Paula Bradley
North Belfast · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I am especially grateful to all the women who, especially in my first mandate here, were a constant support and encouragement to me as a new MLA. Nothing ever prepares you for this role, but many inside and outside this Building are the glue that holds it all together.”
“I thank them for their support, especially over the last week, with the phone calls, emails, cards and flowers, but, most of all, for allowing me to be part of their lives, sometimes at the most difficult times. Secondly, I want to thank my party, of which I have been a member for 20 years.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will try my very best to get through these three minutes without tears in my eyes, though I doubt that that is going to happen. <BR /> <BR />I will begin by thanking you, Mr Speaker.”
“After much discussion with officials concerning the objectives of the Bill, the detail of an SMI loan, the process of registering and removing the statutory charge and how and when an SMI loan is repaid, the Committee was content with the Bill as drafted. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the Final Stage of the Bill.”
“I welcome the Final Stage of the Bill. It is probably the shortest Bill that the Committee considered, but it is no less important, as it aims to protect owner-occupiers in receipt of an income-related benefit from the threat of repossession.”
“I know that I have caused a few headaches over the past two years, but you have always delivered week in, week out and put the needs of the Committee first and foremost. You have made my role as Committee Chair so much easier. For all that you have done, I am truly thankful.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,102 lines we hold for Paula Bradley, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 23.
“I know that I am being looked at and that my time is nearly up, but I thank everybody who took part in the debate. It has been a constructive debate, albeit there was a lot of mud-slinging. I think that it was Kellie who said that we should work together, not pull apart, on welfare reform, because every one of our constituents is facing the same thing. Every one of our constituents is coming to our offices with the same issues, and it is up to us, as an Assembly, not to wait on the Westminster Government. It is up to us, as an Assembly, to bring about change. Part of that change needs to start right away with the review of welfare mitigations. Maybe there are things that we need to increase and that we need to add, but we do not know because the review has not taken place yet.”
“When we look at the Budget, we know that there has not been a cut, but we also know that the £1·5 million for advice centre funding has not been included in the mitigation measures. I would have been much happier if Mr Carroll had tabled an amendment that was a little stronger. What we heard in the Committee from various stakeholders was that the extra money for the advice sector could not come from the existing Communities budget, because that would take money from other voluntary and community services. That is the last thing that we want. What I want to see is the Minister continuing to lobby her colleague the Finance Minister to get the additional money for the advice sector from the Department of Finance. Mr Carroll could have strengthened his amendment by including something along those lines.”
“They told us about the effects that welfare reform was having on their lives and about the five-week wait and the advanced payment; all those issues. I know that you, through you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, as the Minister, have tried to address those issues, but not enough has been done. That was quite evident from the information that we received about the Budget and the amount from the contingency fund that was handed back because it was not used. Better things need to be done and more work needs to be done to ensure that people get what they need when they need it. <BR /> <BR />Minister, you mentioned the money for the advice centres. I will speak about that and Mr Carroll's amendment. You said that there has not been a cut in advice sector funding.”
“OK. Thank you for that point. You are right: they did not get that credit. As you said, in other parts of the UK, Marcus Rashford was hailed for the wonderful thing that he did. <BR /> <BR />It is not about the past year, the work that has been done or calling the Minister to account for what she has not done, but Andy and other Members mentioned the sheer frustration out there when it comes to welfare reform mitigations. As was said, we know from New Decade, New Approach that a review was due to start in March 2020, but we have yet to see that review. We have yet to see that co-design and the working along with the very many partners who are involved in welfare reform. <BR /> <BR />I want to mention one of those partners. Very early last year, many Members met members of the UC: Us campaign group, which is made up predominantly of women.”
