Judith Cochrane
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“<BR /> <BR />If I may, Mr Speaker, I want to mention one other thing that gave me some added focus as the Bill progressed. Many of you will know that, just as I was launching my consultation, I got the news that Dad was seriously ill.”
“They had a very heavy workload but made sure that they made the time to engage with me and to complete the report. I formally presented to the Committee three times, once after no sleep and wearing the same clothes as the previous day after pulling an all-nighter here, but these things happen when you give yourself tight timescales and ar…”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank all the Members for their engagement tonight. If they could all write me a job reference, that would be really helpful. If all that is true, I should be very employable. I also thank everybody else who has engaged with me during the stages of my Licensing Bill.”
“I might even manage to deliver on the goal of having a clean, tidy house, although I cannot imagine that Jonny will let me take over the role of cooking again just yet.”
“I would like to express my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the prison officer who, we heard, tragically died today. As we complete this Assembly term, it is clear that there is still so much to be done to stamp out dissident republicanism.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The Member will be aware that, in the recently completed roof project, the Assembly Commission took the opportunity to refurbish or replace all of the existing roof-mounted mechanical and electrical services and, where appropriate, to incorporate renewable technologies in the scheme, specifically photo…”
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“Our report recognises that the Civil Service has good policies in place to address absence and that new health and well-being initiatives are being rolled out. That may be the reason why over 55% of employees have no sick absence at all, and that good news should be celebrated. It is the other 45% that needs to be addressed to reduce the burden of the £30 million cost associated with sick absence. <BR /> <BR />The report recognised an increase in stress and mental health problems among employees. We need to ask why that is the case. Is it the result of more work pressure, which could be exacerbated with continued public-sector reform? Is it simply that nowadays staff are struggling to cope with their caring responsibilities outside work?”
“Another issue to consider is that, on average, women have more sickness absence than men. The public sector employs a higher proportion of female workers and, therefore, figures could be slightly skewed. Individuals in the private sector are more likely not to be paid for a spell of sickness than those in the public sector. That may mean that private sector workers are more likely to go to work when they are sick. Absence levels also tend to increase with an organisation's size, regardless of sector. Most of our public-sector organisations dwarf our business sector in Northern Ireland, so that could be one of the reasons why there are such big differences. <BR /> <BR />We should not be disheartened.”
“<BR /> <BR />There are, however, a number of factors to consider when interpreting the differences between the public and private sectors such as the fact that there are differences in the types of jobs between the two sectors and that some job profiles or work patterns have higher likelihoods of sickness than others.”
“It is an area of policy where the UK is falling behind other countries, and, indeed, the Northern Ireland public sector is performing particularly poorly. Although this report was specifically looking at the absence levels in the public sector, it is widely acknowledged that the percentage of hours lost to sickness in the public sector has continuously been higher than that of the private sector. Therefore, the Committee considered what the absence patterns were like in the private sector and whether any lessons could be learned or best practice shared across both sectors.”
“As a member of the Finance and Personnel Committee, I rise to comment on our report into sickness absence in the Northern Ireland public sector. I apologise for being late to the debate. It is perhaps somewhat ironic that my reason for being late was due to me trying to juggle the responsibilities as an employer dealing with somebody who is on long-term sick absence, which is impacting massively on a number of other things. <BR /> <BR />From what I have heard, the main points have been covered by other Members, and I concur with most of what has been said. At the outset, it is worth noting that absence due to ill health has huge adverse effects on individuals, businesses, the public sector and, consequently, the economy as a whole.”
“Of course, that is not the only area that is costing us more to run due to our failure to address division in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />If we are to lobby the UK Government effectively on any changes to the block grant, we must learn the clear lesson from the botched initial attempts to make a pitch in the Stormont House process. Making a loose, general pitch for more resources for general public spending, especially in the context of parts of GB having deep socio-economic problems, is pointless. We need to base any pitch on the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland, show that we are genuinely trying to tackle the cost of division and not being reckless with public funds, and link any additional resources to specific deliverables.”
“Again, Alliance acknowledges the importance of health and education as key public services, but we would add policing and economic growth intervention such as skills development. We would caution against simply doing any read across of any protection given to health and education in English public spending decisions and doing the same in Northern Ireland. We have a very different context here. While there is a case for some degree of protection of the health and education budgets, there is significant scope for reform. We need to be careful not to simply continue to allocate resources to a sector that is under pressure without expecting it to pursue its efficiency agenda. <BR /> <BR />That is particularly clear in education, where we are diverting almost £300 million per year to resource a largely segregated education system.”
