Stephen Farry
North Down · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Speaking for a party that has a longer pedigree in advocating a public inquiry than both the DUP and Sinn Féin, I nonetheless welcome this announcement, despite the torturous path that we have had and, indeed, the missed opportunities.”
“The first was a reform of the petition of concern to take it back to the original intent when it was designed in 1998. It was clear at that stage that Arlene Foster banged the table and said, "No, never. We are not doing that. That is a way whereby we are going to have to fold on equal marriage: it's not happening".”
“<BR /> <BR />The main points that I make concern the substance of the order. There are probably three aspects that the Minister needs to address properly before the Assembly, and they really relate to what other options he has.”
“That raises the question of why they want to go as far as 2022, especially when I am not sure — I would welcome any clarification to the contrary on it — that there has been formal Executive approval of this.”
“<BR /> <BR />There are three major substantive issues that I do not believe have been properly aired on this: VAT; European Commission infraction proceedings; and, most important, the opportunity foregone to revisit the classification of Northern Ireland Water and the ability, through a separate water charge, to allow it to borrow commerc…”
“While my party was supportive of the Good Friday Agreement back in 1998, at that time, we expressed some reservations around the very detailed nature of the proposals and how those could, in due course, destabilise Northern Ireland and prevent us from realising our full potential. We have been very much vindicated in that analysis.”
The complete record
Every one of 2,504 lines we hold for Stephen Farry, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 25 of 51.
“As the Member will appreciate, it is still early days with the new Horizon 2020 programme. As I mentioned earlier, we have put in place a framework of Northern Ireland contact points across my Department, DETI, Invest Northern Ireland, DARD, the Department of Justice and possibly the Department of the Environment — although I stand to be corrected — to ensure that we are maximising the potential to draw down funds. <BR /> <BR />I am particularly conscious that our universities have, historically, been the main source of the drawdown in previous rounds, including FP7, and that is the situation at present. We have drawn down just over €15 million, of which about €11 million can be identified with the universities.”
“There are other forms in which we are looking at student flows. Ultimately, the solution lies in trying to encourage a better two-way flow on the island. Indeed, we may well see a greater specialisation by universities around some of their relevant strengths and the development of a more natural, larger market for students, allowing a better use of resources in both jurisdictions.”
“One aspect that will feature in the Big Conversation is the funding model that exists in the Republic of Ireland. Again, in that model, there is mixed reliance on contributions from students and contributions from the state. The balance there is probably closer to our existing model in Northern Ireland, even though that model is not sustainable, in contrast to what we are seeing in Scotland and England.”
“A joint report was published on 15 June that shows, amongst other things, that applications from Northern Ireland students to Irish institutions have been increasing since 2010. The report will be used to inform future policy development. <BR /> <BR />My officials and I continue to work closely with our counterparts in the South on this and other cross-border issues.”
“To help to improve learner information, careers teachers and advisers have received additional training on the higher education opportunities available in the Republic of Ireland and on the Central Applications Office processes. Extensive information on Northern Ireland’s higher education sector is now available through the NI Direct portal. <BR /> <BR />The Irish Universities Association recently announced changes to the Central Applications Office points system to improve access for A-level students studying three subjects. <BR /> <BR />My officials have been working with officials in the Department of Education and Skills to research and analyse cross-border student flows.”
“I am committed to improving cross-border student mobility. In accordance with EU treaty obligations, my Department funds further and higher education provision in Northern Ireland for all EU-domiciled students. The Department also contributes to the UK-wide promotion of the ERASMUS+ programme, which encourages the mobility of information, skills and people across the educational sectors in Northern Ireland and our European neighbours. Our further and higher education sectors have an excellent record in securing funding for mobility through this avenue. <BR /> <BR />The project group, which was established as part of my Department’s higher education strategy to facilitate cross-border cooperation in teaching and learning and student mobility, continues to make progress in a number of areas.”
“It has supported our ApprenticeshipsNI programme and Training for Success, and, as we look to our new systems under the new strategies for apprenticeships and youth training, the European social fund, as set out in the operational programme, will be there to provide assistance for them as well.”
“It is important that we recognise that the European social fund is a great asset to Northern Ireland. It is a positive reflection on our membership of the European Union and allows us to do things that we could not do otherwise. It allows us to go further in bringing people closer to the labour market and promoting social inclusion. There is a particular focus on things like economic inactivity, working with young people who are not in education, employment and training and also working with people with disabilities. We have a reach and an ability to deliver under the European social fund that we would not have otherwise. It also allows my Department to support further our work on apprenticeships and on youth training.”
