Mark Durkan
Foyle · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“That review involved an extensive engagement exercise with charities, regulators and funders, aimed at creating a more modern and proportionate regulatory system.”
“When the review was commenced in 2021, many organisations were still in the midst of responding to the pandemic. Since then, they have faced a succession of new and evolving challenges. The ending of European funding programmes, on which so many in our communities relied for decades, has left a significant gap.”
“<BR /> <BR />The broad principles behind the Bill are sensible. The changes will modernise charity regulation, strengthen the Charity Commission's ability to intervene where misconduct or mismanagement occurs, improve information sharing and, importantly, reduce unnecessary red tape, particularly for smaller charities with limited adminis…”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today. Before turning to the detail of the legislation — there will not even be that much detail in the debate today at Second Stage — I pay tribute to our charity sector. Across every constituency, charities provide support that changes and saves lives every single day.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst the SDLP supports legislation that removes unnecessary bureaucracy, we should not kid ourselves that administrative reform alone will secure the future of charities and organisations in the voluntary and community sector.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. Like other Members, I welcome the fact that we have reached this point. There seems to be consensus among Committee members and, I am sure, all Members that the introduction of these measures will save lives, which begs the question of whether the 10-year delay in introducing the measures had an opposi…”
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“I thank the Member for that question. The Department has responsibility for road safety and therefore for ensuring the roadworthiness of vehicles, which is a causation factor in many collisions on our roads. Through the MOT, we check the headlights on vehicles — that is one of the most important aspects of the test — and any found to be faulty will be automatically failed. With public service vehicles, such as taxis or buses, and, indeed, haulage vehicles, the Department is even more stringent in testing, and those vehicles are also subject to roadside checks. The police are a very important road safety partner of the Department, and they also monitor our roads and look out for vehicles with defective headlights such as those described by the Member.”
“This is very much the sort of thing that they have to look at. I am sure that the Member will return in the next mandate and will raise this issue with the Minister-to-be. As I said, hopefully, I will also return and will certainly lend my support to him in that.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Member for that question. That truly is a frightening and shocking statistic. Certainly, as an elected representative, never mind as Minister with responsibility for road safety policy, I will work with you and with everyone to address what is clearly an issue at that location. <BR /> <BR />I have gone on the record before in the Chamber about concerns that I had about, I suppose, the restructuring of Departments and where I foresaw potential problems. However, there are also opportunities, and I see one in the establishment of a new Department for Infrastructure that will subsume the road safety element of DOE. Then you will have in the same Department the people who are responsible for road safety and those who are responsible for the road network.”
“This year, three of the projects are from organisations that span the North, namely Ulster GAA, the Road Safety Council for Northern Ireland and Parents' Education as Autism Therapists, and thus benefit audiences across the North. <BR /> <BR />In view of the fact that the A26 runs between Ballymena and Coleraine, I can advise that two of the projects — the Big Telly Theatre Company and Causeway Rural and Urban Network, based in Coleraine — received funding for road safety events.”
“<BR /> <BR />Through its awareness campaigns, my Department focuses on problem areas such as drink-driving, speeding and carelessness and inattention and on groups that are over-represented in the casualty figures across the North. I will also launch two new campaigns later this month. The first will address mobile phone use while driving, and the second young driver distraction, particularly when carrying passengers. <BR /> <BR />My Department also continues to provide a range of resources and schemes to be used by teachers in schools to allow them to improve road safety behaviours in children and young people. Since April 2010, my Department has awarded grant funding of over £700,000 to 90 projects through the DOE road safety grant scheme.”
“My Department continues to take a range of actions to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. We focus on the key causes of road casualties and on groups that are over-represented in the casualty figures here in the North. These figures do not target specific geographies; rather, they are designed to target the most at-risk cohorts of the entire population and the biggest killer behaviours on our roads. The Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill completed its passage on 12 January and currently awaits Royal Assent. The Bill makes provision for a new drink-driving regime and a new graduated driver licensing scheme. We will now develop and consult on a significant package of subordinate legislation to implement the new arrangements.”
“I have visited many of those businesses, and I have heard them say very loud and clear that they feel let down by the Executive. All I can do is point to the efforts that I have made in that regard. Having sat on the paper for 13 months, the Executive then voted for the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister and the Finance and Personnel Minister to take forward the extension of the scheme. That was on 20 January, and, despite having written to request an update, I still await a response on how they will proceed to extend it to help those who have suffered or will suffer in the future. One thing that is clear now is that, because it has taken so long, those who suffered this winter — there were an awful lot of them — will not get anything.”
