Sandra Overend
Mid Ulster · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“My thoughts are with the Black family, who have been put into the public eye once again due to the failings of the judicial system, the very system in which David served so faithfully.”
“On this, the last day the Assembly will meet in this place, I thank my colleague Mr Doug Beattie for proposing this important motion. I express my deep concern and share the anger of many people from my constituency of Mid Ulster at the management of the bail conditions for the man who was charged with offences linked to the terrorist mur…”
“<BR /> <BR />There is an argument that suspects have an entitlement to bail due to the length of time that they spend on remand. However, the answer to that must be to speed up the process of administering justice and not to grant bail in such cases.”
“It emerged that, having failed to sign in with police on 18 November, it was not until 23 December when police called at his bail address that they found the flat had been cleared out, and, in fact, evidence suggested he had been gone a few weeks by that stage.”
“To allow this type of situation to occur once could be seen as being careless. For it to happen twice in the same year is clear evidence of a culture that needs to change and of a policy that needs to change. Bail is seemingly too easily given out and not stringently enough managed.”
“I thank the Minister for that. I wonder whether he is optimistic that he will deliver that programme in the days that remain, given the fact that clubs have been waiting since last March, when the consultation process ended. An announcement was promised before Christmas. How confident is he that there will be something for local clubs?”
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“If the Member looks at the Hansard report, he will see that my colleague did not mention anything about a lack of consultation. He may have mentioned a lack of debate on the issue, but we have been debating this issue for the past three years on the Floor, so there has been plenty of consultation on it.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I conclude by commending amendment Nos 26 and 27 to the House. I trust that, after this debate, the proposal will receive support from all sides of the House.”
“I will finish my sentence. While we can be astounded by the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin in this instance, maybe we should not be surprised.”
“I thank the Minister for pointing out the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin. While —”
“I will just finish the sentence. Sinn Féin says that it will support the removal of the exception, as Mr Kennedy said, yet the deputy First Minister is not moving to do so. Do I detect a split in the ranks of Sinn Féin on the matter?”
“Thank you, Mr Kennedy; I appreciate your intervention and clarification on those points. I find it astounding that, while Sinn Féin is on record as supporting the removal of the exception, the Sinn Féin Minister has not moved to act on it. Meanwhile, the Sinn Féin Minister claims that it is the responsibility of OFMDFM to consult on and move the legislation. This is the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister that is made up of the DUP, which, I believe, is in support of the amendment, and Sinn Féin, which has lodged a petition of concern. On the one hand —”
“The argument that OFMDFM has primary responsibility for equality and should have legislated on the matter may sound reasonable, but OFMDFM has been aware of the issue for years and has done nothing. Danny Kinahan MP, when he was in this place, tabled numerous questions to OFMDFM and Education on the FETO exception, and no action was forthcoming. More recently, I have done the same.”
“In short, it is back to pass the parcel. Nothing has happened for three years. The Assembly should not tolerate such prevarication, and nor should it tolerate discrimination in any field of employment. There was no opportunity to amend the ESA Bill, which was dropped, and the focus of the Shared Education Bill was deemed too narrow to accept a similar amendment two weeks ago. <BR /> <BR />On the petition of concern lodged by Sinn Féin and the SDLP, the amendments deserve the support of everyone in the Assembly. Everyone who believes in fair employment and equality must support them on a cross-community basis. Repeal of this outdated article does not target one side of the community. I urge Members on the nationalist Benches to do the right thing and vote for the amendments.”
“However, I recently asked the Education Minister to detail the results of such a review. Instead of giving a direct answer, he said:”
“I want to continue for a moment. If the Member wants in again as I proceed, he can ask. <BR /> <BR />For some reason, the Department of Education and the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister have played a game of pass the parcel for the past three years. At times, the Education Minister has said that he is against the teacher exception and that he has written to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. However, when pressed on when he wrote to them and what the reply was, he denied having written to them at all. Then, in answer to Assembly questions, the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister said that, although it has responsibility for equality issues, it needs the Department of Education to establish a policy position and refer a review, which has been conducted.”
“The issue is that allowing this to remain on the statute book allows discrimination to happen. Whether or not it actually happens is not the issue; it is the fact that it allows discrimination. If that is the case, let us pursue removing it from the statute book.”
