Diane Dodds
West Belfast · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Minister, that is a brilliant segue into the question that I will ask. Just over 5% of women who are now seen within the 14-day target for a suspected breast cancer in Northern Ireland. That has happened since the list was regionalised. I get the fact that cancer cases are rising, but —”
“Minister, for Members and those who are listening to the debate, it is important that you tell us what "actively being considered" means on a day-to-day basis.”
“Thank you, Minister. The Muckamore inquiry report demonstrates a shameful period for our health service, and no one involved can, in any shape or form, come out of this with any kind of credibility.”
“Let me be clear: experimental treatment on children that can have lifelong implications is unconscionable. Children of 11 or 12 are in no position to give clear consent to the use of such drugs, especially when those administering the treatments had them banned because of the lack of evidence on their long-term impacts.”
“Once again, I will speak in the House about puberty blockers and the nationwide trial run by King's College. I now understand that the Government will issue new guidance that will allow such a trial to go ahead.”
“It is now anticipated that more than eight out of 10 couples in which the woman is under 40 will conceive naturally, but that leaves two out of 10 who will need additional interventions. Over a lifespan, that is a fairly substantial number of people.”
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“I thank the Member for her question. I fully appreciate that many pubs have been asked to close under the regulations and, as a result, have had no income or limited income. It is vital that we provide support to prevent permanent pub closures and job losses. That is why I want to see those businesses receiving additional top-up support as soon as possible. My Department has been allocated a funding envelope of £10·6 million and is designing a scheme within that budget that will go forward to the Executive for agreement. The aim of the scheme is to provide compensation to wet pubs that were required to remain closed under the health regulations restrictions for a further 12-week period, from 4 July to 23 September, when the rest of the hospitality sector was permitted to open and trade.”
“The Member opposite and I clearly understand how absolutely important this is for, and the economic opportunity that it can bring to, rural communities across Northern Ireland. Project Stratum will target 8,101 premises in the Newry and Armagh constituency. That will give an average coverage of access to next-generation broadband in that whole constituency of 99·5%. That will be a pretty good record, when we reach it.”
“Of course, payment will be dependent upon delivery, and that is the most important element. I do not anticipate there being problems. There are always glitches in life, but I am looking forward to a smooth roll-out and to 19,000 properties in Northern Ireland having, by the first six to nine months of next year, a level of broadband that they would not have received commercially. That will make an enormous difference.”
“I am not anticipating problems. This is an exciting project, the goal of which is to give us a better-connected and more regionally balanced economy. It is a really important initiative. We have a project board and different levels of guidance and governance for the project.”
“As I said in response to other colleagues, a small number of premises are still in the very-hard-to-reach category and thus outside the scope of the current Project Stratum. We are in discussions with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and with Fibrus Networks on how we can bring solutions to those premises. That will most probably be on a cost and a case-by-case basis, but we are determined to try to have the best broadband service in the whole of the United Kingdom, if not Europe, for Northern Ireland. It is an enormous selling point when we talk to investors across the globe.”
“I looked up the figures on the portal before coming to the House. In Mid Ulster, 8,785 premises will benefit from next-generation broadband thanks to the Project Stratum intervention. We have all seen how families have struggled with homeschooling and homeworking during the pandemic. The intervention will increase their ability to do those kinds of things no end. <BR /> <BR />It is also very important for the economy. One of our economic goals is to have a regionally balanced economy. The new connectivity for the economy is fibre, and that will help us get a regionally balanced economy so that people in rural areas, where before they might have been served by very poor broadband, can now be connected and work in the same way as those in more urban settlements.”
“The identification of the projects came about through an open market review that identified the potential number of premises available. Those were then looked at in conjunction with the already existing commercial access to broadband, and that gave us the number that we are looking at in the Project Stratum intervention area. There are about 3% of other premises that we would like to have within that intervention area, and we are currently working with our national Government to try to work out a solution for those premises. We will come back to the House as quickly as possible with information on that. <BR /> <BR />I know that the Member will be interested in this: in West Tyrone, 9,591 premises will be able to avail themselves of superfast broadband as a result of Project Stratum.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I apologise for my lengthy response, Mr Deputy Speaker, but my Department is receiving a lot of questions about this, and we want to give a fulsome response to Members in the Chamber.”
“Sorry. There is a lot of information to get out.”
“I hope that Members agree that the important message for citizens and businesses is that a solution is now in reach and that all those premises that were struggling to access acceptable broadband will be served by this intervention, making them among the best-served places for broadband in the United Kingdom and, indeed, throughout Europe. <BR /> <BR />I assure Members that the management structure for Project Stratum contains the required tiers of project oversight to support robust governance procedures. These include a project board and a project management team. The project board will monitor progress —.”
