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.”
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“Therefore, the following are not being uprated: the personal allowance element of income support and jobseeker's allowance; the personal allowance and work-related activity components of the employment and support allowance and housing benefit; and the standard allowance limited capacity for work element and the lower disabled child addition under universal credit. That freeze is due to end this April, and we look forward to a possible increase in those benefits as well. <BR /> <BR />The Department informed the Committee that it has no power to set any other rates in respect of benefits or pensions in the annual uprating order. Overall, therefore, the Committee was content to recommend that the Assembly approves statutory rule 2019/188. <BR /> <BR />On statutory rule 2019/189, the Social Security Benefits Up-rating (No.”
“Statutory rule 2019/188 provides, as the title suggests, for the annual uprating of a range of social security benefits. Members will note that the majority of benefits will increase by 2·4%, and others by 2·6%. Quite a number of benefits are subject to this increase and referred to in the regulations. However, it would be disingenuous not to mention that some benefits were not uprated. That is a result of the Westminster Government's decision, in the summer Budget of 2015, to freeze increases to certain benefits for four years beginning in 2016-17.”
“The Committee is otherwise content to recommend that the Assembly approves the regulations.”
“In February 2020, the High Court in GB also ruled that the eligibility criteria, which denied payment of the higher-rate bereavement support payment to unmarried, cohabiting partners with children, are incompatible with human rights law. <BR /> <BR />Clearly, courts do not make laws, but they can often point politicians in the direction of where laws should be made or amended. The Department told the Committee that it has been in detailed discussions with DWP on the issue and is actively considering possible options, but, clearly, the law has not changed yet. <BR /> <BR />The Committee urges the Minister to look closely at the issue and engage with DWP on the back of the recent ruling by the High Court in GB to bring the bereavement support payment into line with human rights law and make cohabiting couples eligible for the benefit.”
“A number of members expressed concern that the eligibility criteria excluded cohabiting couples from receipt of the payment and queried the human rights implications of that position, particularly in light of the Supreme Court ruling in the McLaughlin case, in 2018, in respect of widowed parent's allowance. The Supreme Court ruled that restricting eligibility to the allowance to married couples and those in a civil partnership, therefore excluding cohabiting couples, was incompatible with human rights law. The regulations that we are discussing were already in effect and had replaced widowed parent's allowance, but the exclusion of cohabiting couples from receipt of bereavement support payment has also been considered by the courts.”
“The Committee considered the regulations on 6 February. As the Minister stated, the regulations stem from the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, which makes provision for bereavement support payment to surviving spouses and civil partners after 6 April 2017. The bereavement support payment replaces three existing payments: bereavement payment, bereavement allowance and widowed parent's allowance. <BR /> <BR />The restriction of the payment to surviving spouses and civil partners was the focus of the Committee's discussion with the Department during its consideration of the regulations.”
“Much of what we are discussing in respect of the Department for Communities has deep impacts on women and families here in Northern Ireland. I talked about how we have to be honest, but we should not lack ambition. We need to empower those women and make a difference to their lives. The Department for Communities should certainly do that, but we need to look at all those other things as well. We need to look at better childcare in Northern Ireland. We need to look at better infrastructure. We need to look at apprenticeships for women to empower them to go out and provide. I am ambitious, and I look forward to working with the Minister for Communities and the Minister of Finance.”
“In an era when we have heard stories about our public transport, education, sewerage systems and, of course, the health service in the most dreadful terms, how do we choose where to spend our limited resources? I certainly do not have the answers to the difficult questions that the Minister of Finance and his colleagues face. I can only assure him that the Committee for Communities will work closely with the Department for Communities to achieve all that we can in the limited time ahead on the issues under its remit, whatever the budget allocation might be. <BR /> <BR />I want to say a few words as DUP spokesperson for communities. It would be remiss of me not to mention that we celebrated International Women's Day yesterday.”
“If we find ourselves in that position when we come to look at the Main Estimates in June, we should have the honesty to tell the people that. The idea that we can pay for everything is an illusion. That is not political dogma or pessimism; it is simply fact. <BR /> <BR />We find ourselves in a budget-setting phase at a time when a virus looks set to impact on our society in ways that we are yet to understand. However, it seems certain that the impact on the global economy will be strongly negative. We cannot escape that impact, but what will it mean for future budget priorities? What recourse to financial assistance will the Executive have to address the short- and longer-term impact of the virus?”