“The controlled sector does not use the FETO exemption. Why, then, should it stay on the statute book? If it is a dead letter, let us get rid of it now. <BR /> <BR />As we explained in the two debates in 2013 and 2015, there is no justification for continuing the FETO exemption; it is a historical anomaly and needs to go. Today is an opportunity to get rid of it, and this Assembly should take that opportunity. For some reason —”
“That is crystal clear. CCMS says that it does not rely on or use the teacher exemption. <BR /> <BR />On the controlled side, the education and library boards' teacher employment policy, now the Education Authority's, has been set out in the following terms:”
“<BR /> <BR />For the avoidance of any doubt for those on the nationalist Benches, I will simply quote what CCMS representatives, Jim Clarke and Eugene O'Neill, said when they appeared in front of the Education Committee on 29 May 2013. Mr Clarke said:”
“I thank the Member for his intervention and for his response. I am astounded that the petition of concern was tabled and, furthermore, at the little debate in the Chamber this afternoon. When the Ulster Unionist Party brought this issue to the Assembly for debate on 22 April 2013, and again in April 2015, the Assembly agreed with our stance that article 71 of FETO was indefensible and should go. There were dissenting voices on the other issue of the Catholic RE certificate, but, in both debates, no one, whether unionist, nationalist or other, argued that the teacher exemption from fair employment legislation should be retained.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. I agree, and, indeed, I find it astounding that the parties mentioned have tabled a petition of concern.”
“Apart from the ridiculous situation where, uniquely, it is not unlawful to discriminate when recruiting to teaching positions, it also means that roughly 17,000 teachers employed in Northern Ireland are not monitored in the same way as all other professions. So the figures quoted in all reports on fair employment over the past 40 years are not accurate, because we do not know the religious background of 17,000 schoolteachers; they are not recorded or monitored. We can, however, surmise from the survey data collected by the Equality Commission that, 12 years ago, 85% of teachers in state-controlled schools were from a Protestant background, while 99% of teachers in the maintained sector were Roman Catholic.”
“The reasons have been somewhat lost in time, but it seems to have been in recognition of the de facto segregated nature of our education system and some sort of special protection for denominational ethos. In 2016 that teacher exemption still exists.”
“All employers must ask their employees, apprentices and job applicants to fill in an annual monitoring form that asks whether they are from the Protestant, Roman Catholic or other communities. That goes for all employers, except those that employ teachers. Those employers are the Education Authority for the state-controlled sector; the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools; and, for the voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated sectors, it is the board of governors that is the employer. All, however, are exempt from the fair employment rules laid down in FETO under article 71, which is known as the teacher exemption. That opt-out for teacher appointments goes right back to the original Fair Employment Act 1976. In 1976, Parliament exempted employment as a teacher in a school from anti-discrimination legislation.”
“The 1989 Act imposes six duties on employers, including the introduction of compulsory workforce monitoring, and it set up the Fair Employment Commission. FETO extended the monitoring of part-time employees and the outlawing of religious and political discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services. <BR /> <BR />Nowhere in the Western World is the community or religious background of the workforce checked and monitored more than in Northern Ireland, and any perceived imbalances that do not reflect the local population must, by law, be rectified. All employers in Northern Ireland, whether in the public or private sector, must register with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland if they employ 11 or more employees who each work more than 16 hours a week.”
“We propose to add to the list, under amendment No 27, article 71 of the Fair Employment and Treatment Order. Amendment No 26 quite reasonably specifies a commencement date for the repeal of article 71 as one year after the Employment Bill receives Royal Assent. To remind Members, article 71 of the Fair Employment and Treatment Order 1998 — FETO — is known as the teacher exemption. <BR /> <BR />That has nothing to do with the current requirement that appointees to teaching posts in the maintained nursery and primary sector possess or obtain, within a short period, a Catholic certificate in religious education. This amendment is about employment law. FETO is the consolidation and strengthening of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 and the Fair Employment Act 1976.”
“I and my party are therefore satisfied that amendment Nos 26 and 27 are absolutely relevant to the Bill. <BR /> <BR />I will take the opportunity to remind the House what the issue known as the teacher exemption from fair employment is all about and why the Assembly should waste no further time in legislating on it. Members will note that schedule 3 to the Bill refers to the repeal of various articles of legislation on the statute book, including the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996; the Industrial Tribunals (Northern Ireland) Order 1996; the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999; and the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Articles, or parts of articles, from the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 are identified for repeal.”
