Jonathan Bell
Strangford · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I did so because terminally ill children were being prevented from getting a hospital place in my area. While attempts were being made to prevent me from coming to the Public Accounts Committee, a terminally ill child was told, after being seen by doctors, that they could not have a hospital place and that, if they needed one, they would…”
“The permanent secretary replied "No" and said that everybody would recognise that every government worked by and on collective responsibility. <BR /> <BR />We are in a mess, and somebody has to shine a light on that mess. It fell to me, and I do not know why. I did not seek it, nor did I want it. I did not want to do it.”
“Let me conclude, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. The regulations are necessary because of the extreme mess that we have found ourselves in. The points that I made when I had to shine a light on this devastating situation were not made in December. The points were made in writing to the then First Minister in March 2016.”
“The permanent secretary replied, "Well, that is right". <BR /> <BR />There were no regulations on the table when I spoke out. There was no suggestion that we could reduce to zero or even significantly reduce the costs, and we had no legal procedure, that I was aware of, that we could have followed.”
“But I cannot speak authoritatively because, even after the Public Accounts Committee meeting, when I asked the permanent secretary last week whether I could come and see the information that, I believe, legally should be made available to me, I got no reply. Nothing.”
“The second objective that I wanted to achieve was to stop the haemorrhage of public funds. Let us not pretend that the money is still to be spent: tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has already been spent — £85,000 a day, day by day, as we go along.”
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“The reality is that we have exceeded the current target. I now want to listen specifically to the industry. I have been listening to individuals who are currently installing the renewable heat boilers. I think it is important that we, as politicians and everyone in this House, listen and do all that we can to help as many people as possible. I will reflect on what is being said to me, and I will examine ways in which I can help those who have been affected by my decision from last week. I also want to say that, inevitably, there will be an investigation into why we have found ourselves in this position. I have, as a matter of urgency, asked my own officials to ensure that the scheme is running to the letter and spirit of the law. I will be keeping a very close eye on that.”
“I welcome the Member to the House. I said that there was a huge increase in the demand for the renewable heat incentive scheme at the end of last year. That has given not just my Department but Northern Ireland a huge budgetary pressure. As the Member should know, the Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to limit the amount of money that was paid to Northern Ireland out of the UK pot for renewable heat. That is why I signalled my intention last week to ease that financial pressure, which could amount to over £27 million.”
“The Irish Open in 2015 had 107,000 paying spectators, and we will get the Irish Open back in 2017. We will also have one of the biggest tournaments in the world, The Open, in 2019. You can compare those with things like the Women's Rugby World Cup. My Department is putting a lot of strength into trying to attract the Rugby World Cup to Ireland, which has the potential to bring some 350,000 rugby supporters here, and into working on how we can maximise that benefit for Northern Ireland. When you look at that, you will see that we can all be encouraged by the tourism offering.”
“I will, of course, meet the council. The Member was with me the previous occasion we met the council specifically on the tourism initiative. I will continue to work with the council because I want all of Northern Ireland to benefit from the tourism that comes in. <BR /> <BR />We have found that, when people come and visit us, they like it. They come back and want to bring their family and friends. Part of our challenge is to make sure that they come and visit us specifically. The whole Causeway coastal route is worthy of international appeal, and it has been identified as an area for growth for visitor numbers and for spend. <BR /> <BR />When you add the other things that are going on on the periphery, you can see things like the huge success of 'Game of Thrones' tourism.”
“They were telling me that they could surely attract significant numbers of Asian tourists, who are in one of the biggest markets in the world, to Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Of course, I know that the Gobbins cliff path is in the Member's constituency. That is a feature. When you put it alongside Titanic Belfast, the Geopark in the west and Mount Stewart and combine them, you see why we have a unique tourism offering in Northern Ireland and why I am confident that we should achieve our target of a £1 billion industry by 2020.”
