Jo-Anne Dobson
Upper Bann · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank Nichola Mallon for tabling this important question today. I understand that, through correspondence with my colleague Andy Allen, and he articulated this earlier, limited resources and challenges are being cited as the reason. Those are not acceptable reasons for young children to be denied access to a drugs trial.”
“I take no pleasure in speaking on the motion today, but I do so as the Ulster Unionist Party health spokesperson. I wish to focus my comments on, as the motion says, the "grave consequences" for the health of our people of Northern Ireland.”
“The GP crisis, as we know, threatens cover across Northern Ireland. That became abundantly clear given the number of Members who wanted to take part this afternoon. With hundreds of GPs considering resigning, that rescue package can no longer become a reality.”
“<BR /> <BR />I want to turn my comments to the present GP crisis and pay tribute to the work of GP representatives. A rescue plan is needed, but, sadly, one is unlikely to come forward any time soon. Shameful.”
“Minister, this is a desperate situation that has caused real anger in Portadown and has the potential to impact on the health of all patients of the health centre, creating a domino effect across practices. Portadown must be prevented from becoming Humpty Dumpty. What is your response to the anger of the patients in Portadown?”
“Minister, I, like Mr Anderson, have met many of these homeowners, farmers and businesses in upper Bann that have been affected, and livelihoods have been put at risk. Many farmers have been there for generations, and they do fear that it is Groundhog Day.”
The complete record
Every one of 711 lines we hold for Jo-Anne Dobson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 15.
“We all know that hundreds of millions of pounds were bid for and received, but it was less a case of unforeseen circumstances and more a case of politicking and stubbornness getting in the way of a fair allocation in the first place. Nevertheless, I accept that the £40 million allocation this year was better than nothing. The fact that official publications from the Health Department confirmed that nearly 400,000 people across Northern Ireland are waiting for treatment, a hospital appointment or a diagnostic test should have been enough to shame the Executive into action. I am sure that I am not alone in the House in writing to the Health Minister daily, on numerous occasions; indeed, I do not envy his mail bag of correspondence on behalf of constituents and their families who have been caught up in the waiting time cycle.”
“<BR /> <BR />The 2011-15 Budget has left a lasting legacy of rushed financial decisions and an abject lack of leadership or strategic planning. It is ironic that the DUP and the current DUP Health Minister were so keen to boast about the Budget deal, even claiming that it was a good deal, with their former leader warning that it was obscene of my colleague Michael McGimpsey to seek additional funds under that agreement. It was stated that no resource expenditure bids in monitoring rounds should have been tabled by the Department of Health at all unless in the event of major and unforeseeable circumstances.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst I welcome the allocation of £40 million emergency funding for elective care for the remainder of this financial year, the Health Minister, not for the first time, got somewhat caught up in his own hysteria by making exaggerated claims about kick-starting the local health service. I have cautioned him before, so I will do it again. His expectation of kick-starting a system that is effectively on its knees needs to be considered with the wider knowledge that, in the 2014-15 financial year, his Department received over £80 million of additional funding but the situation continued to get worse. Indeed, the DUP's first Health Minister of this mandate ended 2013-14 with a deficit of £13·1 million, despite receiving £100 million in monitoring rounds in that year.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak at this stage of the Budget Bill. No one will have missed the fact that our health service has had a very difficult year. Indeed, the last 18 to 24 months have seen a total collapse of even the most routine health waiting targets and key performance indicators. Yesterday, the Assembly approved the Vote on Account and the adjustments through the in-year allocations, and I am glad that the stalemate on welfare reform has at last been resolved. We must not allow some Ministers, however, to fall back on their own propaganda and forget that, while the funding shortfall that ultimately resulted in the disastrous in-year cuts in 2014-15 was £212 million, the welfare penalty accounted for only £87 million of that: the rest came down to the sheer mismanagement of the Executive Budget.”
“These are more consultations, Minister, on an issue, especially in relation to people with disabilities, where action is long overdue. The Minister is aware of my support for organisations such as One Eighty Restaurant in my constituency of Upper Bann, which helps to provide employment opportunities for young people with disabilities. What reassurance will be provided to them and others that, rather than a consultation followed by another consultation, they will get the help and support that they desperately need?”