“It goes on to say in conclusion that it aims to:”
“I will speak to the group 3 amendments. Obviously, my comments will focus on amendment Nos 26 and 27, tabled in my name and that of my Ulster Unionist colleague Danny Kennedy. <BR /> <BR />I note that the introduction to the Bill refers to the idea that it will:”
“Thank you. The available figures are very concerning, and the Minister referred to them. I could ask half a dozen questions about the figures. Almost half of all patients — some 569 patients — who were waiting longer than 13 weeks to access psychological therapies at the end of November 2015 were in the South Eastern Trust area; 92% were waiting longer than 13 weeks for mental health services in the Southern Trust area; and 56% were waiting longer than 13 weeks in the Northern Trust area. It is difficult to define those figures for Mid Ulster specifically, but they are concerning. Will the Minister advise whether he has identified specific problems in various trust areas?”
“I thank the Minister for his response and his keenness for cycling, which I very much support. What impact will the recent budgetary allocations and reductions have on road safety programmes?”
“I thank the First Minister for the detail that she has provided this afternoon. Given the success of the literacy and numeracy programme, can the First Minister indicate whether the Minister of Education made a case for it to be streamlined rather than closed down last year?”
“That proposal is causing considerable unrest on equality grounds, but a financial question has not been addressed: the £33·1 million quoted is at variance with the £47·3 million allocated to the teaching workforce in the Executive Budget for 2016-17 under the public sector transformation fund. I would appreciate clarification on that matter. <BR /> <BR />There are unanswered questions with regard to the Budget in respect of education. I can tell you that principals are worried. They are concerned about the future of their schools and the education of the children in their care. I share their concern, but I am sure that this is not as good as it gets.”
“<BR /> <BR />The teaching workforce scheme was announced by the Minister but is going through an equality impact assessment only now, and we are not clear at this stage where that is going. It is not clear how the scheme will be allocated funding and what savings — if any — will be realised. It has been mooted that savings made through the scheme will remain with individual schools. I would appreciate clarity on that. What has been announced is a £33·1 million investment for the early retirement of 500 teachers over the age of 55 years, replacing them with recently qualified teachers.”
“It is assumed that the EU Peace IV might be a possibility, even though the EU has already spent a total of £2 billion in Northern Ireland since 1994. So there is considerable uncertainty about funding for shared education, both in 2016-17 and into the future. <BR /> <BR />More immediately pressing, and referred to earlier, are the pension scheme revaluations. Those are likely to result in additional employer contribution costs and increase operating costs by 4·1%. With the single-tier pension scheme in place from April this year, schools will also face an increase of 3·4% in National Insurance contributions. In the current financial year, the Department received additional in-year funding to address the pension-related pressures. I would like to hear from the Minister where those costs will be covered in 2016-17.”
“It is time that we had clarity on this issue, and I would appreciate that. <BR /> <BR />More widely on shared education, and being conscious of the Bill going through the Assembly, it is time that questions over the financial viability of that policy were explored. Option 4 in the business plans for shared education would cost £44 million annually, which, after four years, will apparently be absorbed into the mainstream schools budget. I wonder whether that is realistic or sustainable. I hope we can get answers to these questions. <BR /> <BR />The Programme for Government has a commitment to creating 10 shared campuses by 2018. The total cost of implementing these sorts of infrastructure projects could approach £1 billion, yet there is no funding secured for that.”
“The Chair of the Committee referred to the aggregated schools budget, and I agree that it could be better secured from one year to the next. After the election, the Minister will be able to make a budget over the period of the mandate, yet there will be fluctuations year on year within the aggregated schools budget. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Education faces significant funding pressures going into 2016-17. The funding of shared education in the incoming year and further years deserves careful consideration. Over a year ago, £500 million of new capital funding for shared education over a 10-year period was announced in the Stormont House Agreement. However, the DUP/Sinn Féin Fresh Start Agreement states that that money can also be used for mixed housing projects.”
“<BR /> <BR />Focusing on schools, I reiterate something that my colleague and predecessor as education spokesperson, Danny Kinahan MP, used to call for, and that is a joined-up education plan for the future so that schools know what is happening and have some degree of certainty about their annual budget allocation. I have been speaking to numerous schools, and they are frustrated with the lack of information and the lack of the stability that the Budget system brings them. They want to be able to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to figures that are given to them. I acknowledge that we are in a unique situation because of the one-year extension to the Assembly's mandate, but surely a better and more certain budgetary process can be worked out for schools.”