“An online portal has been developed by Fibrus Networks to provide this key information throughout the deployment phase of the project. Details of the deployment plan are available on the portal, and a premises checker will be added over the coming weeks. Links to the Hyperfast NI portal can be found on my Department' s website and the Fibrus website. The portal will be updated and expanded as the project progresses. <BR /> <BR />I understand that some Members may feel disappointed that their areas are further into the roll-out cycle than they would prefer, but I ask for their patience. It is vital that the network is designed with technical and economic efficiency. That will enable as many premises as possible to benefit from the intervention.”
“As some 97% of these premises are classed as Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) band H, which covers settlements that have fewer than 1,000 people and are in open countryside, the entire intervention area is a priority for my Department. Deployment work is already under way. That is very significant because, within the nine-month period initially thought to be required for network design, the figure of 19,000 premises will have been passed. <BR /> <BR />I appreciate that Members will want to know how Project Stratum will impact on their area. My Department is engaging with Fibrus Networks to ensure that citizens and businesses can access further information on deployment plans and project implementation dates.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, with your permission, I will group questions 1, 2 and 4. Again, with your permission, I would like to avail myself of the extra minute to answer that grouping. <BR /> <BR />I am delighted that Project Stratum, delivered through the DUP's confidence and supply deal, is up and running. Project Stratum will utilise public funding, together with Fibrus Networks investment, to deliver gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure to more than 76,000 primarily rural premises across Northern Ireland. The citizens and businesses in these areas have waited far too long for acceptable broadband, and their struggles have been deepened by the COVID-19 crisis.”
“Yes, the Department works closely with the Department for Communities and with local councils as delivery agents in relation to the initiative. It is very valuable for rural dwellers in Northern Ireland.”
“That brings the TRPSI programme budget for 2020-21 to almost £11 million. That increase in financial support has enabled the Department to approve a number of schemes to bolster the rural economy and sustain and increase its capacity.”
“I thank the Member for his question on rural poverty and social isolation. Isolation and loneliness in particular have been exacerbated by the COVID restrictions, and there are some very touching stories of how that has impacted on folk, particularly older folk, in isolated rural areas. The tackling rural poverty and social isolation (TRPSI) programme continues to provide support for a range of initiatives in collaboration with other Departments, statutory agencies and the community and voluntary sector. That has helped, on average, 60,000 rural dwellers to address poverty, isolation and health and well-being issues. An additional £5 million has been confirmed to help rural dwellers and communities and to assist businesses to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“I am sure that the Member will make his views on waste known to Minister Poots. As I said, the energy strategy will be out for consultation in March 2021, and I look forward to receiving various views on all those issues.”
“There is a debate about the incinerator, and I have no intention of engaging in it today. However, my Department is responsible for a new energy strategy, and looking at different types of energy and how they can be inputted into the grid will be key to it. We hope to bring out that strategy for consultation in March 2021, and the Member will, I am sure, contribute his views on anaerobic digestion and waste and energy to it.”
“I am sure that the Minister will agree with the Member that it is extremely important that we use every power available to us to make sure that we have done our best to ensure that roads, footpaths etc are clean, fit for purpose and suitable for the beautiful environment that we have in Northern Ireland.”
“The Department works closely with councils and other NGOs to support educational and promotional campaigns that achieve behavioural change in reducing litter. <BR /> <BR />DAERA's environment fund supports Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, which runs a series of successful programmes, including Eco-Schools; Live Here, Love Here; Clean Coasts; and Adopt a Spot. More than £3 million has been awarded to Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful since 2007, with additional current funding of more than £1 million to support educational and promotional campaigns. The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act enables councils to issue fines of up to £80 for litter offences or £2,500 fines for cases that have to be dealt with through the courts. They are very important issues and impact on everybody's everyday lives, and I thank the Member for raising them.”
“As the Member said, we all have our part to play in that. I know that the Minister is committed to education and to building civic pride around our beautiful environment.”
“I agree that it is important work. Caring for, sustaining and future-proofing the assets that we have is hugely important. I speak not just as a local but as the tourism Minister, because we need to ensure that we make the best of those assets. That is what brings people to Northern Ireland. I commend the groups for their work and what they do. Of course, I will pass on to the Minister your concerns about funding for such groups.”
“I would, of course, be very supportive of that from a constituency point of view. I consider the River Bann and our particular part of it to be one of the most beautiful parts of Northern Ireland. Since I walk along the river with the dogs quite a lot during the week, and this is a personal view, I consider that to be important. <BR /> <BR />I will report the issue to the Minister, and I will say on a general basis that really good work has been done with remedial tidying up and dredging so much of the rubbish that has been unnecessarily dumped in the river and so on. From a general point of view, we want to see cooperation in order to make sure that those things do not happen and that people act responsibly to ensure that the beautiful environment that we have is maintained.”