“The Canadian-American economist and diplomat, J K Galbraith, took a different view:”
“As a result, I fear that some stakeholders of every Committee and Department may learn that sympathy is possibly all that they can get from us. <BR /> <BR />Our ambition has to be tempered by our finances. That is not to say that we should show a lack of ambition. Rather, when the Executive are determining the required outcomes for the Programme for Government, they should ask whether the support they are providing to service providers is sufficient to achieve those outcomes. If not, we are just fooling ourselves and misleading the public. We need to be clear about the link between the setting of the Budget and the establishment of outcomes in the new Programme for Government.”
“The Committee heard from the Minister for Communities a number of weeks ago on the need for accelerated passage for the Bill to extend mitigation payments on the social sector size criteria. We have yet to see anything following those discussions. I can only assume that the matter is in hand. All members of the Committee had considerable sympathy for the views of stakeholders in relation to welfare reform mitigations, yet some of the figures discussed that are required to extend and strengthen all other mitigation measures were startling — around £200 million per year. <BR /> <BR />That is just one of a multitude of areas crying out for resources. We will, undoubtedly, be faced with the prospect of prioritising our expenditure more than ever.”
“I want to make some remarks first as Chairperson of the Committee for Communities. As the Minister said in the House, the term "Budget Bill" is something of a misnomer. What we have considered to date is the reallocation of surrendered moneys to reach agreement on the Vote on Account in order to allow Departments to provide services over the next few months. <BR /> <BR />I imagine that we are looking forward to debating the Main Estimates, which we hope to see in June. A key issue addressed by the Minister, and specific to the Department for Communities, is the requirement to spend £7 million until the end of May 2020 for the extension of welfare reform mitigations. That is required until the necessary legislation is passed.”
“After all, the Assembly is, first and foremost, a legislature, but we have only two years left in this mandate, and the Executive need to exercise caution in their legislative priorities. In doing so, they need to consider the capacity of the Assembly and its Committees to process the legislation. Loading Committees with two or even three Bills at the same time is not good practice. It will not lead to good scrutiny and could lead to bad legislation. I, therefore, urge Ministers to consult with their respective Committees on the logistics underpinning the timetabling of legislation. <BR /> <BR />The Committee for Communities looks forward to providing advice and assistance to the Minister on her proposed legislation so that we can get the best outcomes for all the people whom we represent.”
“There is an eagerness in various sectors to get the Bill progressed through the Assembly as soon as possible, particularly as the previous Committee had made significant progress on similar legislation. However, I caution that there will be no shortcuts in the Committee's scrutiny of the Bill. Due process will be followed, and we will take as long as we need, within statutory time limits, to do the job properly. <BR /> <BR />We know that, on a slightly more distant horizon, the Committee will also be presented with a Bill on gambling reform. The consultation on proposals has just ended, and the Committee will hopefully get a briefing on that soon. <BR /> <BR />It is encouraging that the Executive have laid out their initial legislative programme.”
“That is a complex and quite technical piece of legislation. We will hopefully receive a briefing from the Department on that next week and reach a decision on that request soon after. <BR /> <BR />Liquor licensing reform is also a legislative priority. The Committee will receive a briefing at its meeting this week on the outcome of the most recent consultation on the proposed licensing and registration of clubs (amendment) Bill. I understand that there were over 1,500 responses to the consultation, indicating the level of interest in the legislation. We expect the Bill to be introduced within the next few weeks, and the Committee looks forward to making progress in its scrutiny of the Bill soon after that.”
“<BR /> <BR />The housing (amendment) Bill is yet another priority. Every Member knows only too well the myriad issues on housing. Along with the extension of the bedroom mitigation measures, a most immediate housing issue facing us is the need to legislate in order to redesignate housing associations as private organisations. We need the Bill to ensure that our housing associations can continue to build social homes and to give the Department the ability to access funds through financial transactions capital. The Committee acknowledges that accelerated passage is, again, a likely approach, and we look forward to the Minister coming to the Committee with her proposals. <BR /> <BR />Just last week, the Committee received a request for Committee support for a legislative consent motion (LCM) relating to the Westminster Pension Schemes Bill.”
“I want to make a few comments as Chair of the Committee for Communities. I welcome the Executive's legislative programme. The Minister for Communities attended the Committee meeting last week to discuss her priorities, which include the introduction of a number of Bills before the summer recess. The Assembly will already be aware of the need for a Bill to extend social sector size criteria or bedroom tax mitigation measures. The need for that to proceed via accelerated passage was explained to the Committee by the Minister just a couple of weeks ago. The Committee supports the Minister in that approach, and we hope to see the Bill introduced to the Assembly very soon. As the Minister herself said, it is essential in order to support the 38,000 households that would otherwise be subject to additional housing costs.”