“That is why the Committee unanimously tried to place a clear opt-out in the Bill. It is disappointing that the Minister felt that was not achievable, and I have to express my disappointment at the reluctance of his officials to provide us with a form of wording that they felt would be achievable. That is why we are in the unfortunate position of having now to move only amendment No 2. Whilst I recognise its difficulties, I believe that it is better than the Minister's alternative of nothing. Thank you.”
“I have also said that this is an important Bill and broadly well-intentioned. However, given that it also extends to the very sensitive issue of handling patients' private information, it was also clear that a cautious approach to it was necessary. It is essential that this new legislation continues to have the trust of patients and all the bodies that would likely benefit from improved sharing of information. Whilst I note that an opt-out provision exists in the Data Protection Act, many people, including Members of the House, would have been unaware of that.”
“Minister, I met the management of Four Seasons last week, and I know the very real concerns it has with workforce recruitment. On a personal note, I am disappointed that you turned down my invitation to come to Donaghcloney Care Home to see at first hand the work that is done there. What help and reassurance can the Minister give to companies like that that wish to invest in and care for our elderly people in Northern Ireland before we see even more homes close and the pain and the worry that that will bring?”
“I am a representative of the neighbouring rural constituency of Upper Bann. Is the Minister aware of the increase in crime along the A1 dual carriageway corridor? What strategy is being employed to address what is a very long-term problem for people living in South Down and Upper Bann?”
“I also thank the Minister for her statement and welcome the news on the nephrops TAC. Given the implications for the white fish sector, will she update the House on the Irish Sea ecosystem project benchmarks and the cod tagging project?”
“The Committee, therefore, welcomes the Budget allocation of £7·9 million, which will ensure that the Audit Office can continue the important role that it undertakes in providing us with an independent audit assurance in relation to the use of public funds. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, I would like to express my disappointment at the growing cost of administration in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Since the end of 2011, it has increased by £4·9 million, or 12%, to £45·2 million. Given the failure of the Department to honour Programme for Government commitments to reduce bureaucracy and red tape for farmers, I am sure that the industry will be more frustrated and disappointed by those spiralling costs.”
“I also continue to have major reservations about the projected cost of the Northern Ireland food animal information system, which will receive £2·7 million next year. <BR /> <BR />I would now like to make a few comments on behalf of the Audit Committee. The Committee was briefed by the Audit Office in December on its resource requirement for 2016-17. There was a discussion about what further cost reduction could be achieved without compromising the Audit Office's ability to carry out its statutory and value for money functions. The Committee wrote to the Finance Minister to highlight the savings that the Audit Office delivers in its value for money work. The Committee had concerns that cuts to the Audit Office budget would limit that work and the work on good practice that it undertakes.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. Of course, all of that will become apparent in due course. Maybe when you have been here longer, you will be able to find that out. <BR /> <BR />Moving on, I would like to make a few brief comments on the DARD budget, specifically two aspects of it. The Finance Minister knows my concerns about the proposed Ballykelly headquarters. The Budget document proposes that £10·4 million will be spent on it next year. Given the absence of any real business plan, I am still alarmed by that. Again, I urge the Minister to at least consider the vacant DVA office in Coleraine as a possibly cheaper option rather than blindly considering only Ballykelly.”
“Only £4 million of the £80 million has been spent. Despite the crisis, the Department of Health has spent £200 million employing locum medical staff simply because of its failure to engage in workforce planning. Over the last three years, the number of health administrators earning over £100,000 has doubled. It is my sincere hope that, given that Simon Hamilton has no interest in addressing the current problems, aside from stunts and asking for further reports on what we already know, whoever is Minister in four months' time tries harder and has more authenticity. <BR /> <BR />Moving on —”
“I am sure that he does not, yet the Budget that he was handed by the now First Minister has done nothing to address it. <BR /> <BR />Outpatient waits are only one example of the current crisis. There are many more, not least in core services such as cancer diagnosis and treatments. I do not need to remind the House of the pressures facing the Fire and Rescue Service. Hopefully, yesterday will have come as the sharp call to action that Simon Hamilton clearly needed. Again, I call for the service to be considered a front-line service. We attempted to give it more money last year out of the surplus — unused and untouched — social investment fund (SIF) moneys, but the DUP and Sinn Féin did what they do best. They protected their own backs and their fiefdoms while leaving the Fire Service unprotected.”
