the harm and/or trauma caused by crime by involving victim, perpetrator and community and supporting dialogue to repair the harm caused and promote healing. It also emphasises the importance of supported rehabilitation in order to reduce the risk of further offending. Restorative justice has been at the core of the youth justice system here for over two decades, and a range of independent reports and Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) inspections have recognised those benefits.? Learning from the youth conferencing process is being used to develop and extend the use of restorative approaches in the adult justice system.

The two currently accredited community organisations have played an important role in promoting community safety, repairing relationships and reducing antisocial behaviour. They work in partnership with justice partners to deliver restorative approaches to harm that does not meet the criminal threshold. They have also played a key role in the development of the new accreditation arrangements as part of the restorative justice working group.

My Department has been delivering on the commitments in the adult restorative justice strategy since its launch in 2022, including through the publication of the revised restorative justice protocol in 2023, a key aspect of which is the development of new practice standards and an accreditation framework to govern the delivery of future restorative work. That framework developed by my Department in the interim protocol lead was published on 17 October 2025 and aligned with the launch of the application process for those wishing to become accredited. That application window will be open for six weeks, closing on Friday 28 November. Once the applications close, the protocol lead and an independent suitability panel will assess and make recommendations on the appropriate level of accreditation. A register of accredited organisations and practitioners will be published on the departmental website early in 2026.

Mr Brett

I thank the Minister for that. We are blessed to have Northern Ireland Alternatives headquarters in our constituency of North Belfast. Under the leadership of Debbie Watters OBE, its work right across Northern Ireland has been vital. Will the Minister commit to continuing to work with Northern Ireland Alternatives and Community Restorative Justice (CRJ) to ensure that we can continue to deliver that important role throughout Northern Ireland?

Mrs Long

We intend to create, essentially, a pyramid of access for all restorative justice. At the top of that, the highest-qualified and most experienced providers will deal the most sensitive cases where restorative justice may be appropriate. At the bottom of that, there will be a much wider group, with much higher numbers, that will deal with more community-based restorative interventions rather than justice referrals. In between, there will be stages of accreditation for people to be able to develop themselves personally in their chosen way. I am committed to continuing to work with all those who go through the accreditation process, who engage with the formal justice system, and who do so with integrity but also with connections in the community and the ability to engage people on the ground in a way in which, perhaps, the formal justice system is not always fully able to do. Crucial for me is the ability to engage with the PSNI, the courts, probation and others to ensure that the decisions that are made around restorative justice bring about changes in behaviour but also leave victims feeling that they have got the outcome that they wish and deserve.

Mrs Long

The new restorative hub will be integral to the delivery of adult restorative justice services. The benefits of the hub are that practitioners can co-facilitate their referrals to gather experience, participate in group training and professional supervision, and contribute to a monthly community of practice. It is about allowing all those who work in the sector to share their experience and skills and, hopefully, to find some economies of scale when it comes to training and development. All that is critical to ensure consistent and high-quality delivery of restorative justice. The hub is going to be managed by the independent referrals body — it will sit within the Probation Board's victim unit, because the hub has to be victim-centred — as a well-established and neutral statutory organisation with expertise that can deliver those services. The Probation Board works in perpetrator-victim conferencing, and it is really important that it brings that to bear and work with others in the community who may be able to become more engaged in the formal justice process as a result.

Mr Beattie

Restorative justice is one of those areas that I am really glad that we are talking about. It is incredibly important. Will the Minister look at adult restorative justice forming part of the sentencing framework in the new sentencing Bill?

Mrs Long

Adult restorative justice is already allowed for in the policy and the statement that we have already made. We have already launched the strategy and an action plan. It is already being dealt with. It is hard to put it on a statutory footing, because restorative practice can take a multiplicity of forms. To try to prescribe that in legislation would be difficult. However, it is part of our overall strategy for the delivery of justice, engaging particularly with the levels of satisfaction of victims within the justice system and also in our overall reoffending and desistance strategy. From my perspective, it is well covered in the strategy that we already have in place and in the considerable work that has been done through the working group to deliver the new structures that will, hopefully, allow it now to take on a new level and have more momentum and dynamism than it had in the past.

Miss Hargey

Minister, you spoke about the new pyramid system of accreditation. The Committee heard the concerns of Community Restorative Justice Ireland and NI Alternatives about level 1, the ethos of adhering to the peace process, working with the PSNI etc and the fact that there may be gaps. Can you assure us that that will not be the case?

Mrs Long

Given the work that has been done, which both Community Restorative Justice Ireland and Alternatives were involved in as part of the working group, we are fairly confident that those areas are covered. When I talk about the different levels, to be clear, some of the people whom we are talking about at the top of that pyramid where you will have very few practitioners will be in cases, for example, of rape or murder — so very serious offences — and some restorative practice may be necessary there. For example, we have been approached by and have examples of victims who want to sit down with the perpetrator and have a conversation with them, and restorative justice can allow them to do that in a way that is meaningful, respectful and victim centred. That would be at the very apex, if you like, of difficulty. Then there would be stuff that is not justice but is more about restorative practice, such as community dispute resolution and other things, so it would not have reached that. Between that, there will be a whole scale from diversionary conferencing with young people to the work that the Probation Board does with offenders post the point where they have been convicted and so on. There will be opportunities for organisations to upskill and to go through those layers of accreditation. Some of the practitioners that we have in Northern Ireland are amongst the most skilled that you will find anywhere on these islands. I believe that we should use that resource to best effect.

Madam Principal Deputy Speaker

Question 5 has been withdrawn.