Big Interview: From strategy to reality - Maria Eagle, minister for children, Northern Ireland

Back in May's cabinet reshuffle, Eagle lost her role as junior youth minister for England but was able to build on the experience by becoming minister for children in Northern Ireland. She launched a 10-year strategy for children and young people in June this year with an outcomes framework similar to Every Child Matters (YPN, 28 June-4 July 2006, p6). An action plan for implementation of the strategy will follow this autumn.

"Our structures are different here as opposed to England's local authority structure, but there is no reason why we can't go forward with a similar agenda of delivering youth services via the voluntary and statutory sectors," she says. Northern Ireland is slowly reorganising its public administration structures: proposals include transforming 26 local councils into seven super-councils, and amalgamating five education and library boards, the structures that house youth services, into one by 2008. How this will translate to frontline delivery, such as what responsibilities the super-councils will have for youth and community work, is still being worked out, says Eagle.