“That is because a lot of low-paid and unskilled jobs are being created to produce the current employment levels, but it is not healthy. That is something that the Executive and the next UK Government need to address. <BR /> <BR />The motion:”
“<BR /> <BR />Instead of pleading a special case for Northern Ireland, we should be arguing for a slowdown in the rate of austerity at a UK level. That would be more likely to have a greater positive impact on the Northern Ireland block grant. A slowdown in the rate of austerity could, itself, constitute an economic stimulus, especially if what would otherwise have been cut from public spending at a UK level was redirected into economically relevant areas. <BR /> <BR />It is worth noting that the UK economic recovery is being seen largely in terms of the fall in unemployment and a record employment level. However, there has not really been any increase in productivity. Indeed, UK productivity levels are poor by OECD standards.”
“Again, we concur with the thrust of that in that the specific austerity policies of the UK Government are being forced too quickly upon us, with little balance of policies to stimulate the economy. In Alliance's 2010 manifesto, we recognised the need for the UK Government to address the deficit, but we also cautioned about the rate at which that would be done. Our advice has been borne out in events. <BR /> <BR />We have seen too steep a decline in public spending across the UK, and that has probably slowed our economic recovery. We continue to caution against addressing the deficit at too fast a rate in the next Government. Continued deep cuts in public spending will have huge implications for the Northern Ireland block grant and public services and economic investments here.”
“We welcome the devolution of corporation tax but recognise that we need to have a sound strategy in place to deal with the funding pressure in order to allow us to realise the future benefits. <BR /> <BR />The motion refers to proposed further cuts over the next mandate and:”
“First, the Alliance Party concurs with the signatories to the motion that the cuts to the Northern Ireland block grant have caused major problems for Northern Ireland, but we should be clear that Northern Ireland is not the only region of the UK being adversely affected by cuts. We are, however, also facing other pressures, and Northern Ireland is likely to end up in a serious financial crisis as a result. We face not only large spending cuts but looming Budget uncertainty due to penalties as a result of the as yet unresolved issue of welfare reform. We also have the added future funding pressure of resourcing a lower level of corporation tax, which includes replacing the lost revenue to HM Treasury and investing more in skills and infrastructure.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. I take that point on board, but a number of concerts were cancelled, sponsorships for major tech conferences were pulled out and the planned $40 million expansion of a company headquarters was cancelled, which was all to do with that, and I think that is a major issue. Does the Minister understand that encouraging foreign investment and tourism is a difficult enough job without added hurdles such as that and, perhaps, the negative comments that came from the likes of Kit Harington?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. He might want to note that my party's Whip does not hold our place on the Assembly Commission. He might also want to note that members of the Assembly Commission are the only Members whose salary has not increased since 2011. All other Members' salaries have increased. The take-home pay of those who sit on the Assembly Commission has not increased by a single penny since 2011.”
“In its wisdom, the independent financial review panel vetoed that option, and did so with no consultation whatsoever with the Members who would be affected by the proposal. Instead, it proposed an equivalent cut, which will directly impact on constituency services rather than on Members. <BR /> <BR />The revised amounts payable under the FAPP scheme as proposed today will assist in meeting the budget reductions required by the Assembly Commission and ensure that the impact of the wider public-sector expenditure climate is seen to be shared by all parts of the public sector.”
“A range of issues was raised, including that a cut in FAPP would most probably lead to redundancies amongst support staff, who are already lower paid and have less favourable terms of employment than staff employed directly by the Assembly Commission. Those staff would also be unable to avail themselves of the generous voluntary exit scheme in place for other public-sector employees. <BR /> <BR />The majority agreement of the Commission, therefore, was to propose a 3% cut. However, to work towards balancing the Commission's budget, I did propose, and other members agreed, a separate reduction in the childcare scheme, which would have placed the burden of cuts directly on Members themselves.”
“Furthermore, an independent audit of FAPP expenditure and claims is undertaken at the end of each financial year. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly Commission's budget for 2015-16 has been reduced by 5%, which amounts to 8% of the costs directly controllable by the Commission. To deal with that budget and anticipated cuts, the Commission initiated a strategic and financial planning programme known as SP15+ — strategic planning 2015 and beyond — to prioritise the allocation of resources and to identify any budget reductions. At its meeting on 18 March 2015, the Assembly Commission agreed measures to achieve a balanced budget for 2015-16, including reducing FAPP by 3%. <BR /> <BR />There were different views amongst Commission members as to what reduction should be proposed.”
