Arlene Foster
Fermanagh and South Tyrone · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Yet, like too many projects, it has been tied up in legal wrangles. Too many infrastructure projects are being swallowed up in the courts. We need to improve the expertise in infrastructure delivery. We need better infrastructure for the next generation, but key projects being delayed by 10-plus years is unsustainable.”
“Any agreement involves compromises but NDNA had two central pillars that, I believe, remain important: ambition for devolution and a new cultural deal. The breadth and depth of issues that NDNA set us all to deliver on would have been enough to fill an entire term or perhaps more, let alone two years of government.”
“That confidence-and-supply agreement will leave a legacy but also highlights our challenges. Some £150 million has been rolled out via Project Stratum to bring broadband to rural areas and leave Northern Ireland as the best-connected region in Europe. When it is completed, the project will be transformational to our economy.”
“However, such short-term advantage comes at the cost of long-term harm to relationships. It is not a real partnership. Imbalance and instability are built in that will fester and deteriorate. If Brussels continues to think that the protocol is enough, it is in denial.”
“Colleagues inside and outside the House know very well that all periods of leadership must come to an end. That is why, when we are privileged and, indeed, honoured to hold such a position, we must not waste a moment in frivolous brinkmanship but forge ahead on behalf of those whom we represent.”
“The recommendations of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) are to be taken forward as well. I encourage all of you to do all of it, to take it forward in its totality and to speak of and implement it as one complete, independent package: a new cultural deal for Northern Ireland's new century.”
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“However, the Budget exchange scheme requires the devolved Administrations to adjust drawdown to the final out-turn position, which is known only once departmental accounts have been finalised. Due to the timing of this monitoring round, the final out-turn position has yet to be confirmed with Her Majesty’s Treasury. However, the latest position indicates that there was an additional resource DEL underspend in 2014-15 at block level of £0·4 million, whilst, on capital DEL, the underspend was £2·4 million less than was declared at the provisional out-turn. The additional resource DEL will now be available in this monitoring round, whilst the reduction in the capital DEL underspend will create a pressure to be addressed in this round.”
“<BR /> <BR />Returning to the issue of the resources available to the Executive in the November monitoring round, a number of adjustments were made to centrally held items, which impacted on the overall financial position in this monitoring round. I would like to highlight these items next. <BR /> <BR />The Budget exchange scheme allows the Executive to carry forward and draw down end-of-year underspends up to a limit that is agreed with Her Majesty's Treasury. The 2014-15 provisional out-turn position indicated that we would draw down £47·9 million of resource DEL and £10·7 million of capital DEL in this financial year under the Budget exchange scheme. That assumption was factored into the June monitoring technical exercise.”
“Not all of the fund may be required, as drawdown may be dependent upon demand by public-sector organisations. The public sector restructuring steering group, which is chaired by the head of the Civil Service, was created by the Executive to oversee the process for allocating funding. <BR /> <BR />In recognition of the significant savings arising from the voluntary exit scheme, the Secretary of State agreed in September that the Executive could access that funding for 2015-16. The various schemes have been proceeding on that basis. However, the November monitoring round provides the first opportunity to provide details of allocations in individual schemes. Full details are set out in the tables that accompany the statement.”
“<BR /> <BR />Before detailing a number of adjustments to centrally held items, I would like to update members on the public sector transformation fund. Members will recall that, as part of the Stormont House Agreement, the Executive agreed a comprehensive programme of public sector restructuring and reform. One of the specific measures included the flexibility to use up to £700 million of borrowing under the reinvestment and reform initiative to fund voluntary exit schemes across the public sector. The public sector transformation fund is to be available over four years, with £200 million in 2015-16, £200 million in 2016-17, £200 million in 2017-18 and £100 million in 2018-19. Those annual limits are firmly set by Her Majesty's Treasury with no across-year flexibility.”
“I am pleased that, as a result of the recent intensive political discussions, the budgetary flexibilities that were agreed last year at Stormont House will stand. <BR /> <BR />The starting point for this monitoring round is the June monitoring technical exercise, which was previously agreed by the Executive and notified to the Assembly, and which concluded with an overcommitment on resource DEL of £1·7 million, with £10·3 million of capital DEL unallocated. Following the June monitoring technical exercise, the First Minister and deputy First Minister agreed in September to an allocation of £13·3 million in capital DEL to DCAL through the urgent procedure mechanism to facilitate the progression of the regional stadiums programme. That resulted in a small overcommitment of £3 million in respect of capital DEL.”