“I thank the Minister for his response, especially because he spoke about it ad nauseam at his previous Question Time. So many of our local pubs are community hubs in our towns and villages, and I have been lobbied about the possibility that some of them may have to close. Will the Minister ensure that communication is kept open, with the possibility of appeals or whatever that might be between his Department and the pubs that act as community hubs?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer; it certainly answers some questions that local teachers have asked. I know of the unit; it was stuck on to the side of Glengormley youth centre for many years. If they are looking for a suitable location, may I suggest that they look no further than Rathcoole Primary School?”
“Coming from a strong east Belfast family that worked in the shipyard and the rope-works, I am glad to hear that. I am also glad to hear that we have moved on considerably since then. I want to home in on what the Minister said about skills for our young people. They are our future and the future for Northern Ireland for the next century. Can you please give an undertaking to ensure that we do our utmost for our young people by upskilling them in the skills that we need?”
“The Committee looks forward to engaging with the Minister and our stakeholders to ensure that she receives the advice and support required to make those decisions.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Committee notes that less funding was also required for the rates rebate programme, a reduced requirement of around £8·7 million. That issue was raised at last week's Committee meeting and members made the point that often those people who could benefit from this programme are not aware of it. The Committee has praised the Make the Call programme and we would like to see the Department put a similar effort into raising awareness about the rates rebate programme. <BR /> <BR />The issue of departmental budgets has rarely been out of the news of late, and everything seems to be a priority. We all have a duty to ensure ongoing public service delivery, but, in doing so, we collectively will have to make some unpopular decisions.”
“While there is an ongoing derogation from Treasury, the rules still will not allow us to use FTC to build social housing until the reclassification of registered housing associations is dealt with on a legislative basis in the Assembly. The Committee acknowledges that that issue is a key priority for the Minister, and we hope that it can be resolved in the very near future. <BR /> <BR />The majority of reduced resource requirements relate to Fresh Start mitigation measures not being required due to successful PIP appeals and a lower uptake in discretionary support grants. The Committee was also informed that some welfare reform protections were not taken forward and PIP contract volumes were less than expected.”
“However, it may, in fact, ultimately result in an underspend if pension members are not required to receive 100% protection. <BR /> <BR />That increase in AME was partially offset by reduced requirements that the Department gave up in the September 2019 and January 2020 monitoring rounds. The Department surrendered £38·8 million of DEL resource and £36·4 million of DEL capital. While the Committee never likes to see resources surrendered, the vast majority of the reduced requirements in DEL capital is due to the need to surrender financial transactions capital (FTC) of £36·2 million. That is due to the current Office of National Statistics (ONS) classification of housing associations.”
“The Committee noted that there is a significant increase in AME of £116 million relating to the necessity to increase funding to the financial assistance scheme in order to protect the pensions of people whose employer has become insolvent; or where the pension scheme could not afford the benefits promised to members upon winding up; or where the pension scheme started to wind up between 1 January 1997 and 5 April 2005. <BR /> <BR />The Committee recognises that that is a precautionary step, given that the actual amount required rests on a judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union that has yet to be delivered. This is an estimate of potential future requirements and the reason why the net cash requirement is lower than the net resource requirement.”
“I welcome the opportunity to make some remarks as Committee Chairperson. The spring Supplementary Estimates show significant increases in departmental net resource requirement of almost £288 million and an increase in the net cash requirement of almost £202 million. That estimate reflects changes to the budget position for 2019-2020 in monitoring rounds and annually managed expenditure forecasts (AME). <BR /> <BR />The Department has advised the Committee that the main reasons for the differences between the Main Estimates and the spring Supplementary Estimates are due to increases in demand-led benefits and provisions for annually managed expenditure.”
“I want to say a special thank you to Kellie Armstrong for her contribution today.”
“It is rather sad that we have not seen much progress between since then until now. I welcome that progress and the issue's being included in the 'New Decade, New Approach' document. <BR /> <BR />I also welcome the support for amendment No 2. The sexual health strategy and informing people better was mentioned earlier. We have not had a sexual health strategy here in so many years. An addendum to the original one was put down in 2012 or 2013, but we need to take that more seriously for so many reasons, and this is just one of them. There are many other reasons why we need to have that strategy and awareness in place. We can break down taboos when we talk about infertility and our sexual health. <BR /> <BR />I very much welcome being part of the debate and I thank everybody for their humility.”