“A revised scheme that provided for a range of enhanced governance and administrative controls was agreed by the Assembly in March 2013. No substantive change to the amounts payable under the scheme was made at that time and indeed the last uprating of amounts payable was in 2008. <BR /> <BR />Changes agreed during that process included that parties that employed and funded staff from the assistance provided through the FAPP scheme must use the Assembly's payroll processes in the administration of those payments. It is also now a condition that all payments will be made only on receipt of supporting documentation in the same way as office cost expenditure payments are made, and that all claims are published in line with publication of Members' expenditure.”
“I moved the motion on behalf of the Assembly Commission. Members will be aware that the Financial Assistance for Political Parties Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 provides for payments to political parties for the purpose of assisting Members to perform their duties. It does not provide payments to individual Members. <BR /> <BR />It is proposed that the revised financial assistance to political parties scheme — known as the FAPP scheme — will reduce payments to the parties by 3%, as part of a package of measures to meet the overall reduction in the Assembly Commission's budget for 2015-16. The Assembly Commission undertook a full review of the FAPP scheme in 2012, following recommendations highlighted by our internal audit service and raised by the Northern Ireland Audit Office.”
“I thank the Member for his question. Yes, indeed, the cuts have been imposed on us directly by the Executive. I do not necessarily want to defend Ministers, but the Commission wrote to the Finance Minister and explained that 40% of our budget fell outside our control. I think that, as a result of that engagement, the 5% cut that we received, which equates to £2 million, was perhaps less than we may have received had we not made that representation.”
“Staffing allocation decisions in future years will be informed by a series of fundamental business reviews to ensure that the core business of the Assembly continues to be supported effectively.”
“The strategic planning initiative, which I mentioned in my original answer, has involved extensive work across the secretariat to prioritise activities into three broad categories: statutory, ie, those activities to deliver the statutory functions and obligations of the Commission and associated bodies; essential, ie, those activities that are non-statutory but are essential to deliver the statutory functions; and important, which are those activities that are important to the wider work of the Assembly, but which are more discretionary in nature. Staffing allocations have been made on the basis of this secretariat-wide prioritisation exercise. However, all areas of the secretariat will see some reduction in the number of posts.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The Commission has a statutory requirement under section 40 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to:”
“The programme identified a number of recommendations that have enabled the Commission to reduce admin costs whilst maintaining staffing at levels that can support Members to the best possible extent. Unfortunately, the scale of cuts that are now going forward means that staffing reductions will be required in the near future. Staff who are employed by the Assembly Commission are public-sector employees. They have been entitled to incremental pay rises and inflationary pay rises over the years, so even though we have actually reduced the number of staff, we have not necessarily seen a reduction in the pay bill. That is something that will have to change going forward.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I will not get drawn into a political opinion about how the Budget was agreed by certain parties etc. <BR /> <BR />The business efficiency programme had been running for a number of years to ensure that the Commission could continue to provide the full range of services to Members, despite the 9% cash cut to its budget over the past number of years.”
“If all those savings are realised, over £330,000 of the savings will immediately impact directly on Members, and that will be before any impact on other services to Members is considered.”
“I thank the Member for his question. In short, yes, we are taking our fair share of the pain. <BR /> <BR />Member's office cost expenditure has already reduced by 9% between 2012-13 and 2014-15 and will be reduced by an additional 3% in 2015-16, which will provide some £220,000 of the £2 million savings that are required. In addition, the Commission has agreed a 25% reduction in the budget for Members' office consumables and a reduction of £25,000 in the funding that is provided to political parties through the FAPP scheme. The Commission has also written to the Independent Financial Review Panel to request that childcare scheme options for Members are the same as those on offer to secretariat staff. That could yield approximately another £60,000 of savings.”
“Staffing resources will be deployed to ensure that the Commission's statutory and essential functions are maintained. <BR /> <BR />I point out that secretariat and agency staff have displayed commendable flexibility over the recent years of the spending review since 2010 and that any changes to staffing will be made in consultation with staff and their representatives.”
“I thank the Member for his question. In recognition of the fact that the vast majority of services are provided to Members through the secretariat staff, the Commission has sought to deliver inefficiencies from its non-staffing budgets first. However, the extent of the savings that are required for 2015-16 means that a reduction in staffing of the order of 32 full-time equivalent posts will be required. That reduction will be facilitated partly through participation in the wider public-sector voluntary exit scheme, which would be applicable only to those staff who have permanent contracts with us. We will also have to consider a reduction in the use of some of our temporary staff, and we have tried to get a balance between the two.”
“The Commission remains committed to supporting the Assembly and its Members, but the range and quality of services and activities that it delivers will have to change.”
