Jennifer McCann
West Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“I have listened to the answers that you have given. What steps will you and your Department take to address the issue? As you mentioned, quite a percentage of schools are failing to meet the entitlement framework requirements. What actual steps will your Department take?”
“I begin by echoing what my two colleagues said: we will oppose the motion and support the DUP amendment. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the general direction of travel of the draft area plan. It puts the needs of children and young people at the heart of the planning process.”
“I want to say again — we have had this in debates — about the excellent results in my constituency of West Belfast in educational outcomes. It clearly shows that, when the right intervention is made in those areas, the children shine and their potential comes through.”
“It is not just about their academic achievements but about giving them the skills to deal with life's problems and difficulties. <BR /> <BR />The plan also seeks to close the attainment gap. That issue should be of great concern to all of us and the wider community.”
“I hope that in the final area planning it will be. I have seen it at first hand with programmes like New Start in west Belfast. We all want children to go to mainstream education, but, for whatever reason, mainstream education just does not suit some children's needs and does not do it for them.”
“It is not just about school buildings, but school buildings sometimes can be crucial, particularly in an area where, for instance, they do not have sporting facilities in a school. The Minister will be aware of the campaign in the Colin area of west Belfast for a new school.”
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“In a previous answer, the Minister mentioned widening the criteria. I know that priority has to be given to families who are most disadvantaged and in need. In the last mandate, there was a call to look at working family tax credits being considered, as they are benefits for families who have a low income even though they are working. Has the Minister any plans to widen the criteria to include working family tax credits?”
“I thank the Minister. Given the importance of investment in a child's early years for personal and social development, and the fact that that impacts on their attainment at GCSE, will the Minister explain why he has withdrawn funding from two Irish-medium primary schools when he could have funded them from his departmental allocation?”
“I also welcome the Minister to his first Question Time. I know that grass cutting has been a big issue in urban and rural areas, but will he outline the effect June monitoring will have on all areas of road maintenance? Does he believe that cross-departmental working would help?”
“That is what will impact on ordinary people and families.”
“There is not any certainty; that is why I am speaking the way I am. The community and voluntary sector —”
“I think that it will. A lot of the victims and survivors money comes from Europe as well. This will impact really seriously on ordinary people. I plead with people in the Chamber to speak with a united voice and to show leadership. Communities and families are very concerned about their services, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are very concerned. I make a plea that we speak with a unified voice.”
“That money brought those young people together in that space so that they could go out and help people in a different country.”
“We saw young people, women's organisations and local communities availing themselves of them. They helped to build spaces for people to come together, even in constituencies like West Belfast, and I see Members on other Benches who represent West Belfast. <BR /> <BR />There was a small youth organisation, R City, from the Hammer on the Shankill and Ardoyne. Those two sets of young people came together in a neutral place, and they went out to South Africa to help other underprivileged children and those less fortunate than themselves. My DUP colleague, who was junior Minister at the time, and I went out to visit the organisation. Some of those young people, who were 15 and 16 years of age, had never come together to meet somebody from a different community background.”
“Do you really believe — does anybody in the Chamber believe — that the money that will not go to Europe will come here? Does anybody seriously believe that? Look at the Tory austerity programmes and policies that have already been put in place: how can anyone seriously get up today and say that the community services that will go because structural funds, Peace funds and the ESF have gone will be replaced? I certainly do not believe that, and I am not convinced by anything that I have heard today. <BR /> <BR />I just want to touch on the voluntary and community sector. Peace moneys have been here since 2007, and we thought that they would be here until 2020 at least, although they might not now. Those moneys were to build positive relationships between our communities.”
“This morning, I visited a community organisation in west Belfast. It has services for children with severe disabilities and complex needs. It helps to support the families of those children as well. It is organisations and groups like that and the services that they deliver that will be impacted, not the people that you are grandstanding about or the great empire that you are talking about. It is about ordinary people on the street: children with disabilities and their families, women's organisations and community organisations right across the piece in constituencies represented by everyone in the Chamber. <BR /> <BR />We know that the cuts that have already come to those community and voluntary organisations will be worse after this result.”
“That said, I want to break this down to the actual realities, because sometimes a dose of reality is needed in a debate like this.”
“I have been listening to the debate since I came into the Chamber. Really, we are listening to a lot of grandstanding. We are listening to a lot of people who are saying that this is a victory for the ordinary person on the street and the ordinary person in society, and everything else. I am confused, and I do not know what people out there are thinking when they are listening in, if they are listening in, or will be listening to this later. The people who we should be talking about in the Chamber today are those who live in the North of Ireland. We should be talking about the people who voted to remain, not those who voted to leave, because the people who elected us and who we represent are the people who live in the North of Ireland, and they voted to remain.”
