Chris Lyttle
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“The Department for Communities, councils, the Department for the Economy, further education stakeholders, the Department of Health and the Department of Finance all responded with their perspectives on and experiences of the provision of free period products and with ways in which the Bill's provisions could be coordinated and funded.”
“That is an important start in support of the implementation of the provisions of the Bill. <BR /> <BR />The Education Committee undertook Committee Stage scrutiny of this cross-cutting Bill — I am proud that we did — on behalf of other relevant subject Committees.”
“and fighting our corners in media studios. Perhaps the hosts of some of those programmes see fit to encourage that type of approach, but I am thankful for the level of cooperation between parties on the key issues and hope that that will be the legacy for the next Assembly.”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I welcome the opportunity to move the Final Stage of the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Bill. It will remove the anachronistic exception of teachers from the Fair Employment and Treatment Order (FETO) and ensure that it is no longer possible for any teacher to be discriminated against because of their religio…”
“This opportunity has been made possible by a collective effort from many people, and I put on record my thanks to research officer Connie Egan and constituency officer Nick Mathison for the work that they contributed to the Bill's progress.”
“<BR /> <BR />I thank my Assembly colleagues without whom the Bill would not have progressed to this stage and would not pass. I thank Sinead for the role that she played as Chairperson of the Executive Office Committee and for the time that she made available to me outside of Bill stages and Committee meetings, which, as I said, made the…”
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“In February 2016, over four years ago, in part because of that engagement, I voted in favour of legislative reform, proposed by our colleagues Trevor Lunn MLA and Stewart Dickson MLA, for abortion on the grounds of fatal foetal abnormality, legislative provision that the courts have since required of this jurisdiction. <BR />I acknowledge that there are, however, many people who support the inclusion of severe foetal abnormality as grounds for abortion in legislation due to concern that its omission could limit access to termination in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, and I will do my best to engage with those concerns in my role. <BR /> <BR />There are, however, many people in the Assembly and in Northern Ireland who cannot support legislative provision for abortion on the grounds of serious disability.”
“Alliance Party policy on abortion is a matter of individual conscience, therefore, I speak in a personal capacity. I also say, at the outset, that it would enrich the debate — I say this sincerely — if the DUP were able to speak to the work of the Education Minister to help pupils with disabilities at this time. <BR /> <BR />I have spoken on this serious matter of abortion in the Assembly on a number of occasions. I have done my best to engage with health professionals and families affected by it and with widely different views on it.”
“That focus, however, must not be used as cover to unduly delay the urgent action and reform needed to arrest the financial crisis in education, nor can investment and progress towards the childcare strategy, school budgets, the emotional health and well-being framework and the new SEN framework, including the SEN regulations and code of practice be shelved. The people of Northern Ireland demand better, and we must work together to deliver it. A well-resourced, innovative and integrated education system to deliver high-quality educational opportunity for all is needed now more than ever.”
“It is concerning, therefore, that the Education Minister has suspended work towards the drafting of terms of reference for the independent review proposed by the Alliance Party and supported by the Assembly. It is also concerning that existing reports, such as Burns, Costello, Bain, Investigating Links in Achievement and Deprivation (ILIAD), Heenan and Sahlberg have not been implemented and that area-based planning has been so ineffective and sectorally based. <BR /> <BR />The focus on COVID-19 is, of course, understandable, and schools need urgent guidance on social distancing, curriculum content and blended learning now and to prepare for the proposed phased return to school in August.”
“The former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Education Authority warned in 2017 that, without radical investment and reform, the education system would be unaffordable, socially immobile and unfit for 21st-century learning. Our education system has a crumbling school estate, excessive class sizes, a special educational needs (SEN) framework that fails children with SEN, the separation of children on the basis of community background at the age of five and an unfair and unnecessary approach to post-primary transfer. Despite the dedication and professionalism of our teaching and non-teaching staff, that is not the education system that we should want for our children and young people. Fundamental root-and-branch reform remains urgently necessary for education.”
