The Minister of Health, Ms Bairbre de Brun, has expressed her opposition to so-called paramilitary-style punishment attacks. She said they do not provide a way forward and should be substituted with restorative justice schemes.
Replying to a question in the Assembly by the DUP's Mr Ian Paisley jnr, stating that the treatment of victims of punishment attacks cost the health service a "vast amount of money", Sinn Fein's Ms de Brun said she was "quite clearly" opposed to such attacks.
"I have personal experience in my own constituency of communities trying to put forward alternatives, trying to develop community restorative justice schemes here. I believe this is the way forward. I don't believe that punishment beatings, as they are called, provide the way forward and they are something I am opposed to," she added.
In other business, the Minister of Education, Mr Martin McGuinness, announced that his department would be making a decision on the future of the controversial 11-plus transfer tests, which determine whether children attend grammar or secondary schools in Northern Ireland, next spring.
Mr McGuinness confirmed that he was currently waiting for the results of extensive research on the exam, which would be published in September, adding:
"I hope what will follow will be one of the biggest debates we have seen in maybe 100 years. I hope that the consultation process will then finish in the spring of next year and, at that time, I fully hope that my department and myself will be in a position to state quite clearly how we intend to move forward."
The research was taking longer than originally anticipated as it had been decided to undertake studies of other countries with comparable education systems, Mr McGuinness added. He was aware that the issue was an emotive one for pupils, parents and teachers, and he would do his best to handle it sensibly.
"Down the years, different ministers of education have run away from the hard questions. I'm not running away," he said.
Meanwhile, on his return from Brussels, where he helped secure a £940 million sterling financial package for the North, the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, assured MLAs that the Executive would strike a "good balance" in spending the money both on economic regeneration and on social development projects.
"Economic and social action can and must be mutually supported. We will continue to listen to the views expressed on this, so that the best possible outcomes can be secured in the next phase of negotiations," Mr Mallon said in reply to a question by the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin.
The Assembly passed a Bill approving the Executive's £7.8 billion spending plans. Under the Appropriation Bill, £2 billion will be spent on the North's health service, while £2 billion will go to the Department of Education. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment will receive £288.8 million, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will get £167.3 million and the Department of Higher and Further Education £483.6 million. The Department of Regional Development will benefit from £404.2 million and the Department of Social Development will receive u £445.7 million.
The remaining departments, of the Environment, Culture, Arts and Leisure, and Finance and Personnel, are estimated to get u £85.9 million, u £64.3 million and u £102.6 million respectively.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Development Board came under attack for "massaging" its figures to give the impression it was more successful in attracting inward investment than was actually the case.
While acknowledging that the IDB had been "severely hampered by several factors, including, obviously, the political conflict and an inability to use policies like low taxation rates which the much more successful IDA in the South has been able to", the Sinn Fein MLA, Dr Dara O'Hagan, said this did not justify making "grossly inflated claims".