Alex Easton
North Down · Independent · Northern Ireland
“I, too, want to raise the issue of Bright Sparks Preschool, which is a feeder preschool for Crawfordsburn Primary School. Last Wednesday, the Education Minister visited Bright Sparks to hear about its excellent work and see all the pupils in the preschool.”
“<BR /> <BR />My annoyance is that I have met the Education Authority with Bright Sparks many times over the past several years, and there has been a lack of effort by the Education Authority to find a solution for a building that it owns.”
“The map shown in the consultation included the entire Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area, which has nothing to do with the South Eastern Trust area. <BR /> <BR />We therefore know that the consultation and the equality impact assessment were a farce and a foregone conclusion.”
“<BR /> <BR />The South Eastern Trust proceeded to say what its plans were. Closure, with the announcement of a new minor injury unit at the Ulster Hospital site, was the only option.”
“How accurate my prediction was: the Bangor minor injury unit never reopened its doors. It was stripped of its equipment even before the consultation was finished.”
“I quote two Alliance councillors, who said that the units had not been "of any use". If they were of no use, why did 22,000 people use the two minor injury units at their height? <BR /> <BR />Over 20,000 people signed a public petition opposed to the closure of the units.”
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“I will speak on group 1, and I thank the staff for all the help that they have given on the Bill so far. I support the Minister in opposition to clauses 4 and 8. I support amendment Nos 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18 and 19, and I will speak on amendment Nos 1 and 4. <BR /> <BR />The Committee was briefed by officials, who explained that there was no need for amendment No 1 as draft affirmative procedure would be used for regulations on deposits. The amendment would allow multiple appeals, which have the potential to be bogus and would potentially allow multiple appeals to go ahead without the appellant having to pay for them after the initial appeal. It could be costly and time-consuming for the Department and could be open to abuse. The amendment is ill thought-out.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. What discussions has he had with clinicians about improving transplant services across Northern Ireland?”
“I welcome the Minister's comments so far. Is he aware of the press coverage suggesting that the £40 million for waiting lists is not being spent? Will he outline the assessments and procedures that the £40 million is purchasing ?”
“However, with the forecast for the Northern Ireland economy to grow by 1·6%, corporation tax being devolved to Northern Ireland and the voluntary exit scheme, we will, hopefully, see the potential for more funding to become available from the Executive over the next year or two, which I would like to see going to Health. Finally, I pay tribute to our doctors, nurses and all our health staff, who do such a wonderful job across Northern Ireland. We owe you a deep debt of gratitude, and we appreciate you all. I support the Budget.”
“We see the completion of the north-west regional cancer centre in Altnagelvin Hospital and two new primary care and community centres in Banbridge and Ballymena delivered by a DUP Minister. There is also the continuation of the redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital and Altnagelvin Hospital. The capital budget also gives important investment in ICT, medical equipment and the fleet and estates of the Ambulance Service and the Fire Service. There is also a further £10 million in transaction capital allocations for further GP infrastructure. Overall, we see a real-terms increase in funding for hospital, general medical, pharmaceutical, ophthalmology, health support, public health and paramedic services. <BR /> <BR />There are still many challenges ahead for Health.”
“However, the Department and its arm's-length body will have to identify savings in order to supplement the additional Budget allocations. <BR /> <BR />In the Budget, we will see £232 million for capital expenditure for health projects to implement a capital investment programme that helps to maintain and develop the health estate and other assets in support of service delivery and reform projects. Money has been found by the Executive in joint investment programmes with Atlantic Philanthropies to deliver improved services for people with dementia and their carers. We also see £16 million set aside for the Mother and Children's Hospital and £3·9 million to take forward Desertcreat as a flagship project.”
