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.”
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“It aligns adoption leave with maternity leave and, importantly, prevents situations arising whereby, because neither parent is entitled to adoption leave, the adoption cannot go ahead. Without the measure, a child might not be adopted at all because there is no one available to provide care. Alternatively, a child could remain in care for longer than necessary. <BR /> <BR />The regulations also adjust the right to return to work following paternity or adoption leave to ensure that account is taken of situations in which employees have accessed the new right to shared parental leave. They further make adoption leave available to foster parents who are prospective adopters if they have been notified that a child is to be placed with them as part of a fostering for adoption arrangement.”
“The purpose of the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 is to amend the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 to take account of the policy changes being brought forward in association with the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015. It is the first in a group of regulations that have general application and that include amendments to ensure that the system of shared parental leave and pay operates seamlessly alongside other statutory rights for working parents. <BR /> <BR />The regulations remove the requirement that employees must be employed continuously by their employer for 26 weeks or more before being able to access the right to statutory adoption leave and make statutory adoption leave a day one employment right. That is an important change.”
“I will be much briefer this time, Mr Deputy Speaker. First, I thank the Committee Chair for setting out the Committee's position. I thank him, the Committee staff and all the members for the very expeditious way in which they addressed these very important and very complex regulations. The Chair was right to identify that the regulations are very much at the heart of giving effect to the Act and are where the key detail is contained. I am confident that we got these right. Of course, we remain open to further consideration should that view change over the years ahead. I welcome Mr Rogers's comments endorsing the broad thrust of the Act and on the importance of the regulations to give effect to it.”
“I am also grateful to the Committee for its recommendation that these regulations be confirmed by the Assembly.”
“<BR /> <BR />To qualify for statutory shared parental pay, a parent must pass the continuity of employment test and have earned an average salary of the lower earnings limit of £111 for the eight weeks prior to the fifteenth week before the expected due date or matching date. The other parent in the family must meet the employment and earnings test already outlined in respect of the leave regulations. As with the leave arrangements, employers are of course free to go beyond the statutory minimum pay requirements where they consider that this will benefit the recruitment and retention of employees. <BR /> <BR />I am grateful to the Committee for Employment and Learning and the Examiner of Statutory Rules for their scrutiny of the two statutory rules.”
“An eligible mother or adopter must curtail her entitlement to those statutory payments in order for statutory shared parental pay to become available. She or he may do that, as now, by simply returning to work. Alternatively, she or he may do it by giving a curtailment notice at any specified future date. The curtailment of maternity or adoption leave and pay is facilitated by separate regulations. Statutory shared parental pay is currently paid at £139·58 per week or 90% of an employee's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. If the mother or adopter curtails their entitlement to maternity adoption pay or maternity allowance before they have used their full entitlement, statutory shared parental pay can be claimed for any remaining weeks.”
“Those particular regulations set out the qualifying requirements that must be satisfied by an employee and also by their partner for the employee to qualify for statutory shared parental pay. They also set out the notice and evidence requirements that must be met for employees and agency workers to qualify. <BR /> <BR />Like shared parental leave, shared statutory parental pay can be taken at any time between the birth of a child, or the placement of a child for adoption or with prospective adopters, and the child's first birthday or the first anniversary of the placement. Statutory shared parental pay is comprised of untaken statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance, or untaken statutory adoption pay.”
“However, I do appreciate that the regulations are specific and technical in places. I have no difficulty if Members wish to explore any issues in broader terms, and I will seek to address those issues. <BR /> <BR />I will briefly turn to the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, which are also part of this initial debate. They are also subject to the confirmatory procedure as laid down in the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. <BR /> <BR />The pay regulations, in association with the leave regulations already considered, provide an entitlement for a mother/adopter and a child's father/adoptive parent or a mother's or adopter's partner to take shared parental leave and pay.”
“Those have been well received. Further sessions in association with the Labour Relations Agency and the Equality Commission are scheduled in the next few weeks. <BR /> <BR />I can assure the House that my Department fully appreciates that some employers may experience challenges. My Department is therefore committed to continued engagement with stakeholders as shared parental leave and pay arrangements become embedded. <BR /> <BR />I have attempted to set out for Members the key features of the rights to shared parental leave and pay in respect of the first motion, and I will, over the course of the session, deal separately and succinctly with the provisions of the other regulations as the remaining motions on shared parental leave and pay are put to the House this morning.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst employers have generally been positive about shared parental leave and pay, I do, however, take on board concerns that they have raised about the practical implications of operating the new systems. Those concerns were echoed by the Committee for Employment and Learning, which sought assurances that my Department would engage with employers to ensure that supporting guidance materials meet their needs. <BR /> <BR />The Department has published detailed guidance, which was shared with employers before being finalised. We will continue to work closely with key stakeholders to ensure that all the guidance materials are fit for purpose. My officials have also delivered a number of free seminars on shared parental leave and pay, in conjunction with the Labour Relations Agency, to employers and trade union members.”