“Tourism in Northern Ireland is going from strength to strength. I think that the last set of figures that I looked at showed that it is worth £751 million, and we intend to grow it to a £1 billion industry by 2020. I get very encouraged when I hear about 81 cruise ships coming into Northern Ireland and when I see statistics saying that 2·53 million people are visiting Titanic Belfast. I am also very encouraged to hear that, as I announced on Friday, 100 major Chinese tour operators are coming to visit Northern Ireland in the next number of weeks. The potential of that is absolutely huge. I had them down at Mount Stewart, and they were, quite frankly, blown away with what they could offer.”
“I support 100% the position adopted by Mrs Foster as First Minister, by our MEP and by our parliamentary leader. What I have asked people to do is look seriously at the information that we are commissioning from Oxford Economics on the range of options and examine it against the terms that come through.”
“I should correct the record, as I made a mistake last week when I talked about not knowing the nature of the "question". I should have said the nature of the "terms", so I will correct the record. <BR /> <BR />Businesses have spoken to me but have not done so exclusively with one voice. Different approaches are being made. We have commissioned Oxford Economics to provide the best information so that people can examine what may or may not come next week.”
“That is the right model: go with the business model and then back it up with training. In a new Department for the Economy, we will try to align the skills to factor in the jobs that we can and will have.”
“We have been trying to ensure that that budget delivers against the strategy that we set out. The Minister for Employment and Learning had discussions with the First Minister when she was the Finance Minister, as most of us did in our Departments, and extra money was allocated directly to skills. None of us got everything that we wanted, but it was recognised that we have a wonderful opportunity in front of us. <BR /> <BR />Minister Farry was with me in the States when we went to a number of specific companies to look at what we can do together to address economic inactivity. He is doing excellent work in bespoke training for companies. The training is taken through, and the person has only to be interviewed by the client at the end, and they are delivering real success.”
“Yes, I do. I have had tremendous support in the one year that I have been in office, and I have seen what Mr Farry did as Minister in trying to ensure that we address long-term economic inactivity. It is reducing but only by percentage points, and we want it to reduce further.”
“If he does not know that, he should. <BR /> <BR />When I addressed the Chamber of Commerce and spoke to the skills sector and people involved with the universities, I sensed that there is an upbeat, can-do nature. I want to facilitate that, from small businesses such as Oakgrove, which is creating a quality, premium product for export, right through to those big job announcements such as that from ModSquad, which has created hundreds of jobs in the area. We will build on that. Come with me and I will support you 100% in trying to bring business into the area and telling people that they have 84% of the business costs of the rest of the UK, they have very well educated people, and, on 1 April 2018, they will have the most competitive rate of corporation tax. That should be a winning message.”
“I can understand the Member needing a sound bite, but he should not talk down the area that he represents. He will know, if he has been following this for the last 12 months, what I have done publicly in that area specifically. I have also been in the area privately on a number of occasions, and I want to see fruit grow from that. He will know from the announcements about OneSource Virtual, ModSquad and Nu Print Technologies that we have created, with Invest support, hundreds of new jobs in his area.”
“From 2011-15, Invest Northern Ireland support totalled £118 million. That contributed to planned investment of £673 million in areas west of the River Bann and helped businesses to promote 9,679 jobs. During the same period, businesses in that area created some 7,416 jobs. Those figures include assistance and investment totalling £15 million and £20 million that was offered to external delivery organisations and universities, which promoted six jobs. The number of jobs promoted and created is directly proportional to the adult population of each area. Twenty-seven per cent of the adult population resides in the west, and that is directly comparable to the 26% of jobs promoted and 27% of jobs created by businesses with Invest Northern Ireland support.”
“Invest Northern Ireland's role is to support companies that bring forward investment projects on the basis of merit, irrespective of where they are based. Through local government reform and the process of community planning, councils can shape job investment in their region by tailoring a subregional proposition to drive investment into, and set relevant targets for, their respective areas. Invest Northern Ireland will assist in the development of those council-led subregional strategies to help to drive economic development on an equitable basis throughout Northern Ireland.”