“Secondly, we have not made cuts to the European social fund programme that have impacted community and voluntary groups on the ground. The programme that we unveiled for 2014-2020 is bigger than the outgoing programme. Thirdly, concerns have been expressed about match funding and whether groups will be able to access match funding from a range of sources, given the impact of budget cuts. As a Department, we have tried to plug as many gaps as we can and are actually spending more on match funding this time than previously, including moving from the 25% that we traditionally funded for the European social fund to meeting, when we received applications, some claims for a share of 35% of programme costs.”
“That will probably also suffer from the current political impasse. I am, however, aware of discussions in the Executive in slightly happier times a few months ago about how the Executive could be more proactive in assisting the community and voluntary sector in a coordinated way. In particular, there was concern that Departments, as they tried to manage a very challenging situation, should not simply dump cuts on the community and voluntary sector, and we took a strategic approach to that. <BR /> <BR />For my part, I want to make a couple of points very clear. First, I fully endorse and respect the role the community and voluntary sector plays in assisting government to deliver a range of services. In some areas, the sector is better placed than the state to produce outcomes.”
“At the moment, I am not even sure of the status of OFMDFM, never mind what it is doing on any work on how it can assist the community and voluntary sector.”
“That means that, rather than waiting for the full vouching of claims to have occurred, at a risk being borne by my Department, partial accelerated payments were made to ensure that they had cash flow.”
“I do not think that the delays in themselves have had an impact on future provision because, in essence, we had two parallel processes in operation: one was the incoming programme for 2014-2020, and the second was the closure of the 2007-2013 programme. Decisions were made on the incoming programme at the end of March this year. Obviously, there have been delays in the closure of the programme, and I have been frustrated with a number of issues in the performance of my Department. One of the things that we did in response to that, mindful of the impact that was being felt by a number of organisations, was to put in place the system of accelerated payments.”
“My Department wrote to those organisations on 12 August encouraging them to submit their outstanding claims. That will enable my Department to process and pay those claims to the organisations as soon as possible. <BR /> <BR />In July 2015, my Department released £4·51 million in advance partial payments to ESF project promoters to help ease the financial pressures being incurred by the organisations. My Department is in the closure phase of the programme, which ended in March 2015, and is, therefore, committed to having the claims processed as quickly as possible.”
“There were 84 community and voluntary sector projects funded through the European social fund programme. The projects could submit their claims on either a monthly or quarterly basis, resulting in up to 1,000 claims for each year of the programme. Funding for the community and voluntary sector over the last four years of the programme was almost £102 million, equating to just over £25 million annually. Of the £102 million, my officials have processed financial claims with a value of nearly £91 million to date. <BR /> <BR />My Department is in receipt of and processing claims received from the community and voluntary sector with a potential value of just under £9 million. There are also a number of outstanding claims with a potential value of £2·15 million for those organisations.”
“No, not at this stage. We would not necessarily expect to see one, because this will be in effect from the 2016-17 academic year. There are discussions ongoing in the university about exactly how it handles this.”
“That is being implemented, and, notwithstanding the current challenges with budget, we are still working through those projects. Indeed, a number of those projects have now been concluded.”
“Universities are autonomous bodies; they are not NDPBs. There is the false assumption that they operate under a similar governance structure to a range of other public bodies. However, the state provides them with considerable funding. We interact with them through a number of areas. With regard to their funding each year, a funding letter sets out a number of expectations, and within that we have focused on the protection of STEM, how they can interact with the apprenticeship strategy and our expectations on widening participation. We also have in place Graduating to Success, a higher education strategy that was published in April 2012. That remains a live document, and it was devised in cooperation with all our higher education institutions.”
“At this stage, the announcements that have been made are in the context of the cuts that have made. As those cuts are in the baseline of the Department, the universities will project that ahead. As we meet today, it is worth noting that we are literally only a matter of weeks away from decisions having to be made by the Executive on a draft Budget for the 2016-17 financial year, although that is presupposing that we get through the issues about managing the existing 2015-16 Budget, which, as Members will know, is considerably out of balance. Within that, it remains to be seen what direction we will take for funding for higher education. In the context that decisions deteriorate ever further and have an impact on funding, there may be a further impact on student places and the ability to retain staff.”
