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Pádraig Delargy wants to raise some issues he encountered when meeting Syrian refugees in his constituency.

The Sinn Féin MLA says the refugees found that there were regional inequalities in access to healthcare within the Western Trust.

On mental health matters, he asks what is being done to support people who have been through traumatic experiences.

Gareth Johnston says these are points that have been recognised in discussions on the Syrian resettlement scheme.

Orla McStravick says the department will pick up these issues and factor to them into the final strategy.

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John Stewart, the deputy chair of the committee, say he is concerned about the delay in the strategy being brought forward.

The Ulster Unionist is, however, keen to learn about other schemes that have been run elsewhere which the department can learn from.

Gareth Johnston says “we are increasingly diverse in NI” adding that “there is more and more of an emphasis on that in our good relations work”.

The civil servant adds that “the success that the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme has been here, that says something for the community and just how communities and individuals have welcomed new neighbours”.

Orla McStravick chips in and refers to some employment pilot schemes being run which the department is aware of.

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Committee chair Sinead McLaughlin welcomes the publication of the strategy.

The SDLP MLA says she has concerns as to whether it deals with "all of the real practical issues" faced by asylum seekers and refugees such as access to places of worship and housing.

She also asks why it has taken so long to publish.

Departmental official Gareth Johnston says it's the Home Office that decides "who gets in".

"A strategy can never deal with all issues," he adds.

Mr Johnston says this is why a strategic planning group has been set up.

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MLAs then turn to the first briefing of the day relating to Refugee Integrated Strategy.

Orla McStravick leads the evidence session.

She says there are three key themes contained within the draft strategy which launched for consultation yesterday.

These include “Executive Office commissioned research on asylum seekers and refugees experiences of life here, learning and best practice from the resettlement of Syrian refugees through the vulnerable persons settlement scheme” and discussions with organisations which work directly to support asylum seekers and refugees.

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Before welcoming the first witnesses, Sinead McLaughlin says she’s “really disappointed to hear there’s not an agreed action plan and an implementation plan emerging” with the publication of the Flags, Identity and Culture report.

It’s expected to be released later this afternoon.

“It’s a failure of politics,” says Ms McLaughlin, before proposing that the committee invite the chairs of the commission which compiled the report to give evidence at a future date.

Pat Sheehan of Sinn Féin says “it was the DUP who blocked publication of this report for a long time and it’s the DUP who is blocking the publishing of an implementation plan”.

Ms McLaughlin responds that she believes “there is a relationship breakdown” in the Executive Office.

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Committee chair Sinead McLaughlin opens the meeting to the public.

The SDLP MLA takes the members through some initial committee business including a report on the members' recent visit to the Maze Long Kesh site.

The afternoon's first briefing is on the Refugee Integration Strategy.

The witnesses are Executive Office Officials Gareth Johnston, Orla McStravick and Debbie Murphy.

We're back for this afternoon's meeting of the Executive Office Committee.

The highlight of the day will be a briefing from the European Commission's Vice-President, Maroš Šefčovič.

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We're going to leave the committee members to their deliberations at this point.

We'll be back at 14:00 with live coverage of a meeting of the Executive Office Committee.

The MLAs will have a question-and-answer session on Brexit matters with the European Commission's Vice-President, Maroš Šefčovič

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Justice Minister Naomi Long has said it is "absolutely scandalous" that a £800,000 report dealing with flags and culture has taken two years to be published.

It is due to be published by the Executive Office later.

The report has made 44 recommendations, but it is unlikely they will be enacted in the foreseeable future.

Mrs Long said the report was being "orphaned" with nobody taking responsibility for it.

Read more on this story here.

Caoimhe Archibald thanks the officials for their attendance.

The members discuss the next steps regarding the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill.

They then turn to the discussion of various items of committee business, including the Parental Bereavement Bill and possible changes to the Caravans Act.

Caoimhe Archibald asks the officials about the stance of other jurisdictions.

Keith Forster says “innovation, research and development” is a devolved issue.