“That is what the people of Northern Ireland want, and that is what the people of Northern Ireland deserve. <BR /> <BR />There are key challenges ahead for Health for the 2016-17 period, with new drugs becoming available to treat medical conditions and an ever-increasing elderly population, which we all welcome but which brings added pressures and increased costs in delivering primary, secondary and social care services. There are also increased pressures facing us. Cost pressures in the Health budget represent a 5% to 6% increase, largely down to pay and non-pay inflation and continued development in healthcare technologies and treatments. There are ongoing challenges on our waiting lists. In recognition of those challenges, the Executive have protected Health and Social Care through its Budget allocation for 2016-17.”
“I also believe in invest to save, and I believe that more funding is needed to ensure that schemes such as electronic medical records are put in place to cut costs and save on bureaucracy. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Health has three main responsibilities: Health and Social Care, public health and public safety. It is important that, on those three main responsibilities, everybody in the Assembly has the same aim as me: to build a world-class health and social care service for the people of Northern Ireland. We need to drive up the quality of health and social care for patients, clients and carers; to improve outcomes; to safeguard the vulnerable; and to ensure that patients, clients and carers have the best possible experience in every aspect of their care and support.”
“We need to invest further in reducing waiting lists, and we have already seen a commitment to that, with around £40 million being allocated in the last monitoring round to tackle elective care and outpatient waiting lists. On waiting lists, it is worth remembering why there was an increase in waiting times: it was down to £120 million being handed back to Westminster in fines for not implementing welfare reform. That is the truth of the matter. <BR /> <BR />We need to continue to reform and innovate to stay ahead, such as through Transforming Your Care. That process needs to continue to be implemented, and I would like to see that happen at a faster pace. We also need to ensure that funding for Transforming Your Care is in place to fully develop what is promised.”
“I rise to support the Budget and to speak on the Health aspect of it. The Health budget has been increased to £4·88 billion, the highest ever allocation of funding for Health. With an extra £226 million of capital expenditure for Health projects, this equates to £130 million of uplift or around 3%. It is the best settlement of any Department, reflecting and recognising its priority status. It also takes the Health budget to over half a billion pounds, nearly half of the entire Budget for Northern Ireland. That does not mean that there are not problems ahead for our Health budget, as we face an ever bigger demand on our health services from the public. The Health budget is not just about receiving more money; while welcome, in itself it does not resolve the pressures that we face.”
“Having spoken to a representative of the Fire Brigades Union, I know that they did not want the debate to become political. They wanted to continue working with the parties to resolve any issues. Nothing has been decided by the Fire Service on their own consultation, and nothing has been decided on the budget for the following financial year.”
“Careful assessment of risk by the Fire Service found that it would be better to change the crewing rota at the seven stations and be able to introduce whole-time crewing at four stations: Enniskillen, Dungannon, Downpatrick and Strabane. That is currently out for consultation and is based on the Fire Service's own risk assessment.”
“— and its ability to free up 28 posts for redeployment provide a more cost-effective and efficient service model. The proposed change to a day crewing model supports an increased spread of the whole-time emergency response from the seven variable crewing stations to 11 areas. <BR /> <BR />Having visited Bangor Fire Station on several occasions and having seen at first hand the excellent work our firefighters do, I give them my full support and gratitude. The Fire Service is, of course, a front-line service, and we all accept that. The seven stations referred to are not being downgraded, and it is not because of the budget.”
“The agreed shift pattern also considered, to a lesser extent, the impact on firefighters' family life. At that time, a new variable crewing shift system was introduced as a phased upgrade to seven fire stations from a retained duty system crewing model to one that included a whole-time firefighting element for particular periods of the day. <BR /> <BR />Up-to-date risk analysis completed by the Northern Ireland Fire Service has identified a number of retained stations where the risk to the community would benefit from an enhanced emergency response and that operational demand in those retained stations is similar to or even higher than that within existing variable crewed stations. The Northern Ireland Fire Service believes that moving to a day-crewing system is —”
“<BR /> <BR />Following analysis of emergency incidents in 2006, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service introduced a variable crewing shift to cover the hours from 11.00 am to 11.00 pm each day. That was an attempt to provide a faster response while enabling crews to fulfil statutory duties of community engagement to drive down risk.”