“<BR /> <BR />The key issue for the Executive in strategic financial management in this financial year will be managing the overall position to allow the Executive to live within Her Majesty's Treasury's control totals for the 2015-16 year, whilst ensuring that any underspend falls within Budget exchange limits of 0·6% of resource DEL and 1·5% of capital DEL. <BR /> <BR />As Members will be aware, the Budget for 2015-16 was predicated on the financial package that was negotiated under the Stormont House Agreement. Had the Stormont House Agreement fallen, the Executive would have lost the flexibility to repay the £114 million cost of not implementing welfare reform and the £100 million reserve claim in 2014-15 from asset sales and capital budgets, which would have created a significant resource DEL pressure.”
“I am pleased to say that, as a result of yesterday's agreement, we are able to prioritise spending for our health system, the roads and the education system. <BR /> <BR />Before I go into the detail of the monitoring round, it is worth pointing out that the focus continues to be on non-ring-fenced resource items, which I will hereafter simply refer to as resource expenditure or resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL). The Executive still monitor the ring-fenced resource and administration expenditure positions, and those are included in the tables attached to the statement.”
“<BR /> <BR />Agreement to the budgetary flexibilities negotiated in the Stormont House Agreement has provided the certainty needed for the Executive to agree an in-year monitoring position aimed at addressing the outstanding issues facing departmental budgets in this year. I always said that failing to deal with welfare reform was having a devastating impact on this year's budget. I had to write to Executive colleagues requesting that no further expenditure be made on discretionary programmes. All Departments have had to make difficult decisions, and we have seen the impact that that has had on the services that they deliver, whether in our schools, health systems or our ability to cut the grass at the sides of the roads.”
“Thank you for the opportunity, Mr Speaker, to update the Assembly on the outcome of the November monitoring round. As Members will be aware, this is the first full Executive public-expenditure monitoring round this year, with the planned June and October rounds not having taken place owing to the failure to implement the Stormont House Agreement and deal with welfare reform. <BR /> <BR />Following yesterday's agreement, 'A Fresh Start: The Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan', I am now in a position to deliver a 2015-16 in-year monitoring round on the basis that the Stormont House Agreement will be implemented in full and welfare reform introduced in a manner that is tailored to meet the specific needs of the people of Northern Ireland.”
“I do have every confidence in my colleague the Minister of Health on the issue. The key to all of this is to make sure that, after the talks have finished — we hope that they will finish very soon and that we will have an agreement in place — we can move to a sustainable budgetary position, where we can allocate the appropriate amount of money to the Department of Health and are able to deal with those waiting lists, which have accumulated and are unacceptable. I think that we all accept that, but we are where we are. Now, we have to deal with the issue, and I look forward to being able to make a statement in relation to November monitoring in the next number of days.”
“He is saying that I have every confidence.”
“However, all of that has been made worse by the fact that we have been incurring welfare fines that otherwise could have gone to the Department of Health. I make no apology for saying that. I hope that we are able to find a solution to the difficulties that we have found ourselves in over welfare so that money can be allocated to the Department of Health to deal with those issues.”
“In the 2015-16 Budget, I and my Executive colleagues demonstrated our commitment to improving health and social care by protecting front-line health and social care from budgetary reductions. Further to that, some £200 million of additional funding was provided to the Department for front-line health and social care. I am glad that my colleague is here to hear about all that great funding that has been provided to him by the Department of Finance. <BR /> <BR />Unfortunately, the deterioration in waiting times is due to a number of factors that are placing increasing pressures on our health service. Those include demographic changes, which I have talked about in the House before, an ageing population and increasing demand for healthcare interventions.”
“I am more than happy to do that if the Member wishes to give me the fuller details of that side of it. I undertook to write to the Law Society as that end of it caused me a great deal of concern. As he knows, we do not have any control over the banking systems in Northern Ireland. That falls to the Westminster Government. I am more than happy, however, to correspond with those banks about the incident. <BR /> <BR />Thousands if not millions of people transact their banking online every day. We should not forget that that is the way in which people chose to do their business nowadays, and 99% of it is carried out in a very safe manner. If there are instances in which there are difficulties — clearly, this is a case in which something went fundamentally wrong — we should raise it and make sure that it does not happen again.”