“Companies like Allstate say to me, "Jonathan, we came for the costs; we stayed for your people". Other companies like Citi come to provide hundreds of jobs and now provide in the region of 2,000. The likes of Randox and Wrightbus, which is in your constituency, are tripling their profits and talking about what they can do into the future. If we present a collective message of low cost, low tax and an excellent workforce, we have a winning message for the economy in Northern Ireland.”
“I think that the Member raises some very important points about Michelin specifically. Not only have I spent several hours trying to ensure that we get that workforce all the qualifications so that the employees are in the best place to get new jobs, but I have spent quite a bit of time with the Michelin management. <BR />I asked them whether there was anything more that the Government could have done, and they said no. When I asked them to list the reasons why Michelin left north Antrim, they explained that there was a glut of thousands in the truck tyre market — it made a very specific product there. They talked about fluctuations in the euro and Asian imports costing £130 against the vastly superior Michelin product that cost over £500. <BR /> <BR />I can tell the Member that there is huge interest in Northern Ireland.”
“I await the outcome of that, and I intend to give very due diligence to that to see how we can further support the sector.”
“<BR /> <BR />We want to ensure that we continue with a strong recovery. That is why I have done specific things for manufacturing. Look at what I did to try to help Bombardier address its energy costs. We also had a proposal on the table with Michelin. We will never know what would have happened if it had taken that up. Last week, I spent time at Montupet with about 15 companies from the manufacturing sector that are all high energy users. We spent quite a bit of time looking at where the strengths, the weaknesses and the opportunities were coming from. Also, as the House knows, I have established the manufacturing energy task force. It is being chaired by a person who, as I understand it, is the fifth-largest energy user in Northern Ireland.”
“I think that the Member knows the answer to that question because his party was party to the economic strategy. His party agreed that we would put all of our strategy into one specific strategy, which was the economic strategy, which his party at Executive level agreed to. Manufacturing is a very important sector for Northern Ireland. I do not take away from anybody who has lost their job. Anybody who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s in Belfast, as I did, and who watched their family and other people lose their jobs knows how devastating that is. Equally, the manufacturing sector is telling me of the successes that it is having, and it has been performing well. Over the past year, it has added 4,000 additional jobs. The manufacturing output is up by nearly 3%, and that is more than the UK average.”
“There is huge interest in Northern Ireland because we have three unique things. We have business costs that are about 84% or 85% of the rest of the United Kingdom. We have a talent pool and a very low attrition rate. In fact, 80% of all the businesses that have invested in Northern Ireland have subsequently reinvested, and, when I bring in new investors, I am grateful to those businesses for telling a success story. And then we have the attraction of corporation tax, giving us the most competitive corporation tax rate in western Europe.”
“The big one that we have been taking forward in this last particular period is the game changer of corporation tax. That is when we asked the independent research to come to us on the rate of 12·5% that we will have from 1 April. The independent advice was that we should be looking at creating 30,000 additional jobs and that we should be growing our economy by almost 10% over 15 years. In the last short period, I have taken, I think, 13 companies across three cities in China. Two weeks ago, I was with 15 of our companies that have a particular focus on technology, and we went from San Francisco right through to New York. <BR /> <BR />I can tell you that there is major interest in Northern Ireland. I estimate that a huge percentage of what I do I cannot tell you until the ink is dry on the contracts because they are commercially sensitive.”
“<BR /> <BR />If you look at the quarterly figures, I do see concerns. I take the advice to look not only at those but to note the volatility. Looking at the annual change, in services we are 1% up, in manufacturing output we are 2·9% up, and in construction output we are 13·7% up.”
“I am always concerned when it appears that other parts are performing better. We can look at statistics in a range of ways. We have massive challenges in our manufacturing sector but it is posting 3% annual growth and added 4,000 jobs over the past year. While we look at experiencing a relatively modest recovery since the local downturn, our biggest sector, the services sector, has posted 1% annual growth, with jobs at an all-time high. <BR /> <BR />There is a big issue for me and many in the House from constituencies that depend on construction. Our construction sector was the most impacted during the downturn but, even there, we are seeing what appears to be very real signs of recovery. Output is up 14% on an annual basis and the sector added 870 jobs over the latest year of data.”