“I remind him that there are other means than Assembly questions. <BR /> <BR />Although I welcome the protection that our health service has been given, the Budget and the discussions that preceded it have done nothing to address the elephant in the room that is the wider funding crisis. It is a crisis that is now increasingly compromising the safety of patients and the delivery of safe and sustainable services. Only last week, for instance, the true scale of the waiting times crisis in hospitals across the country was revealed to my party. In Craigavon Area Hospital in my constituency, the number of people waiting longer than the maximum 18 weeks jumped from 187 three years ago to 8,752 at the end of last year. Does the new Finance Minister really think that that is acceptable?”
“<BR /> <BR />In my role as Ulster Unionist Party health spokesperson, that is where my main interest in the Budget lies. When the officials were briefing the Committee recently, we were told that the cost pressures are building each year, yet the true extent of those pressures is not yet known or, if it is, it is not being revealed. However, our constituents, often painfully, are experiencing that pressure in growing numbers every single day. We are all aware of the pressures faced, particularly by the health trusts. Those pressures are only being compounded by the pressures carried over year on year along with savings plans. Of course, when we ask the Health Minister how much the so-called emergency savings measures implemented in October 2014 have saved, he refuses to tell us.”
“Once again, in the absence of the detailed spending plans, it is impossible to make an informed assessment of the proposals that the Assembly is being asked to nod through this evening. <BR /> <BR />I make the same point that my party has repeatedly made in the Chamber. Our entire Budget process is backwards. Setting aside the fact that the membership of this Assembly is setting the next Assembly's Budget, we continue to have the age-old problem that, instead of Departments identifying their costs and saying what they need, they are given a lump sum and told that it is up to them how to spend it. There is no deliberation and certainly no strategic thinking. Therefore, I share my party's concerns about the capacity of the Budget.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak in today's Budget debate. At the outset, however, I express my disappointment that the Executive have again become even less transparent in the past 12 months. Last year, despite it clearly only being done for the optics, the Executive at least attempted to hold a public consultation, mainly over December 2014. There were more than 20,000 responses received, a fact that the then Finance Minister thought was of no importance, given that the Executive agreed the final Budget only two weeks later, long before a genuine synopsis of the responses could have been completed. This year, however, there has been no consultation at all.”
“<BR /> <BR />If the Minister attempts to argue later that budget cuts have not compromised the safety of either the public or the service's personnel, aside from that being widely discredited, I ask him to explain what he thinks is responsible for people having to wait longer before emergency help arrives. <BR /> <BR />I hope that this is a worthwhile debate, and one that the House uses to send this clear message to Simon Hamilton: the current situation is simply not good enough. In fact, what he appears to be on the verge of doing for next year will only make things many times worse. I urge the Minister, in all sincerity, to think again. A service that protects us deserves itself to be protected.”
“In response to an Assembly question from my party last year, the Minister confirmed that, in 2011-12, when the overall service revenue budget was £81 million, 77% of the first appliances in high-risk situations arrived within the first target of six minutes, but, unfortunately, by 2014-15, that had fallen to only 59%. Equivalent drops occurred for the second appliances, both in high- and medium-risk situations. I remind the House that, in the years since 2011-12, the service's budget has been cut by almost £12 million, and that is even before inflation is factored in.”
“If Members have not already done so, I urge them to spend some time out with those fantastic men and women. As I did, you will learn some very important lessons about duty, honour and respect, and I firmly believe that such lessons should go both ways. <BR /> <BR />Another alarming consequence of what we are talking about today is the deterioration over recent years in attendance times. We are all well aware that the service deals with far more than house fires. As the motion states, it plays a key role in responding to road traffic collisions, and, over the years, those priorities change. Whatever the circumstances, however, when a life or a person's safety is imminently at risk, there simply cannot be any delays.”
“They are very clear about their priority, which is to save lives. Their message to me, on numerous occasions, has been that they have already been working hard to deliver efficiencies in recent years but that these should be agreed and not forced.”
“Not only do we not have enough full-time firefighters but with the proposed cuts, redundancies would be inevitable and I suspect that not all of them would be voluntary. <BR /> <BR />The list of potential downgrades includes Armagh, Antrim, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Omagh and Newtownards, and extends to Portadown, in my constituency. Last February, I visited the crew in Portadown and had previously visited Dromore station and joined the large animal rescue squad based at Newcastle fire station on training. Sitting here today, we can have very little comprehension of the scenes that these brave men and women are faced with in the course of their duties. Many of them live in the communities that they serve. It is difficult to put into words the emotions that they must go through in the course of their duties.”