“Notwithstanding those comments, the Committee for Education supports the Supply resolution for the further Vote on Account, as it applies to the Department of Education. <BR /> <BR />I will now make a few comments as an Alliance MLA and the party's spokesperson on education. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, and the focus of the Executive and the Department of Education must be on the emergency response to COVID-19. The Alliance Party supports the Supply resolution to allocate Executive funds, but the Executive, and in particular the Minister of Education, cannot forgo the action that is needed to address the financial crisis that is facing the education system, in addition to the challenge of COVID-19.”
“The Committee for Education noted the substantial additional budget that was allocated to provide free school meal payments, increase Sure Start, support childcare provision, increase the early years' pathway fund, provide a substitute teacher hardship fund and to procure a substantial number of devices to aid equal access to distance and blended learning. The Committee for Education welcomes that additional funding and the vital support that it provides during the emergency. <BR /> <BR />Many Committee members also wish to see additional funding to support tackling holiday hunger, extending counselling services and in further support for vulnerable children. The Committee members also require further rationale for the additional funding that the Education Minister is seeking for preparatory and boarding schools.”
“I will begin by speaking on behalf of the Committee for Education. This has been a challenging year, in budgetary terms, for the Executive and the Department of Education. The Department of Education is struggling to overcome a backlog of financial pressures of over £400 million and, like all Executive Departments, it is faced with the challenge of responding to COVID-19. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Education advised the Committee for Education at the end of April that lockdown has reduced some of the pressures, but that many more have increased and that new pressures have arisen.”
“I welcome the Minister's appointment of a walking and cycling champion and action on the long overdue pedestrianisation of the Cathedral Quarter. The Minister is talking about big and bold actions and supporting inner-city communities to access clean and active travel. What investment will be made in walking and cycling? Will that include the delivery of a toucan walking and cycling crossing to link the Braniel estate to the Connswater Community Greenway, investment in on-road cycle training for children and adults and greater access to trains and buses for cyclists?”
“It must be recognised that the UK Government have a responsibility for funding the pension, given the commitments that they made during that agreement and, indeed, that the Executive Office made to its delivery. Victims have been let down for far too long, and Alliance will continue to do all that we can to ensure the prompt delivery of the pension scheme.”
“It was my privilege to work with victims of the Troubles with organisations such as the WAVE injured group and the victims forum during my time as Deputy Chairperson of the former Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister and as a participant in the Haass/O'Sullivan talks as long ago as 2013. The Alliance Party has consistently and actively campaigned for the delivery of a pension to provide a degree of financial support, independence and recognition for those seriously injured in the Troubles. The extent to which victims have had to fight for that modest assistance is wrong. All parties signed up to this approach in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, and it is unacceptable that the pension has yet to be delivered.”
“Childcare and education will play a vital role in the new society that we must build further to COVID-19, so I welcome the 100% rate relief for childcare providers up to March 2021 and, indeed, the long overdue payment for sub teachers announced today. Will the Minister tell us what explanation the UK Government gave for refusing the furlough of Northern Ireland's sub teachers, how much the sub teachers will receive and when they will receive it?”
“Is a £2,000 grant, which is yet to be accessed by many sports organisations, actually enough for sports clubs to survive the COVID-19 crisis? Have the Northern Ireland Executive established a return-to-sport expert group to work with the Irish and UK Governments' return-to-sport groups to support sports clubs in Northern Ireland to return to practice?”
“I thank the First Minister for her answer. I will do that on Wednesday of this week. The document also states that measures are in place to provide outreach services to children with special educational needs. Families across Northern Ireland are telling me that they are not. It would not be fair of me to ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to outline the services to which the document refers, but I ask them sincerely to encourage the Education Minister to give an urgent oral statement to the Assembly to tell us what outreach services are in place for children with special educational needs.”