“Yes, I am aware of your constituent's case. It was, of course, raised publicly, but I also know that you corresponded with me on the matter. I suppose that it really is a matter for my colleague the Enterprise Minister and about making sure that everything is in place in Trading Standards. I urge vigilance on the issue that was brought to my attention. There was an awful lot of money involved in that case, but, you know, small amounts of money in other cases mean a big lot to those individuals who have been defrauded. We should be alert and aware of the dangers online.”
“Absolutely. I hope that they will understand that, because of the short time that we have available, it will be a targeted consultation rather than the full 12 weeks of consultation. I hope to go — indeed, I am going, God willing — to the Committee tomorrow morning to talk about my proposals. It will be a matter for the Committee whether it grants accelerated passage. If it grants accelerated passage, we can get the Bill through; if it decides against it, it will probably be a matter for the next mandate. I will regret that, but it is a matter for the Committee.”
“The Bill that I intend to bring forward will contain an enabling power that will permit enhanced rate relief for sports clubs, subject to conditions. My current intention is to use the power to permit enhanced relief of 100% for community amateur sports clubs that do not have a permanent liquor licence. That deals with the issue of competition with hotels, pubs and clubs. It would align them with the rating treatment of community halls legislation rather than putting them into competition with pubs and clubs.”
“I am next door, and I pay full rates". Those are the difficult decisions that we will have to grapple with, but we can and should look at doing things differently. We should not just be driven by what everybody else does. If there is a challenge in relation to town centres — frankly, some of our town centres are struggling — we should look at those and see if they can make a difference.”
“Again, that is the kind of thing that we need to think about. I mentioned the small business rate relief scheme. Indeed, some town centre organisations believe that, instead of just having a generalised small business rate relief scheme, we should target it on the area in the town centre that, at present, is having difficulty, frankly, in filling spaces because of the level of rates that have been levied on the shops. <BR /> <BR />One area that has also been raised with me — it is a controversial area — is in the realm of charity shops. Since the review went out, I have already had a number of charities in contact with me, worried about the fact that they will not be able to avail themselves of rates relief. However, on the other hand, I have small businesses saying to me, "They are not paying any rates.”
“The Member will be aware that we already have provision that, if someone moves into an empty shop, they are able to avail themselves of rates relief for a limited time. I accept that it is a limited time, but it helps when someone is starting up a new business. I know of businesses in my constituency that have really appreciated that. The non-domestic review has only started. It runs, I think, until the middle of January, so I hope that Members and, indeed, stakeholders will come forward with new and innovative ideas, not just around rates relief but around all the other areas.”
“Absolutely. I am aware that some arm's-length bodies have had to adopt that process, but, unfortunately, it has not had as much of an impact as I would have liked, because, in the circumstance that I am thinking of, that organisation was capped at 49 employees and, therefore, there was little room for movement on that matter. I take the Member's point and will certainly keep it under review.”
“Absolutely. I know that the -matter concerns the Member greatly, and I will communicate with him on it once I have had a chance to look at the figures again for this year. We will certainly look at whether there is a need for intervention in some way in relation to the recruitment of AOs and AAs.”
“I am prepared to come back to you and, indeed, to the other Members who have written to me about the matter, once the Department has finished its investigations and we can see where it is at at present.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I am aware of the individual whom he has brought before the House this afternoon; indeed, my colleagues have written to me about the issue, and Mr Owens has written to me directly about it. It is being investigated by the Department. I know that he may be a bit frustrated about the time that it has taken to look into the matter, but the Department is looking at it.”
“We must be aware of the scale of the issue. I was recently contacted by some of the groups involved in the social care sector to say that it will have a big impact on them. I know from the tourism and hospitality sector that it will be a big challenge there as well. While we all welcome the fact that we are moving towards having a living-wage economy, we should be aware that there are challenges associated with it, particularly for the lower-paid sectors. Whilst bigger employers in the private sector will be able to absorb those costs, it will be a challenge for us in the public sector.”
“I am not sure that the new minimum wage will have a big impact on departmental budgets. When it comes in, the living wage will have an impact, particularly on the Department of Health and Social Services, because many of our care workers, for example, are paid in and around the minimum wage. When they move on to the living wage, that will obviously be more expensive for the Department, and that will have to be taken into account when we set its budget.”
