Jim Wells
South Down · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In November 1982, I made my maiden speech in the Chamber, and, here we are, 40 years later, and I am making my last speech in the Chamber as a DUP MLA. I was the last person in the Public Gallery when the Assembly collapsed in 1976.”
“<BR /> <BR />Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence and for your patience with me over many years. Unfortunately, Mr McGlone has just left the Chamber; I was about to thank him. I have enjoyed my 27 and a half years in this Building.”
“I wish that I could, but I have only five minutes. <BR /> <BR />That was so that a very small number of Irish language zealots could go in and register their marriage or civil partnership in Irish or in dual language: £261,000. Did anybody stop to think about whether there was a more cost-effective way of doing that?”
“We are all perfectly happy with a genuine expression of people's culture. That is fine. However, when the language is so cynically used by militant republicanism, unionism has difficulties. Why, for instance, is there no translation into Irish of the words, "United Kingdom", "Londonderry", "Northern Ireland" or "Her Majesty The Queen"?”
“The Member has made the point for me. The official who came to the Committee made it absolutely clear that £261,000 had been spent already. It was farcical to bring that before either the Finance Committee or the Assembly, because the money had been spent and the processes had been set up.”
“If they want the unionist community to accept the Irish language as a genuine cultural expression, they should get rid of the political baggage and extremism, and stop using the Irish language as a political weapon to try to subjugate unionism.”
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“Later, I might have the chance to reveal the figures, but quite a few children have already gone, and, so far, that has worked out very well. <BR /> <BR />I give an absolute assurance that whoever is Health Minister when the new facility opens in Crumlin, there will be no permanent transfer until we are absolutely satisfied that Crumlin will provide the best possible service for our children and young people with cardiac problems — otherwise, that could be the worst of all worlds. I also reassure him on a point that will, no doubt, be raised by others, so I will head it off at the pass. Children from Northern Ireland who go down to Crumlin will be treated entirely on the basis of clinical need.”
“The clock has indeed started, and the 15 to 18 months is a very challenging timescale. I intend to visit Our Lady's in Crumlin to make absolutely certain that I am content with the speed of progress. None of this can happen until Crumlin has built up the capacity required to look after the increased numbers that will come to it. There will be the existing patients in the Irish Republic as well as new patients arriving from Northern Ireland, so all this has been a quite challenging timescale. Remember, my predecessor's first statement on this was on 23 September, and, only six months later, we are moving forward very quickly. While all of this is going on, we still have capacity at Birmingham and Evelina to make certain that children and young babies who require surgery can be flown by charter plane to London or Birmingham for treatment.”
“I am very interested in people's opinions on that. My guidance comes from the people at the coalface. They are the experts, and they tell me what they need and the resources required for implementation. Therefore, far be it from me or anyone else to dictate what is required; it is their views that count. <BR /> <BR />Hopefully, we can get the best of both worlds. We can get an excellent service for our young people and babies in Crumlin and also have a greatly enhanced and strengthened cardiology service for young adults in Northern Ireland. The balancing act is getting that right in tandem, and, of course, need continues throughout all this. We are still sending quite a few patients to Birmingham and Evelina, so we are watching this very carefully. What I can say, however, is: "So far so good; it has gone well".”
“I perhaps need to emphasise one thing to the Chair: this change does not mean the end of paediatric cardiology services in the Belfast Trust. The IWG recommends that the single all-island model will provide for a fully integrated team from Belfast and Dublin. Belfast will continue to provide surgery for young adults and the adult population. I want to go further by strengthening Belfast as a centre of excellence for cardiology. The Belfast Trust cardiologists have submitted proposals to secure that and strengthen the regional cardiac network at the same time. That will secure the specialist skills available in Belfast in the single-service model. I have, therefore, published the terms of reference for the implementation group, which, as I said, is chaired by the deputy chief medical officer.”
“Let me say that we have already stopped acute cardiology operations for children in Belfast, and the new arrangements seem to have worked very well so far. I cannot speak highly enough of the cooperation that I have received from my colleagues in the Republic, and there has certainly been no evidence of vested interests or a silo mentality. It has gone well, and my job is to ensure that that continues.”
“There is total commitment from me and the Department to ensure that this is a success, because we are dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in our society: young children with profound cardiac difficulties. I know, therefore, that people like Mr Swann and others will be watching me very carefully to make absolutely certain that we deliver on all this. We know the consequences of getting it wrong. <BR /> <BR />I turn to the Member's question about adult and children's services. We are moving to a point at which all critical and acute children's services will be delivered on the all-island model. As far as adults are concerned, we want to retain the best quality of cardiology in the Royal for those individuals, so it is a very difficult balancing exercise.”