“I thank the Executive for the road map for Northern Ireland, which will take time to assess. I thank the people of Northern Ireland for complying with Northern Ireland guidance and ask them, as the First Minister and the deputy First Minister have done, to continue to comply with the guidance to keep saving lives. <BR /> <BR />I ask the First Minister and the deputy First Minister sincerely, on behalf of the many parents who have contacted me, how it is right to require 10-year-old children to sit the transfer tests in November and December of this year, further to several months of remote learning and up to three further stages of blended school and remote learning, when the Executive can take action to change the use of the tests for post-primary transfer admissions?”
“I can suggest a few enhancements of the Comber greenway, including the Connswater Community Greenway, and a few other areas in east Belfast if the Minister needs any suggestions. <BR /> <BR />In closing, I ask the Executive, the Minister and the Assembly to work to ensure that the introduction of this legislation is merely the restart of the cycling revolution in Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is regrettable that it appears to have taken a global pandemic to inspire a tipping point in appreciation of the benefits of walking and cycling, but we must, as colleagues have said, positively embrace this opportunity. I welcome the national and regional Government statements in support of active travel, but it is vital that this leadership is now supported by decisive action and investment. <BR /> <BR />We look forward to hearing how much of the £2 billion and the initial £250 million of the UK investment that Northern Ireland will receive and allocate to active travel, and what specific actions the Minister will be taking on pedestrianising streets, new cycle lanes and in what timescales.”
“The cycling strategy was introduced by Danny Kennedy, with the assistance of Rodney McCune, and it does show how far we have to go to realise the full extent of the ambition and the provisions of that strategy. I believe that five Northern Ireland Executive Ministers have been in place since these regulations were introduced in Great Britain in 1995, so it is far from just the Executive hiatus that has stalled these provisions. Since then, the delay of these regulations has led to financial loss for providers that had invested in e-bikes and, most importantly, opportunity loss for people who need the extra help that e-bikes allow to enjoy the benefits of cycling and that they will gladly now have access to.”
“<BR /> <BR />I believe that the APG on cycling was one of the first, if not the only APG, to provide a written response and oral evidence to an Assembly Committee inquiry into the benefits of cycling. We have already facilitated early engagement between cycling organisations and the Minister on a wide range of issues, including this particular issue, which I am confident has encouraged the Minister to act decisively in support of active travel provision. <BR /> <BR />That we are celebrating the introduction of regulations that were first introduced in Great Britain in 1995 is, however, a stark reality check on the extent to which progress on the Northern Ireland bicycle strategy and cycling revolution has stalled.”
“As a member of the Alliance Party, which has a long-standing commitment to sustainable active travel, and as Chair of the all-party group on cycling, I welcome and support the introduction of this legislation to exempt e-bikes from licensing, registration and insurance. <BR /> <BR />The all-party group (APG) on cycling was established in 2013 to promote and improve cycling policy and provision. We have actively engaged with cycling organisations and government to advance this aim and to work on this particular issue. We were inspired and cajoled to do so by the late Tom McClelland who was the Northern Ireland representative of Cycling UK in the early days. I would like to put on record our ongoing recognition of his work on cycling in Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />Turning now to capital expenditure, the Department of Education had a budget of around £157 million for 2019-2020 and £138 million for 2020-21. The Committee accepts that that is, to an extent, due to the COVID-19 shutdown, but the disrepair of much of our school estate must be addressed. <BR /> <BR />I realise that I am running out of time, so perhaps the Finance Minister could speak with some clarity on the availability of Fresh Start capital funds, in particular whether there is further clarity on the money for 2020-21.”
“The Education Committee has also consistently raised the need for the urgent delivery of adequate pay for substitute teachers during the period of COVID-19 social isolation, and it is increasingly concerned by accounts of significant hardship being experienced by dedicated substitute teachers in our community and expect that to be urgently addressed by the Education Minister. <BR /> <BR />The Education Committee also asks the Executive to support all funding for educational settings to safeguard the well-being and educational development of our children and young people on their return from COVID-19 lockdown. <BR /> <BR />There are some aspects of the Department of Education COVID-19 budget requests for which the Education Committee seeks further rationale, such as approximately £4 million for preparatory schools and boarding schools.”
