Robin Swann
North Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his detailed statement. I know how passionate he is about the subject and how many times he has brought it to the Executive.”
“It has been reported that today will potentially be the warmest day of the year. As we move into the summer and our summer holidays, I want to raise public awareness of wildfires across Northern Ireland, which have been detrimental to farmland and our environment over the past number of years.”
“Wildfires are still having a detrimental impact on our environment and, occasionally, on livestock, but that reduction shows the impact of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's proactive approach to educating the general public and engaging with rural communities and schools on its fire safety message, which is to stay alert, not…”
“There has been a lot of talk of sport in this place over the past few days, with everybody concentrating on UEFA. One sport that is going on across Northern Ireland at the minute is cross-community and goes across all age groups without fear, favour or distinction: pigeon racing.”
“I want to put on record that, since this place passed the amendment that recognised pigeon racing as a sport under the 2016 Act, over the past five years, pigeon racing clubs across Northern Ireland have been able to obtain £113,000 of rates rebates through the sports and recreation rate relief, allowing many of those clubs to continue ra…”
“There was much coverage on social media over the weekend of an incident in Staines in England, in which a police car rammed a young calf to bring it under control. It has restarted the conversation about animal cruelty. <BR /> <BR />I am dealing with a specific case in my constituency.”
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“<BR /> <BR />The devolved Administrations consent clause requires the Secretary of State to obtain consent from the devolved Administrations before proceeding with any transfer of functions. Secondary legislation will be required to progress any proposed transfers, and Northern Ireland's consent will be required on any future legislation that relates to a potential transfer of functions that touch on Northern Ireland's legislative competency. Any proposed changes to NHS blood and transplant functions outside England will be subject to consent from devolved Health Departments. <BR /> <BR />An additional amendment has been made to the provisions since their introduction that removes a Northern Ireland Department from any liability in the future transfer of property rights to other liabilities, and that is set out in clause 95(10).”
“In the absence of uniform agreement, and in line with the Sewel convention, the bodies and functions in the scope of the power will be carved out for all devolved Administrations, resulting in a rump body. <BR /> <BR />While the detail of that alternative has not been fully scoped out due to the pace of the work, most likely, it will result in Northern Ireland having to take forward the functions on its own. Such a development will be extremely challenging, especially in organ donation and on the impact on the value of the work of the HRA. Causes 91 to 97 of the Health and Care Bill include an explicit provision that the devolved Administrations will be consulted on any transfer of functions that are operative in their nations, and the commitment to consult will be underpinned by a memorandum of understanding.”
“<BR /> <BR />At that time, the Executive felt that it was not in the best interests of Northern Ireland to progress this legislative consent motion. There were reservations that future potential transfers of functions might impact on Northern Ireland and about the absence of a consent clause. My officials continued to engage with their counterparts in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to determine whether a resolution could be found. On 19 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care proposed to table a devolved Administration consent clause on potential future transfers that touch on devolved Administration legislative competency. However, that required all the devolved Administrations to agree.”
“That includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of organs and tissues, managing the UK-wide NHS organ donor register and researching new treatments and processes. The work is underpinned by the Human Tissue Act 2004 and various codes of practice developed by the Human Tissue Authority. <BR /> <BR />While organ donation is a devolved matter, Northern Ireland is part of the Human Tissue Act 2004, which covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In mid-October 2021, the Executive and the Health Committee considered oral and written briefings on a proposed legislative consent process for the arm's-length bodies, and that was included in the transfer of functions provisions in the Health and Social Care Bill 2021.”
“The five bodies in the scope of the provisions are Health Education England; the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which is NHS Digital; the Health Research Authority (HRA); the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority; and the Human Tissue Authority. Of those, the Health Research Authority, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Human Tissue Authority are of most relevance to the current performed functions in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />NHS Blood and Transplant is a special health authority that manages blood donation services in England and organ and tissue donation and transplantation services for all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.”
“As per the previous debate, the Health and Care Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 July. At that time, the Secretary of State sought legislative consent agreement from all the devolved Administrations to carry out the arm's-length bodies (ALBs) transfer of functions provision on behalf of the devolved Administrations (DAs). The stated policy intention that underpins the provision is to create greater flexibility in restructuring functions to promote responsiveness to ongoing or future needs. <BR /> <BR />Clause 93(2) of the provisions sought to enable the Secretary of State to transfer any functions of a special health authority to any of the relevant bodies listed in clause 91.”