“I will go on. I am not here to hit on the Minister; I am absolutely not. I think that several Members said that. I know the work that has been done by you, through you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, and the Department when it comes to the COVID pandemic. I know the amount of money that rolled out that door, whether it was for food, heat or discretionary support; all those things. Well done in getting that out there. I do not underestimate the job that went on. Various Members from the Minister's party listed some of the many things that were done. Absolutely. Pat Sheehan mentioned free school meals and holiday hunger. We, on this side of the House, certainly praised that, because our Minister — the Education Minister, Minister Weir — was part of the joint decision that was made for that to be rolled out.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. Yes, I will. I will certainly make that point. <BR /> <BR />I want to make one more point about the venom and hatred that Justin McNulty showed when he talked about "the Brits". A vast number of people who live in Northern Ireland see themselves as British. I am sad that he cannot come back to me as he is not in the Chamber, but I would not like to think that the hatred and venom that he showed in the debate when he talked about "the Brits" related to the many British citizens who live in Northern Ireland. I want to put that on the record. I know that Mark is over there shaking his head.”
“I am one of the members who constantly lobbied my Minister to bring about changes to welfare reform. I am more than able to stand here today and support the many people who are just about living on benefits. Rachel made the point about the £20 uplift. I can tell you, through you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, that I will lobby my party to support that when it ends in Westminster.”
“I am also one of the only Members in the Chamber who sat on the Ad Hoc Committee on Conformity with Equality Requirements, Welfare Reform Bill when the Bill came to the Committee for Social Development in 2012. <BR /> <BR />I remember welfare reform landing on our desks, and I felt total despair when I saw what the cuts would be. Some in the Chamber think that we could have ripped welfare reform up, thrown it out and said, "We will do our own thing". I do not know where they think that the money would have come from to do our own thing: we had what we had. Yes, negotiations took place and mitigations did happen. I can say, hand on heart, that I was one of the members of that Committee who banged on at a rate about the Welfare Reform Bill and the mitigations that should be in place.”
“I thank everyone who took part in the debate. Fortunately, Mr Carroll has summarised what a lot of people said, and that saves me having to go into that detail. <BR /> <BR />Before I make a winding-up speech, I want to clear up some of the comments made in the Chamber today. I have been called "pious." Why I, as an elected representative, should have anything to say on welfare reform has also been called into question. After all, it is, apparently, all my fault that we have welfare reform. I will put on the record that I am an MLA who represents a constituency where there are people who live in great pain and deprivation. I deal with their pain every day. I deal with their queries effectively every day, and I stand by them.”
“I will be finished before the 2.00 pm cut-off. I thank everyone who took part in the debate today. Sorry, it is a 1.00 pm cut-off.”
“— facing closure. Will you continue to have those conversations with the Minister for Communities and, if possible, open a second tranche of funding for the clubs that missed out the first time around?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer, and he has probably answered my supplementary. Many sporting organisations were really good and got out to their members quickly to say, "You need to apply for this", but others were absolutely dreadful and did not do that. One was lawn bowls, where there are lots of bowling clubs now —”
“We need you to step up to the mark and put it out there and on the record that you support women.”
“I remember what Michelle Gildernew and Nichola Mallon had to face in those first few months after having a baby. After this debate, we need to take that forward positively. We also need to look at paternity leave. A gender-sensitive Assembly is not about just women; it is about equality across the board for women and men. <BR /> <BR />In finishing, I want to say a big thank you to Mike Nesbitt and Trevor Lunn. Trevor Lunn has been a great supporter of this issue from our time on the AER Committee all those years ago. Thank you also to Mike Nesbitt, my vice-chair on the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 all-party group, who has shown real commitment to effecting change in women's lives. To all those many men out there who are supporters and feminists in their own right, I say a big thank you. We need more of you.”
“<BR /> <BR />I read a report in the 'Belfast Telegraph' — I took part in it — that a quarter of female MLAs had been sexually harassed and three quarters had experienced sexism on social media. The report described the influence that that has on our lives. It has a deep influence on our lives and on how we behave, and that should not be the case. As women who are elected and standing up for what we believe in, we should not have to face that tyranny of abuse. <BR /> <BR />I was heartened to see the Westminster report on pregnancy. I think that it was about Ministers. The Assembly definitely needs to look at that, especially for all you wonderful young women out there — not so much for me — when it comes to pregnancy, proxy voting and taking leave to have your children.”