“The Children’s Services Co-operation Bill 2015 states that the Department of Finance and Personnel may, by regulations, make provision for the procedures to be followed on the sharing of resources or pooling of funds. Such regulations will be used to ensure that the handling of shared resources or pooled funds complies with DFP public expenditure and financial management guidance. Accountability and governance issues will also be addressed. Subject to the Bill receiving Royal Assent, DFP will work with OFMDFM and other stakeholders to draft such regulations.”
“It is something that I feel very strongly about and take a particular interest in, having come from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.”
“However, we are now breaking larger contracts into lots to allow SMEs to come forward on their own behalf. <BR /> <BR />As I said, we are making sure that the turnover requirements are only twice the contract value. Again, that was a big challenge for a lot of small and medium-sized businesses. Indeed, I came across it in my constituency. Setting proportionate minimum standards for experience and financial standing is also important. In the past, standards were, quite rightly, being asked for, but when we looked at them we did not think that they were proportionate to the size of the contract. We have tried to increase the opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses in a range of ways.”
“CPD has introduced a range of measures to increase opportunities for small and medium-sized companies, including those dipping their toes into the market for the first time. A single web-based procurement portal, eTendersNI, has been introduced. It shows all the public-sector procurement opportunities that are available and alerts firms to tender opportunities in which they may be interested. It also allows them to store their profile information for use when completing further tenders. <BR /> <BR />Breaking larger contracts into lots is a very important method of allowing small and medium-sized businesses to come forward on their own behalf. For a while it seemed that the only way that you could obtain a government contract was if you were part of a big partnership that went forward together.”
“Actually I held a procurement board meeting last week, and that was the subject of the discussion. I received a very helpful report from a group of people, including the Strategic Investment Board, who have been running social contract pilots. One of the queries was whether we go down the route of legislation or of guidance. That discussion has really just begun. I have asked for an Executive memorandum to go round colleagues asking what they feel is the best way forward on the issue. The procurement board is looking at this issue at present.”
“My Department introduced new public contracts regulations in February 2015. These are intended to facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized businesses by, for example, limiting turnover requirements to twice the contract value. The Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) has also worked with the construction industry to simplify the pre-qualification process and reduce the effort needed to tender. SMEs are now winning around 85% of construction contracts. CPD has also published guidance to help SMEs benefit from subcontracting opportunities.”
“As I have said, small business rate relief is something we are looking at. Whether it would be better to use the £20 million that was set aside for small business rate relief in a different way is a discussion that is ongoing.”
“No, I cannot say that. There would not be much point in us having a review if I were to stand up and say that everything that is there at the moment will continue to be there in 2016-17. It is important that we reiterate the situation in relation to manufacturing because of the difficult week that manufacturing has just been through with the number of job losses. That is not to take away from the fact that, while last week and, indeed, the week before were particularly bad weeks for manufacturing, manufacturing is actually on the up in Northern Ireland, based on the number of jobs that have come to, and been created in, Northern Ireland over the past year. However, I believe that, given other pressures, not least energy costs, it is right to keep derating for manufacturing businesses.”
“The Member will know that the Ulster University economic policy centre suggested that we should do something different, rather than continue with the small business rate relief scheme. I will take that decision in conjunction with colleagues in the Department for Social Development and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. I have already met with both Ministers to see whether there is something we can do that would have more of an impact. Certainly, moving into the future, we will continue to support small businesses. It is just how we do it, whether through rates or another system.”
“Absolutely. The Member took part in a debate that we had recently in relation to the impact of rates on small businesses in South Belfast. That was very worthwhile and useful because it allowed us to set out what is happening in relation to rate relief and the rating system in that constituency. As he knows, small business rate relief has had a very good impact for many businesses across Northern Ireland. Some say that it does not go far enough; some want us to change the system. The current small business rate relief system runs only to the end of this financial year and then we will have to decide whether to keep it in its current form or to engage and do something slightly different for town centres. That has been suggested to me.”
“Early in the last mandate, we took a decision to keep industrial derating, and that helps a lot of our companies across Northern Ireland. Some 70% of their rates bill is given rate relief and, therefore, they pay 30% of what they would pay if they were in England, Wales or wherever. We believe that that is of great assistance to manufacturing companies across Northern Ireland, whatever manufacturing sub-sector they are in. As I said in the paper that has been put forward, we will not be changing that; we will keep it. Some people have suggested that this review will lead to the end of industrial derating. That is not the case, and I want to make that very clear today.”