“We cannot be complacent about that, but I think that everybody in the House would like to celebrate the fact that unemployment is falling and the private sector is growing and at its highest number ever.”
“I thank Mr Hussey. The latest results from the Northern Ireland composite economic index, which measures economic activity, show that we experienced growth in three of the last four quarters, with an annual increase of 1·6%. Despite those positives, the figures for the latest quarter were negative. Those findings are disappointing. Most economists who are advising me are saying, "Don't get too fixated on just one single quarter's data." Northern Ireland is relatively small and quarterly statistics, as the evidence shows, can be inherently volatile. There have also been substantial improvements in the local labour market during this time, with unemployment continuing to fall and private sector jobs at their highest level ever.”
“I will raise that particular case with BT. I am not satisfied with broadband provision across Northern Ireland. I do not think that anybody who has a genuine interest in seeing all of Northern Ireland develop could be satisfied, knowing how much depends upon a broadband connection, particularly for business. The rules are changing. Businesses in rural areas are saying to me, "We have to present it in this way. We need the connection to actually do this." So, we will have to continue to work to what is a difficult system, but, as Minister, I accept that nobody in the House could be satisfied with the level of complaints and dissatisfaction that we have, particularly in the rural community.”
“Owing to the extensive next-generation access network put in place by my Department's investments, there have been over 239,000 fibre-based, high-speed broadband connections to date. Although we acknowledge that download speeds in Northern Ireland are continuing to increase, the average download speed stands at 28·3 megabits per second, and that is below the UK average of 29 megabits per second. We will continue to pursue how we can get that to a more level playing field.”
“Those are important points. If the Member wants to send me details of that specific case, I will certainly look at it. <BR /> <BR />We continue to make broadband services widely available via a mix of technologies. Almost £64 million, as the Member says, has been invested since 2008 to encourage private sector upgrade to networks, particularly in rural areas. Seventy-nine per cent of households are currently accessing the Internet. I find that a very difficult figure when I compare it with the UK figure of 85%, and 72% of those who are accessing the Internet are doing so through a broadband connection. The number of premises that are connected to a broadband service offering speeds of 2 megabits per second or higher is continuing to increase, and now stands at 94%.”
“It is unacceptable, particularly when, first, I have people coming to me whose children have either to be taken back to school or driven to the library just to get their homework done. Secondly, other children are experiencing extreme difficulties just managing against the curriculum, and we are raising that issue with BT. Thirdly, we have some hugely successful businesses in the area of computer-aided design (CAD). They must submit their programmes to tender, so people are literally leaving their machines on at night in the hope that, when they get up the next morning, their CAD or specific design, which they must use to tender for business, has come through. I will emphasise to BT that we cannot condone that set of circumstances into the future.”
“I am aware of a lot of problems, particularly in rural areas. A number of months ago, people from west Tyrone spoke to me. A number of people raised complaints with me that, if there is congestion on the system — the beam and different things — that effectively causes them not to have a service. <BR /> <BR />Not all areas will be able to access superfast broadband once the Northern Ireland broadband improvement project is completed. We awarded the contract for the second project to BT. That was the superfast broadband roll-out programme. <BR /> <BR />I will take up those specific issues with BT on behalf of the Member. I had a very detailed meeting with its senior officials last week at which I raised a number of concerns.”
“<BR /> <BR />On 22 January 2016, I announced the introduction of a satellite broadband support scheme, which falls under the auspices of the Northern Ireland broadband improvement project. It seeks to provide residents and businesses that are still experiencing speeds below two megabits per second with the option of applying for a subsidy of up to £350 towards the cost of installing a satellite broadband connection.”