“I thank the Health Committee for taking the time to examine the legislative consent motion and for its helpful and positive engagement with my Department's officials. I appreciate that the Committee again had to work within a very challenging timescale. I thank the Committee for its patience, understanding and cooperation with my departmental officials. I thank my Executive colleagues for their support on this matter and for agreeing to the need for a legislative consent motion on the Bill. I commend the motion to the House.”
“I have a point of clarity for Mr McGrath, who said that the LCM will bring us into alignment across all these islands. I refer him to what I said in my opening comments: when we engaged with officials in the Republic of Ireland, they indicated that it has no legislation that deals with virginity testing or hymenoplasty and that, at this time, it is not on the legislative agenda. I wanted to be clear about that.”
“Northern Ireland will be represented at official level on the working groups that are being chaired by the Department of Health and Social Care.”
“I thank the Members who contributed to the debate and the Chair for his opening comments and best wishes. I want to get back there with you because I would rather be there than here at this moment in time. <BR /> <BR />The Deputy Chair, Ms Pam Cameron, raised the issue of criminality, as did Paula Bradshaw. Any cases of virginity testing or hymenoplasty should be reported to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for investigation, and it is envisaged that, at this time, the impact on the justice system will be minimal. <BR /> <BR />The criminalisation of virginity testing and hymenoplasty would enable instances to be reported to and investigated by the police. On the further point that Ms Bradshaw raised, guidance on how it will all work in practice is being developed to sit alongside the legislation.”
“My officials have also liaised with officials in the Republic of Ireland, who have confirmed that, at present, they have no legislation that deals directly with the issues of virginity testing or hymenoplasty and that, at this time, it is not on their legislative agenda. <BR /> <BR />I hope that Members will support the additional provisions of the Health and Care Bill, as, ultimately, the amendments seek to help women and girls in our community and to keep them safe from violence and abuse. I ask Members to support the motion.”
“That will advance equality of opportunity among women and girls from communities in which the practice is prevalent, thus enabling them to live freely, without fear of being subjected to abuse. <BR /> <BR />Health officials have consulted colleagues in the Department of Justice, who have advised that there is likely to be no impact on the justice system in Northern Ireland. My officials have also consulted colleagues in the Executive Office, who have confirmed that they have no issues with the criminalisation of virginity testing or hymenoplasty procedures. They continue to work with officials in all Departments, and with all stakeholders, to bring forward the violence against women and girls strategy. <BR /> <BR />The devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales are also required to bring forward LCMs on these issues.”
“<BR /> <BR />No data is available detailing the prevalence of virginity testing across the United Kingdom among particular religious groups. However, although virginity testing is not a requirement of any religious group, there is a commonly held misconception in some communities that virginity testing is a religious requirement. Although virginity testing is more prevalent among certain communities, the policy objective is to fulfil the Government's overarching aim to protect and reduce harm to all women. By banning virginity testing, the policy will protect all women, particularly in communities in which virginity testing is more prevalent, and will be beneficial in the long term to their well-being.”
“<BR /> <BR />Virginity testing and hymenoplasty are harmful and intrusive practices that are widely regarded as forms of violence and abuse against women and girls. They are categorised as honour-based abuse, as women and girls are often coerced or pressured into the procedures to protect or defend the honour of their family and/or community. A woman or girl who fails a virginity test is likely to be forced into undergoing a hymenoplasty procedure to create the impression that she has not had vaginal intercourse prior to her wedding night. Virginity testing is not recognised as a medical procedure, nor does it carry any scientific or clinical merit. The procedures are not offered in healthcare facilities here in either trusts or private facilities regulated by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA).”
“The Health and Care Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 July 2021. As you may be aware, a number of legislative consent motions on the Bill have already been before the Assembly. On 13 January, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed in principle to the need for an LCM concerning the criminalisation of virginity testing and hymenoplasty. Part 5 of the Bill seeks to ban the practice and process of virginity testing and the gynaecological examination of female genitalia, with or without consent, for the purpose of determining whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse. The Bill will also seek to ban hymenoplasty procedures, that being the practice and process of hymen reconstruction that is undertaken on a woman or girl for the purpose of creating the impression that she has not had vaginal intercourse.”