“Do the MLAs who got so worked up about our amendment last year still think that leaving the money to languish in the central pot was better than investing it in our rescue services? I ask each of them to reach down into their consciences to answer that one. Of course they do not; they were blindly following party orders. <BR /> <BR />The Fire Brigades Union warned last year what would happen with a further cut. Unfortunately, we are now in the unenviable situation of having an even more understaffed service as well, with several towns across Northern Ireland being classed as high risk, having no full-time fire cover. Sometimes, the Assembly hears examples of postcode lotteries and this is a prime example of one where people's lives are being placed at risk.”
“Indeed, the briefing it prepared and circulated to all MLAs should have been enough to send shivers down the spine of any Member who took the time to read through it. <BR /> <BR />Unfortunately, much of what will be talked about today would have already been known this time last year, when the 2015-16 Budget allocations were being decided. In fact, some may recall that the Ulster Unionist Party attempted to amend last year's Budget to increase the Fire Service's allocation by £1·5 million by using some of the untouched funding in the social investment fund. The DUP dismissed that amendment and even tried to suggest that we were taking money away from community groups. Look, however, at what was revealed only last week: OFMDFM has managed to spend only £4 million of the £80 million in the fund.”
“Members, that is the crux of the issue. The Executive previously decided to protect front-line services in the health budget but then the Minister, for whatever reason, decided that the Fire and Rescue Service did not deserve or merit that protection. <BR /> <BR />It is my genuine hope that the DUP amendment, rather than representing a mere drafting oversight by the party, is an indication from the Minister that he has, at last, listened. If it is not, and is only being used as a cynical or tactical exercise to save face politically, then shame on that party and on the proposers of the amendment. <BR /> <BR />In a briefing circulated last week, the Fire Brigades Union — a body that, we can all agree, has done a first-rate job in highlighting the severity of the problem — laid out exactly what is at risk. It summed it up thus:”
“I will say it again, "unacceptable risk levels". It is there in black and white. The most senior fire officer in the country — a man with nearly 30 years' experience of protecting our community — is, effectively, pleading with government to show some sense. Can the Assembly really sit back and let such warnings go unheeded? <BR /> <BR />Therefore, it was with some bewilderment that I read the DUP amendment to the motion. The very first line in it stresses the importance of the Fire and Rescue Service as a key front-line service. The proposers of that amendment are absolutely right, but I suspect that even some on the DUP Benches will be aware that the reason the Fire and Rescue Service is even facing a further cut next year is because it is not considered to be a front-line service by the Health Minister.”
“<BR /> <BR />No one in the House should be under any illusion about the pressures being applied to the service. In what I believe to be one of the starkest warnings so far, the interim Chief Fire and Rescue Officer, Dale Ashford, sent a letter dated 9 December 2015 to a senior official in the Department of Health. In the letter, Mr Ashford stated:”
“It is with no pleasure at all that I move the motion on such a serious issue and one that contains such serious warnings. Before I get to the substance of the debate, I warmly welcome our colleagues from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service who have come to Parliament Buildings today, many of whom join us in the Public Gallery. It is my hope that their presence will not only serve as a reminder that the cuts have left no constituency untouched but show that behind the statistics are men and women who face increasingly difficult circumstances in their endeavours to keep the public safe. It is my genuine hope that all the parties that wanted to be photographed with the firefighters outside the Chamber will support the motion inside it.”
“It was reluctant to broaden the scope to include online sales, saying that it would not be resource neutral because staff time would be required to check compliance. That argument is all fine and well apart from one critical point: in the time that an officer makes one physical inspection of a premises, they could have seen many dozens simply by sitting in front of a computer. I am glad that the FSA eventually shifted ground. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, I welcome the passage of the Bill. Its primary objective is sound, and I hope that businesses and consumers alike will be able to learn from the new scheme and develop under it.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Food Standards Agency also listened to our concerns. However, I believe that it took too much persuasion and too much time to take what should have been a logical decision. I am, of course, talking about buying food online, as outlined earlier. People order food very differently now from even a few years ago. Online ordering is increasingly convenient, even more so with the arrival of apps. Initially, the Bill simply required the display of stickers on physical premises, showing no cognisance of the fact that more and more people are ordering food on the Internet. I was firmly of the view that, given that the Bill is as important for takeaway customers as restaurant customers, it needed to be sufficiently robust for both. Unfortunately, however, for a long time, the Food Standards Agency did not necessarily agree.”