“We will do all that we can to support the prompt and sensible delivery of the COVID-19 childcare support scheme to that key sector.”
“The joint Department of Education and Department of Health childcare support allocation of £12 million was announced on 9 April, yet not a penny has reached childcare providers and a childcare sector that is fighting for survival; a sector that is vital to the development of our children and which will be essential to the recovery of our economy. <BR /> <BR />It is particularly concerning therefore to learn that PlayBoard NI surveys suggest that up to 20% of childcare providers are unsure if they will be able to reopen further to the COVID-19 shutdown. The Education Committee has met childcare representative bodies, such as the Northern Ireland Childminding Association, Early Years, PlayBoard, Employers for Childcare, Northern Ireland Day Care Owners and the Employers Forum for Early Years Playwork and Childminders.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Education Committee welcomes funding for a number of essential COVID-19 measures, such as the free school meals payment and the childcare support scheme, which is being delivered by the Education and Health Departments in partnership. There are, however, families in Northern Ireland who do not have a bank account and who are not therefore in receipt of the free school meals payments that they need. The Education Committee has raised the matter with the Education Minister. <BR /> <BR />The £12 million childcare support scheme is, of course, welcome, but its implementation by the Health and Education Ministers is taking too long and asking too much of our highly valued and dedicated childcare providers.”
“<BR /> <BR />I encourage any parents or guardians who have internet access and are struggling with reading at home to visit the www.booktrust.org.uk/hometime-ni website to access local authors and artists who are demonstrating reading and drawing activities for families, and for links to other valuable programmes, such as the Libraries NI and Fighting Words websites. Not everyone has access to the internet, which is why BookTrust's Bookstart programme is such a worthwhile investment for the Executive and why I am eager to hear what, if any, plans the Executive have to provide internet and computer resources to those children and young people who are in need of them.”
“The programme is even more important during social isolation, as, whilst reading has thankfully increased for many families, a significant number of children are at risk of inadequate access to resources and learning. Indeed, BookTrust research published on 1 May found that 22% of parents are unable to complete any home education with their children, and 14% are unable to read to, or with, their children. That, surely, is an issue to which we, the Budget and the Education and Finance Ministers must respond.”
“That significant financial challenge, as I have stated clearly on many occasions, demands radical reform and reorganisation of education in Northern Ireland. The consequences of that funding gap for education are severe, but Education Committee members are clear that no cuts as a result of that financial gap should fall on special educational needs provision, mental health and emotional well-being, tackling underachievement linked to deprivation and delivering equal educational opportunity for all. <BR /> <BR />The Education Committee also reiterates its support for the restoration of modest funding for the BookTrust Bookstart programme, which is a low-cost, high-impact early years literacy programme.”
“The Department of Education previously advised the Education Committee of financial pressures of £427 million for 2020-21. Although that included £148 million for teacher and non-teachers’ pay, £80 million for the Education Authority and £60 million-plus for school budgets, the Department for Education has been allocated £227 million — some £200 million less than the amount requested. Due to COVID-19, some of the expenditure planned by the Department of Education has been paused, but the Department's non-COVID-19 resource pressures still exceed the Budget 2020-21 allocation by £165 million. <BR /> <BR />Education Committee members are particularly alarmed to learn of the increasing annual pay pressure in education, which may conceivably exceed £200 million by 2022-23.”
“I will begin by responding to the Budget debate as Chairperson of the Education Committee in relation to the budget for the Department of Education, which, as we know, is in financial crisis.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement, which will be a much-needed boost to our education sector. I particularly welcome the investment in my constituency, with Strandtown Primary School and Ashfield Boys' High School, which are good examples of the scale of investment needed to replace mobile facilities and dining facilities in particular. It will be a boost to morale for our education sector, but one of the key concerns for our education sector at this moment is the outstanding matter of payment for substitute teachers. Will the Minister provide the Assembly with an update on that matter?”