“We are also looking to see what we can do to draw more money down from Horizon 2020. The Member will know that we have a contact point in place in conjunction with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. We have dedicated people to assist with applications to the European Union and are seeing some very positive developments in that regard. Those are some of the things that are happening across the universities. Ultimately, if people think that simply passing it on to the private sector to fill the void will somehow allow us to duck the fundamental challenge of resolving how the state interacts with the universities, they are deluding themselves. That is the core issue and where the key aspect needs to be addressed.”
“First, I welcome Sinn Féin's conversion to the free market. The best way that the universities can prosper is not through state funding; they need to go out and find money from the private sector. Of course, there has to be a balance between a range of funding sources, including the state, and greater access to private funding. We see that happening in areas such as knowledge transfer through programmes such as Connected and the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). It is also worth noting that the business community interaction of our local universities is, proportionally, well in excess of our population share in the United Kingdom. That is an area in which our universities have been very proactive. <BR /> <BR />There is scope for improvement in our ability to access research funding from the UK research councils.”
“There is a particular issue with modern languages, and we need to see what other provision can be made, particularly how we can use the academy model that we devised under our Assured Skills programme to see whether we can address some of the very particular business requirements for languages that companies have identified.”
“Let me be very clear: we are in difficulties with how we ensure that we live up to the ambitions of the agreed economic strategy of the Executive. We know that skills are the key driver behind the transformation of the economy that we want to see, and, very sadly, we are de-investing in our skills offer across a range of fronts. Any loss of university places means that we are offering fewer locally provided higher-level skills, and that is detrimental to our economy. <BR /> <BR />We will act strategically to try to protect the areas that are most relevant to the needs of our economy, and it is in that context that we made the request to the universities to protect the narrow STEM subjects, given that those have been particularly cited by local companies and investors.”
“First, I would have thought that a very experienced Deputy Speaker would know the rules about supplementary questions being relevant to the original question. However, given that he has mentioned the wider political scene, let me address that. The actions taken by my party were about creating stability to allow the context for talks to occur, and the fact that we are currently having talks about talks vindicates that in some respects. The situation that we face is one of huge uncertainty. That said, I continue in my role as Minister, and I am fully committed to delivering on my responsibilities in all my functions on skills and employability. I am certainly not sitting on my hands today or, indeed, any other day.”
“That action alone has probably managed to save a couple of hundred places in each of Queen's University and Ulster University. <BR /> <BR />Ultimately, the decisions to be made are for the university to make based on a number of factors. I am certainly conscious that they have approached this in a strategic manner. Obviously, a number of course closures will spark a reaction. Indeed, all course closures should spark a reaction, but it is important that what lies beneath those decisions is analysed in greater depth, such as the factors around things like enrolment levels and where students are coming from.”
“First of all, let me stress that there have been ongoing discussions between me and senior officials in both universities and at official level on how we plan for the cuts. The decision has not been taken in a vacuum. In particular, there were a number of aspects of those discussions. We have focused on the desire to protect narrow STEM subjects, which are the science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects. We have also had discussions about how we can give the universities some ability to free up how they use their resources with a view to maximising the number of student places that are retained. It was in that context that we reduced the minimum requirement of spend of additional fee income on widening participation from 25% to 10%.”
“It is a reflection of the current budget position that this has led Ulster University to close some courses and to consolidate others. In relation to the business case for staff redundancies, my Department does not have a role in approving business cases for redundancies at Coleraine, Magee or indeed any other Ulster University campus.”
“<BR /> <BR />I understand that the university will rationalise its offerings across its campuses, with Coleraine specialising in biosciences and Magee in computing, engineering and Irish history. The university has already indicated the scale of the job losses and the loss of places in the current academic year and over future years. The size of the cuts is a clear indication of the severity of the budget reductions faced by my Department, the university and the higher education sector. <BR /> <BR />Before making decisions on course provision and staffing levels, the universities take a number of factors into account, including my Department's priorities, the needs of the economy and student demand. Reviewing course provision is part of the normal annual cycle and is good business practice.”
“While my Department provides funding and sets the strategic direction for the higher education sector, universities are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own course provision and staffing levels. During the discussions, I highlighted the need to reflect the ambitions of the Executive and the objectives of the Department, including the protection of narrow STEM subjects. To provide the university with some flexibility and to help mitigate the impact of the budget reduction, I have reduced the minimum requirement for direct expenditure on widening participation to 10% of the additional student fee income. That reinvestment of student fee income is undertaken to promote widening participation through outreach activities and support to less advantaged students.”
“Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, with your permission, I wish to group questions 3 and 13 and would like to request an additional minute for the answer. <BR /> <BR />Following publication of the Executive's draft budget in November 2014, my Department published a consultation outlining the possible impact on a wide range of functions and services across the Department as well as the potential impact on the universities and colleges, including a likely reduction in student places and staff numbers. Following that consultation, efforts were made to mitigate the cuts to the higher education sector. The cuts to the universities were the last resort to balance the overall budget. <BR /> <BR />I have had ongoing discussions with Ulster University on the possible implications of those substantial budget reductions.”
“My officials and I have had discussions about that with our counterparts in DARD over the years, although it has not been a live issue on our agenda for the past 12 to 18 months. That reflects the sad financial reality in which we sit. <BR /> <BR />The Member can take from my answer that, while some work has been done in this area, it is not currently being taken forward. In the context of facing cutbacks, an investment of that type is not deemed affordable.”
“No doubt, universities are also doing that in how they plan and work their way through a challenging situation.”
“In terms of the first aspect of what the Member says, as part of the response to the challenging funding situation, the university has responded in a strategic way by trying to create an identity for each of its campuses. The Coleraine campus has been identified in terms of life and biological sciences. In principle, what the Member says would be consistent with that vision. <BR /> <BR />However, I stress to her the high cost involved in veterinary places. If it was decided to redirect resources in that direction, that would have a disproportionate impact on the provision of other courses. In a crude sense, for every veterinary place you put in place you may have to sacrifice almost two other types of subject places, so we have to be conscious of the emerging needs of our economy.”
“The Ulster University first proposed establishing a veterinary school in 2013 and commenced the preparation of a business case to support it. However, a full business case has not been presented to my Department. There have been no discussions with the university on this matter since June 2014. <BR /> <BR />Veterinary science is one of the highest-cost courses to fund, and there is no shortfall forecast in the number of vets until at least 2020. In the current financial climate, when funding for higher education institutions has been reduced and undergraduate places withdrawn, it is very unlikely that funding will be made available for veterinary science courses in the short to medium term.”
“We are now, very sadly, as I just mentioned, at the stage where we have a strategy in place, but, due to other factors, there is no money available to invest in it.”
“First of all, I welcome the Member to the House. However, I also remind him that his party sat in my Department for a full four-year period without doing anything about economic inactivity — indeed, at a time of relative plenty in the resources available to us. <BR /> <BR />The economic inactivity figures have been bouncing around in the same zone for the past 30 years. We have had a structural problem of economic inactivity in the region of 27% since the mid-1980s. That has persisted, irrespective of the ups and downs of the business cycle, through the boom times of prosperity about 10 years ago and the difficulties with the recent recession and downturn. <BR /> <BR />This is a major structural problem. It was identified in the Programme for Government, and we have worked diligently to produce the strategy.”
“Pilots were going to take place on a geographical basis, and that obviously means a lot of pilots concentrated in the north-west. That work has not commenced because of the wrangles around budgets and, yes, again, the welfare reform impasse.”
“Had the situation been different in relation to our public finances, that would be moving ahead. We know that we not only have higher levels of unemployment in the north-west but some of the highest levels of economic inactivity in the United Kingdom.”
“I hear laughter coming from the SDLP Benches on the notion of not mentioning welfare reform, but let us mention welfare reform because it is there and it is a reality. The fact that we are now years into this current impasse is bleeding the Executive dry, and the money is not there for us to invest in helping the vulnerable people of Northern Ireland. It is time that we moved from the blinkered approach we have had from some parties and started doing sensible things that will help people across this society. <BR /> <BR />There are things that I would like to do, including on a geographical basis. Let me give you one clear example. We have an economic inactivity strategy that was agreed by the Executive in April 2015 but work on that has not commenced because there is no budget available for it.”
“Once again, we are seeing money being, very sadly, stripped out of schemes and projects that can help people gain a foothold in employment because of a very single-minded approach to handling these issues.”
“If anything, they are bringing their experience from other jurisdictions to bear in the Northern Ireland situation. However, the model we are applying in Northern Ireland has been shaped to meet our own particular circumstances. <BR /> <BR />In response to the first part of the Member's question, I, absolutely, want to do more for the long-term unemployed. While we are seeing our claimant count situation improve, the percentage of people within that who are falling into the long-term unemployed category is increasing and that is, absolutely, of concern to me. I am further concerned that I do not have access to resources at present for us to invest in this type of intervention, due to the budgetary impasse and the ongoing problems around a lack of agreement on welfare reform.”