“I thank the Member for her support and her questions, which are quite helpful. Within a week of my appointment, I had to make a statement, and I also went to the Royal one very dark winter's night to meet members of the cardiology team. They were extremely helpful in their input and what they felt was required to further cardiology services in Belfast. After looking at their proposals and discussing them with the Chief Medical Officer and others in the Department, we came to the figure of £1 million. We put that in as a bid to the Department of Finance, and it granted it, quite rightly in my opinion. We reckon that it will require about another £200,000 to provide all that is required.”
“This represents a tremendous opportunity to build on the respective strengths of the children's heart centres in Belfast and Dublin through the creation of an all-island service that, I believe, has the potential to provide world-class facilities, services and outcomes for those vulnerable children and their families from across the island of Ireland. This is a prize to be strived for, and I send my best wishes to the clinicians, managers and family representatives who will work together to deliver the new service.”
“The group was chaired by Dr John Mayer, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and senior associate in cardiac surgery at Boston Children's Hospital, and its members included Dr Adrian Moran, associate clinical professor at Tufts medical school and chief of paediatric cardiology at Maine Medical Center in the USA, and Dr John Sinclair, consultant paediatric cardiac anaesthetist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow. Nursing expertise and advice was provided to the international group by Dr Patricia Hickey, vice president of cardiovascular and critical care services and associate chief nursing officer at Boston Children's Hospital. <BR /> <BR />In closing, I reiterate that I am delighted to confirm my support and approval for the all-island congenital heart disease network to be established.”
“<BR /> <BR />In order to facilitate the development of an all-island network, including the Belfast cardiology hub, it was very welcome news that my Executive colleague, the Finance Minister, announced in his recent Budget statement a commitment of £1 million from the DFP change fund to invest in the network. I am also pleased to announce today that my Department has committed a further £200,000 for 2015-16 to invest in the network. <BR /> <BR />Once again, I express my gratitude to the international working group, which was instrumental in facilitating the development of the all-island network.”
“I intend to move forward with those proposals together with the views of the board and the PHA by establishing an implementation group to complete that work by April 2016. I have today published the terms of reference for the group on my Department's website. My Department's deputy chief medical officer will be the interim chair, and the membership will be comprised of representatives from the Health and Social Care Board, the PHA, the Belfast Trust, a clinician from outside Belfast to ensure that we cover all of Northern Ireland and patient representatives from the Children's Heartbeat Trust and Heartbeat-NI.”
“In my statement on 14 October 2014, I advised the Assembly that I had asked the Health and Social Care Board to bring forward detailed investment proposals to further develop a cardiology centre of excellence at the Belfast Trust and to strengthen the Northern Ireland network as vital elements of the all-island network. That investment will be essential to maintain the specialist skills of the cardiology team in Belfast and to strengthen the service available to hospitals outside of Belfast. Since my statement, my Department has worked closely with the board, the Public Health Agency and the Belfast Trust's management and cardiologists to develop the investment proposals. Two papers have been submitted to me by the cardiologists; one covering adult services and the other children's services.”
“It is most important that the existing SLAs continue to operate, are augmented as necessary to enhance the current arrangements and are quickly replaced by the single service model that the international working group proposed. <BR /> <BR />To assist with the increased workload arising from the transfer of more Northern Ireland patients to England and Dublin, my Department has approved an additional specialist family liaison nurse post at the Belfast Trust, with effect from 1 April 2015, to ensure that the children and their families receive the maximum assistance needed to help them at what is often an extremely worrying time for them.”
“Ultimately, it will be for the clinicians to decide during the interim period whether a child should be transferred directly to Our Lady's Children’s Hospital in Crumlin or whether that child should transfer directly from the Belfast Trust to England. <BR /> <BR />A key aspect of the single-service model is that, when it is fully implemented, it will have the capacity to deal with all emergency cases. However, it will take some 12 to 15 months before the model is fully in place and operating to capacity. Therefore, in the short to medium term, the Health and Social Care Board and the Belfast Trust will continue to manage the current service level agreements between service providers in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England, where appropriate.”
“All elective surgery will, therefore, be carried out in centres in England — in Birmingham and London — whilst provision also exists for patients requiring emergency treatment to be sent to London or to specialist centres in England. Again, I express my thanks to the clinical teams in Birmingham and Evelina children's heart hospitals for the service that they provide to Northern Ireland children and their families. <BR /> <BR />With regard to the children requiring emergency surgery, I know that Members have expressed concern about the future arrangements for diagnosis of children in the north and north-west of Northern Ireland, for whom transfer time to Dublin could take longer.”