“I would like to think that, had that received Executive approval, those small businesses — many of which, as I said, I have visited — that were so negatively impacted on by the flooding this winter would have received some sort of assistance from the Government. I am not sure that £1,000 would have gone very far towards helping very many of them; however, it would have been some practical assistance from us as a Government.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I wholeheartedly agree with him. I said in my answer to the original question that I had recently tabled the seventh version of an Executive paper seeking to extend the scheme of emergency financial assistance for householders to businesses, community facilities and churches. I tabled version 1 of that paper in November 2014, not November 2015.”
“<BR /> <BR />One thing that has been achieved in this mandate — not necessarily by me, per se — is a growing realisation in this Chamber and across the North that climate change is happening. We are contributing to it and, therefore, we have to contribute to slowing it down. The COP21 conference in Paris, which I had the privilege to attend, showed what can be achieved. The role of business in the conference showed that what can be achieved need not necessarily be detrimental to our economy. As we move forward into the next mandate — hopefully to bring in climate change legislation here — it is vital that we involve business, particularly the agrifood sector.”
“I thank Ms Lo, the Chairperson of the Environment Committee, for her question. I know that the whole subject of climate change, as well as the need for legislation, is something that Ms Lo has been very vociferous about over the few years during which I have been Minister. <BR /> <BR />We have received responses to the discussion document. The overwhelming majority of responses agree that we, as an Assembly in the devolved state of Northern Ireland, need our own specific climate change legislation. They are not unanimous by any means; there are some who question the need for such legislation. However, that does not surprise me at all. It underlines the importance of working with those groups and, indeed, parties in this Chamber that might not be or are not supportive of the need for climate change legislation.”
“Grants will be available to people living in areas prone to flooding to put in physical measures to protect their property. I believe that grants of up to £10,000 are available. <BR /> <BR />The property to which the Member refers is a thatched cottage. It is over 300 years old, as I recall. Not that I recall it being 300 years old; I recall being told that. My Department has a responsibility to protect our built heritage. Therefore, I have spoken to my officials about that, and I know that they have engaged with the occupants of the property. Departmental architects and NIEA architects have spoken to them to see what practical measures can be taken to preserve that important piece of built heritage.”
“I thank the Member for that question. I did indeed visit the cottage in the Member's constituency. You could say that it literally was in the Upper Bann on the day that I visited it, such was the extent of the flooding that it and those dwelling in it had suffered. It is vital that Departments work collectively to mitigate the damage caused by flooding to households and, as I have said, community facilities, businesses and churches. We know that it causes not only damage but distress. It has been evident to me over the past couple of months, as I have visited victims of flooding right across the North, that it does not just have an impact on their property but takes a toll personally. <BR /> <BR />My colleague the ARD Minister launched a new scheme for individual property protection. That is very important.”
“<BR /> <BR />On 11 February this year, I circulated the seventh version of an Executive paper on flooding to my Executive colleagues, seeking agreement to extend the current scheme of emergency financial assistance to include recreational and community buildings, places of worship and businesses. I will continue to press my Executive colleagues to endorse that proposal.”
“<BR /> <BR />Circular LG 03/16, which provides advice on the scheme of emergency financial assistance to district councils, was issued to all councils on 29 January this year and includes the standard application and survey forms for use by householders and councils respectively. Claims for reimbursement must be submitted to the Department using the templates provided. Application forms seeking reimbursement of expenditure relating to recent incidents must be submitted to the Department within three months of the flooding incident occurring. Claims made outside that period will not be eligible for reimbursement unless in exceptional circumstances where prior agreement has been reached with the Department. As a result of the most recent flooding, I will reimburse councils to cover the immediate payment of £1,000 to 175 households.”
“You will be aware that article 26 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 1992 makes provision for a scheme of emergency financial assistance to district councils. Financial assistance under that article takes the form of grants paid by my Department with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel. <BR /> <BR />During the most recent flooding, I made emergency funds available to cover council costs incurred when responding to the needs of householders across Northern Ireland from 7 November 2015 until 31 January 2016. The scheme of emergency financial assistance to district councils also includes an immediate payment of £1,000 to householders as practical assistance to those who suffered severe inconvenience to help to make homes habitable as quickly as possible. It is not a compensation payment.”