“What change can we effect to encourage the many women who will come behind us? Some of you will be here for many years after I am long gone, and a whole new generation of women should feel part of politics in Northern Ireland. I absolutely support that. <BR /> <BR />Various issues prohibit women from entering politics, and the chair touched on some of them. If you ask me whether I recommend being an elected Member, my answer will fluctuate. Some days, I will say, "Absolutely. It's one of the greatest things you could do". On other days, I will say, "Stay away from it. It is awful, it is toxic, it is horrible", but that is a reference to outside; not in here.”
“This is a very different Chamber from the Chamber that I remember from 2011, when I first came here. There is a different dynamic in the Chamber. We no longer hear the heckling when a woman gets up to speak that I experienced then. By the end of the 2011-16 mandate, every Member who sat on these Benches knew that that was not acceptable, because I did not accept it. I did not like it, I did not want it, and I did not want to see any female in the Chamber being treated in that way. <BR /> <BR />As I said, we have hope, and there have been many good things. However, as the chair of the caucus said, we have so much more to do. We had three years when we did not have the Assembly, and we have had the COVID pandemic for the past year, but I am so glad to see this issue back on the agenda in the Chamber.”
“It was extremely thought-provoking to see the names of so many strong women who have stood in the Chamber over the 10 years that I have been here and delivered speeches on International Women's Day. We had Karen McKevitt, Megan Fearon, Jo-Anne Dobson and Sandra Overend. Of course, I have to mention the great defender of rights for women, Caitríona Ruane — someone who, I am proud to say, was, by the end of that term, a very good friend. <BR /> <BR />I have very fond memories of them all, and reading their contributions took me back to 2015, when I sat on the AER Committee. Trevor also sat on the Committee, as did Pat. It was a really motivational time, a time of hope and a time when we felt that we were going to bring about great change. <BR /> <BR />We have brought about change.”
“I also join Clare in wishing everyone in the Chamber a very happy International Women's Day. I begin by thanking all the wonderful women who have supported me and given me the strength through this journey, which at certain times has been horrendous and at other times has been a wonderful experience. I say a big thank-you to all of them. I also want to thank all the many women who, over the past year of COVID, have stepped up to the mark. They have been at the front and centre of their communities, front and centre of our health service and front and centre of our retail services, so a big thank you to them. <BR /> <BR />When I was looking through the pack prepared for us today, I read through some of the speeches.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. At the end of the speech from the chair of the caucus, I was reminded of a time when Mitchel McLaughlin was in the Chair for one of our debates on International Women's Day. I was speaking and went well over time and, when I sat down, he said, "I daren't have interrupted you there". I absolutely get that and thank you, Mr Speaker, on Clare's behalf for allowing her to go over time.”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for the statement. Minister, maybe I am reading too much into this, but I hope that the order in which the nine sectors are put down will not be the order of the easements. Number 4 is sports and leisure. Have the Executive placed sufficient importance on sports and leisure when it comes to the mental and physical health of our greater population, especially our young people? We need that easement to happen sooner rather than later.”
“Without that, we stand accused of reacting, rather than planning, and of leaving the most vulnerable in our communities without access to the support, advice and basic financial assistance that they need.”
“Thankfully, the Programme for Government draft outcomes framework is now out for consultation, because, without a Programme for Government, we will not be able to scrutinise properly the link between budget bids and allocations and outcomes.”