“Such premises simply will not have the option to opt out under the new system, which will be a really positive outcome of the Bill's commencement. Consumers will have available to them greater information on all establishments, and businesses will no longer be able to hide behind a voluntary scheme. <BR /> <BR />The Committee played a valuable role in its scrutiny of the Bill. By no means was it poorly drafted, but the Committee rightly identified a number of issues. These included points such as the necessity to ensure that there were no unwarranted delays in councils notifying the Food Standards Agency of a rating. I give credit to the officials who regularly met Committee members and ultimately ensured that the Department and the Minister stepped up and agreed to sensible amendments to improve the Bill.”
“As the Ulster Unionist Party health spokesperson, I welcome the opportunity to speak at Final Stage. It is a Bill that my party and I have been happy to support from the outset. Its primary objective, to make the display of hygiene ratings mandatory, always made sense to us. In fact, I suspect that many people were not even aware that these stickers were not mandatory already. The Bill has, therefore, addressed what some would consider an omission in the existing policy. <BR /> <BR />We will all be aware of examples that show that, overall, the voluntary scheme has worked well. Inevitably, however, the people who had something to hide were those least likely to get involved, as the numbers proved.”
“Maybe he can explain to the House why there has been a change of mind, albeit a welcome one. It is certainly a U-turn from the back seat, especially given his predecessor's views on the issue. Overall, however, I welcome the Bill.”
“In those types of conditions, it has been proven that smoke can reach up to 10 times the recognised unhealthy level and often lingers for hours. I believe, therefore, that there is a very sound medical reason to introduce a ban. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the news from the Minister today that his Department will table an amendment at Consideration Stage to ban smoking in cars carrying children, as, previously, the issue was effectively left to a Back-Bench MLA to take forward. That is interesting from my point of view. I simply cannot understand why a Department, with the advantage of time and resources, could not ensure that it got the necessary clearances to include a ban before the Bill was introduced. It is fair to say that the Minister's Department has been a bit of a back-seat driver, if you will excuse the pun, on the issue.”
“Indeed, because e-cigarettes are not regulated, their contents can often vary significantly, with some even found to contain highly toxic chemicals. <BR /> <BR />The other issue that is likely to dominate the discussions on the Bill is the ban on smoking in cars carrying children. As I said, tobacco is toxic, and young people in particular are vulnerable to exposure to second-hand smoke. This is down to the fact that, as was outlined, their bodies are still developing, and vital organs such as their lungs are more susceptible to the toxins that are emitted by cigarette smoke. Some parents smoke in cars under the well-intentioned assumption that winding down the car window will let the smoke out. In reality, however, that only pushes it to the back of the car.”
“<BR /> <BR />We must ensure that our young people are not taking up a habit that may unwittingly act as a stepping stone to the real thing. I do not think that this message can or should be underestimated. I very much welcome the Bill's proposal to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s. With the popularity of e-cigarettes, one of the unfortunate spin-offs is the fact that the vapour liquid that they contain comes in a seemingly endless range of flavours, so it was inevitable that they may be seen as more attractive to young people than a traditional cigarette. Whilst it is likely that e-cigarettes are less damaging to health than smoking cigarettes, with their damaging levels of tar and other chemicals, as yet there is insufficient research into the effect of their long-term use.”
“<BR /> <BR />Another major change in recent years has been the explosion in popularity of e-cigarettes. They seem to be everywhere, and you cannot help but notice the sheer number of people using them. Whilst I appreciate that they are still relatively new, we should at least be pleased that fewer people are pumping the toxic tobacco alternative into their system. It should be remembered that e-cigarettes are not a toy and are certainly not something that I would encourage non-smokers to take up. Nicotine remains a highly addictive drug, and it is recognised that, in any form, it has adverse health effects. It is important, therefore, that people do not become addicted whilst unaware of the risks involved.”