“<BR /> <BR />At its meeting on 10 March 2015, the Commission agreed a package of measures to deliver the £2 million savings that are required in the next financial year. Those measures include the approximate £220,000 saving from the further reduction of office costs expenditure for Members as stipulated by the Independent Financial Review Panel (IFRP); reductions in payments to political parties under the financial assistance for political parties (FAPP) scheme; savings in staffing costs through reductions in temporary staffing numbers and, hopefully, through participation in the public-sector voluntary exit scheme; and savings through a wholesale reduction in administrative costs.”
“That means that the overall reduction of £2 million becomes a bigger challenge, as the Commission has discretion over only approximately £24 million of its budget. A cut of that scale will undoubtedly have an impact on the services and activities that the Commission delivers. <BR /> <BR />To deliver those savings in 2015-16 and to continue to absorb any upward inflationary pressures, the Commission recognises that a significant reconfiguration of the way that services are provided is required. To that end, a strategic planning initiative was commissioned for 2015-16 and beyond. The initiative has already carried out a detailed review of all the activities that the Assembly secretariat delivers and has prioritised those activities into the three broad categories of statutory, essential and important.”
“With your permission, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, I propose to answer questions 2, 3, 6 and 8 together. Perhaps you will indulge me if I go over my two minutes. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly Commission’s budget covers a range of different expenditure categories, including Members' salaries and allowances, Assembly secretariat staffing costs and general administration costs. As a result of the overall Budget agreement, the Commission's total budget for 2015-16 was reduced by 5%, equating to a cut of just over £2 million. Approximately 40% of the Commission's total budget of £40·7 million relates to costs that are set by the Independent Financial Review Panel and, therefore, lies outside the control of the Commission.”
“I therefore urge Members to support the Alliance amendment instead, which seeks to ensure that the Executive, collectively, live up to the challenges of the Stormont House Agreement and guarantee that all Departments, not just one or two, reduce wasteful spending by reconfiguring service delivery in a manner consistent with the shared future. <BR /> <BR />At the end of the day, the Executive's Budget, unlike those of other Governments, remains largely unrelated to the success of our economic policy, and we face no financial penalty for failing to create a shared future and stimulate our economy fully. We may not be held to account each year through our tax take, but we are accountable for tax waste, and we owe it to the people of Northern Ireland to address that and feed those savings into better public services for all.”
“Our motive for greater fiscal devolution is to ensure that we have the tools to deliver our policy aims. Our priority should be to seek the devolution of any powers where there is expected to be a clear benefit for the people of Northern Ireland. For example, we supported the devolution of air passenger duty (APD) on direct long-haul flights as a means of lowering the tax for flights into Northern Ireland, but we take a slightly different approach to short-haul APD powers, as the cost could be in the region of £60 million to £90 million per annum. <BR /> <BR />While there is nothing essentially wrong with the proposed amendment from the DUP, it really only summarises ongoing work.”
“We have firmly said that we are supportive of free public transport for the elderly. However, the current situation is that, as soon as you are 60, you get a free bus pass. Do you agree that — through the Speaker — people who are earning maybe £50,000 or £60,000 a year should have a free bus pass to get themselves to work? Is that what we should be protecting? <BR /> <BR />I will carry on. Our view is that revenue that is raised from those who can afford it should be spent on public services and job creation. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I will comment on the amendment proposed by the DUP. The Alliance Party has always been a supporter of greater fiscal devolution because it has the potential to increase the efficiency and responsiveness of the Government.”
“Taking such decisions would be a first step in demonstrating that the Executive are serious about tackling such subsidies for the wealthy to protect services that benefit the less wealthy. <BR /> <BR />Alliance also believes that, in the longer term, some further forms of fair revenue raising are likely to be necessary. That may be through domestic charges, either rates or water, but the key point is that any such measures should be fair, with adequate planning to ensure that they are implemented in a gradual manner. In the case of water charging, for example, there would be a reduction in rates in the first year so that people are not paying twice for a service.”
“We believe that those inappropriate subsidies should not be a priority for public expenditure and that they divert resources away from public services that assist the vulnerable. The subsidies that we believe can be redirected into other services are, for example, free prescriptions for those who can afford it. We need to return to a system where prescription charges are levied from people who can afford it, though with a wide range of exemptions, and we have already seen the DUP make a move to our way of thinking on that. <BR /> <BR />The removal of the rates subsidy on houses worth more than £400,000 could raise about £4 million a year, and Sinn Féin is now following our lead on that as well.”