“<BR /> <BR />To meet the needs of the community, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service has to continually monitor and measure all risks to ensure that our service delivery remains effective and efficient. A risk model has been developed using analysis of five years of incident data from 2010-11 to 2014-15. This model weights life-risk incidents and takes account of all other emergency response incidents. Data on the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service response to incidents shows that the overall demand for emergency response has decreased by 2·7% from 2011 to 2014-15. However, the overall number of fatalities and casualties from 2011 to 2015 has increased.”
“On retained duty system cover, those stations are crewed by firefighters who are contracted to travel from their home or place of work to the fire station to enable them to respond to incidents. <BR /> <BR />The current whole-time firefighter and variable crewing day shift start and finish times are incompatible, which inhibits the efficient movement of firefighters from one duty system to the other to meet any deficiencies in crewing levels. It is proposed that realigning day duty shifts across the service will enable firefighters to be moved more freely for, in the first instance, temporary coping mechanisms due to crewing shortfalls and, secondly, to redeploy resources if required on a longer-term basis to meet emerging changes to the risk profile of Northern Ireland.”
“I support my party's amendment. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service protects and serves the entire population of Northern Ireland. It responds to fires, road traffic collisions and many other emergencies and is a vital front-line service. It operates four duty systems for firefighters to deliver emergency response and to carry out prevention and protection activities. On whole-time cover, stations are crewed 24 hours a day all year round by firefighters on full-time contracts. On variable crewing cover, stations are crewed by firefighters on full-time contracts for a 12-hour period from 7.30 am to 7.30 pm all year round. Outside those hours, variable crewed stations are crewed by retained duty system firefighters who are contracted to travel from their home or place of work to the fire station.”
“I broadly welcome the statement by the Minister. He talked about funding to implement the strategy. How much will it cost to implement fully? If the full funding is not forthcoming, what parts of the strategy will be the priority for his Department?”
“I will speak on the second group of amendments, and I intend to be extremely short. Amendment Nos 2, 3, 11, 13 and 14 have the Committee's support and, I believe, are minor in nature. They amount to a minor change of wording, which strengthens the Bill. They only add the words "Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety". There is no Committee position on amendment Nos 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 21, 22, 23 and 24, but they also seem to be minor in nature. By and large, they add the words "Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety". I support the amendments.”
“<BR /> <BR />Amendment No 20 is a Committee amendment, and I understand that it has the support of the Minister and Department. This amendment strengthens the code of practice to ensure that any breach of this legislation would be admissible as evidence in a court of law for criminal or civil proceedings. It is more a safeguarding of people's rights to have their data protected and not to be abused. <BR /> <BR />I support the group 1 amendments.”
“<BR /> <BR />I understand that amendment No 8 is not to be moved today, subject to the Committee wanting further legal clarification on its amendment after further evidence from the Department warned that that has the potential for major conflict with current data protection laws, which are a reserved matter. That could also have the potential to derail the Bill. That is why the Committee needs to take further legal advice on the matter. <BR /> <BR />There was no Committee position on amendment No 15, but it simply takes out subsection 2 and adds subsection 2(a). It is more of a tidying-up exercise and good housekeeping and is not controversial. There was no Committee position on amendment No 17. However, the amendment seemed to give clear guidance to the Committee on its powers and responsibilities, which is a good thing.”
“Amendment Nos 1, 6, 16 and 18 are small changes to wording, such as in amendment No 1 changing "may" to "must". That is the same with amendment Nos 6 and 16, which simply ensure that the Department must make regulations to require processing of prescribed information of a relevant person where it is in the interest of improving public health. Also, the Department must make provision and set up a committee to authorise the processing of confidential information. Amendment No 18 adds "due" after "have" and is more of a tidying-up amendment.”
“The Committee was of the view that that power was too wide-ranging, given that it ultimately provided for any aspect of the scheme to be altered by secondary legislation. As an alternative, the Committee suggested that the Bill be amended to provide for order-making powers to allow the Department to alter time limits in the legislation only following the review of the Act. The Department accepted those points and drafted the appropriate amendments. <BR /> <BR />The Bill was not contentious, and it has all our party's support.”