He adds that there was a “perception that an amendment to the Scottish and Welsh Act could be perceived as an encroachment into devolved territory and that was obviously a point of contention through negotiations”.

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Keith Forster opens the briefing on the legislative consent motion (LCM).

An LCM allows Westminster to bring legislation that would usually be dealt with at Stormont.

Mr Forster explains that the bill is also known as the ARIA Bill and is currently passing through the House of Lords.

He says the bill will establish ARIA "that will target blue sky research in areas that have the potential for creating transformative technologies".

The official says this will involve a high-risk, high-return approach.

Mr Forster says there is less time than is unusual when an LCM is being prepared.

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The committee chair thanks the NIE Network officials for their time.

Caoimhe Archibald then leads MLAs through a discussion of the issues raised during the briefing.

Up next, the committee is joined by officials from the Economy Department.

They’re here to discuss the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill.

• Mr Keith Foster, DfE
• Ms Sarah Jones, DfE
• Mr Stephen Herdman, DfE

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Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson asks why NIE Networks has not kept pace with the requirements to upgrade and update the network?

"We do monitor overall load increase across the country and we have a way of measuring each circuit to decide when's the appropriate time to trigger investment on that circuit," replies Ronan McKeown.

He says there will be a considerable growth as heat and transport is electrified.

One of the challenges in NI is that there is a very rural network, the NIE Network representative adds.

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Keith Buchanan of the DUP asks about “reinforcement to the network”.

If an individual installs a wind farm at 50 kilowatt and NIE has to update the network, but the individual later reduces to 10 kilowatt.

If the individual has paid 100% of the reinforcement charge to the NIE Network, can they hold a maximum capacity charge?

Sinead Ferris says a customer will enter an agreement and will “pay for what they have”.

“In terms of the customer in question, it would be them weighing up for capacity they are not using versus holding it,” she adds.

If there was a change in terms of what they wanted on the site, the individual would need to contact NIE and discuss a new agreement.

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Caoimhe Archibald opens questions by asking about homeowners who would like to install a heat pump and why this is so much more expensive that fitting an oil boiler.

Ronan McKeown says that "there's increasingly a challenge in terms of providing the capacity for that".

He says NI is "an outlier" in comparison to GB and the Republic of Ireland.

Mr McKeown says this would be "a timely point to look at connections charging policy versus other jurisdictions".

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From June 2020 to July 2021 "45.4% of our energy consumption was met from renewable sources in NI” says Ronan McKeown.

The NIE Networks official says from a strategic point of view “the ultimate democratiser would be the introduction of smart metering where customers can avail of dynamic tariffs”.

On customer behaviour, Mr McKeown says there's a need to ensure “legislation does not have any untended consequences for the network and customers, especially the most vulnerable in society”.

He explains that there could be issues under this draft legislation for “network reinforcement, network losses and both of those customers would have to pay for”.

Caoimhe Archibald thanks the Utility Regulator witnesses for taking part in this morning's meeting.

Next on the agenda is a briefing from NIE Networks, also on the Small-Scale Green Energy Bill.

The witnesses are Ronan McKeown and Sinead Ferris.

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Peter Weir of the DUP asks about potential unintended and unforeseen circumstances.

Is there a level of tension between community benefit and wider community cost?

John French responds that “energy policy has a history of unintended consequences over the last 20-odd years”.

The Utility Regulator CEO adds that there’s a need for “clarity” as without it “we don’t look at the overall evidence impact certain things could have”.

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Stewart Dickson of Alliance raises the question of costs to consumers.

In particular he refers to those who might have a roof or a field that could be used for energy production "but don't have the financial ability to deliver that themselves".

This leads to the question of group schemes, such as those run by a village or even a trade union.

"Everyone should have equal access to the benefits of it," the East Antrim MLA adds.

Kevin Shiels says the Utility Regulator has been considering what regulatory frameworks need to be put in place for community energy schemes and whether or not "they need incentivised".