“As chairperson of the Assembly's all-party group (APG) on cycling, I particularly welcome the Minister's commitment to active travel. It is a healthy, socially distanced and fun way for people to move. I welcome the walking and cycling champion and the ministerial advisory group. Hopefully, the Minister's early engagement with the all-party group on cycling was a helpful link to the ideas and people who are needed to realise the potential of active travel. However, she will be aware that it has taken over a year to fix obvious problems with one of the few dedicated cycle lanes in Belfast, at Alfred Street, and that consultation on the Belfast cycle network plan finished in 2017. What specific action will she take to progress those particular matters?”
“It is important that we continue to advise of the Men's Advisory Project helpline that is available for support for male victims of domestic abuse in our community. <BR /> <BR />We must, therefore, ensure that home is always the safest place for everyone, including during this public health emergency. The legislation is an important action to help us achieve that aim.”
“Children and young people cannot be expected to understand or cope with such abuse, and it is, therefore, a duty on the Executive, the Assembly, agencies and society to protect them from it. <BR /> <BR />We must heed the concerns expressed by charities, such as Women's Aid and Barnardo's, that abusers may take advantage of the public health emergency and that many children in abusive homes are currently without the safe space of school, notwithstanding the distance pastoral care that dedicated teachers, youth workers and counsellors are providing. The Men's Advisory Project is also reporting an increase in calls from male victims of domestic abuse and has mentioned that many fathers are having contact with children disrupted or refused.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. Undoubtedly, reports suggest that contact arrangements with children are being disrupted or refused, despite guidance that such contact should proceed with social distancing measures in place. It is important that we respond to that challenge at this time and, indeed, that legislation rules out that type of treatment of children and families in our community. <BR /> <BR />Young people entering into their first experience of a relationship can also experience abuse from a partner. Domestic abuse is, of course, not confined to the home. <BR /> <BR />Research identifies that such domestic abuse is an adverse childhood experience and a contributing factor to a wide range of issues, such as educational underachievement, exclusion, youth homelessness and engagement in risk-taking behaviour.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. It is, of course, important that the legislation recognises the various ways in which children and young people can be victims of such abhorrent crime. <BR /> <BR />Children can be used by abusers to exert emotional, psychological or financial abuse against a partner or ex-partner. Children can be victims of emotional or physical abuse and are particularly vulnerable to serious harm at key stages of early childhood development.”
“Seeing, hearing or being present during an incident of domestic abuse can profoundly affect the physical and mental health and well-being of a child for life. Everyone deserves to live in a safe and secure home and I welcome the provisions of the legislation, particularly clauses 8 and 9, to make that a more likely outcome for children and young people in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The NSPCC is clear: witnessing domestic violence is child abuse. I welcome that the Bill creates an aggravated offence, which will apply if a child sees, hears or is present during a single incident of domestic abuse. Women's Aid and Barnardo's have referred to children as the hidden or forgotten victims of domestic abuse and it is important, therefore, that the Bill —.”
“I support the Justice Minister's call for anyone who is suffering from domestic abuse to contact the 24/7 helpline to access support. <BR /> <BR />As the Justice Minister has stated, we must change our perspective on domestic abuse. It can happen to anyone, it can be committed by anyone and it is unacceptable in whatever form it may take. It is not just about physical violence, and it is welcome to see the creation of a new offence that criminalises patterns of non-physical behaviour that are coercive and controlling and which amount to psychological, emotional or financial abuse. <BR /> <BR />As Alliance Party education spokesperson and chair of the all-party Assembly group on children and young people, I particularly welcome the legislation's response to the serious impact of domestic abuse on children.”