“In February 2014, my Department contracted BT to deliver the Northern Ireland broadband improvement project. That is primarily aimed at rural areas and seeks to extend the availability of, primarily, basic and, where possible, superfast broadband to those who have limited choice across Northern Ireland with a target of 45,000 premises. The project was scheduled to be completed by 31 December 2015. However, there was engineering complexity, and that date has been extended by three months to 31 March 2016. <BR /> <BR />Improvements have already been carried out to over 40,000 premises across Northern Ireland, including almost 5,000 in postcode areas in the North Antrim constituency.”
“The Member would do well to look at the Chancellor's autumn statement and what follows it and also consider the costs to Northern Ireland.”
“I think that the Member has misunderstood what the Chancellor of the Exchequer has done with regard to renewable heat and the fact that the goalposts have been moved and that a limit has been put on Northern Ireland. If we go beyond that limit, we have to bear the costs ourselves. It was introduced in November 2012 to the non-domestic sector and in 2014 to the domestic sector, and it has been taken up very successfully. To date, over 3,500 renewable heating installations have been incentivised. Uptake has been higher than in GB. We have exceeded the Northern Ireland Executive's 2015 target, which was 4%. About 6% of Northern Ireland's heating needs is now provided through renewable heating technologies.”
“At the end of last year, there was an increase in demand for the renewable heat incentive scheme. My Department faces a huge budgetary pressure, given the Chancellor of the Exchequer's decision to limit the amount of money paid to Northern Ireland out of the UK pot for renewable heat. That is why, last week, I signalled my intention to ease that financial pressure, which could amount to over £27 million, by announcing the immediate closure of the scheme and bringing forward an order to suspend the scheme as soon as possible. I want everyone to know that I am listening to the industry and to individuals who are installing renewable heat boilers. I will come back to try to give that clarity at the earliest possible date.”
“Unfortunately, I have had to deal with changing positions from DECC, and that has led to the uncertainty that we have. I will try to bring it to a conclusion as quickly as possible to allow people to go forward; however, let no one misunderstand that the changing position has come from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.”
“I want to bring certainty as soon as possible. I am considering a range of options. I think that the Member will agree that DECC changed the policy. Yes, we can do what we choose to do where we have devolved powers, but DECC changed the policy, not once but a number of times. I have spoken to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. I went to London and I said, "Look, under the coalition Government, the previous Minister agreed with you a line which was then put out to the industry. The Conservative Party then came into power as a single party and moved the goalposts for onshore wind". They moved the goalposts, not me. They then changed their position at different times. <BR /> <BR />I want to assure the House that I will always look at what delivers the best value to Northern Ireland.”
“DECC has included a backstop power in its proposed Energy Bill, as the Member said, to protect GB consumers should Northern Ireland take a different approach to the Northern Ireland renewables obligation (NIRO) closure than that taken in GB. The backstop power will give DECC powers to prevent GB suppliers redeeming Northern Ireland ROCs from projects that accredit from 1 April 2016 and do not meet the closure eligibility criteria that were equivalent to those in GB. This provides little comfort for those projects and has the potential to have wider implications for the whole renewables industry here.”
“There have been significant difficulties with the grid connections and grid connection offers. The Member is correct; NIE had to set aside its normal 90-day period for making grid connection offers due to the surge in applications that followed the regulator's determination that NIE could not require planning permission before making a grid connection. The grid simply could not accommodate the level of increase. It requires specialist analysis and, potentially, significant investment, which would have to be paid for by consumers. NIE is already committed to connecting projects which will almost double our installed renewable capacity. That is a huge challenge. I do not have powers to intervene. I cannot direct NIE or the Systems Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) to prioritise one technology over another.”
“I want to provide the certainty that delivers the most renewable deployment for the least cost to Northern Ireland consumers.”
“With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 1, 3 and 11 together. Our renewables record has been very successful to date. That has been due to a combination of being able to harness our natural resources whilst ensuring that the support costs are spread much more widely than our Northern Ireland consumer base. However, this means that we are also unavoidably influenced by national policy decisions, as borne out by the proposed early closure of the renewable obligations across the United Kingdom to onshore wind. I am mindful of the uncertainty that has been created around early closure to wind. My priority, at present, is to ensure that we have a timely and managed closure of the existing scheme in Northern Ireland.”