“<BR /> <BR />However, the Committee was somewhat reassured by confirmation at last week's meeting that the Minister has given an assurance that those services will continue next year as an essential element of the Department's budget. The Committee therefore waits, with some unease, on the outcome of the Department’s draft budget equality impact assessment public consultation, which closed only last week. <BR /> <BR />I will finish by reiterating what I said in a previous Budget speech last October, because it warrants restating: we should not show a lack of ambition in our planning. Regrettably, however, our ambition for our population continues to be tempered by our finances and the ongoing COVID crisis.”
“That is still subject to change depending on the conclusion of all matters associated with the planning application. The Committee is concerned that there will be similar cost increases for subregional stadia as there are no final plans for that either. <BR /> <BR />The Committee is concerned at the impacts that the draft budget will have on section 75 categories. It will impact on young people in particular, given that there will be limitations on labour market interventions. It is likely to impact on people with a disability, who will now be even further from the labour market. It will impact on people with dependants, as households on benefits such as universal credit are likely to experience delays in payments. The lack of funding for the advice sector will also impact on people most in need of financial support.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Committee fully supports the aims for any additional funding for use in prioritised projects in regeneration, housing, culture, the arts, sports, libraries and other sectors, although I suspect that it will be stretched very thinly, judging by the many necessary projects. <BR /> <BR />The Committee is pleased to see £38·8 million of financial transactions capital in the draft budget to support the co-ownership housing scheme in 2021-22. The Committee continues to keep a watching brief on the regional stadia and subregional stadia programmes, and was told at its meeting this week that the current cost estimate for Casement Park is now £112 million. The allocation of public funding remains at £62·5 million, with additional committed GAA partnership funding of £15 million.”
“<BR /> <BR />Bids for strategies for the Irish language, Ulster Scots, disability, gender equality, sexual orientation and anti-poverty were also not met. What sort of signal does that send to those groups waiting for a strategy and action in those important areas? <BR /> <BR />I will move to capital allocations. As I stated, the Department's capital bid is in a somewhat better position as almost £330 million of net capital allocation represents a £10·7 million increase when compared with the Department's 2020-21 allocation. The Committee is reassured that that allocation will allow the Department to meet its statutory obligations, such as housing disabled adaptations and renovation grants, and its social housebuilding target of 1,900 units in 2022.”
“Despite being exceptionally busy with the Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Bill, the Committee made time to hold its own informal stakeholder event on 26 January to discuss the review of welfare mitigations, universal credit and the terminal illness rules. Members are very concerned about the pace of action on those issues and their impact on vulnerable people and families. <BR /> <BR />Prior to Christmas, the Committee was pleased to hear from the Minister about long-awaited plans to reform the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. However, the bid for £3·4 million for housing transformation was not met. That impacts on the ability to bring about the Housing Executive's revitalisation programme.”
“Accelerated passage was agreed by the Executive over a year ago as the end of March 2020 was fast approaching. March 2021 is now upon us. Over the past year, the Committee repeatedly asked the Department to engage with stakeholders and the Committee on the proposed legislation and the review of welfare mitigations. Yet as recently as last week's meeting, it was still not possible for the Committee to be given a definitive list of the organisations with which the Department intends to engage.”
“There will soon be a Bill, which will go through by accelerated passage, to provide for the extension of the social sector size criteria mitigation scheme; a statutory rule that will extend the remaining welfare mitigation schemes; and two further statutory rules that will amend the existing mitigation schemes by closing the loopholes in those schemes.”
“<BR /> <BR />On 'New Decade, New Approach' — where do I even begin on 'New Decade, New Approach'? — the Department made bids totalling £139 million, and bids totalling £96 million were not met. Only the bid for existing welfare mitigations has been met in the draft Budget. How will any new welfare mitigations be delivered? Where is the money to support amending the special rules for terminal illness and the removal of the welfare reform two-child policy? <BR /> <BR />At its meeting on 18 February, the Committee considered the three elements of the Department's proposals on welfare mitigations work.”