“<BR /> <BR />That concludes my comments on the amendments in group 4. I commend amendment Nos 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 to the House, and, for the reasons outlined, I note amendments Nos 14 and 15.”
“The production of such a report annually is a resource-intensive exercise, and much of the information is already collected by other means. I consider that a triennial report would at least bring the added benefit of being able to demonstrate trends and patterns in the care and protection of children and young people under the Children Order. <BR /> <BR />The Committee initially gave notice of its intention to oppose the Question that clause 143 stand part of the Bill. However, I understand that it has now indicated support for my amendment and has agreed not to pursue its opposition to that clause. I am grateful to Committee members for their willingness to work together on the matter. I trust that amendment No 21 will enable us to reach an outcome that is acceptable to all.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Committee recorded in its report that the stakeholders who addressed the issue strongly opposed the complete removal of the duty, and some suggested that a three-yearly report could instead be required. The Committee agreed with the views of stakeholders that the annual report could be an important tool in identifying and addressing issues for looked-after children. Taking all of that into account, I have tabled amendment No 21, which offers an alternative to the repeal of article 181. The amendment will replace clause 143 with a new clause that amends article 181 to require such a report to be prepared and laid at least once every three years, with the first report being prepared within three years of the date on which the Bill receives Royal Assent.”
“That said, several other reporting mechanisms are now in place that provide key statistical information on the operation of certain provisions of the Children Order. That includes NIGALA's annual report and statistics, reports under the delegated statutory reporting functions and children's services statistical data. Taking into account those now well-established reporting mechanisms, it was considered that producing an annual, additional report under article 181 of the Children Order would be a duplication of data that is already provided in the other reports and of the effort to produce such reports. Therefore, in seeking to ensure the efficient use of resources, particularly in the context of budgetary constraints, the decision was taken to repeal article 181.”
“The report provided information and statistics about the courts, the Northern Ireland Guardian Ad Litem Agency (NIGALA), family support services for children in need, child protection, children looked after by health and social services trusts, the Education Welfare Service (EWS) and day-care services for children aged under 12. Due to competing work pressures, no further reports have been produced by the Department.”
“By way of background, the first Children Order was published by my Department in 1999. It contained statistical information covering the period from the commencement of the Children Order on 4 November 1996 until 31 March 1998. It also contained information on key developments up to April 1999.”
“A person is a prohibited person if he is, or if the court considers that he should be, prohibited by a non-molestation order from molesting another person. The purpose of making such an amendment is to ensure consistency of approach in the application of harm across all provisions in the Children Order. The Minister of Finance has policy responsibility for article 12A of the Children Order, and he has indicated that he is content for such an amendment to be made. <BR /> <BR />Finally in this group, I want to speak on amendment No 21, which replaces existing clause 143 with a new clause to amend article 181 of the Children Order. Clause 143 as it stands repeals article 181 to remove the duty on my Department to prepare an annual general report on the operation of the Children Order.”
“I want to take this opportunity to thank Committee members, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for their advice and assistance in reaching an agreed definition. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 20 provides for a consequential amendment arising as a result of the amendment to the definition of harm in article 12A of the Children Order. This article places a duty on the court, when considering whether to make a residence order or a contact order in favour of a prohibited person, to consider whether the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering any harm through seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another person by the prohibited person.”
“Clause 133 as it stands amends the definition of harm in the Children Order to include where a child sees or hears the ill treatment of another person. As a result, courts, police and authorities will be required to consider the effect on a child of witnessing domestic abuse when making certain critical decisions about his or her protection, care or upbringing. In response to representations made by a number of stakeholders and by Members during the Second Stage debate, I tabled amendment No 19 to extend the provision in clause 133 so that harm includes cases where a child is adversely impacted by such abuse, even if they have not seen, heard or been present during the abuse. The amendment also brings the definition of harm in the Children Order more in line with the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021.”
“Additionally, paragraph 4 provides a further regulation-making power requiring authorities to monitor the steps that they have taken, with a view to ensuring that they comply with regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 3: ensuring independence. I want to make it clear that, while this will ensure independence from the service that is subject to representations, it does not mean that a trust cannot provide advocacy services. It is intended that guidance issued under the Bill for advocacy services will stipulate that, where it does, no person associated with the case under consideration — directly or in line management — for which advocacy is being sought can have any part to play in that case. <BR /> <BR />I will now deal with amendment Nos 19 and 20.”