“That commitment must be progressed. We simply cannot ask people to contribute additional revenue to the Executive if it is being allocated to public services that are sustaining a divided society or are not operating efficiently. It is a major challenge, but it is one that the people of Northern Ireland expect our Executive to deliver on. <BR /> <BR />What are the Alliance proposals for revenue raising? It is not the first time that I have spoken on these matters in the Chamber, and I am sure that it will not be the last time that the Minister will seek to misrepresent what I say. First, to date, there has been no attempt to reduce spending on subsidies that disproportionately affect wealthier people.”
“<BR /> <BR />Alliance has long advocated that the Executive must tackle division and sectarianism in Northern Ireland, not just because of our strong support for promoting integration and a shared future but because we know that a divided society costs more to run. That was recognised in the 'Together: Building a United Community' document, and the recent Stormont House Agreement stated that there should be an:”
“<BR /> <BR />The proposed voluntary exit scheme is designed to reduce the number of civil servants, but if we are admitting that we have more staff than we need, we also need to consider an approach that will remove the least effective workers rather than simply the oldest. On the other hand, if many of the jobs are critical, other options will need to be explored, such as, for example, four-day weeks, pay cuts for the top earners, removing incremental rises for no extra work output etc. Those may be controversial but, to deliver front-line services on a more sustainable footing, they need to be considered.”
“The challenge of reform, of course, is not limited to the Health Department and the Department of Education. It is very clear that the deteriorating resource DEL position will necessitate proactive measures across all Departments to reduce the size of the public-sector pay bill. Figures over previous years have shown that the pay bill has continued to increase over and above inflation, despite the so-called pay freeze, and, if the system can absorb £30 million of sick pay without a noticeable reduction in output, there are clearly efficiencies to be made. Every Department should be constantly challenging how things are done to ensure that services are being delivered in the most cost-effective manner.”
“We need to be careful not to continue simply to allocate resources to a sector that is under pressure without expecting it to pursue its efficiency agenda properly. <BR /> <BR />We do not need to start from scratch, as some useful work has already been undertaken. For example, in health, the McKinsey and Appleby reports and the Compton review have set out areas for improvement, but serious political commitment is required if we are to take those forward. <BR /> <BR />Likewise, the Alliance Party believes that a serious commitment to promoting integration in the education system would produce significant financial savings. That commitment would include addressing the cost of maintaining 70,000 empty school places and enabling funding to be directed to pupils rather than to sustaining a divided estate.”
“<BR /> <BR />The current scale of expenditure on education and health is so great that we need urgent strategies to manage the costs. I have already asked OFMDFM whether it will consider reallocating the resources associated with the junior ministerial posts in its Department to posts in, for example, the Department of Health, which would allow a much greater focus to be given to that Department's important task, but the idea has been rejected. The fact remains that, although there is a case for some degree of protection for the health and education budgets, there is significant scope for reform. There needs to be greater transparency so that the Assembly can determine whether a consistent approach to prioritising service delivery is being taken across every Department.”
“setting out all the benefits, risks and impacts on the economy, consumers and the most vulnerable. <BR /> <BR />The Alliance Party, however, does not believe that that should be done in isolation. Fair revenue-raising structures must go hand in hand with other reforms. That is why we seek to amend the motion. If we are going to take additional money off people, they have a right to know that that money is being well spent. With no real attempt being made to address the cost of division or to make our public services more efficient, that would be unfair on those whose money we are seeking. Furthermore, the overall amounts of money raised through most revenue-raising options would be trivial, so we must also review expenditure and be open to new ways of delivering our services to tackle waste.”
“It also reiterates a key recommendation from the Committee for Finance and Personnel's report on the draft Budget; namely, calling on the Executive:”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue today and to have moved the Alliance Party amendment. First, we should be clear that Northern Ireland is not the only region being adversely affected by cuts. The reality is that the pressure on public finances will increase in coming years. We therefore need to have a sound strategy in place to ensure that we can continue to deliver our front-line services. <BR /> <BR />It is widely recognised that fiscal contractions are best addressed using a ratio of spending cuts:revenue-raising. However, the 2015-16 Budget was predicated on a cuts-only basis. The substantive motion today essentially acknowledges what the Alliance Party has said previously, in that there is a need for some revenue-raising.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Given that there are already a number of work/life balance initiatives, such as flexitime, in place in the Civil Service, which is more than what is on offer in the private sector, is the Minister concerned about the level of stress-related sick absence? Does he think that it could increase in the coming months when more restructuring and reform measures are implemented?”
“Does the Minister agree that some preparation should be given to primary-school children in how to deal with exams? For many, within three months of starting secondary education, they are expected to sit a range of exams in numerous subjects. If primary schools do not do some of that prep, who will?”
“We have no prospect of funding adequate font-line services, addressing the building pressures or funding a lower rate of corporation tax until we face up to those challenges.”