“I also welcome the Minister to her first Question Time. Will she join with me in commending the important work of community restorative justice schemes, as acknowledged in paragraph 4.16 of the panel report, and particularly the role of Community Restorative Justice Ireland?”
“Having worked with him in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, I, as junior Minister, and my other ministerial colleagues have seen the great personal sacrifice that he has given to the role and the tireless energy that he has all the time. He is always there; he is the one who is always out front, and he is the one who is always doing most of the difficult lifting for the rest of us. He has earned the respect of people right across the political divide, and he has set a really high bar for leadership. I know that we can go into this new mandate with a true leader at our side who will work with anyone and who is genuine about partnership working and power sharing. His style of leadership gives us a lot of determination and commitment ourselves to take the progress that we have made and make further progress.”
“I will start off on behalf of myself and our party by congratulating Arlene on her reappointment as First Minister. <BR /> <BR />It was a great honour and privilege to be asked to nominate Martin for the post of deputy First Minister. Everyone knows that he is a committed and tireless worker, and everyone has seen the great leadership that he has shown, not just in these institutions but to people outside them, right around the world. His style of leadership is highly respected, and he does not ask anyone to do anything that he would not do himself. He has never been afraid to challenge those who have tried to destroy the peace process or disrupt the political institutions and the political process that we have made such progress on. <BR /> <BR />He puts the hand of friendship out to anyone; that is the sense of the person that you have.”
“Go raibh maith agat, Mr Speaker. It is a great honour and privilege for me to be asked to make our party's nomination, and I am very honoured to nominate my long-time friend and colleague Mr Martin McGuinness to be deputy First Minister.”
“Thanks are due to the Assembly and its Committees, particularly the OFMDFM Committee, for the time and effort that it has invested in the process since last November. Beyond the Assembly, extensive preparatory work has been undertaken in Departments to make ready for restructuring. Everything suggests that the reform will be accomplished in May, with minimal disruption to public services and longer-term gains in efficiency. I urge the Assembly to endorse the motion and give its approval to the determination with the necessary cross-community support.”
“The transfer of functions order will come into force at the same time, reallocating the functions of Departments. This determination will then take effect at the first meeting of the new Assembly later that week, when Ministers will be appointed to a new Executive in the early weeks of the Assembly and will take responsibility for a streamlined nine-Department Administration with an agenda for action in an agreed Programme for Government. <BR /> <BR />We are coming to the end of a process that started with the last Programme for Government. It was the subject of a report by the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. It became a firm commitment in the Stormont House Agreement and was reaffirmed, with challenging deadlines, in the 'Fresh Start' document. This Assembly has met the deadlines.”
“I mentioned earlier that the determination is a formal document, but its approval is more than a mere formality. Without this determination coming into effect at the appropriate time, the Ministers of the future Executive will not have their legal titles and their responsibilities for their Departments will not be clearly set out. It is an important document constitutionally. That is why it requires cross-community support to be validly approved by the Assembly. It is the final step that this Assembly needs to take to prepare for the restructuring of the Executive Departments in May. The First Minister and deputy First Minister have made the appointed day order, which will dissolve three Departments and rename seven others on 8 May, shortly after the election.”
“That will complete the statutory requirement to fulfil the commitment in the Stormont House Agreement that was reaffirmed in the Fresh Start Agreement — the commitment to a reduction in the number of Departments to nine in time for the 2016 Assembly election. <BR /> <BR />Debates on the Departments Act showed that there is general support for a more streamlined departmental system and a smaller Executive. We look forward to seeing that in operation in the next mandate. The approval of the determination will be an important step towards that goal. I commend the motion to the Assembly and urge that the determination be approved with the necessary cross-community support.”
“The determination is a significant document that will play an important role in the creation of future, more compact Executives. Its importance is acknowledged by the requirement for cross-community support. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly already passed the Departments Act, which establishes that future nine-Department system. It just affirmed the Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order, which reallocates statutory responsibilities between Departments, and it can now put the final piece in place by approving the determination, which will give titles to future Ministers and assign them departmental responsibilities.”