“It has expressed concern that Northern Ireland is well behind Great Britain in introducing such a scheme, and, as there is no funding for labour market interventions in the draft Budget, that causes huge uncertainty. The Committee is equally concerned about the knock-on effects on the Department's annually managed expenditure spend, as it will not be able to help people to move into work and to reduce their dependence on benefit in the next financial year. <BR /> <BR />The Committee has been consistently concerned by the inadequate funding for the Supporting People programme, which supports people to live independently in our community. Although it remains a protected area in the Budget, there has been no real-terms increase in recent years, which, of course, means a substantial decrease in real terms.”
“Never mind the five-week wait: we could soon be looking at a six- or seven-week wait for people who are receiving their first claims for universal credit. Many more families could be left without proper advice as no recurring funding is provided in the draft Budget for independent advice work to support welfare reform change. The Committee was met with frustration from organisations as money from discretionary support schemes was handed back unspent. It consistently asked the Department to consider redirecting money where the Budget process allowed. <BR /> <BR />The Committee has highlighted on a number of occasions the delays to labour market interventions, particularly the delay to the Job Start scheme for young people.”
“The Committee has scrutinised closely the COVID funding programmes for councils, charities, sports and the arts over the past year, so members were shocked to learn that the draft Budget meant that the Department was starting 2021-22 with zero for COVID-specific schemes and that many bids had not been met for those schemes at this point. <BR /> <BR />On welfare delivery, at the last count, the universal credit caseload had increased by almost 130% during the past 10 months and is expected to increase further as the furlough scheme ends, yet a bid for £149 million of COVID funding has not been met in the draft Budget. That will have a significant impact on the plans to recruit 900 additional staff to pay working-age benefits.”
“We heard at our last meeting that Whitehall's engagement and information on that fund has been severely lacking and there has been a failure to engage on the £220 million pilot programme that was promised in the spending review. <BR /> <BR />I will take a few minutes to highlight some of the Committee's concerns about the resource allocations for Communities. It is hard to know where to start because there is so much need in our communities, even before COVID. <BR /> <BR />The Committee acknowledges the welcome COVID funding of over £271 million received by the Department during 2020-21, with over £85 million of that allocated to councils.”
“The Department bid for almost £330 million of net capital and was allocated almost £225 million. That represents an increase of over £10 million on last year's allocation and will, at least, allow the Department to meet its statutory obligations. The Committee asked officials the hard questions about what efficiencies could be made going forward and was advised that an urgent exercise was being done to look at what could be stopped, paused or done differently in all areas. With the best will in the world, it is unlikely that any creative efficiencies that the Department can come up will be sufficient to meet the drastic shortfall in funding for Communities. <BR /> <BR />The Committee's concern is being compounded by the continued uncertainty about the Shared Prosperity Fund.”
“Overall, the Department's bids for £149·1 million of COVID-19 funding have not been met. Those bids were for a range of crucial activities help to ease the economic impacts of COVID-19 and support recovery. <BR /> <BR />At last week's meeting, the Committee was somewhat heartened to hear that, in producing the draft Budget, the Executive had agreed to retain some COVID funding to allow Departments time to refine their pressures. Despite that, the Committee believes that the draft Budget allocation will have huge detrimental impacts on welfare benefit delivery, employment support, support for homelessness, Supporting People, the arts, heritage and sport sectors, community support programmes and support for councils.”
“With only a one-year Budget, it is difficult to align the Budget beyond short-term priorities. However, for COVID recovery, we really need to align spend to medium-term strategic recovery priorities as well. <BR /> <BR />I will move on to highlight the Committee's concern at the overall draft Budget position for 2021-22 before going into some of the key details for Communities. Overall, the proposed budget of £824 million is effectively £1·5 million less than the budget for 2020-21. As a clear example of the pressures, a basic bid for £18 million for baseline funding for pay and inflationary pressures has not been met. Members expressed significant concern that the overall funding in the draft Budget for Communities to deliver on its NDNA commitments falls significantly short across all areas.”