“Annually recurring costs of three quarters of a million pounds are expected to be associated with parents exercising the new rights in respect of adoption leave and pay, antenatal appointments, unpaid parental leave and shared parental leave and pay. <BR /> <BR />I want to reiterate what I said on many occasions, namely that these measures are not only good for parents but for business and the economy. By increasing employees' abilities to balance their work and family commitments, the new rights should improve employers' ability to retain their best people. By working with their employees to develop practical plans for sharing leave and pay with a partner, employers may also see key workers being absent for shorter periods of time as shared childcare becomes a social norm.”
“I turn now to the regulatory impact of the measures. The projected set-up and administration costs to employers are relatively small. A regulatory impact assessment, carried out on the basis of the corresponding exercise in Great Britain, has identified only modest costs in respect of the package of new rights for working parents. Across all regulations I bring before the Assembly today, the assessment anticipates one-off transitional costs across all employers totalling £1·5 million, which relates to the cost of management time and changes to payroll and human resources systems in implementing the new right.”
“It is only if she chooses to do so that an eligible mother can now end her statutory maternity leave early and opt to take shared parental leave. As is the case throughout this legislative package, similar provisions also apply to adopters and adoption leave. For fathers, paid paternity leave of two weeks will continue to be available, both to birth fathers and a mother's or adopter's partner.”
“The perception that women are the carers, and therefore the only ones who will be absent from work following childbirth or adoption, need no longer be the accepted norm. Shared parental leave and pay will help challenge hidden prejudices that may adversely impact on women’s career prospects. Likewise, for those men who want to take an active role in childcare, these enhanced legislative provisions now enable them to do so from the point of their child’s birth or placement for adoption. <BR /> <BR />I should highlight that none of this erodes the protections that are already in place for employed mothers. An employed mother will continue to be entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave and 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance.”
“She or he may do this — as is the case now — by simply returning to work, or she or he may do it by giving notice to curtail the leave at a specified future date. The curtailment of maternity or adoption leave and pay is dealt with in separate regulations. As with similar statutory arrangements, employers are free to go beyond the statutory minimum requirements in an effort to attract and retain employees. <BR /> <BR />It is important that I also draw Members’ attention a few wider points. Equality is a key driver behind the shared parental leave and pay package as a whole. The new rights are a contribution to enabling cultural change in how women’s and men’s caring responsibilities are perceived vis-à-vis their role in the workplace.”
“For example, a self-employed parent will not be entitled to take shared parental leave but could still pass the employment and earnings test, allowing the other parent in the family to qualify. <BR /> <BR />The regulations also set out the notice and evidence requirements which must be met for the employee to qualify for shared parental leave. The regulations further specify that shared parental leave can be taken at any time between the birth of a child, or the placement of a child for adoption or with prospective adopters, and must be taken before the child’s first birthday or the first anniversary of the placement. An eligible mother or adopter must cut short maternity or adoption leave for shared parental leave to become available.”
“<BR /> <BR />To meet the continuity of employment test, the person must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks at the end of the fifteenth week before the week in which the child is due — or the week in which an adopter was notified of having been matched with a child for adoption — and must still be employed in the first week that shared parental leave is to be taken. For the employment and earnings test to be met, the person must have worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks leading up to the due date and have earned above the maternity allowance threshold of £30 a week in 13 of the 66 weeks. Where both parents satisfy these tests, they will both be able to share the leave. <BR /> <BR />A family can still use shared parental leave even when only one parent actually meets the eligibility criteria.”