“I know the Minister himself has shared his own experiences in the House, as have others, and I think it shows we have empathy with our voters and the people who elect us. As the Chair of the Health Committee said when he opened, this is a very emotive and sensitive matter. I very much hope that all parties get behind you, as Minister, in bringing this forward. <BR /> <BR />I just want to make a couple of comments. I was one of the originals in 2012 — it seems like such a very long time ago — when this Committee motion, as it was then, was brought forward. Pam and I both spoke on it because it was something, back then, when we first became MLAs in 2011, that we wanted to see pushed forward. We were knocking on Edwin Poots's door on a daily basis on this because we both sat on the all-party group on fertility at that time.”
“I do not intend to stay on my feet for too long because I think there is a consensus from everyone in the Chamber on the motion and the two amendments. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Members facing me for bringing the motion to the Assembly, the Members responsible for amendment No 1, and my colleague Pam Cameron for amendment No 2. I wish the new Chair of the Health Committee all the very best in his role. You should do a much better job than the last one, so good luck with that, and good luck to Pam also as your vice chair. <BR /> <BR />There is not much more for me to say because I could not possibly follow Kellie Armstrong's very heartfelt speech in the Chamber. It is always very positive for us, as MLAs, to share the experiences we have in life.”
“If it is decided that the route will go along the Antrim Road and not the Shore Road, will the Minister undertake to look at at least one extra train halt? We have two train stations in north Belfast — Whiteabbey and Yorkgate — and the park-and-ride at both of those is packed to capacity. There is certainly value and merit in looking seriously at at least one extra train halt.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers thus far and welcome his answer. I have spoken to several SENCOs in schools in my area who highlighted the amount of duplication and paperwork required during an educational pathway for a child. What work is being done to share information between the Education Authority and the health trusts during the statutory assessment process?”
“We have had social clauses under various Ministers in what was DSD over many years, and those social clauses, on many occasions, were not fit for purpose and did not have the real value that was intended. In going forward, will the Minister talk to the Minister for the Economy to look at those skills and trades, which will help our communities not only in the next few years but for many years to come to build capacity among those communities in those skills and trades?”
“I absolutely agree with the Member, and it is something that the chair of the all-party group brought up as well: in mental health, early intervention is key, especially for children who have additional needs. Early intervention can save money in the long term. Of course, we are not all about saving money; we are about saving lives too and improving quality of life, so that was a good point. <BR /> <BR />I have little time left, but I want to say that one of the schools in my area is Cedar Lodge, which is for children with additional needs, especially autism. We need to do more to support those special educational schools; it does not just stop at the door of our mainstream schools.”
“Thank you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. I was going to say to the Member, "Thank you for that extra minute", but he nearly spoke the whole way through it.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention —.”
“The other Mrs Bradley mentioned in her intervention that, if we have this and mandatory training, once a child is diagnosed, those services need to follow the child. There is no point in having a diagnosis only to find out that the services are not available. I recently visited some schools in my area, and there is a recurring theme, which is special educational needs services. It is all well and good having a diagnosis, but unless we have support for those children and their families, we will not have done what we set out to do.”
“<BR /> <BR />I also praise the voluntary and community sector and the work that it does in meeting that unmet need. I also praise all those parent-led groups in our communities. We all have them, and we have all visited them, in our constituencies. Parents are supporting one another to try to navigate through the education system and the health system, and, sometimes, that is the only help that they have. <BR /> <BR />Other colleagues will know that special educational need comes up in our constituency offices time and time again. I have had many meetings over the years about children, specifically around autism, who are not receiving the proper attention that they need. So, this is something that we need to add on to the mandatory autism training.”
“Therefore, it is incumbent on the Minister to bring about that change in order that we deliver for vulnerable children who need our help. <BR /> <BR />When we got the information packs and the research packs, it was interesting to look back at the number of Assembly questions that have been asked over the last 10 years on mandatory autism training. There have been many, and the same answer keeps coming back. One of the points in that answer is Middletown. I have been there, along with some of my all-party colleagues. Pam and I had a bit of a road trip that day because I was directing and I got us lost, but we found it eventually, and it is a fantastic place. It does wonderful work, but it is not the answer. The answer is wider than that. The answer is to invest in all our teachers so that they get the help and support that they need.”
“<BR /> <BR />We, as MLAs, cannot just blame those Departments for falling short; we have to take some of that blame, especially over the past three years when we have not been here to call those Departments to account. I am so glad that we are back here, doing the job that we need to do. This is our first motion, and we make a commitment here today not to take our foot off the pedal but to call all Departments to account. <BR /> <BR />Going back to the motion and mandatory training for teachers, Mrs Cameron mentioned in her speech, as did others, that, when the National Union of Teachers gave evidence to the all-party group, it became very evident that we were failing our children and our schools, and they were crying out for help. In some primary schools across Northern Ireland, perhaps only one teacher has had autism training.”