“I thank the Justice Minister for her work and that of her Department to progress this important legislation during this challenging time. <BR /> <BR />I also wish to thank previous Justice Ministers for their work to initiate the legislation prior to the collapse of the DUP/Sinn Féin Executive in 2017. I pay tribute to the many organisations that are working to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The domestic and sexual abuse helpline has reported a 13% increase in calls during the coronavirus social isolation, but the introduction of this legislation sends a clear message that perpetrators of domestic violence and coercive control will be brought to justice in Northern Ireland and that victims are not alone or forgotten.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill, which was introduced by the Justice Minister, Naomi Long. I commend the Minister for delivering this important legislation in such a timely manner and in line with her commitment to deliver a safe and shared Northern Ireland for all. <BR /> <BR />The focus of the Northern Ireland Executive and the Assembly is, of course, on the emergency response to COVID-19 but it is important that Ministers continue to progress important priorities such as tackling domestic violence, the impact of which, we know, is likely to increase during the social isolation that is vital to preventing the transmission of coronavirus and saving life.”
“Childcare and childminding small businesses are vital to the economy. Will the Minister commit to early engagement with childcare providers to help them to survive and to help us to respond to the coronavirus public health challenge?”
“The coronavirus is an unprecedented public health challenge. We are asking the people and school leaders of Northern Ireland to be alert but not alarmed. They are asking us for clear and measured leadership and guidance. I therefore ask the Education Minister to provide a fuller explanation of the expert clinical advice informing his approach to school closures, of the guidance that he is offering to protect immunocompromised pupils in special schools and of his plans to sustain childcare provision during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
“What work is under way to ensure that health and social care trusts continue to deliver therapies for children with additional needs during school closures?”
“I thank the Minister for giving way briefly. Has he costed the budget that would be necessary to standardise that preschool provision?”
“I will be brief. The motion and the amendment were tabled by the DUP and Sinn Féin, not all the Government parties; indeed, one of the Government parties endeavoured to amend the motion to increase its scope, but that amendment was not selected.”
“However, I will be clear: the detail of this provision needs urgent and further work, including co-production and co-design with everyone involved with the all-party working group on early education and childcare, without prejudice to the number of hours and weeks, the days in which those hours can be taken, the quality, affordability, flexibility and eligibility, the setting and duration, which will meet the appropriate needs of families in Northern Ireland.”
“That was demonstrated by the time that Executive parties dedicated to considering detailed options for a new model of childcare for Northern Ireland as part of the Programme for Government working group strand of the recent talks, and by the establishment of the all-party working group on early education and childcare, of which I am privileged to act as co-chair. <BR /> <BR />Access to affordable childcare is a long-standing priority for the Alliance Party, and we will, therefore, support the motion.”
“The significance of that cost cannot be overestimated and, as Members across the House said today, the cost can be over £150 per week for many families and up to 40% of weekly household income. <BR /> <BR />We have organisations like Employers For Childcare, the Early Years organisation, the Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA), PlayBoard NI, trade unions and all the organisations involved in the Childcare For All campaign, including private providers, to thank for this work and the realisation that the Executive and Assembly must make childcare access a priority. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the fact that childcare is now a priority for the Executive.”
“Equal access to affordable early education and childcare is absolutely essential for the vital stages of early childhood development; the support of all families, including those living with disabilities; and to help parents and guardians, particularly women, to access training and employment. Despite this, consecutive Northern Ireland Executive Ministers — initially the Health Minister, then the First Minister and deputy First Minister and, most recently, the Education Minister — have yet to produce a fully costed childcare strategy. <BR /> <BR />Thankfully — however belatedly — the penny appears to have well and truly dropped with regard to the significance of childcare costs and provision to families across Northern Ireland, and that is to be welcomed.”
“Does the Minister agree that the findings of the audit of the EA's assessment and support process for children with special educational needs demonstrates a systemic failure of those children? Does he also agree that nothing less than an independent review of the EA is now necessary?”