“<BR /> <BR />This particular statutory rule sets out the qualifying requirements that must be satisfied by an employee, and their partner, for the employee to qualify for shared parental leave. The requirements are that the mother or adopter must be entitled to some form of maternity or adoption entitlement, have given notice to cut it short, and share the main responsibility for caring for the child with the named partner. For a parent to be eligible to take shared parental leave, they must be an employee and they must pass what is known as the "continuity of employment test". In turn, the other parent in the family must meet another test known as the "employment and earnings test". I will explain these tests.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Shared Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, which I will refer to in short as the "leave regulations", in association with the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 — the "pay regulations" — provide the main entitlements for a mother, or adopter, and a child’s father, or adoptive parent, or a mother's or adopter’s partner, to take shared parental leave and pay. The rights to shared parental leave and statutory shared parental pay are now statutory rights for employees with a partner who is working, or who has recently been working, whether employed or self-employed. Eligible employees are entitled to share up to 50 weeks of shared parental leave and up to 37 weeks of statutory shared parental pay.”
“In introducing these rights, I have been conscious that we need a system that enables employers to balance the needs of their business with those of the parents working for them. The measures therefore include requirements about what must be included in a leave request; they set defined notice periods; they cap the number of employee notifications for leave; and they allow employers to refuse requests for multiple separate periods of leave — that is to say, periods of leave broken up by time back at work. Much of the operational detail of shared parental leave and pay is set out in this first set of regulations, which are the subject of this motion.”
“The legislative package, taken as a whole, enables eligible working parents to share leave and pay entitlement in respect of children due to be born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April. Parents are now able to share leave in a way that was not possible before. The system is flexible in that it permits both parents to return to work for periods during their leave, taking time off in separate blocks. It also allows parents to be off work alternately or at that same time, depending on the needs of the family.”
“In addition to dealing with those broad policy questions, the consultation invited specific input on the administration of any new system. The 28 substantive responses to the consultation showed substantial support for extending shared parental leave and pay to Northern Ireland and for broader entitlement to request flexible working. It was on that basis that I introduced the Work and Families Bill in April last year and, with Members’ support, secured Royal Assent to the resulting Act of the Assembly in January. <BR /> <BR />It subsequently fell to officials to prepare and make operational the associated regulations to enable working parents in Northern Ireland to access the new entitlements from April of this year.”
“A further two statutory rules have been made by the Department for Social Development, and I thank that Department for its assistance in introducing this ambitious package of new rights for working families. <BR /> <BR />By way of brief background, the policy to which the regulations give effect was the subject of full public consultation in 2013. At the time, my Department asked for views on whether it would be appropriate to extend to Northern Ireland the system of shared parental leave and pay that was then proposed in Great Britain. The consultation also asked whether alternative options would be appropriate and sought views on the extension to all employees with 26 weeks’ service of the right to request flexible working.”
“I believe that it will be helpful if I provide Members with a brief reminder of the background and context to the changes associated with the Act. This will be relevant to the consideration of all 11 regulations that I will bring before the Assembly today. <BR /> <BR />To many Members the detail will, of course, be familiar, given the relatively recent passage of the Act. Related sets of regulations have been grouped in order to assist Members. Members should note that the remaining statutory rules forming part of the overall legislative package brought forward by my Department are subject either to the negative procedure or, in the case of the order commencing the provisions of the Act, to no Assembly procedure.”
“I will address this and the subsequent regulation. <BR /> <BR />I seek the Assembly’s approval of the Shared Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, which are subject to the confirmatory procedure as laid down in the parent legislation, the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. They were made on 2 March 2015 and came into operation on 15 March 2015. The regulations need to be considered as part of a larger set of 24 associated statutory rules that together provide for significant enhancements to current employment rights for new working parents. The enhanced provisions have been made possible by the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, which received Royal Assent in January of this year.”
“I think that I said in response to a number of Members that we are happy in principle to take forward a consultation on that. I appreciate the arguments that have been made for it, but there are some contrary arguments about administration and students' ability to spend money up front on some of the costs that they face. Two opposing viewpoints need to be considered, but we are certainly happy to test it as part of a consultation. If appropriate and if time permits, yes, we will look to deliver change within this mandate.”
“We would need to see the text of that amendment before we could reach a judgement on whether we would support it.”
“Obviously, the universities are not directly run by the Department. We are a primary funder of theirs, and we can develop a higher education strategy. The investigation of complaints of maladministration is certainly worth considering. As the legislation that the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister is bringing forward progresses, the House will no doubt discuss that in much greater depth over the coming weeks.”
“I imagine that I will incur the Speaker's wrath by going on for half an hour to set out virtually everything that we do as a Department. Let me say briefly that the Department as a whole is focused entirely on investing in skills and bringing people closer to the labour market, whether that be through apprenticeships and youth training or what we do through the colleges, higher education institutions and universities. It is all about making the economy much more efficient, matching supply and demand better and ensuring that we have more high-level skills and a stronger footprint in STEM subjects.”