“The Committee was concerned that, without specific timescales, the ratings published on the Food Standards Agency website could become more significantly out of date. That would be detrimental to businesses that improved on previous ratings and could mislead customers where ratings had improved or fallen. The Department accepted the Committee's point and drafted amendments to create timescales for notification and publication. There should be at least a year's lead-in time for businesses to do that. <BR /> <BR />The third issue related to the provision for a review of the operation of the legislation within three years of its commencement. The Bill, as drafted, permitted the Department to amend the Act by secondary legislation to implement recommendations produced by the Food Standards Agency as part of its review of the scheme.”
“<BR /> <BR />Given that one of the key stated aims of the Bill is to allow customers to make an informed choice regarding where they choose to shop for food, the Committee strongly believed that the lack of information about orders made through websites was a significant omission. The Department accepted the Committee's rationale and drafted an amendment to provide for regulation-making powers to require businesses supplying food by means of an online facility to ensure that establishments' food hygiene ratings were provided online. <BR /> <BR />The second issue concerned timescales for the notification and publication of hygiene ratings. The Bill did not contain timescales within which councils must inform the Food Standards Agency of a rating and the Food Standards Agency must publish the ratings online.”
“The Bill requires businesses to display a valid rating sticker in a location and manner to be specified by the Department. In regulations, that needs to be on only one page of a food business site. The Department advised that its intention was that the stickers would be required to be displayed only at the physical location of a business. The Committee believed that, for transactions that are made online, where customers do not visit the premises or talk to someone over the telephone before placing an order, customers should be able to have sight of the business ratings on the website or be provided with a link to the Food Standards Agency website, which contains ratings for all food businesses established in Northern Ireland. Again, that needs to be specified on only one location on the site.”
“I support the Final Stage of the Food Hygiene Rating Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the operation of food hygiene schemes across Northern Ireland. The scheme will give consumers information about food hygiene standards in restaurants and shops where food is bought. The objective is to enable customers to make informed choices, which, in turn, will provide a stronger incentive for businesses to comply with existing food hygiene law. The aim is to reduce the incidence of food-borne illnesses caused by poor hygiene standards. <BR /> <BR />The evidence from stakeholders was overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill, and, in general, the Committee was very supportive throughout its stages. The first key issue was the display of hygiene ratings on websites through which consumers make food orders.”
“That will allow the Department the necessary legal powers to introduce a new dental contract provision, including the introduction of performance lists for dentists. Part 2 also sets out the charges for service provision to persons not ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland. Part 3 supports the main provisions of Part 1 and Part 2.”
“All those who responded were supportive of the proposal to restrict the age of sale of such products to persons under the age of 18. A number of responses called for the Bill to include a provision to prevent the sale of e-cigarettes from vending machines, which was added in an additional clause, and an increase in fines from level 4 to level 5. <BR /> <BR />Part 1 will concentrate on regulations prohibiting the sale of nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, to persons under 18 and will allow for regulations banning the sale of e-cigarettes from self-service vending machines. Part 2 will look at dental and pharmaceutical services provision. Those amendments are technical in nature, and the original policy is unaffected by them.”
“I rise to support the Second Stage of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. The Bill contains three Parts, with 16 clauses and two schedules. The Bill's amendments are required to correct certain terminology used in the 2008 Act so that the Department can achieve its legislative intentions with regard to the introduction of new dental contracts, the application for the provision of ophthalmic and pharmaceutical services and the exemption from charges for services provided to persons not ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland. The Executive have also agreed to the addition of provisions relating to the underage sale of nicotine-containing products. <BR /> <BR />A consultation was held by the Department to which there were 26 responses, most of which related to the provision of nicotine products.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Could he go into more specifics about what his Department is doing to tackle, in a sensitive manner, the sickness record that is adding to staff pressures?”