“It has gone extremely smoothly, and there is definitely a buy-in from both jurisdictions to the issue. <BR /> <BR />I referred to the phased nature of the implementation of the all-island network. In addition to building up the capacity in Crumlin, we need to maintain the existing contingency arrangements with specialist heart centres in England and to take forward the work on developing a specialist cardiology centre in Belfast, combined with a strengthening of the Northern Ireland cardiology network. <BR /> <BR />During the interim period, we need to continue to ensure that a suitable and safe contingency arrangement is in place to provide surgery for Northern Ireland patients.”
“The phasing reflects the need to build up capacity and staffing at Our Lady's Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, which is in Dublin, to accommodate Northern Ireland's patient demand for those services. That will commence on 1 April 2015, with paediatric interventional cardiology being provided to Northern Ireland patients in the Crumlin hospital by Belfast Trust cardiologists. I hope that the dates that I am setting out indicate the speed and urgency with which we are moving on this, which we regard as necessary for this very important issue. That is a very welcome start to the new network, and I commend all the clinicians, nurses and managers who have worked together to deliver it. We have had excellent cooperation from the authorities in the Irish Republic on the issue.”
“It will have several subgroups to provide advice on specific issues of the service, including a family liaison group. The network board will be chaired by Dr Len O’Hagan. I am delighted that Dr O’Hagan has agreed to undertake that role, and I believe that his track record in chairing complex organisations will provide the foundation that the network needs in melding together the clinical and managerial elements of an effective operation. <BR /> <BR />Minister Varadkar and I have approved the framework document for the governance of the network to be implemented by the network board, and it has been published on the Departments' websites today. The network board will take forward a phased implementation of the all-island network over the next 15 to 18 months.”
“It will have overarching responsibility for oversight of the implementation of the recommendations of the IWG report to provide information and assurances to myself and Minister Varadkar. <BR /> <BR />The all-island congenital heart disease network board will comprise patient representatives, clinicians — doctors, nurses and other specialists — key service providers and commissioners to implement the IWG’s recommendations. Its work will reflect the phased approach to the implementation of an all-island model, concentrating initially on services for paediatric and young adult patients and progressing to adults with congenital heart disease. The board will be responsible for the day-to-day operational and clinical management and delivery of the service.”
“<BR /> <BR />Therefore, having fully considered the outcome of the public consultation, I confirm my acceptance of all of the IWG's recommendations and reaffirm my commitment to work with Minister Varadkar on their full implementation. We have, therefore, published today a further joint statement that sets out the governance arrangements for the all-island clinical network, which will be established from 1 April 2015. That comprises a cross-jurisdictional oversight group and an all-island clinical network board. The cross-jurisdictional oversight group will comprise the Chief Medical Officers and senior administrative management of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland and the Department of Health in the Republic of Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst I fully understand the concerns expressed about the ending of surgery in Belfast, we really had to accept that given the overwhelming clinical evidence that we simply do not have sufficient patient numbers to meet the vigorous international standards required for the treatment of this condition. Indeed, this was the fourth report that I or my predecessor, Mr Poots, had received saying that this had to happen: we simply did not have enough children to retain the specialist paediatric cardiac surgery which was required. The model proposed by the IWG means that these children will have their surgery in Dublin, within a reasonable travelling distance from their homes, with their pre- and post-operative care being delivered in Belfast.”
“I will have more to say about this vital aspect in a moment. <BR /> <BR />It is clear from the public consultation that there is significant support in the community for the all-island model that is recommended by the IWG and acceptance of my decision to end paediatric congenital cardiac surgery at the Belfast Trust, which was effective from 31 December 2014. When I read the IWG's report last October, my instinct was that their proposed model was the right way forward for these vulnerable patients and their families. However, I felt that it was right to give them, the clinicians who provide this important service and the public the opportunity to have their say.”
“The majority of respondents accepted that to provide these procedures in Dublin in the long term would be preferable to the other viable alternative, which is that the majority of surgery and interventional cardiology would be provided by heart centres in England for Northern Ireland patients. <BR /> <BR />The majority of respondents stated that their preference was to see the 14 recommendations implemented in full; a one all-island model that meets the needs of both jurisdictions, providing that Northern Ireland would be an equal partner in such a model. In this regard, respondents expressed their strong preference to see the retention and enhancement of specialist paediatric cardiology skills in Northern Ireland as this would ensure the continued local provision of life-saving skills, particularly in emergency cases.”
