My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has made the following Statement.

The Taoiseach and I met the political parties—both individually and together—and joined the plenary sessions of their negotiations at Hillsborough this week. I want to pay tribute to Brian Cowen for his patience and hard work.

We worked to establish common ground, to build dialogue between the parties and to re-establish the trust necessary to complete the devolution of policing and justice in Northern Ireland. This follows the agreement of an £800 million financial package in October 2009 that would be available for use upon successful completion of devolution.

As a result of these intensive discussions we believe that there is a clear pathway to an agreement that would achieve a settlement of all the outstanding issues.

First, we believe it is now possible for the parties to set an early date for the completion of the final stage of devolution. And we believe it is feasible for a cross-community vote to take place in early March with the transfer of policing and justice powers around the beginning of May.

Secondly, we believe the parties have a sound basis for how the devolution of policing and justice will work in practice. In particular, a solution is available for the creation of a new Justice Department and for the definition of the relationship between the Justice Minister and the Executive.

Thirdly, on the issue of parades; there is a reasonable basis for agreement, including dealing more effectively with contentious parades, learning lessons from successful local models, and enhancing the framework governing parades and related public assemblies in a way that guarantees respect, dialogue, transparency and independence.

In addition we have also put forward proposals for the Executive to move ahead on other outstanding St Andrew’s issues.

It is right that the parties themselves now focus on working together, in a spirit of trust and mutual understanding, to agree and take ownership of the solutions.

The Taoiseach and I look forward to receiving an update on progress from the First and Deputy First Ministers on 29 January. If it proves impossible for the parties to resolve the outstanding issues, we are prepared to publish our specific proposals for wider debate and discussion.  We have listened to the views of Northern Ireland’s political leaders—we have asked them to reach agreement on outstanding issues and move quickly to the cross-community vote in the Assembly necessary to achieve the completion of devolution.

My right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Jack Straw) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:

The Northern Ireland Court Service Winter Supplementary Estimate for 2009-10 includes £84.5 million cash (£85 million resource) in respect of legal aid, intended to enable the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission (NILSC) to discharge legal costs and meet its administration costs during 2009-10. Expenditure on legal aid in 2009-10 is forecast to exceed existing provision significantly because the NILSC is not only dealing with a high volume of very high cost criminal cases but also a higher level of civil and criminal business.

Accordingly, parliamentary approval for additional resources of £17 million will be sought in a Spring Supplementary Estimate for the Northern Ireland Court Service. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £17 million is being met by a repayable cash advance from the Contingencies Fund. The additional resources will enable the NILSC to discharge its statutory obligation to meet bills within the provision available to it.

Arrangements have been put in place to ensure that very high cost cases are assessed and paid in a timely manner. There is a programme of reform aimed at reducing the cost of criminal legal aid and delivering reform to civil legal aid which will control cost and target funding on priority cases.