“I presume that the modelling indicated that that number was acceptable in that instance. Of course, I advise the Member to contact or write to the Minister to advise him of her concerns.”
“As with all these strategies, a number of wide-ranging perspectives is taken into account. If the Member has a concern that a particular issue was not addressed, I advise her to write to the Minister so that it can be properly considered.”
“While I am aware of measures that the Loughs Agency is undertaking on the remedial issues that need to be resolved because of that, I am unaware of that particular business. I will, of course, ask officials from the Department to contact you to talk through the issue that is of interest to you.”
“It is, however, an issue that the Minister has taken on board and on which he has met his counterpart from the Republic of Ireland to discuss, so it is being worked on and taken forward by the Loughs Agency as a matter of priority.”
“I read some of the newspaper reports of the visit to Meenbog. It is only over the past 12 hours, however, that I have become much more tuned into the issues involved there. <BR /> <BR />I am happy to tell the Member that Loughs Agency staff are continuing their investigation into the recent major water pollution incident at Meenbog. The incident appears to be the result of significant slippage of an enormous quantity of peat and soil at the upper end of the catchment around the waterway. The nature and type of remedial measures will depend on the environmental assessments that are under way. Those include assessments and evaluations of water-quality data, fisheries, invertebrates and riverbed silt that will take some time to complete.”
“We are very privileged to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Like the Member for South Down, my whole family are from the Mournes area, so I know exactly the beauty of the areas. It is therefore really disappointing when people abuse the privilege of walking and spending time in the hills. <BR /> <BR />We need to have a multi-agency approach among the NIEA, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS), the Forest Service and the other rescue services to try to get the strategy right so that people can be safe in those beautiful areas but also respect them. I agree with the Member that that will require information campaigns so that people understand their responsibilities.”
“As my answer made clear, a range of factors is involved, including pressures from climate change. However, human behaviour, such as people walking in the mountains etc, is also a factor. We need to ensure that we work together and properly disseminate information about not only the dangers of the fires themselves but the dangers to our environment and the cost to the public purse.”
“May I add one important fact? This year, 2020, was the worst year for wildfires since 2011. To May of this year, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service had to deal with over 600.”
“Those steps include public messaging and awareness raising, the establishment of wildfire groups, such as those in the Mournes and Belfast hills, and the development of wildfire management plans in areas of special scientific interest. Officials have gained considerable expertise in wildfires through liaison with local landowners and knowledge exchange with other European countries. We will continue to develop ways forward. <BR /> <BR />This year, 2020 —”
“The wildlife living in these areas is also negatively impacted. The impacts include the loss of foraging areas and the destruction of the nests and eggs of important breeding birds such as hen harriers. The damage caused to habitats and species can take many years to recover, and some may be lost for ever. Such fires also threaten life, property, forestry, agricultural land, public water supplies and other public utilities. They impact on emergency response services at the cost of millions of pounds to the public purse. <BR /> <BR />Most wildfires are the result of human activities and are preventable. Proactive steps to recognise and address the risk of wildfires have been, and will continue to be, taken by the Department, other stakeholders and landowners.”
“I thank the Member for his question. Gorse fires or wildfires in mountainous areas in Northern Ireland have a significant impact on the environment and are a risk to life and property. Semi-natural habitats often affected by such fires include heathland and blanket bog. Many of these areas are important nature conservation sites. Indeed, between 2010 and 2019, 64 wildfires were recorded in areas of special scientific interest. <BR /> <BR />These habitats can be damaged by fires, with impacts ranging from gradual change in species composition arising from surface burns to complete loss of vegetation and seed banks in severe, deep burns. In surface burns, the shift in vegetation composition can be undesirable, such as increases in gorse or bracken. In deep burn, the impacts can lead to long-term erosion due to lack of vegetation cover.”
“That is another extremely important trade deal for the Northern Ireland economy. The crux of the matter for Northern Ireland will be making sure that we are a full part of those trade deals, notwithstanding the implications of the Northern Ireland protocol.”
“I presume that the Member means in relation to the trade deals with Japan and Canada. Canada is one of our largest partners. The CETA deal means that 98% of all products that pass between the countries, and now the United Kingdom, are tariff-free. That is a huge boost to the economy of Northern Ireland and the wider economy of the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />The good news about the Canada deal is that Canada is committed not only to the rollover of the deal signed in November but the renegotiation of parts of that deal so that it is bespoke to the rest of the United Kingdom. It is a really important trade deal for Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The Japan trade deal is also important. Japan is one of the largest importers of agricultural produce in the world. There is an enormous opportunity to take our product to that market.”
“Those matters will be worked out in the Joint Committee.”