“<BR /> <BR />The majority of the IWG's recommendations were overwhelmingly supported and seen as positive developments for congenital heart disease patients in Northern Ireland, provided they are delivered in full and that families have a say in how the future service is delivered. Although there was broad acceptance of the IWG's expert view, opinions were divided regarding the recommendation to cease paediatric congenital cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology in Belfast. However, I must emphasise that no alternative viable solution was proposed that would allow these procedures to continue to be delivered in Belfast within current international standards.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have now published a report containing a full analysis and key points from the consultation on the Department's website. In total, 156 written consultation responses have been received, including 20 from organisations and 136 from individuals. Combined with the feedback that was gathered through a series of public meetings which were held throughout Northern Ireland, the responses reflect a range of views that are broadly supportive of the positive change in the service, but tempered, and understandably so, by a degree of concern over how this will implemented and managed. Insights were given not only on the 14 recommendations specifically, but on wider related areas of concern which are felt by families affected by congenital heart disease.”
“Following an evaluation of the responses received by my Department, I can now confirm that all of the IWG's recommendations will be implemented to create an all-island congenital heart disease network to meet the needs of the populations of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Minister Varadkar and I have issued a further joint statement today which provides details of the governance and operational arrangements for the network. I will say something further about those in a moment. Before I do so, I would like to thank all those who responded to, and took part in. the public consultation. This includes the patients, their families, the charities who represent them, clinicians, other stakeholders and indeed those Members of the Assembly who attended the public meetings.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to make a statement to the Assembly regarding my final decision on the recommendations of the international working group (IWG) on paediatric congenital cardiac services, which the Minister for Health in the Republic of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, and I published on 14 October 2014. In publishing the report, Minister Varadkar and I stated that we had both agreed to accept all the IWG's recommendations and were committed to their full implementation, subject to the outcome of any necessary consultation. <BR /> <BR />The public consultation in Northern Ireland closed on 23 January 2015.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is important that Northern Ireland continues to retain parity with the rest of the UK in relation to the regulation of health-care professionals. Therefore, I commend the motion to the House. The legislative consent motion came before the Health Committee for scrutiny, and the Committee was broadly supportive of it. I welcome that. I suspect that the fact that the Committee has done much of the scrutiny work already is why this particular legislative consent motion has not attracted a great deal of debate.”
“However, we all still need to have the confidence that, if things do go wrong, there is a very effective and rigorous framework in which to deal with it. I welcome the fact that the Member who contributed is supporting the Department in this. <BR /> <BR />As I said, the Bill will introduce a consistent overarching objective for the Professional Standards Authority and the regulators of the affected groups of health-care professionals, including dentists, nurses, midwives and opticians, and will ensure that public protection is at the heart of what the Professional Standards Authority and these professional regulators do. The Bill will contribute to public protection, by providing clarity and consistency across the roles of the PSA and these regulators, and will increase public confidence in the professional regulatory system.”
“I was expecting many more contributions. Maybe they have all been won over by my oratory; I do not know. <BR /> <BR />I welcome MLA McCarthy's comments. He makes a very valid observation that, more and more within the United Kingdom, patients and medical staff are moving back and forward across the borders of the four jurisdictions. Therefore, it is very important that we have parity and that members of the public in Northern Ireland feel that they have exactly the same regulatory framework as those in England, Scotland and Wales. I am glad to say that the standard of medical care in Northern Ireland is extremely high and the number of referrals to any regulatory body is a very small proportion of the number of engagements with patients.”
“It is important that the provisions extend to Northern Ireland to ensure that we retain parity with the rest of the United Kingdom in that regard so that the public in Northern Ireland can be assured that they are safeguarded in the same way and afforded the same protections as other UK citizens. <BR /> <BR />On that basis, I ask the Assembly to support the motion.”
“<BR /> <BR />I can also advise Members that I have asked departmental officials to begin preparatory work to explore options for the future arrangements for the regulation of the pharmacy profession in Northern Ireland. That will include consideration of the existing professional leadership role of the Pharmaceutical Society. I will continue to keep the Assembly and the Health Committee updated on that as work develops. <BR /> <BR />In relation to the General Medical Council, the overarching public protection objective will be introduced through a different UK-wide legislative order, which is being taken forward. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, the UK Governments, including my Department, support the Bill as it relates to the regulation of health-care professionals. As this is a devolved matter, a legislative consent motion is required.”