“However, it is important that we work with the groups that we have worked with closely throughout the process, as the Member will be aware, such as the Young Farmers' Clubs etc, to see how they can help to get the message out to members who are possibly quad users.”
“I thank Mrs Overend for that question. In her former capacity as environment spokesperson for her party, she was very involved as the Bill went through the Assembly. Communication is important when making it mandatory to wear a helmet when riding a quad bike on the public road. It is safe to say that this will not impact directly on as many people as the GDL, but that is not to understate the importance of effectively communicating people's responsibility to wear a helmet from when the subordinate legislation is passed. It is important, therefore, that we look at how we do that. Is it through a TV campaign? I am not sure that it warrants that.”
“There will also be public information because it is important that parents know about this before they let their children out driving. They should know the responsibilities that their children have for the passengers whom they can carry and when. A lot of time and as much money as we can afford will be spent on devising the strategy to ensure that it is successful and has the impact that the Bill is all about — that is, reducing the number of fatal and serious collisions brought about and involving young drivers carrying young passengers.”
“I thank Mr Easton for this question on a very important topic. Communication is key to the success of anything that we do in here or that any legislation does anywhere. That is particularly so when something could be perceived as complex, and this legislation, as evidenced during the debates as it passed through the Assembly, is quite complex and not as straightforward as I would have originally liked it to be. However, it was amended, which made it acceptable to the House. <BR /> <BR />A communication strategy is essential. The Department has been working on that and commenced the groundwork. Obviously, the main target audience here is those on whom it immediately impacts: new young drivers. Right away, we were in contact with approved driving instructors. They will talk to learner drivers about this from their very first driving lesson.”
“Full public consultation will follow. Subject to relevant subordinate legislation being in place, it is planned that GDL will be operational in 2018. <BR /> <BR />It is proposed that the necessary legislation to make it mandatory to wear a helmet when riding a quad on a public road will be progressed as soon as possible in the next Assembly mandate.”
“I am confident that, with the continued support of my road safety partners, the new drink-drive regime will be implemented before the end of 2016. <BR /> <BR />The objective with graduated driver licensing (GDL) is to ensure that drivers acquire experience and skills over time in lower-risk environments. The Bill provides for a mandatory six-month minimum learning period and the introduction of a programme of training that will be evidenced by a logbook. It removes the current 45 mph restriction for learner and restricted drivers. It also introduces a time-bound passenger restriction for new young drivers for the first six months after they pass their test. <BR /> <BR />The Department is developing a draft programme of training and aims to begin informal consultation with key stakeholders over the coming months.”
“The provisions in this important Bill were prompted by public concern about the continuing harm caused by drink-driving; the high number of young and other new drivers involved in fatal or serious crashes; and the risks to users of quads involved in collisions on public roads. I welcomed the Assembly’s backing of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill as it completed its passage on 12 January. I expect it to gain Royal Assent later this month. <BR /> <BR />The Bill makes provision for two new lower drink-drive limits and also increases the likelihood of being stopped and tested by the police. A consultation paper is due to issue later this month, which will contain proposals to introduce a set of five statutory rules that are needed to bring the new drink-drive measures into operation.”
“I thank the Member for giving way, or for the invitation to ask him to give way. The concern caused to the Department is about the potential for the creation of a loophole through the acceptance of these clauses. As I outlined when speaking on the previous group, I am supportive of the amendments of yours that were brought forward in the last group and in this one and that will be brought forward in the next. I believe that, if the Bill passes, it has to be with the Member's amendments intact.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. With specific regard to clauses 7 and 14A, which, along with schedule 2, relate specifically to the closure of unlicensed sites, the Department already has powers under the Waste and Contaminated Land Order to close unlicensed waste sites, or article 4 offences as they are known. These provisions are much more stringent than those proposed in the Bill, and the Department would be wary that the implementation of these clauses without full and proper legal consideration, which has not been possible in the time that we have had to scrutinise the Bill, could compromise what already exists by providing a loophole.”
“I simply restate that if the Bill is to pass it needs to pass with Mr Beggs's amendments intact.”
“Inadequate time has been spent on it, and Members, and the Environment Committee in particular as we have heard, have had insufficient opportunity to give serious consideration to the Bill. <BR /> <BR />Because the issue at hand is cross-cutting, it would normally require an agreed Executive position before even reaching this stage. I am not in a position to advance such an Executive position and, therefore, can neither commend nor condemn the Bill. All I can say is that I support its objectives and, should it pass today, Mr Beggs's amendments will also have to be approved if the final text is to make any sense. Members, I leave that in your hands, as legislators. <BR /> <BR />Our business is to be grouped into three sections. I do not intend to rise every time to provide ministerial advocacy for each of the detailed clauses.”