“To address that, amendment No 18 will add the word "Independent" to the heading of new article 45A, which is to be inserted into the Children Order. I am advised that, if the amendment is agreed, the heading of clause 132 can also be updated to include the word "Independent", making it consistent with the amended heading of article 45A. The wording of the clause itself should not be amended. Whilst the clause does not specify that services must be independent, paragraph 3 of the new article 45A contains regulation-making powers to allow the Department to specify who may provide advocacy services. It is intended that this will be used to ensure independence by specifying that services may not be provided by persons linked to the service that is subject to representations.”
“Taking account of the possible concerns in moving to impose time limits on the making of representations, I am content that the relevant regulations should be subject to affirmative resolution procedure to ensure full scrutiny by the Assembly. As the regulations will be made under the Children Order, an amendment needs to be made to article 183 of that Order to provide that such regulations should be subject to affirmative resolution. Amendment Nos 16 and 17 provide for that. <BR /> <BR />I will now deal with amendment No 18 to clause 132, which inserts new article 45A into the Children Order. That places a duty on trusts to make arrangements for the provision of advocacy services. Stakeholders raised concerns that, as it stands, the clause does not clearly reflect the fact that advocacy services will be independent of the trusts.”
“<BR /> <BR />Clause 130 amends articles 35D and 45 of the Children Order, and that includes a provision to enable the Department, by regulation, to impose time limits for the making of representations, including complaints by looked-after children and other specified individuals about the discharge of an authority's function under the Children Order in relation to that child. <BR /> <BR />Subject to public consultation, it is anticipated that the regulations will provide that a complainant must make representations within one year of the grounds for such representations arising. It is also proposed that the regulations will allow an authority to consider representations made outside the time limit if that is justified and it is still possible to consider those representations effectively and fairly.”
“<BR /> <BR />I turn now to the first two amendments in group 3 that I have tabled: amendment Nos 16 and 17. Those amendments give effect to the recommendation of the Examiner of Statutory Rules that consideration should be given as to whether the required level of Assembly control should be altered from negative to affirmative resolution for certain regulations to be made under the Bill. During the debate on the group 1 amendments, I advised Members that I had proposed amendments to four of these. I have provided an overview of amendment Nos 16 and 17, which relate to the final clause that I intend to amend.”
“There is a provision in the Bill that is intended to ensure that any woman making a decision on the adoption of their child is provided with advice, information and counselling services to help her with the decision. That may lead to earlier adoption or, indeed, may help a mother to decide not to place her child for adoption. It is important that mothers are given the time and space to make an informed decision. For that reason, it is not possible for a mother to give consent until the baby is at least six weeks old. <BR /> <BR />Ms Bradshaw raised a query about the single adoption agency. The Bill contains a power that will enable the Department to make regulations to enable some adoption functions or services to be undertaken or delivered on a regional basis — for example, one trust may act on behalf of an entire region.”
“As proposed in amendment No 15, the child's progress is continually assessed in their educational setting using a wide range of evidence and observations. Such assessments are used to identify particular strengths and weaknesses that may need to be addressed. For looked-after children, the personal education plan will be the key mechanism for tackling progress in learning and development and determining whether the child is developing in line with developmental milestones. Personal education plans will be placed on a statutory basis by way of care planning regulations to be made under clause 134. If amendment No 15 is agreed, I may seek to table an amendment at Further Consideration Stage to adjust the wording to take account of advice from the Department of Education. <BR /> <BR />Mrs Cameron referred to adoption at an earlier stage.”
“The Department of Education has suggested that it may be preferable for clause 122 to refer to the child's "learning and development" rather than the child's:”
“I do not intend to push for a Division, considering the unity of purpose that has been evident throughout not just today's debate but the entire process to date.”
“I will not support that amendment for a number of reasons. <BR /> <BR />While I fully accept that how a child performs in educational terms will be directly related to how they have developed emotionally, psychologically, socially, physically and mentally, I do not consider that that is what is reflected in amendment No 15. The amendment lacks clarity, which means that the duty will lack clarity and will be open to interpretation by trusts to which it applies. <BR /> <BR />Therefore, for the reasons cited, duplication with other provision in the Bill and a lack of clarity, I cannot support amendment No 15, and I urge Members not to proceed to place a duty on trusts that they may not be able to fulfil.”