“Whilst legislative amendments in 2012 enabled an enhanced role in public protection and regulatory activity for the society, its current objectives, set out in the Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, are more reflective of a leadership and membership organisation rather than one focused on public protection. Therefore, introduction of the new proposed public protection objective would represent a fundamental change to the society’s statutory basis. <BR /> <BR />I agree with the position taken by my ministerial colleague in England, and the Bill is not an appropriate vehicle to introduce such a change to the arrangements for regulation for the pharmacy profession in Northern Ireland. I also understand that the society has not raised any objections to its exclusion from the Bill.”
“In the interim, a number of pieces of secondary legislation have been introduced UK-wide to improve the regulatory bodies’ processes in order to enhance patient safety and improve public confidence. The regulatory measure included in the private Member's Bill seeks to build on that. <BR /> <BR />Members should note that the private Member's Bill will not introduce the overarching public protection objective for either the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors on a UK-wide basis, or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, which regulates pharmacists in Northern Ireland only. With regard to the Pharmaceutical Society, the Department of Health in England identified issues with applying the overarching public protection objective provision to the society.”
“<BR /> <BR />On 29 January 2015, the UK Government issued a joint response to the commissions' report on behalf of the four United Kingdom Health Ministers. In the response, the Government accepted the large majority of the recommendations whilst acknowledging that further work will be required in some other areas. Government officials, including those from my Department, will continue to work constructively with the Department of Health in England, the other devolved Administrations and the bodies affected to progress those issues. <BR /> <BR />The response highlighted again that the UK Government remain committed to legislate in this important area when parliamentary time allows.”
“Members will be aware that the United Kingdom law commissions, including the Northern Ireland Law Commission, jointly undertook a review of the regulation of health-care professionals. They published their final report, together with a draft Bill, in April 2014, and a copy of that Bill was laid before the Assembly. The aim of the work was to make recommendations for a clear, modern and effective legal framework for now and for the future. In fact, the regulatory provisions in the private Member's Bill are derived from two of the commissions' key recommendations. The regulators and the Professional Standards Authority are eager for the commissions' reforms to be implemented as a priority.”
“That will help contribute to ensuring ongoing public confidence in the professional regulatory system. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Health in England has confirmed that the Professional Standards Authority and the regulators affected are content with the regulatory provisions in the Bill. However, those bodies' general position is that the private Member's Bill does not go far enough, as the legal framework governing regulation of health-care professionals requires more significant reform.”
“<BR /> <BR />The approach of having an overarching public-protection objective, together with the three related objectives, secures the focus on public protection that regulators were keen to emphasise, while also ensuring that regulatory bodies are able to act, where appropriate, in the absence of any explicit patient-safety issue; for example, where a registrant has engaged in behaviour that might undermine public confidence in the profession to such a degree that it would make the public reluctant to seek that individual's help but where the issue is not related to professional competence or patient safety. The Bill also requires the regulators' panels and committees dealing with fitness-to-practise issues to have regard to the objectives.”
“That is because, with the exception of pharmacy, the jurisdiction of the health-care professional regulators is UK-wide, as is the jurisdiction of the Professional Standards Authority. <BR /> <BR />The clause introduces an overarching objective of public protection, with further objectives relating to public safety, public confidence in the professions and proper professional standards, each of which are of equal importance. There is well-established case law setting out the expectation that regulators and their fitness-to-practise panels will consider those objectives. However, the Bill seeks to establish those explicitly and consistently in statute. In practice, that will give regulators a clear and consistent legal basis on which to act with confidence to ensure the protection of the public.”
“One provision in the Bill relates to the regulation of health-care professionals, which is a devolved matter for Northern Ireland. A legislative consent motion is therefore required for the provision. It is that provision to which I now want to draw Members' attention. <BR /> <BR />The provision seeks to introduce an overarching public-protection objective for health-care professional regulators — for example, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Dental Council — and the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, which oversees the work of the health-care regulators. It is intended that the provision will apply on a UK-wide basis.”
“In July of last year, the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt MP, wrote to former Minister Poots seeking his agreement to a legislative consent motion (LCM) on provisions contained in a private Member's Bill that was introduced in Westminster in that same month by Jeremy Lefroy, the MP for Stafford. The full title of the Bill is the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Bill, and it has a wide patient-safety theme following on from the events at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. <BR /> <BR />At the outset, it is important to say that the vast majority of the provisions in the Bill apply to England only. Members will be aware that any Westminster Bill that seeks to introduce changes that relate to a devolved matter must be agreed by the Assembly by means of a legislative consent motion.”
