Committees in the Assembly have a key role to play in scrutinisng the budget and NICVA has asked to give presentations on the impact of public expenditure cuts to all of them. At each one we will be accompanied by key NICVA members who are active in the area of interest for the committee. Whilst NICVA can speak in general terms about our concerns for Northern Ireland, vulnerable communities and the voluntary and community sector, its our members that really make the story come alive and drive the message home.

Seamus McAleavey from NICVA,  Eleanor Jordan from Windsor Women's Centre and Laura McCartney from Disability Action gave a presentation to the EL committee on 15 September.  I think the format worked really well.  Seamus gave an overview of NICVA's thinking and then Eleanor and Laura did a great job of highlighting the impact of community education, womens development, supported employment and access to the work place.  The questions from committee members were challenging but supportive. 

You can listen to how we got on here (Part 2 at about 30.10) http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/employment/2007mandate/audio/multimedia.htm