“I have no doubt about Mr Beggs's sincerity in wanting to tackle this issue, and I share his very worthwhile objective. I also want to commend him on his willingness to work with my officials to ensure that the Bill does not unduly cut across other areas of regulation and/or create unnecessary work or bureaucracy in my Department or elsewhere. The Bill, as originally introduced, had many shortcomings of that kind. For example, it did not take account of recent changes in waste management regulations, but we have managed to work on a series of amendments that Mr Beggs is now bringing forward in his name and which cure many of the ills identified. Even with all that, however, I have to say that the Bill, as introduced today, even with the amendments, is far from perfect.”
“<BR /> <BR />I would like to congratulate Roy Beggs on bringing the Bill this far and for heightening public awareness of the issue. Metal crime and metal thieves can cause great problems for individuals and communities, and metal thieves need to be stopped. I do not know whether we need metal detectors to catch metal thieves —”
“This private Member's Bill is about crime: stopping and inhibiting crime in the area of scrap metal theft. It seeks to address undoubtedly unsatisfactory situations, such as where stolen metal is sold to scrap dealers with no questions asked. <BR /> <BR />The Bill has, in fact, very little to do with environmental regulation and the work of my Department; it relates much more, as outlined by Mr Maginness and other Members, to the work of the Department of Justice. The Bill is not even particularly related to environmental crime, however, for reasons that I do not quite claim to understand, the powers that be have, quite late in the day, assigned the Bill to me rather than to the Justice Minister as sponsor. So sponsor it I shall.”
“OK. I give the Member the assurance that any such concerns that are raised with me or my Department are looked into and dealt with robustly.”
“I thank the Member for that question. He lost out on the opportunity to ask a supplementary to Mr McAleer's question. <BR /> <BR />I am satisfied that my Department has the experience, skills and capability to deal with any proposal that may be submitted for a gold-mining project. Any application for planning permission will be expected to be accompanied by, as I said earlier, robust environmental information; to demonstrate application of best available technology; and to meet recognised international mining industry standards. My Department will also engage in specialist consultation with an extensive number of agencies and rigorously scrutinise all the information that is submitted in assessing all impacts of the project.”
“We need to redouble our efforts in that regard and take every action possible to ensure that as few lives as possible are lost and that fewer families are left devastated as a result of death on our roads.”
“I thank the Member for that question and, again, for his interest in the subject. It is fair to say that everyone from every party and none in the Chamber would like to see that money protected. Although I have not had or even sought that assurance to date, I think that I or whoever the new Minister in the new Department is will be able to count on support from Executive colleagues and, indeed, the Assembly for that. <BR /> <BR />Let us not forget that over the past number of years — say, 30 years — we have had tremendous success in driving down the number of fatalities on our roads. Three years ago, we had a record low. However, unfortunately, we are seeing the figures creep up again, and that is not where we want to be.”
“You need only be distracted for a split second for there to be disastrous consequences on the road.”
“If people are out walking or running on these dark evenings, as many are, they have a responsibility to wear high-vis gear, for example, to make life easy for motorists and so forth to see them. <BR /> <BR />In the next couple of weeks, I will launch another couple of road safety campaigns. I spoke to the Member's colleague earlier about the use of social media: there will be a couple of social media campaigns targeted, again, primarily at young people. We have been looking at a couple of the major causation factors of collisions involving young people, one of which is the use of handheld devices or mobile phones while driving. The other one is in-car distraction, when a younger drive has passengers on board, and how easy it is to become distracted.”
“I thank the Member for that question. He recounted his experience as a community or elected representative of dealing first-hand with a grieving family who had just lost someone on our roads. The key message across all road safety campaigns coming out of my Department has to be — I used the phrase earlier — "Respect everyone's journey". Everyone has to respect everyone else's journey. When I say "everyone", I mean all road users, be they drivers, cyclists or passengers in vehicles, who need to know not to distract the person behind the wheel. Indeed, pedestrians have a responsibility, too. We had a campaign on that in the not so distant past. Pedestrians have a duty to ensure that they are seen, for example.”
“However, its achievement remains challenging, and decisions such as the two referred to by the Member on the renewable heat incentives and the ROCs will make it even more challenging. It is something that we need to look at again collectively as an Executive.”
