To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the appointment of a Director and five support staff for the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

We are committed to establishing the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression, the Irish Language Commissioner and the Commissioner for the Ulster Scots and Ulster British Tradition and to making the appointments as soon as possible. All three recruitment competitions are now at an advanced stage. Interviews are due to take place in the coming weeks, and appointments will then be made.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

I thank the Member for her question. As the Member will be aware from the legislation that was passed through Westminster, the OICE — the office that sits at the centre — does not have that specified as a statutory function. However, there is a discretion and a flexibility in the work that it does. There is a statutory responsibility around promoting reconciliation, and I have no doubt that there will be issues that people will seek the body to take forward, albeit with sensitivity and co-production and after speaking to all the key stakeholders and trying to promote reconciliation in all of that.

Miss Dolan

Can the deputy First Minister provide an update on the position for each competition?

Mrs Little-Pengelly

I thank the Member for her question. The appointments process is well under way. As I understand it, the shortlist for interview has gone out, and those interviews will take place shortly. Those should be concluded throughout June, and, at that point, the First Minister and I will get a list of those who are deemed suitable for appointment for each appointment process. We will then consider that.

Mr Brett

Deputy First Minister, we often hear the line that political agreements need to be honoured. There was a clear commitment given by the UK Government to fund the work of the Castlereagh Foundation and, indeed, to restore Craigavon House. Does the deputy First Minister agree that they need to get on with doing so? Will she further support the campaign by my colleague Frank McCoubrey to have Fernhill House brought back into use as soon as possible?

Mrs Little-Pengelly

I thank the Member for his important question. It is so important to protect our history and heritage because the stories of our past are part and parcel of who we are. They are important, too, in moving forward by educating us about the complexities and nuances of our past. These are incredible buildings in which were seen incredible things. The UK Government promised to support the restoration of Craigavon House. The Castlereagh Foundation, which was in that legislation passed at Westminster, will be a responsibility under OICE, which has a statutory power to establish that for the specified purposes. I agree with the Member on Fernhill House. It is a real pity that those houses are sitting with all that history and potential to tell the story of this place, and we do not have the funding support that they require to make them usable again and protected, moving forward.

Mr Speaker

We can hear Members conversing from the Chair, so if, in general, Members want to say something to their colleagues, will they do it quietly, please?

Mr O'Toole

Further to the previous question, deputy First Minister, many members of the public watching us will not know what the Castlereagh Foundation is. It emerged in a private bilateral discussion between, I believe, your party and the then Tory Government. Perhaps you would like to put on the record what the Castlereagh Foundation is and whether you have had discussions with the First Minister about its establishment.

Mrs Little-Pengelly

The Member is correct. The Castlereagh Foundation was set up in response to the significant number of North/South bodies and groups looking at better cooperation North and South. The foundation is a body designed to look at better cooperation across the UK, particularly east-west. That is in light of the huge amounts of funds going towards North/South cooperation. Some good organisations work in that space, such as Co-operation Ireland. This is to be really a "Co-operation UK" to make sure that there are opportunities across universities and young people and civic and business groups. There is so much that we can learn from each other, yet there has not been focus on or support for east-west work outside the political space. In that legislation there was provision for the Office of Identity and Cultural Expression to create the Castlereagh Foundation for the purposes set out.