“It is the same model for moving stroke patients and intermediate care bed patients from Loane House to Craigavon. <BR /> <BR />As a rural representative, I know how difficult this is for the community to accept. All that I can guarantee to the Member is that there will be no question of anything happening to Loane House until we are absolutely convinced that the alternative service in Craigavon meets the needs of her community.”
“Until I or my successor is absolutely certain that we have a fit-for-purpose unit available in Craigavon to look after the needy people of Dungannon and south Tyrone, there will be no change in the configuration of Loane House. <BR /> <BR />I had negotiations on Wednesday with folk in Newry who were making the same point about the transfer of stroke services from Daisy Hill to Craigavon. I hope that I was able to indicate to them that the statistics show that the best chance of surviving a stroke and recovering quickly is when you are taken to a bespoke, specialist centre of excellence.”
“The Member has lobbied extensively on this issue, and I met her, along with the MP for the area, this morning to discuss it. As she knows, I have become a bit of an authority on Craigavon Hospital over the last two weeks. The difficulty is that all the medical evidence is telling me that care for an elderly, frail person is best done in the community, or, if the person has severe needs, it is best done very close to full-blown A&E and ED services and all the diagnostics, equipment and expertise that is there. <BR /> <BR />The commitment is for a new 64-bed unit in Craigavon. Loane House will not be touched until that is up and running. As I said to her this morning, we have committed to that. There may be budgeting issues, but we will watch the progress very carefully.”
“It will not require any changes to the present situation. It will enhance the existing safeguards in the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, which will be retained as a temporary measure. <BR /> <BR />I think that it is unfortunate that that request was not made at an earlier stage, but even if it was lobbied for very early on, I do not think that we would possibly have reached the stage of at least giving a tentative commitment that we will have the Bill by March 2016. I can see both arguments, but I saw the greater good of getting a fit-for-purpose, modern mental capacity Bill to cover all over-16s quickly because we simply cannot afford to delay this any further.”
“The Children's Law Centre has been lobbying us consistently to include under-16s in the Bill. First, I have to say that that lobbying started at a time of the Bill's formulation that meant that, if we had gone down that route, we would have had to re-consult on the entire Bill. That would have knocked it back for a very long time and, really, it was impractical. I understand that there have been negotiations with the Children's Law Centre. It is reasonably reassured as to why we have taken this decision. <BR /> <BR />The Bill is a decision-making framework for adults. There is already a decision-making framework in place that, at its core, safeguards children and that recognises the importance that society places on the role of parents when it comes to making decisions in respect of children. The Bill, as proposed, will not affect that.”
“If that does not happen, I will ask some very pertinent questions. <BR /> <BR />This is perhaps the most important legislation that my Department will be pursuing in this mandate. I was here when the previous Bill went through in 1984, and little did I think that I would still be here for the next updating of that legislation. I am absolutely certain that I will not be here in 25 years when the third Bill arises. The Member raises an important point, and I will check again with my officials to see that that deadline of March 2016 will occur.”
“I have sat on the Health Committee and on the Justice Committee. On six separate occasions, I think, I asked when we will see that legislation. I am told that it is definitely coming before Easter of this year. That is absolutely crucial because, if we are to get it through the Assembly in this mandate, we need to see the legislation very quickly. The complication has been because we decided, about a third of the way through the process, to combine the Bill to cover health and adults in the Prison Service. That caused complications. I am working alongside DOJ on the development of the Bill, and it is my aim to submit a draft Bill to the Executive next month. We hope that the Executive will pass that very quickly, with a view to the legislation having its First Reading in the Assembly in March 2016. Therefore, that is absolutely imminent.”
“<BR /> <BR />For the foreseeable future, I see no change in the provision of the health service in Northern Ireland, and I do not see the remotest interest from elected representatives to change the present model in any way.”
“<BR /> <BR />Contrary to that, as Members will have seen in some of my written replies, I have received assurances that EU member states will remain in full control of their public services, including their public-health provision. The EU has followed a consistent line of excluding public-health systems from free-trade agreements, and I want Northern Ireland to continue to determine how it runs its public services. I want the fundamental basis of the health service in Northern Ireland to remain the same, which is that it is free at the point of demand, paid for by the taxpayer and available to all. I cannot see how that model sits comfortably with any buy-in from the United States. Frankly, even if I in a wild, mad rush decided to do that, the Assembly would block it immediately, and that would be absolutely right.”