“That approach will align with the arrangements in the Westminster Bill, which extends the time available for agreeing the Programme for Government in advance of the appointment of Ministers. There was a commitment in the Stormont House Agreement to extend the time available for that negotiation from seven to 14 days. The Westminster Bill will disapply the requirement in Standing Orders for d'Hondt to be run within seven days of a determination coming into effect but only if it takes effect during the period starting with the first meeting of the new Assembly. The commencement provision in the determination therefore gives greater flexibility to party leaders to negotiate the next Programme for Government before the appointment of Ministers.”
“The determination, if approved today, will not take effect until the first meeting of the next Assembly in the week following the election on 5 May. The Departments Act 2016 and the Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order 2016 will have come into effect over the intervening weekend, giving legal authority to the names of the future Departments and establishing their statutory functions.”
“The determination was signed by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister on 1 March, and we now seek the Assembly's approval with cross-community support. It sets out the titles of the eight future departmental Ministers and their functions in the Departments that they will take charge of. The First Minister and the deputy First Minister and the future Executive Office are not listed because they are provided for separately in primary legislation. The same formula has been used in the two previous determinations in 1999, and in 2010 when the Department of Justice was established. <BR /> <BR />This does not change the status of existing departmental Ministers for the time being. They will remain in post until election day on 5 May, in line with section 16A of the NI Act.”
“This motion is the final statutory process that the Assembly needs to take to achieve a reduction in the number of Departments and a smaller Executive after the May election. The determination is a formal document required under section 17 of the NI Act 1998. The First Minister and the deputy First Minister must make a new determination when an Act of the Assembly establishes a new Department or dissolves an existing one. As the Assembly has recently passed the Departments Act 2016, which will dissolve three existing Departments, a fresh determination will be needed. <BR /> <BR />The determination provides the basis on which the departmental Ministers will be appointed at the start of the next mandate under the d'Hondt system for most Ministers and by Assembly vote for the Minister of Justice.”
“The Member will be well aware of the issues around the appointment of the Justice Minister. I am not here to go into all that. There have, however, been examples of splits having taken place between the appointment and sponsorship roles for the Equality Commission, the Police Ombudsman and other offices. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I thank Members for their contributions to the debate and for the questions and issues that they raised. A leaner, more joined-up Administration, with improved cohesion in and between Departments is in all our interests and will be this Assembly's legacy to the next mandate. <BR /> <BR />Assembly affirmation of the Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order is a necessary part of the process. I therefore ask the Assembly to approve the motion.”
“One of the reasons that the scoping papers on clerical abuse and on mother and baby homes have been anchored in the Department of Health is because the Safeguarding Board is part of that Department. The board has the necessary skills and expertise and is able to take a more sensitive approach when looking at such issues.”
“We would have preferred to have spent a longer period on it, but we did not have a lot of time in which to bring it forward. <BR /> <BR />Mr Attwood mentioned that some appointments functions will remain in OFMDFM in its new form. Those functions have been retained so as to maintain a sense of independence. You will be aware that OFMDFM is a joint office, in which the First Minister and the deputy First Minister act in a joint capacity. That helps ensure that important and high-profile offices have the support of the broader community. That is one of the reasons that those functions will remain there. <BR /> <BR />He also mentioned victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse. I hosted today's event on redress in my capacity as a party MLA.”
“The Assembly endorsed the nine-Department structure for the future Executive when it passed the Departments Bill, and there is now broad consensus on the allocation of functions to Departments under the new model. Together, the Departments Act 2016 and the Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order 2016 create a framework for the most extensive reorganisation of departmental systems since 1999. The establishment of a streamlined nine-Department system in May will provide opportunities for improving the way in which we do business. It will enable productive synergy to be achieved from the outset of the mandate. <BR /> <BR />I will now take the time to respond to some of the issues that Members brought up. The Deputy Chair, Mr Chris Lyttle, mentioned the consultation with the Committee.”
“Before I conclude, I will reiterate what other colleagues have said. I express my party's condolences and sympathies to the family of the prison officer who has died. I reiterate that the people who carried out that attack do not represent the community. If anyone has any information, it should be passed to the PSNI. <BR /> <BR />I am grateful to Members for their contributions. As I indicated at the outset and as has been said in the Assembly during debates on the Departments Act, reform of our institutional structures is a long-standing issue. Reducing the number of Departments has long been recognised as a key element of reform. With the passing of the Departments Act last month and the making of the transfer of functions order, we are close to realising that reform.”