“<BR /> <BR />Before I go into detail, I will take the opportunity to comment on the Budget process. The Communities Committee, like others, wishes to express its dissatisfaction with the nature of the 2020-21 Budget process. Granted there were delays due to the Chancellor's spending review being late, but the Executive also failed to consider the draft Budget in a timely manner and so lost the Committees valuable scrutiny time and opportunity. The Committee understands that the impact of COVID-19 has meant that the plan to provide a full multi-year Budget has had to be reconsidered, so here we are again facing a single-year Budget that makes planning for services and programmes so much more difficult and therefore the scrutiny role of the Committee equally difficult.”
“Sadly, as the briefing continued, it became clear that it was the reality, and the Committee is fully supportive of the Minister as she continues to lobby for additional funding to support the most vulnerable in our society. Any flexibility from Treasury to carry over the significant amount of money that came from it at the end of last year will have no trouble finding a home in Communities. It is worth highlighting that the Assembly's Research and Information Service recently drew our attention to the fact that non-ring-fenced resource DEL for Communities has decreased by over £33 million between 2016-17 and 2020-21; in fact, according to the presentation, over that time, Communities is the only Department to have seen such a total reduction in non-ring-fenced resource DEL.”
“I will never speak to you again. <BR /> <BR />Almost a year ago in the House, I assured the Minister of Finance that the Committee for Communities would work closely with the Department to achieve all that it could, whatever its budget allocation. However, now that we have had two briefing sessions with officials, on 28 January and 4 February, it is not an overstatement to say that the Committee is dismayed at the allocations for Communities in the draft Budget for 2021-22; in fact, in some cases, the current allocations are so low when compared with the bids that the Committee wondered whether it was the reality or just a worst-case scenario being presented to it to garner support.”
“Thank you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. I did not think that I was that forgettable”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. She is absolutely right, but we do need our judges to take the matter of domestic abuse seriously. Does the Minister believe that the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, which has a maximum tariff of 14 years — although I stand to be corrected — will go some way to assisting with this?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Minister, you and I know that North Belfast is not the flattest of constituencies and does not often lend itself to cycle routes. We go out as far as Glengormley, and people living in the greater Belfast area commute to Belfast to work. We want to see that increase. Will you look further at other parts of north Belfast?”
“Councils have been asked to submit their draft community plans, which detail, amongst other things, GP surgeries, libraries and many other services, yet planners and developers do not seem to look at those services when future-proofing, especially when it comes to affordable housing. They think that affordable housing should be the housing that is stuck out in the middle of nowhere. How can you ensure that our councils' community plans are used for any future social and affordable housing and that such housing is in areas that are suitable for lifelong living, given that we have an ever-increasing ageing population?”
“I thank the Minister for bringing forward this statement today. The statement talks about "improving housing supply" and:”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. The Minister is aware that the Committee for Communities is looking at the Licensing and Registration of Clubs (Amendment) Bill. We have written to him, and he has responded. Will he provide an update on the minimum unit pricing of alcohol?”
“My question comes with a caveat, which is that, in our constituency offices, we hear more about the negative than the positive, but I want to talk about the COVID-19 discretionary support grant. Minister, what would you say to those people who have been turned down and who were told to literally count the number of tins they had in their cupboards and what they had in their fridge? We know that people's needs are not black and white, so, when you look at the review, will you give your word that you will use a common-sense approach, because not everybody's situation is the same?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. The Minister raises some valid points, especially around mental health. Members hear through their constituency offices how this is affecting our students. The Minister also mentioned the hardship fund. We know that there are criteria for all of the funds, and they are quite limited. Will the Minister assure us that she will speak to universities to see about broadening the criteria to encompass more people so that they can receive the hardship fund?”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for her answer. We know from the figures that, when there are stricter regulations in place, compliance is generally much better. However, looking forward, we will have to reopen the economy at some stage, as she said. How do we continue with the messaging to ensure that people do not fall back into the old habits that we saw in the months leading up to Christmas, which led to this situation?”