“<BR /> <BR />While I am on the subject, I pay particular tribute to Bill McGinnis, who is the outgoing Northern Ireland skills commissioner and skills adviser, for his sterling work on behalf of Northern Ireland over the past number of years, not only through that skills role but through a whole range of other public-service roles.”
“We do ongoing work with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. I appointed Mark Huddleston to fulfil an important role on behalf of the Department and Northern Ireland. In recent years, the commission has undergone a major review by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Its remit has been endorsed, but, at the same time, narrowed. It is more about research and advocacy issues than direct service delivery. It is important that, in particular, we learn lessons from what is happening in other jurisdictions and take advantage of that research base.”
“<BR /> <BR />As for other mitigating measures, we need to continue to pay regard to what is happening in Great Britain on employment law while using devolution to find local solutions that carry support across the community. <BR /> <BR />On a more encouraging note, we have, in the past, had good cooperation between the skills Ministers in the four nations. I would like to think that, under the new Administration, that type of collaborative approach will continue on skills and qualifications.”
“I am happy to continue to make representations to the Home Office and others. Our universities feel very strongly about the issue, as do universities elsewhere in the UK. It does not make a lot of sense. We have a situation whereby two narratives are cutting across each other. One is based on a tougher immigration policy, and the other is about economic growth. I want to focus on economic growth. <BR /> <BR />In a similar vein, the potential withdrawal from the European Union that is now on the cards would have a dramatic impact on Northern Ireland, not only on the economy in a general sense but on the financing that we receive from Europe through, for example, the European social fund and the specific support that we receive through Peace moneys. We also need to be mindful of that.”
“I fear that that may get worse in the immediate future.”
“There may well be some opportunities from new approaches around, for example, tax incentives for employers around apprenticeships, or, indeed, other funding schemes that we may be able to draw on. Equally, I am concerned about what could become a much more radical approach to employment law with its deregulation. That would be out of keeping with the approach that we take in Northern Ireland, where we try to balance the interests of employees and employers and create a more harmonious approach. <BR /> <BR />I am also concerned about the approach that has been taken on immigration. We are very keen to ensure that we can attract overseas students to our colleges and that we are able to retain them in our economy. That economic rationale has been rather undercut by the approach taken on immigration by the UK Government to date.”
“I thank the Member for that question. I suppose that, while we are on the subject of congratulations, we should first congratulate David Cameron and his colleagues on their return before we turn to slate them on the impact of a number of their decisions. All of us have immediate concerns about the impact of what may be deeper spending cuts to the Northern Ireland block grant, as well as the impact on the rest of the UK and the implications for investment in skills that will arise from the cuts. <BR /> <BR />I note that, although we are seeing an overall economic recovery across the UK, it is one that still features relatively low productivity, and the best way of addressing productivity is through investment in skills. Therefore, there is a very strong imperative across the UK as a whole to continue investing in skills.”
“As much as I would like to answer the Member in the affirmative, it is simply not possible to give that type of assurance. We are facing extremely difficult and challenging cuts across all my Department's service areas, including the further education colleges. We are trying to be as strategic as we can in how we approach things and with the future work of colleges themselves. They will want to ensure that, consistent with the emerging further education strategy, they are able to focus their resources, including staffing, on areas that are most relevant to the economic development of Northern Ireland and the particular areas that they service.”
“First, I congratulate the Member on his election to Parliament last week. <BR /> <BR />I am very keen to avoid compulsory redundancies, but we should raise the issue in the following context. First, departmental job reductions are based entirely on the voluntary exit scheme. We are conscious, however, that we fund our colleges and universities. We are in an advanced situation with a particular voluntary exit scheme for the further education sector. Again, that is based on voluntary exit. Universities' relationship with the Department is of a slightly different nature, but, again, I am hopeful that they will address the necessary and unfortunate issue of staffing through means other than compulsory redundancies.”
“I certainly encourage the Member to speak to her party's Ministers on the Executive to ensure that we can get things moving so that we can get the Bill into the Assembly and have a proper discussion on the matter.”