“Let me break that down into two elements. I understand that the second half of what he is saying is an allusion to the Steps 2 Success programme. In that regard, it is important to bear in mind that they are there to provide a function on behalf of the economy in Northern Ireland and our wider society by helping the long-term unemployed back into employment. They have been set some very challenging targets, and we are looking to see a step up to a good level of performance from the Steps to Work programme. That will be assessed in due course once we have a critical mass of people going through to allow us to draw conclusions as to how that programme is working. <BR /> <BR />Just because the contractors may come from outside Northern Ireland is not a reason for dismissing their ability.”
“Steps 2 Success contractors agree a progression to employment plan with each participant that identifies how they will work together to find and sustain employment for the individual. Participants will be on the programme for an initial period of 12 or 18 months, depending on the client group. Participants who remain unemployed at that point will avail themselves of a further six-month period of front-line support followed by another 12 months on Steps 2 Success. I can confirm that my officials continuously review the provision in place to support all clients, including the long-term unemployed.”
“In light of the current budgetary position, my Department does not have funding for any new initiatives to support the long-term unemployed. That said, there is already a range of provision in place to assist the long-term unemployed. In the first instance, a jobseeker will receive assistance from staff in our front-line offices. Enhancements have been made to this service, including additional training for front-line staff to assist clients and improve their job search skills and completion of application forms as well as developing work readiness. <BR /> <BR />In addition, at the point a jobseeker becomes long-term unemployed, they are eligible for participation on the Steps 2 Success programme.”
“In between, I welcome Members engaging through the various social media channels, using the citizen space portal that will be used as part of this Big Conversation and engaging in other media-type conversations. It is important that we try to reach a consensus. <BR /> <BR />Given the nature of our government, it is important that we do not have one party going off on its own, making decisions. This is so fundamental that there has to be a consensus that we can sustain over a number of different Assembly terms.”
“What is important is to realise that the current situation is not sustainable; it is broken. We need to find an alternative that works for Northern Ireland, and we need to find that alternative within the next number of months as we look ahead to the next funding review. It is important that we have that discussion. <BR /> <BR />I encourage MLAs to engage in the process. We will be discussing the matter with the Employment and Learning Committee tomorrow. I will be back to make a further statement at the conclusion of stage 1 as we move into stage 2, and, again, there will be opportunities for Members to engage further at that point.”
“I thank the Member for his question. His analysis is consistent with what we have set out already in today's statement. The Big Conversation is meant to include everyone, and that includes MLAs. As the process moves towards the final stages, the audience becomes the Executive. Strictly speaking, the Assembly has not taken a vote on the freezing of tuition fees; it was a decision taken in the Executive. Obviously, given the make-up of the Assembly, that decision was supported by all of the five parties represented on the Executive and, of course, in the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />Let me be very clear that this is not about a bipolar choice between having fees or not having fees. Those are options, and it is important to acknowledge that all options have to be on the table, but there are other ways in which we can do this.”
“There is a whole range of different options, and it is important that we find the one that is most appropriate for our particular circumstances in Northern Ireland. That is why devolution is important. As I am coming to the end of this question time, I want to say that we should appreciate that devolution allows us to make these choices and, given the current context, that is very much in doubt. If we want to have control of our own destiny around higher education, it is important that we have devolution.”
“For those societies or regions that want to go down the route along the lines of the Scottish model, there are challenges of having a realistic assessment of what is required to make sure that that model is successful. We also see different models elsewhere in Europe. Obviously, the Nordic countries have a very strong focus around free higher education. Fees are charged in other countries around the world, for example the United States and, more recently, Australia. Other countries have mixed models. <BR /> <BR />There are questions around the size of our higher education footprint and whether we achieve higher-level skills through a different mix of vocational and academic provision, or whether we retain the current approach, which is heavily skewed towards academic.”
“Often the debate is focused by reference to what is happening in England, with the assumption that we will more or less follow what is happening there. If we look at what is happening in Scotland, we see that the Scottish Government have almost written it in stone — they have literally written it in stone — that they will not increase tuition fees. They have free tuition for their local students, never mind the £3,500 that our students have to pay in Northern Ireland. So, even within these islands, we see two very different models. There are some drawbacks to the Scottish model. The level of public investment probably does not keep up with the level of investment that comes from the mix of public and private funding that universities receive in England.”