“<BR /> <BR />With the Executive's agreement, the order was made on 25 February by the First Minister and deputy First Minister acting jointly in exercise of powers conferred by article 8 of the Departments (NI) Order 1999. However, it can only have effect if it is affirmed by the Assembly, and, in line with article 1, it will come into operation on 8 May, shortly after the election. The order is an essential part of the restructuring process and is a natural complement to the Departments Act passed by the Assembly just last month. It is vital that the order is affirmed if we are to achieve the timetable for restructuring set in the Stormont House Agreement and realise the benefits of a more streamlined and efficient Administration. I commend the motion to the Assembly and request that the order be affirmed.”
“<BR /> <BR />The substantive part of the order is organised by reference to the six Departments from which statutory functions are transferring, and schedules 1 to 5 are further subdivided by reference to the future Departments that will receive those functions. Where a significant part of a dissolving Department is transferring to one future Department, there is no need to specify all transferring functions. Articles 9 and 10 of the order provide for the continuity of legislation, documents, legal proceedings and other activities and for the transfer of assets and liabilities. Finally, article 11 references schedule 6, which contains necessary amendments to legislation needed to give effect to the transfers.”
“I am pleased to say that the Committee's report to the Department, which we received on 11 February, advised that it was content for the order to be made. <BR /> <BR />I would like to briefly explain the structure of the transfer of functions order. Article 1 cites its title and provides for its coming into operation to coincide with the operative date of the Departments Act (NI) 2016. Article 2 contains definitions of a number of terms used in the order, key amongst those being that "transfer date" means the date on which section 1 of the Departments Act comes into operation, and that will be 8 May 2016.”
“That was a complex undertaking, and the work required careful checking by legal advisers. However, completion of the task before the end of 2015 enabled a draft transfer of functions order reflective of the future departmental responsibilities as set out in appendix F5 of the 'Fresh Start' document to be prepared and issued for scrutiny by the Committee for OFMDFM in January. <BR /> <BR />Officials briefed the Committee on the purpose and content of the order in late January. We are grateful to the Committee for its urgent work in considering the order, and to the other statutory Committees that contributed to the process. We acknowledge the pressure that the Committee had to face given the limited time frame available.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Executive discussed departmental restructuring on several occasions in the early months of last year and decided on the names and responsibilities of the future Departments. On 2 March last year, those decisions were announced to the Assembly by the former First Minister. The allocation of functions was further refined during the talks process that led to the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan last November. The final allocation of functions was set out in appendix F5 of the 'Fresh Start' document. The Departments Bill was introduced in the Assembly shortly after that. <BR /> <BR />Throughout 2015, a scoping exercise was conducted across the Departments to identify existing statutory functions in primary legislation that might need to be transferred.”
“The nine future Departments after the election will incorporate all the powers, functions and services of their 12 predecessors. No functions are done away with, and no policies are terminated, as a consequence of restructuring. <BR /> <BR />Reform of the structures of government here has been an issue for a long time. There has been a commitment in the Programme for Government to agree changes to the structures that will apply in the next mandate, and, in 2012, the Assembly and Executive Review Committee produced a report on the reduction in the number of Departments. In 2014, the Stormont House Agreement contained a commitment to a nine-Department model being established in time for the 2016 election, with the future allocation of departmental functions to be agreed by the parties.”
“<BR /> <BR />The First Minister and deputy First Minister have also made a transfer of functions order to reallocate statutory responsibilities between the nine Departments. The purpose of the motion before Members today is to have that order affirmed by the Assembly, as required by the Departments (NI) Order 1999, which is the parent legislation for the transfer of functions order. <BR /> <BR />The making of the order and its affirmation by the Assembly are essential to the restructuring process. The purpose of the order is to transfer statutory functions from one Department to another so that the allocation of departmental responsibilities after the election reflects the finalised arrangements in appendix F5 of the 'Fresh Start' document.”
“This debate is the first of two that will be held today to complete the statutory processes needed to accomplish the reduction in the number of Departments promised in the Stormont House Agreement and reaffirmed in the Fresh Start document. <BR /> <BR />In the months since the completion of the Fresh Start Agreement in November last year, the legislation needed to reduce the number of Departments from 12 to nine and to realign functions has been progressed and is now almost complete. The Departments Act needed to establish the statutory framework for the nine-Department model was passed in this Assembly on 2 February, and the First Minister and deputy First Minister have since made a commencement order to bring its operative provisions into effect from 8 May 2016, shortly after the election.”
“It is about basing it on equality and equality of opportunity, particularly for all our children and young people.”