“The review will re-examine all non-domestic rate reliefs and their continued relevance. Currently, manufacturing companies in a wide range of the sector benefit from 70% industrial derating if the premises are used primarily for factory purposes and involve the use of manual labour. That relief extends to the food sector. Life sciences companies may also be entitled to it if a production process is involved. However, research does not normally qualify for derating. The public consultation paper sets out the case for retaining that support, recognising the importance of Northern Ireland maintaining its competitive position for manufacturing.”
“If there are changes to be made, we will move into policy development to consider how we make them. I do not think that it would be right to follow the Defamation Act 2013 slavishly. Obviously, it will inform what we do, but we need to wait on the report and decide how to move forward, because, of course, it depends on what is in the report.”
“First of all, the Committee will receive a copy of the independent report, so it will be free to comment on it. As Minister, I will have decisions to take on the foot of the report. We do not know what those will be until we receive it.”
“As I understand it, there were around 32 responses to that consultation. I do not think that we should pre-empt Dr Scott's independent review. Therefore, I will not be letting those consultation responses come out until Dr Scott has finished his review. He is a very thorough individual, and I look forward to the work. As I said, the review will have to fit around his teaching commitments at the London School of Economics. I hope that the final report will be complete and available in the first months of 2016.”
“No. I have no preconceptions about what should or should not be done. Dr Scott is taking an independent look at what the needs are in Northern Ireland. I was disappointed that he was not able to complete the review under the Law Commission. However, we have asked him to complete that work. Unfortunately, it will have to fit around his teaching commitments, but we hope that he will be able to deliver it in the new year. I took forward to receiving it, considering it and looking at his recommendations.”
“The Northern Ireland Law Commission was asked to assess the law of defamation by reference to the 2013 Act. However, the commission ceased operations before it completed the review. I have asked Dr Andrew Scott, who was undertaking the review on behalf of the commission, to produce a final report, and that report will help to inform policy direction.”
“That information will be fed into human resources and go to the Civil Service board, which will report on that. I do not have figures at present, but I am sure that the Member will monitor that and ask me again, when I will be able to answer in more detail.”
“Some will be disappointed, but that is tied in with the voluntary exit scheme.”
“There may be grades that a Department feels are necessary to keep it functioning in the proper fashion, and some of those have been exempted from the scheme. Each Department determined the numbers by grade that it needed to release under the scheme to secure the pay bill savings. Corporate HR and my Department acted on those instructions. <BR /> <BR />Offers were made commensurate with the numbers to be released as determined by Departments rather than with reference to the total number of applicants within a business area or grade. Some staff may be disappointed that they are not being allowed to avail themselves of the voluntary exit scheme, but we have to be mindful that we have a Civil Service to run and maintain, and that the public expect to have a level of service from their Civil Service.”
“Some Departments are allowing more to go than others, and constituents have been in touch with me about why the Department for Social Development is not allowing as many people to go as the Department for Employment and Learning. Those are departmental decisions that they believe they can stand over. It is a mixture of all those things, but it is about ensuring that Departments have resilience after the voluntary exit scheme has finished and to make sure that they can continue to deliver and maintain the public service that we expect from them.”
“I made the point that we had devolved the decision to departmental level, and one reason that we did that was because the sheer scale of the exits and the speed with which they needed to happen meant that Departments had to be able to make sure that they would maintain appropriate service delivery. Therefore, we wanted to ensure that essential employees, for example, were exempted from the scheme and wanted to allow Departments to deploy quotas, if that was considered necessary. We did not allow employees to go all in one tranche. <BR /> <BR />As you know, it has been spread across the year, and they will be released over four tranches. As I say, employees are released on a departmental basis.”
“Yes, as much as one can be confident that it will not be challenged by the unions. We engaged, as you would expect, with our lawyers before the scheme was put in place, and, therefore, we very much believe that the legal basis is robust. However, that does not stop others thinking that they may want to challenge, but I believe that we will be able to defend against any challenge that is brought.”
“Essentially, the selection criteria are being applied in order by Department grade, analogous grade and by discipline, where necessary, based on the numbers required by each Department to determine those who will exit under the scheme. The first criterion is the best value for money score, using the least cost, which is upfront compensation payment, and the maximum payback — the resultant wage savings in a one-year period. Where individuals are tied on that criterion, random selection is used thereafter. The decision on which staff are to leave has been devolved to departmental level because we felt that Departments were best placed to make the decisions on the staff that they need.”