“I thank the Member for the questions. While I have responsibility for our climate change policy and for meeting the targets in the Programme for Government and elsewhere, including by the UK and by Europe regarding emissions reductions, energy policy is the responsibility of the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. I spoke to Mr Lunn about my inability to speak for other Ministers, and the same will apply here. However, I will take the opportunity to give some sort of overview of where we stand with regard to our targets. Current projections indicate that we are close to the target of a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and that was agreed in the Programme for Government.”
“I thank the Member for that question. I think that all Members will probably have been inundated with correspondence about the announcement by the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment of the termination of the scheme. Like, I am sure, most Members, I have concerns about it. I have particular concerns as Minister of the Environment about potential impacts on our ability as an Assembly to meet our emissions reduction targets. That is something that I have reflected on, and I will make direct representation to the Minister on it.”
“However, I am certainly happy to meet him. I do not accept that I have failed; I think that I have succeeded where others have failed in getting this through. I will be the first to put my hand up, as I did during Question Time proper, and say that this is not perfect. However, I will work with Members and with the industry to get it as close to perfect as it can be.”
“Oh. I am happy to meet any Member and representatives from any industry. I am conscious that this is the second successive Question Time in which a Member from Alliance has accused me of failing something. He must be dying to get into the press with something. I know that it has been a quiet four or five years for the Member.”
“It was passed in 2008, and it is a sad indictment of the Assembly that the regulations are being implemented only now. I imagine that the review will commence as soon as this summer. I think that wedding cars will be looked at, especially as we do not have to reinvent the wheel: we can just look at other jurisdictions and see how they dealt with this matter.”
“I thank the Member for that question. I know that this issue is close to the Member's heart. My personal experience of wedding cars has been a negative one — a joke. However, I do recall meeting the Member and representatives of the wedding car industry. A lot of exemptions in the legislation have been introduced for wedding car drivers. They are classed as class C taxis. Indeed, some of them are very classy when you have Rolls-Royces, Jaguars and what not. <BR /> <BR />I do, though, agree that there are still concerns. For example, part-time wedding car drivers who might drive 20 days a year in their profession are expected to undertake continuous professional development or training as well as pay the full price of a licence. I said earlier that this legislation will be due a review.”
“<BR /> <BR />However, it is important and will allow us to look at and establish the causation factors for many of the collisions on our roads — many of the casualties and, sadly, fatalities — and maybe work more closely not just within the new Department but with our road safety partners and emergency services to get a more collegiate and collective approach to dealing with these issues.”
“I thank the Member for his question, but he is proceeding before the light is green. The Departments have not changed yet, and, as of yet, I am Minister of the Department of the Environment and it is not within my remit to answer questions on measures that are the responsibility of the Department or Minister for Regional Development. That does not normally stop people from asking me about them, be they Assembly Members, colleagues in here or members of the public.”
“Those being realigned in the new Department for Infrastructure is only a good thing and can and should lead to improved safety on our roads.”
“I thank the Member for that question. The functions carried out by DOE will be split across three new Departments. I am on record, as are party colleagues of Mr Lunn, voicing concern about where some of those functions might end up and the fear that maybe our classic environmental protection function might be subsumed into another Department rather than amalgamated with one. <BR /> <BR />On the issue that Mr Lunn is referring to, its new home in the Department for Infrastructure is where it truly belongs. It is nonsensical — Mr McCarthy might recall me referring to this in a previous Question Time — that the Department with responsibility for road safety has been separate from the Department with responsibility for implementing road safety measures.”
“<BR /> <BR />Proposals for minerals developments, including proposals for gold-mining, will also be subject to a wide range of consultation to assess the impacts on the environment, including on air, soil, water quality, wildlife habitats, landscape, sites of archaeological and historic interest, and on people. Applications for planning permission will be expected to be accompanied by robust environmental information to allow an assessment of the impacts of mining and, where required, by an environmental statement. Whilst there are clearly a number of environmental challenges in developing such mining proposals, those are matters that fall to be addressed through the planning system. I am satisfied that the system will allow community concerns to be highlighted and addressed through the range of measures highlighted.”
“Since July 2015, I have introduced a statutory obligation on prospective developers to consult with the community before any major planning application is submitted to my Department. I consider that engagement an essential component in addressing community concerns and environmental impacts at an early stage in developing a project. When an application is submitted to my Department, it will also be subject to the normal procedures of consultation, and any representations received will be taken into account in determining the application.”