“By passing the motion, the Assembly will ensure that consumers and businesses in Northern Ireland continue to benefit from the effective enforcement of the Estate Agents Act 1979. I commend the motion to the Assembly and thank all Members for their support.”
“I thank both Members for their supportive and helpful contributions. I also thank my colleagues in the Executive and the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee for considering the matter in such a timely manner, which has allowed the debate to take place today. The brevity of the Chairman's remarks do not reflect the seriousness and professionalism with which his Committee addressed the matters. By carrying out the role in the way that it has become known for — scrupulously and fairly — it allowed the motion to come to the House today. I personally thank the Committee and the Chair. <BR /> <BR />I hope that, from both the responses that we have had today, Members know why we should vote for the consent motion.”
“<BR /> <BR />Although it is difficult to envisage a scenario in which my Department would seek to be appointed as the lead authority for the 1979 Act, the same assessment could be made of many of the approximately 200 trading standards departments across the UK, which, because of their size, for example, may not wish to put themselves forward for the role. However, it is appropriate that my Department should also be in a position to be considered for the role of lead authority in the same way as any of the existing enforcement authorities in the UK. Therefore, my Department should be included in these proposals. <BR /> <BR />I commend the motion to the Assembly.”
“Such a change to departmental functions falls within the definition, in Standing Order 42A, of a devolution matter requiring a legislative consent motion. The inclusion of DETI in this provision will necessitate a minor amendment to the generic set of enforcement powers for consumer legislation in the Consumer Rights Act 2015. That amendment would allow DETI to use the enforcement powers in part 3 of schedule 5 of the Consumer Rights Act for the purposes of the 1979 Act, in the event that DETI might at some time in the future be appointed as the lead enforcement authority for the UK.”
“<BR /> <BR />The proposed amendment of the 1979 Act would allow the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, or a person whom they have appointed, to take over the role of lead enforcement authority for the UK. The person chosen by the Secretary of State could be any local authority trading standards department in GB or the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland. In effect, the provision will allow the Secretary of State to appoint a new lead enforcement authority for the 1979 Act from time to time as necessary. <BR /> <BR />The proposed amendments of the 1979 Act deal with a transferred matter, as they enable the possible appointment of DETI as the lead enforcement authority for that Act.”
“<BR /> <BR />Without the proposed amendment of the 1979 Act, Powys County Council would continue to be named as the lead enforcement authority after its contract to provide the role expires in April 2017. Therefore, an amendment to the provisions dealing with the 1979 Act’s enforcement arrangements is necessary so that a new lead enforcement authority could be appointed in the event that Powys County Council should no longer be considered best placed to provide the role, and to ensure the continued effective enforcement of the Act’s provisions. A failure to amend the 1979 Act could result in unfit and fraudulent estate agents being allowed to continue to operate. That would cause increased harm to consumers and prevent compliant estate agents operating on a level playing field.”
“<BR /> <BR />In September 2015, the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, wrote to me concerning the proposed amendment of the 1979 Act’s enforcement arrangements. The Secretary of State asked for my agreement, in principle, to seek the consent of the Assembly for those amendments to extend to Northern Ireland. The UK Minister was seeking to amend the 1979 Act because the contract awarded to Powys County Council to carry out the role of lead enforcement authority will expire in 2017. Furthermore, there is no scope in the Public Bodies Act to carry out a further transfer of the responsibilities of the lead enforcement authority under the 1979 Act.”
“These proposals included a review of the OFT’s functions under the 1979 Act and, in particular, whether these functions could be more effectively carried out by a trading standards department. The responses to this consultation supported the proposal to transfer the OFT responsibilities under the 1979 Act to a trading standards department. Consequently, in 2014, the UK government decided to appoint Powys County Council as the lead enforcement authority for the 1979 Act. This transfer of functions involved both an order made under the Public Bodies Act and a tender process involving a contract for a three-year term.”