“I welcome the opportunity today to speak on this very important issue. I thank my colleague Pam Cameron for bringing the motion to the House. I also thank the Members who tabled amendments. Those go some way to strengthening the motion, so they are very welcome. I will support the motion whatever happens. <BR /> <BR />I, too, have been an active member of the all-party group on autism over the past number of years. In the three years when we had no Assembly, the all-party group on autism was extremely active in calling all the Departments to account and writing to them and asking just what they were doing to support not only children but adults living with autism. It became apparent very early on that Departments were falling short of what they were required to do under the Autism Act and strategy.”
“This may well have been rectified by now, but I know that, specifically, the Ambulance Service raised concerns about the banding under Agenda for Change, and they are still waiting, or they were still waiting, to hear information back on that. The Minister may or may not have that detail, but can he let me how that has proceeded?”
“I join other Members in wishing the new Minister of Health every success going into the future. I like, in his statement, where he mentioned the word "optimism", because I think any Minister of Health needs to have a massive degree of optimism. I also wish the Chair and vice chair all the very best. I will miss my role in Health, but I look forward, as Chair of the Committee for Communities, to working along with Health, because so much of that overlaps. <BR /> <BR />I am also quite mindful that I was part of Agenda for Change when I worked for the Northern Trust in 2004. It seems like an awfully long time ago. I want to ask the Minister about conversations that he may have been having around issues to do with banding.”
“Success will be measured by delivery for all the people of Northern Ireland, and, as First Minister and as my party leader, Arlene will have the full support of everyone on these Benches as we seek to get Northern Ireland moving forward again.”
“As we look ahead, there is a need for leadership, and, within the Democratic Unionist Party, Arlene is someone who leads from the front and is not afraid to do so. Again, I know that she is ready, willing and able to take her place in the Executive and Assembly alongside the deputy First Minister. <BR /> <BR />I congratulate the deputy First Minister, and I know that she too recognises the challenges we face in Northern Ireland. I worked with her previously when I chaired the Committee, and we had a good working relationship. I wish her well. I also take the opportunity to congratulate you, Mr Speaker, and all those from all the parties around the Chamber who will take their seat at the Executive table today. <BR /> <BR />As I said, this is a good day for Northern Ireland, but it is a day that represents the beginning of much hard work.”
“Today is a good day for Northern Ireland. It is a good day for Northern Ireland because, after three years of political vacuum, there will be a First Minister and a deputy First Minister heading up a cross-party Executive, taking decisions and working for the benefit of every one of the people whom we all represent. I am delighted to have the opportunity to pay tribute to and to congratulate my party leader, Arlene Foster, who returns as our First Minister today. She, like all of us, wants to get Northern Ireland moving forward again. That, as we all know, will be a task that requires hard work and dedication. Those are qualities that, I know, Arlene does not lack. <BR /> <BR />Much has changed since the Assembly last met. The challenges facing our health service are most evident, and, more than ever, stable government is needed.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. I welcome his strong words about independence. The purpose, scope and terms of reference are to restore public confidence in this Government. Following on from the previous question, is the Minister now going to refrain from any further public comment on the issue, barring comment on issues where he has to amend?”
“I still want to support the stuff that you talked about today in bringing about a better way of working in GP practices, multidisciplinary teams and social workers. <BR /> <BR />I hear what you are saying. What I want to know is this: when will we see it? We need to see it as soon as possible. I do not know how far down the line we are with Portadown and whether we will ever save it, but GP practices across Northern Ireland are crying out for help. Multidisciplinary teams, social workers and whoever else need to be put into those practices ASAP to save all our other practices in Northern Ireland.”
“I thank the Minister for her answers thus far. Minister, to say that we are extremely disappointed is an understatement. I do not think that anyone is scaremongering. It is rather disappointing that you continually blame everything on the DUP's arrogance. As one member of this party, I have supported you 100% as Chair of the Health Committee, as we all did on the Health Committee. We decided to take the politics out of health; I still want to take the politics out of health. <BR /> <BR />We are at the end of the road when it comes to the GP crisis, especially in Portadown. It is not only in Portadown, however. This week, my colleague Mr Humphrey and I are meeting a GP practice that spans north and west Belfast. This is becoming a Belfast issue as well. I still want to support the way forward.”