“It forms part of the overall plan for modernisation of how the Northern Ireland Social Care Council regulates the workforce, taking into account advances in technology and the new ways in which people learn. <BR /> <BR />The Bill has five main clauses, and the bulk of these create additional powers in respect of registering persons, obtaining and disclosing information, registering social workers, recognising attainment of standards by social workers, and appeals to care tribunals. <BR /> <BR />I support the Bill and look forward to scrutiny at the Committee Stage.”
“The current limitations in the scope for the Northern Ireland Social Care Council to confer awards in recognition of the achievement of standards of proficiency by social workers will also be addressed. I believe that the Bill will modernise the Northern Ireland Social Care Council conduct model and bring it into line with best practice models used by other workforce regulators across the United Kingdom. It will ensure that the Northern Ireland Social Care Council model keeps pace with developments in regulatory practice in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />The proposals also extend the powers of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council to award certificates in recognition of learning achievements by social workers through a broader range of methods.”
“The primary objective of the Bill is to ensure that the Northern Ireland Social Care Council regulatory system keeps pace with best practice in workforce regulation and achievement of awards in social work. The proposed amendments to the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 seek to provide the Northern Ireland Social Care Council with a greater degree of flexibility and a range of sanctions for the regulation of the social care workforce in Northern Ireland, in line with other models of professional regulation across the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />The Bill aims to achieve two things. It will modernise the council's model of conduct and extend the range of sanctions to dispose of conduct cases. It will also extend the council's powers to formally recognise the learning and achievements of social workers.”
“The current model of regulation for the social care workforce has been in existence since 2003. It is important that the system of workforce regulation is supervised, responsive to the modern context of service delivery and informed by best practice to deal with our health service today.”
“I welcome the Second Stage of the Health and Personal Social Services (Amendment) Bill. <BR /> <BR />The Northern Ireland Social Care Council was established by the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 to regulate the social care workforce in Northern Ireland.”
“Is the Minister aware of any outside providers showing an interest in taking over the homes?”
“I am very keen to hear from the Minister in his response about the ESF 2014-2020 application process and how only a benchmark for average cost per participant was used by DEL to determine value for money. <BR /> <BR />To conclude, I urge the Minister to apologise for the Department's continuing failures. I also urge him finally to put in place firm and decisive plans to rectify the continuing problems so that the reputational damage of the Department in the eyes of the European Commission and the Northern Ireland voluntary and community sector can be repaired.”
“Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) statistics for the period of the ESF application process show that, of 313,000 economically inactive people aged 16 to 64 in Northern Ireland, 61% are women. Therefore, women are almost twice as likely to be economically inactive as men. <BR /> <BR />The total allocation of ESF for the next three-year period is £112 million over the three strands of the programme. That equates to a paltry 3·2% awarded to women-specific training. Evidence shows that that is almost 24% less than what is required to address the number of economically inactive women. <BR /> <BR />I wish to express my concern about how, during a time of financial austerity, the Department is able to award ESF funding contracts that have no competition on price.”
“Yes, I concur with the Member. <BR /> <BR />That appears to go against the evidence that that is the best way of combating educational underachievement among those most removed from the labour market and educational services. <BR /> <BR />The Department appears to have manipulated figures to show a much rosier picture of the ESF 2014-2020 application process; for example, in the way in which it has grouped the unemployed/economically inactive and community family strands to justify moneys to women, despite issues around need specifically related to women classified as being unemployed/economically inactive. The community family support strand of the 2014-2020 ESF programme includes men, teenagers and other family members, and thus cannot be defined as being female-specific.”
