departmental

"Having carefully considered the legal advice provided, I have concluded that the current Education Authority guidance does not reflect departmental policy and is inconsistent with the law in Northern Ireland," he said.

Kennedy’s handling of vaccinations and his departmental firings have earned the ire of a bipartisan group of legislators.

In effect that means departmental funding had been favouring physical health services.

Defence Secretary John Healey told Parliament on Tuesday that the breach was a "serious departmental error" and acknowledged that it was "just one of many data losses" relating to the Afghan relocation schemes.

The government said an estimated funding of £2.2m had been allocated for the continued support of the scheme from existing departmental budgets.