“As I said in my previous answer, I and the other junior Minister have been going out and speaking directly to, in particular, young people from the United Youth programme and the summer camps, as well as people in the Urban Villages who are going to be in shared housing and shared education. I would like to think that that work will be taken forward in the next mandate. I think that it is very important work, particularly for young people in our community. We need to show leadership and the way forward for people to be able to come together. We have built peace, but now we need to build reconciliation. I am hopeful that that will continue with the Together: Building a United Community strategy. That is not the only strategy; other things need to be done as well.”
“Two weeks ago on Saturday, I was at a seminar where hundreds of young people who took part in the United Youth programme and summer camps came together to meet people from different communities, sometimes for the first time in their life. They came together to build friendships and relationships that will, hopefully, last a lifetime and lead to reconciliation. So, a lot of work has been done through that particular strategy.”
“I am not really sure what the Member's supplementary question is, but I have indicated to him the amount of money that has been spent on Urban Villages thus far. Quite a lot of work has been done already on the one in the Bogside and Fountain area of Derry, which, although not in the Member's constituency is in his immediate area. We have also brought money into communities through the social investment fund. So, I think that there has been a lot of investment in the community infrastructure. Indeed, I have seen at first hand some of the work done as a result of money provided by the strategic investment fund and Together: Building a United Community.”
“The outcome of that engagement will be the creation of an integrated development framework for each urban village, which will detail the capital and revenue projects identified from the extensive stakeholder engagement.”
“We have allocated £2·1 million to the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) for the delivery of the Urban Villages programme in 2015-16. That funding covers staffing costs for the SIB team and revenue funding for scoping and early engagement work in each urban village. These activities include capacity building; working with children and young people; and a series of creative and educational projects being taken forward by organisations such as National Museums, Libraries NI, NI Screen, and the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. <BR /> <BR />The urban village team is currently undertaking a programme of engagement within each of the five urban villages, and stakeholder engagement workshops are taking pace until next month.”
“While the legislation that we are bringing forward in this area was broadly welcomed by those who responded to the consultation, there were, as I said, a number of fundamental challenges as well. One, from the Commissioner for Children and Young People, expressed disappointment at the exclusion of people under 16 from the scope of any proposed legislation, and that was echoed by other organisations and individuals. A number of respondents also expressed disappointment at the proposed exception to allow financial service providers to continue to use age as part of a risk assessment. So there are fundamental challenges for us in bringing that forward, and we need to listen to what those organisations and individuals have said.”
“The Member will be aware, as we have had a number of meetings with the Member and the OFMDFM Committee on this issue. We went out to consultation to find out what people thought of our position. As I said in my previous answer, fundamental issues emerged from the responses to that consultation, with the Children's Commissioner and the Children's Law Centre being involved in taking a formal section 75 complaint about alleged failure to comply with the Department's equality scheme. We are now left in a position where we will look at the consultation responses before we come forward with any robust policy decision on that.”
“I can confirm to the Member that on 21 October last year, the Children's Commissioner's office lodged a section 75 pre-complaint letter with OFMDFM. The Department then issued a response to that letter, and NICCY then lodged a formal section 75 complaint in respect of an alleged failure to comply with the Department's equality scheme in this consultation on age-related goods, facilities and services. It is now up to the Equality Commission to decide whether it investigates that complaint.”
“In remaining committed to eradicating harmful and unjustifiable age discrimination, we developed a consultation document to seek public views on proposals to extend age discrimination legislation. The consultation closed in October last year, and there was a significant response to it. Officials are finalising a comprehensive analysis of the responses to each of the consultation questions to provide us with an overall picture of the views emerging from the consultation process. While many people welcomed our proposals, the responses also present a number of fundamental challenges. We want to consider those responses carefully and make sure that we have agreed a clear and robust policy position before considering all the options available to us for bringing this legislation before the Assembly.”
“Concerning amendment No 3, tabled by Mr McCallister, as I have also previously said, it is the view of Ministers that the question of whether the Assembly needs to place on itself a legislative imperative for such a review, in addition to its existing power to commission one from AERC, and, therefore, whether to accept or reject this amendment, should be left to the judgement of Members. I hope that that answers Mr Attwood's request. <BR /> <BR />Again, I thank Members. In conclusion, the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Bill is important legislation, and I am glad to see it progress through the Assembly.”
“I thank Members for their contributions and for the issues that they raised. As I said, amendment Nos 1 and 2 make small technical adjustments to the Bill. They do not change the substance or affect the policy. They are necessary so that, should Royal Assent not be obtained before the election on 5 May 2016, the reduction in the number of MLAs will still apply to the next election held after the forthcoming election in May. I ask Members to support amendment Nos 1 and 2.”