“Thank you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />I agree with the Member. I think that communication has been very poor, and, if it had been a clear communication right from the start, many of the problems that we are experiencing might have been ironed out well before now. <BR /> <BR />In preparation for the new round of ESF funding, DEL held Northern Ireland-wide information roadshows, through which it advocated the delivery of higher-level qualifications and progression for participants. However, when the application process opened, the criteria that were stipulated supported up to level 1 only. That is equivalent to grades D to G at GCSE, or, in crude employability terms, a fail mark in the eyes of many employers. That appears to go against the evidence —”
“This will also have an impact on the most marginalised participants, who will be unable to access front-line services designed to address educational underachievement, as their point of contact is the community and voluntary organisations. <BR /> <BR />The 2014-2020 ESF programme application process has also been a shambles from start to finish, from the Department's unclear guidance on what constitutes management accounts to its unclear and inconsistent assessment of applications —”
“These delays by the Department have resulted in organisations such as the Kilcooley Women's Centre not being able to pay tutors or pay for accreditations for their participants, racking up significant levels of overdraft charges and debt. It is unacceptable for the Department to treat the sector like this, not to mention the contempt that many in the sector feel for the Department because of its poor track record of communication over its suspensions and mishandling of community and voluntary sector project claims. These actions will result in many community and voluntary organisations becoming insolvent or bankrupt through no fault of their own.”
“It has helped many thousands of men and women into further education, training and employment. The Department's financial remuneration of projects under the 2007-2013 ESF programme has had a horrendous effect on many organisations; none more so than in the women's sector and projects such as the Kilcooley Women's Centre. I am sure that the Minister will join me in praising the good work that the women's centre does to address educational underachievement. <BR /> <BR />The programme, which ended on 31 March 2015, has left the community and voluntary sector on its knees, with vast sums of money still owed by the Department to groups.”
“The community and voluntary sectors, particularly in the field of education and training, play an invaluable role in Northern Ireland's economy, helping to equip and skill the most hard-to-reach participants. The community and voluntary sector has always been able to reach and work with the most marginalised and bridge the gap for these people, equipping them on their journey towards education and employment in a way that the statutory services have never been able to do. This is most evident in the services that are offered, such as free childcare, smaller class sizes and flexibility in timetables and learning. <BR /> <BR />The ESF programme has been in existence for a number of years, and the community in Northern Ireland has been able to avail itself of it.”
“Will this boost organ donation? We see from some countries that it actually has not but that it has in others. Will there be too many donors? If so, will organs be sent to other regions of the United Kingdom or even further afield? I am also keen to see what it means under the Welsh model and how it is going to work there. I want to speak to the transplantation teams and explore the Welsh model. <BR /> <BR />Those are all questions that need to be explored. I ask that the Bill be given the proper time at Committee Stage, rather than being rushed through, so that we get all the facts. It is a vital issue. I thank the sponsor of the Bill for bringing it forward for consideration to the House. I hope to get a better understanding of the Bill as it progresses.”
“He then goes on to offer an amendment. It is something that we maybe need to examine. <BR /> <BR />The Bill before us today has the potential to affect every single person across Northern Ireland at some stage. The sponsor of the Bill is bringing it forward with good intent. However, I still need to have further information on various issues as the Bill reaches the Committee Stage for scrutiny and clarification and to gain a better knowledge of the facts for myself before I can reach a conclusion. I am open-minded, but I need to be sure on issues such as costs. How will everybody be informed? How will people be able to take themselves off the list? What about dealing with sensitive issues of asking loved ones to give consent after their family member has passed away? What about training for staff on these issues?”
“We need to hear more from the medical world on this issue before any final decision is made on the Bill. <BR /> <BR />I also note a letter sent to me by Dr John D Woods, the BMA Northern Ireland council chair, in which he mentions concerns over clause 4(2). He states:”
“A clear majority of respondents to the consultation also agreed that the family should continue to play a key role in the decision as to whether donors should have their organs removed. <BR /> <BR />At the end of the consultation, the sponsor gave a detailed overview of the responses to each of the questions available to the public. The overview included the number and percentage of each response and an overview of positive comments made and concerns expressed about each. The sponsor also briefed the Stormont all-party group on organ donation as to the findings of the consultation. I ask the sponsor this: how many of those who undertook the public consultation were from a medical background or worked in the field of medicine? The Royal College of Surgeons has expressed concerns in a recent article. I wish to hear from it.”