“On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, and as my party's health spokeperson, I am glad to support the Bill. In Northern Ireland, approximately one in four people smoke — that is, 340,000 men, women and children — and one in two smokers will ultimately die early because of it. The habit kills well over 2,000 local people every year, which is more than obesity, alcohol, illegal drugs and road accidents put together. It is our leading cause of preventable death. Despite this, research and surveys consistently reveal that many people would like to stop. For far too long, the number of people smoking was either increasing or remaining stagnant. Only now, after a raft of anti-tobacco measures that my colleague Michael McGimpsey put through the Assembly, are we beginning to see a cultural shift, with tobacco becoming less and less attractive.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. What steps does the Minister plan to take in allocating resources to ensure that the situation in Maghaberry prison is addressed and that staffing levels are increased to ensure that prison officers regain control?”
“Does the Minister accept that the four-hour waiting target has been set only after sound medical advice and that for some people the longer they are forced to wait, the more harm they come to? Is the Minister satisfied that patients' safety is not being compromised as a result of the pressures not only in the Mater but in all our hospitals?”
“I thank the Minister for her answers so far. The Executive have, in the past, treated these consequentials as unhypothecated. Will she — I know that she has touched on this already, but I want to press her on it — press the Executive with a view to ensuring that those moneys are used in the health service, given the great need there?”
“I thank the Minister for her statement and answers so far. However, I note that there is not any reference to the December Fisheries Council. Minister, given that you said in a recent press release that the Council will be difficult and highly complicated, can you give the House an update on your views ahead of the Council and what discussions you are holding with industry representatives to protect our industry?”
“I also welcome the fact that there appears to be strong support for the Bill, particularly among staff and bodies on which it will continue to have the greatest impact. <BR /> <BR />I conclude by urging the Minister to continue to work with those employees and their representative bodies so that they, too, can contribute to better safeguarding as we move forward in our ever-changing demographics.”
“We need to remember that the primary motivation for many domiciliary care workers is to help and support elderly neighbours and family members, with money often a distant consideration. It would be a retrograde step if, for whatever reason, some people were dissuaded from taking up these important roles. We must care for those who care. <BR /> <BR />The Bill contains several sensible proposals that I support and welcome, particularly in clause 4, which expands the scope of the NISCC to award certificates to social workers in recognition of learning achieved through a wide range of continuing professional development activity. Continual personal and professional development is important in all jobs, but even more so for those whose role sees them regularly coming into contact with the most vulnerable in our society.”
“<BR /> <BR />The scale of the numbers involved illustrates the breadth and width that the registration scheme will have for what is a fairly small population base. In addition, once the latest process comes to an end, Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that registers its whole social care workforce. Although I understand the rationale behind what the Department is trying to achieve — improving safeguards around those who often have unaccompanied access to our vulnerable and their homes — I urge the Department, and the NISCC in particular, to work very closely and carefully with the sector to ensure that undue pressures are not placed on employees. <BR />I would very much welcome the Minister's assurance that that will take place.”
“I welcome the opportunity to make a few brief comments on the legislation. What we are discussing today has its foundations firmly rooted in the 2001 Act. As we have heard, the proposed changes have two very reasonable and sensible objectives: first, to modernise the Northern Ireland Social Care Council to bring it into line with other regulators, such as the GMC; and, secondly, to broaden the opportunities for the recognition of continuing professional development. <BR /> <BR />The NISCC registration scheme appears to have proceeded as seamlessly as could have been expected. It was a daunting task trying to ensure that all our 18,000 residential care, nursing home and children's home staff met the requirements. The registration scheme is taking its next step by applying to a further 12,000 domiciliary and day-care staff.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers. Being parochial, I must say that the closure of Donaghcloney Care Home in my constituency will affect 65 families — 24 residents and 41 staff — in the mouth of Christmas. What impact have the wage-rate bands for carers in the private sector and, as we said earlier, the difficulty in obtaining a sustainable supply of nurses had in the closure of the homes? Will you update the House on the discussions that you have had with Four Seasons, which, I gather, took place this morning, on these issues, which, if not addressed directly, could result in further disappointing announcements?”
“I thank the Minister for his update. As we know, it has long been established that there are areas of Northern Ireland with unacceptably high levels of economic inactivity. As you say, you launched the strategy with a statement in April. As has recently been reported, it is largely unresourced, and many of the projects have not commenced due to lack of resources. Minister, are you content to be associated with monumental failure and lack of prioritisation from the Executive?”