“The Japan agreement largely replicates the agreement that the EU has with Japan. Commitments and tariffs have been transitioned largely without changes. That will see tariffs for UK exports to Japan fall on pork, beef, salmon and other agricultural produce. For butter, milk and milk powders, where there were UK exports in 2019, UK exporters will continue to access Japan's market via their WTO TRQ.”
“Northern Ireland will meet the standards because it will continue to employ EU single market rules. I suppose that the wider issue to which the Member refers is the potential for wider UK free trade deals. What we would really like to see is the United Kingdom as a whole not accepting agricultural produce that is produced to a lesser environmental standard or social standard in terms of employment than it would expect of Northern Ireland or other member states from the United Kingdom. It is important that we do not make Northern Ireland produce — indeed, United Kingdom produce — uncompetitive by undercutting it with cheap imports.”
“The CEPA agreement with Japan secured tariff-free access for more agri-food goods and protection for some of our iconic products. Commitments on tariffs for the UK and Japan have largely been transitioned from the EU deal without changes. That deal sees tariffs for UK exports to Japan fall on beef, pork, salmon and a range of other agricultural exports, subject to staged tariff liberalisation, which is in line with the EU agreement.”
“The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed on 22 October 2020 and is largely based on the existing agreement between the EU and Japan. Similarly, the agreement in principle with Canada, announced on 21 November 2020, will roll over the provisions of the existing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). <BR /> <BR />These agreements have still to be fully ratified, but once that has been done, they will give certainty to agri-food businesses that are exporting goods and will ensure that they can continue to benefit from the existing trading arrangements. For example, CETA includes tariff-free trade on 98% of goods that can be exported to Canada, including beef, fish and seafood.”
“The councils, NIEA and the Department are looking at how effective the legislation is, and they will bring forward further proposals on that. As I said to my colleague from the Shankill, where there were some very serious incidents, additional powers would perhaps be conferred on councils to allow them to have an immediate response to littering and illegal dumping.”
“Yes, I fully accept and agree. The Minister will talk to his counterpart to ensure that that kind of criminality does not take place, that we can levy appropriate fines and make sure that costs are apportioned appropriately and sensibly in the matter. I am sure that the Department will write to you about any specific incidences that have occurred at the beauty spot that you spoke about.”
“I thank my colleague for his good wishes for Edwin, but I remind everyone that he is a former Health Minister and is acutely aware of how amazing our National Health Service has been in response to the pandemic. His wife is a nurse, who has many years of service in the National Health Service. <BR /> <BR />I do not have specific information on that. If there is information in the Department, I will, of course, ask the Department to write to the Member on that specific area. I am aware that there have been various news stories on the issue, and we need to make sure that criminality of this sort is dealt with, appropriate penalties are levied and costs are directed to where they should be.”
“The additional powers that the Minister is looking at include giving councils discretionary powers to take enforcement action in respect of illegal waste disposal other than littering and to provide them with more robust penalties as this works through the system.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I followed the story and how it impacted on the lives of local people in that part of the Shankill. It really is quite disgraceful that such things continue to happen. The answer lies in the closer working relationship between district councils and the NIEA. While the NIEA is responsible for larger waste criminality, councils can take a proactive approach to fly-tipping. It is about trying to bring the two together so that one does not pass the responsibility on to the other, and we then see a situation like we had in the Shankill where the Minister had to intervene.”
“Thank you for the question. Responsibility for dealing with illegal dumping is shared between the local councils, which deal with low-level waste offences, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), which deals with large-scale waste criminality and hazardous waste. While there are no plans at present to strengthen the legislation around illegal dumping, officials are working with councils to consider the effectiveness of the existing legislation and explore how they can work together to make best use of the powers that it provides. That may create opportunities to deal more quickly and effectively with lower-level offending on a local level through fixed penalty notices rather than being reliant on court proceedings, the timings of which are outside our control.”
“Again, I know that the Minister is alive to the situation and will respond to it. On a general point, this demonstrates the issues with the protocol and how some in the House who call for its full implementation are creating rods for the backs of some of our farmers.”
“Again, I thank the Member for her good wishes. <BR /> <BR />There has been much talk about minimum-price legislation and about Northern Ireland primary producers being price-takers as opposed to price-makers in the whole supply-chain system. Personally, I think that, while the Groceries Code Adjudicator had the potential to do good things, the lack of any kind of enforcement powers meant that, although it sounded good, it did not actually have the powers to respond to the needs of the supply chain. Therefore, if we were to have more of that, it would need to have much more legislative power to take remedial action.”
“Yes. Thank you for your good wishes to Edwin. I will certainly pass on the good wishes of the House when I speak to him later and give him an update on how we got on. <BR /> <BR />In fact, the Minister updated the Executive on this issue at our EU meeting on Thursday, as he has been working on it over the past number of days. As yet, there still needs to be a resolution, but I will, of course, ask the Minister to write to you specifically on the issue and on any ways of resolving the impasse.”