“<BR /> <BR />With specific reference to the duty to promote achievement and development in relation to training and amendment No 11, Members should note that clause 128 also includes provision specifically aimed at providing further advice and support to care leavers up to the age of 25 and further assistance to pursue education and training. Connected to that, clause 129 places a duty on a trust to publish information about the services that it offers to care leavers. That includes services related to education and training. Taking into account existing provision, I do not consider it necessary to amend clause 122 to include training as part of that duty that it creates. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 15 also extends the duty on trusts to include, alongside achievement, the promotion of a child's development in education and training.”
“Again, whilst I fully understand the motivation behind the amendment, I consider that it is not necessary and might be a duplication of other provisions in the Bill. <BR /> <BR />When a child is in care and subject to a care order, a health and social care trust assumes parental responsibility for the child, so the new corporate parenting principles that will be included under clause 123 will apply. A number of those principles are particularly relevant to the duty to promote educational achievement. Again, that includes to promote high aspirations and to seek to secure the best outcomes for children in care and for them to be safe and to have stability in their home life, relationships, education and work and to prepare them for adulthood and independent living.”
“It is all about the provision of support and smoothing the path for looked-after children to enable them to make the same or similar gains as their peers in education. Whilst adding the words "facilitate and support" are arguably unnecessary, on the basis that that is what is intended in policy terms, I do not intend to resist amendment No 14. <BR /> <BR />I turn to amendment No 15, which also amends new paragraph 1A to replace the reference to "educational achievement" with:”
“<BR /> <BR />For young people aged 16 to 17, who are preparing to leave care, trusts would be expected to ensure that the PEP is maintained and builds on the young person's educational progress and that each pathway plan review scrutinises the steps being taken to help the child to prepare for when they leave care. That includes the young person's progress in education or training and whether they are able to access all the services needed to prepare for training for higher education or employment and ensuring that links are made with further education colleges and higher education institutes and that care leavers are supported to find establishments that understand and work to meet the needs of looked-after children and care leavers. <BR /> <BR />This is what is meant by promoting educational achievement.”
“For preschool children, trusts would be expected to secure access to a nursery or other high-quality early years provision that is appropriate to the child's age and meets their identified development needs; or ensure timely provision of a suitable educational placement; or ensure that sufficient information about a child's mental health, special educational needs or disability is available to their educational setting so that appropriate support can be provided; or inform the school that the child is looked after so that the relevant common funding formula can be applied to enable the child to receive any additional support required; or, as part of the care planning process, ensure that an up-to-date, effective and high-quality personal education plan (PEP) is in place that focuses on the educational outcomes and covers out-of-school-hours learning activities and leisure interests; or reports regularly on the attainment, progress and school attendance of looked-after children through the trust's reporting structures.”
“The key intention of clause 122 is to ensure that trusts give sufficient attention to how children are performing at school or college in the same way that any good parent would. By requiring trusts to promote educational achievement, we are trying to close the attainment gap in education between looked-after children and their peers. The gap, which we tend to measure in terms of GCSE and A-level results, is too wide and needs to be closed. For example, in 2018, 54% of looked-after children achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, compared with 85% of the general school population. While the measurement tends to focus on GCSE and A-level results, what would be expected from trusts by way of a duty to promote educational achievement would be quite wide-ranging and spelt out very clearly in guidance in the exercise of that duty.”
“I will speak first to amendment Nos 14 and 15, which have been tabled by the Committee Chair and relate to clause 122, which actually places a duty on authorities to promote the educational achievement of looked-after children. Amendment No 14 adds the words "facilitate and support" to the new paragraph 1A that is being inserted into article 26 of the Children Order. In its report, the Committee states that inserting those words:”
“I will work with everyone across the House to see what we can do to bring forward that necessary legislation, because, if it is not possible to pass the necessary legislation within the tight time frames between now and the dissolution of this Assembly, it will be for the incoming Health Minister in the next mandate to decide how best to give effect to the recommendations of the truth recovery design panel, and due consideration has been given to the amendments to my proposed new clauses and those tabled by Ms Dillon and her colleagues. <BR /> <BR />I am pleased to commend the amendments to the House.”