“We are doing some work on mapping the use of zero-hours contracts in Northern Ireland. Not every company or organisation engages in them. Indeed, when zero-hours contracts are deployed, they are deployed in a range of different settings, and people's attitudes to them will be different depending on their personal circumstances. They are more prevalent, for example, in the tourism and hospitality sector and in health and social care. We are not seeing a situation in which they are more prevalent in large businesses than small businesses. If anything, SMEs depend more on the flexibility from the employer's perspective that comes from zero-hours contracts. Hopefully, when legislation comes before the Assembly, we can have proper, full discussions around the issue.”
“Yes, I have had engagement with trade unions on a range of aspects of employment law. The Member will appreciate that a Bill has been drafted, and, hopefully, we will shortly get approval from the Executive to introduce it. We also have a paper with the Executive, for which we are awaiting approval to enable us to take forward a range of legislative interventions to regulate zero-hours contracts in Northern Ireland. I would like to think that it will be signed off by the Executive in the very near future.”
“As long as Mr Kennedy is paying, I am happy to raise the issue with him.”
“I am not entirely clear what the Member means by "educational evenings". I know that, over the next number of weeks, we are running a number of events involving parents on the importance of good careers advice and the opportunities that exist. They will occur at a number of particular points across Northern Ireland. If that is what the Member is asking, my answer is that we are certainly happy to review the success, or otherwise, of that initiative and see whether we can expand it to other parts of Northern Ireland, including the Member's constituency.”
“Sorry, I missed the question. Could you repeat it?”
“I am not able to give figures for the individual organisations. They could be collated through any HR1 forms that come through showing redundancies. However, some organisations might be doing different work as well, so it is not entirely clean to disaggregate the job losses that come from not being funded. I again stress that, while we have the unfortunate situation that some organisations lose money and staff, equally, jobs are being created in other organisations elsewhere in the community and voluntary sector because we have expanded funds. Different organisations are taking forward projects from those under the previous round.”
“All organisations were judged on their merits. I am satisfied that we have a reasonable geographical balance across Northern Ireland, including west Belfast, which factors in the degree of deprivation in that area compared with some other parts of Northern Ireland. While we cannot guarantee an outcome for particular organisations, overall we have to recognise that the programme has delivered, and we are talking about an expanded programme over the next seven years, compared with what happened previously. We are talking not about cuts but about more money being spent through the different strands of the fund. What we cannot guarantee and manage is that particular organisations will be winners compared with others in a process that is judged on the merit of the applications coming forward.”
“First, I am happy to meet groups to discuss the outcome of the process, but let me clear, as I was in my original answer: we have listed a large number of projects that will be working in the West Belfast constituency. When the Member talks about organisations that have lost their funding, it is important that he and, indeed, the House bear in mind that this is an open and competitive process. While some of the groups that went into this may well have had pre-existing funding from the fund, there was no guarantee — nor, indeed, should anyone have had the expectation — of continued funding from what is a competitive process.”
“The funding will help individuals to fulfil their potential by giving them better skills and job prospects. Specifically, the programme will support over 10,000 young people not in education, employment or training; 24,742 participants who are unemployed or economically inactive; and 7,266 people with a disability. Additionally, the programme will provide assistance to 2,340 families. <BR /> <BR />Despite a challenging process and time frame, the Department has been able to complete the ESF assessment process to allow funding to be offered from 1 April.”
“There was insufficient funding to offer all applicants who had scored above the quality threshold. <BR /> <BR />Of the organisations indicating that they wish to deliver provision in West Belfast, seven applicants have been offered funding in the youth priority, eight in the unemployed and inactive priority, and nine in the disability priority. Sixty of the successful applicants were from the community and voluntary sector, with the remaining applicants coming from the statutory or private sectors. Funding to the community and voluntary sector equates to approximately 92% of the total offered. <BR /> <BR />The new programme aims to further drive up skill levels, and this investment in projects across Northern Ireland will provide opportunities to people who face the greatest barriers to work and learning.”
“Mr Speaker, with your permission, I wish to group questions 5, 6, 7 and 9 — I would have included questions 8 and 11 as well, if the Members were here. I request an additional minute for the answer. <BR /> <BR />The European social fund (ESF) is an open and competitive funding programme. Following the conclusion of the most recent application assessment process, the Department offered funding to 68 applicants. That funding equates to over £112·6 million for the first three years of a seven-year programme. Organisations will receive contributions in the form of 40% from the European Commission, 25% from DEL and 35% from private or public sector match funding. <BR /> <BR />As £180 million worth of applications were originally submitted to the programme, it was inevitable that the Department could not fund all applications.”