“They were amendments to ensure the preservation of records relating to women and children in mother-and-baby institutions. I made it clear at the start of the debate that I will accept the Speaker's determination as final, but I wholly agree that it is vital that all relevant records, including those held by statutory agencies, concerning women and children in such institutions are protected, as they will be highly relevant to any future investigation or public inquiry on those institutions.”
“No issues were raised by the Information Commissioner's Office in relation to any provisions in the Bill, and that includes clause 102, which provides powers to enable the Department to make regulations in connection with pre-commencement adoptions. The ICO also advised the Department that it should be consulted during the development of the regulations, given that they will deal with the specifics of processing, and the Department has given a commitment to do so during the development of any regulations relating to the processing of that information. <BR /> <BR />With regard to Ms Ní Chuilín's closing comments, I spoke about that issue earlier, and I do not want to be ruled out of order again. I agree that it is disappointing that the amendments tabled by me and Ms Dillon were not selected for debate today.”
“That level of funding demonstrates a commitment to not only assess but provide support services that are assessed as needed. <BR /> <BR />I wrote to the Committee on the issue of compliance with data protection and public records legislation, and I can confirm that there are no compliance issues with the Bill. Indeed, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) reviewed the Adoption and Children Bill and the accompanying data protection impact assessment prior to the Bill's introduction to the Assembly. At that time, the ICO noted the safeguards built into the Bill. They include the powers to make regulations that relate to the retention, processing or disclosure of information.”
“The intermediary services established under the Bill will enable those family members, where possible, to obtain information and establish contact with an adopted person when that is what both parties want. <BR /> <BR />I thank again the Health Committee and the stakeholders, in particular the victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions and their families, for their positive engagement on that important aspect of the Bill. <BR /> <BR />Some Members raised queries about the cost of support services. In calculating the cost of implementing the Bill, we established that it will cost approximately £13·1 million to introduce the new framework for adoption and special guardianship support services over the first three years of implementation.”
“The duty of the Registrar General to inform adopted adults of the availability of counselling services will remain in place. It will be for the adopted adult, regardless of when they were adopted, to decide whether to avail themselves of counselling services, when to avail themselves of counselling and from whom. <BR /> <BR />I am confident that the Bill, the amendments to clause 102 and the regulations that will be brought forward following Royal Assent will strengthen support for an adopted person seeking to obtain information about their family and early life and, in some cases, to make contact with their birth family. Also, many birth relatives, particularly birth mothers, have little or no information that would enable them to trace a person from whom they were separated by adoption.”
“That is to enable them to receive support with the disclosure of birth information, to obtain information about their origins and to be offered intermediary services if they wish to trace their birth family or are considering a reunion. <BR /> <BR />I have listened to the views of victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions. They consider that all adopted adults should be treated in the same way, with the right to decide for themselves whether to avail themselves of counselling. Taking account of those views and the views expressed by the Attorney General on the matter and having consulted the Registrar General's office, I am satisfied that, on balance, the requirement for compulsory counselling should be removed from schedule 2. Amendment No 47 provides for that.”
“<BR /> <BR />Amendment No 47 amends schedule 2, which provides for the disclosure of birth records by the Registrar General to persons adopted before the commencement of the new disclosure of information provisions in clauses 55 to 64. The Registrar General is required to advise any adopted person seeking access to their birth records that a counselling service is available to them. However, schedule 2(4) makes it compulsory for people adopted before 18 December 1987 to attend a counselling interview before the Registrar General can provide the information. <BR /> <BR />Compulsory counselling is a legal requirement under article 54(7) of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987. It is intended to help an adopted person to contextualise the likely circumstances at the time of their adoption placement.”
“It will also enable the Department, in consultation with victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions in particular, to agree more acceptable wording than that contained in the 1989 regulations, which some have expressed concerns about. <BR /> <BR />Amendment Nos 7, 8 and 10 make technical amendments to clause 102. They are required as a consequence of the insertion of the new subsection 2A by amendment No 6. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 9 provides that an adopted person may not be charged a fee for the provision of any information disclosed to them or to which they have been given access. In my view, it would be inappropriate to impose charges on adopted people seeking such information. That will be put beyond doubt by putting it in the Bill.”