“Whilst that doomsday scenario never came to pass, very worthwhile schemes were cut and discontinued, such as the primary-school modern languages programme, the Sentinus programme and, particularly regrettably, the signature programmes in numeracy and literacy. <BR /> <BR />I would like to turn to the Youth Service. Given that the Education Minister announced his decision to dissolve the Youth Service and subsume the responsibilities into the Education Authority, I question whether cost savings are foreseen in that regard and whether there is evidence that money will be saved. I have concerns that our Youth Service may lose out on much-needed funding for the sector, since the Youth Service Northern Ireland multiplied the funding that it received fivefold.”
“At £1,948 million, the opening baseline resource budget for Education in 2016-17 is almost identical to the 2015-16 figure. That represents 19% of the non-ring-fenced DEL. That appears to be a very placid situation compared with the recently recurring annual crises over school budgets, but we know that schools are having to deal with other costs and with inflationary costs, which I will refer to later. <BR /> <BR />It seems like only yesterday that savage cuts to the Department of Education were being proposed. Last year, it was suggested that up to 1,000 teachers and 1,500 support staff could lose their jobs.”
“I am pleased to speak as the Ulster Unionist education spokesperson on the Budget agreed for 2016-17 by the DUP and Sinn Féin. My focus is on the future generations of Northern Ireland. Education is a key Department and one that we, as elected representatives, need to get right. Our young people deserve our focus and attention. <BR /> <BR />As we look ahead to the new financial year and a new mandate for the Assembly, we know that Education is one of the Departments that will remain largely in its current state. All the Department's current functions will be carried forward, with some additional responsibilities in the new Department. Last month, in presenting the DUP/Sinn Féin Budget for 2016-17, the Finance Minister announced an extra £40 million for the Department of Education.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. Does he agree that the expansion at Magee, which we all support, should not come at the expense or threaten the viability of other university campuses in Northern Ireland?”
“I thank the Minister for his response. Will he agree that, while there is ambiguity about the timescale for the transfer of these powers to our local councils, they will remain in some sort of limbo and that there should be some sort of commitment to a timescale for the transfer of these powers in the Programme for Government?”
“Will the Minister provide an update on her Department's work with landowners on the Moneynick section of the A6? Do any outstanding disagreements need to be resolved? What action is in place for that?”
“I wish to ask the deputy First Minster what the total spend has been, and how much of that is additional. How much would have been spent anyway?”
“For the record, however, the Ulster Unionist Party tabled an amendment on the repeal of article 71 of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. It was not accepted due to the narrow focus of this Bill. We have no quarrel with the Bill Office over that. However, the issue will not go away, and it is really a disgrace that it has not been dealt with up until now. We will have a look at a different amendment at Further Consideration Stage, but what is clear is this: you cannot have truly shared education without a truly shared workforce. The barriers to fair employment must be lifted.”
“Unlike amendment No 12, which gives a power to sectoral bodies to encourage and facilitate shared education, this amendment places a duty on educational bodies to consider shared education in all their decision-making processes. Is that just a nod in the direction of shared education? Surely that will need to be included in the review to have any real meaning. As the Committee Chair said, departmental officials were reluctant to support this amendment. With that in mind, I await the contributions of others and will consider whether we will support this or amendment No 12. <BR /> <BR />Lastly, Mr Speaker, I appreciate that, at this stage, we can comment and vote only on the amendments on the Marshalled List.”
“That sharing needs to be assessed, and it is important that this shared education increases, especially by those schools at the lower levels of the scale. Therefore, I felt that it was important that reviews are made. <BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin's amendment No 15, on the duty of education bodies, states:”
“Surely a campus is being funded by the Department of Education and, therefore, ownership of the buildings should continue to be within the Department. Why would the ownership of the school be outside the Education Authority? Maybe the Minister will give us further information on that. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 14, a Committee amendment, is on a review of shared education progress. The Committee discussed the need for progress to be made on shared education, for there should be no tokenism in this regard. It is certain that schools across Northern Ireland are at varying degrees of participating in shared education. Some are doing nothing, whereas others spend many hours working together between schools, or share teachers and resources.”
“It may be overly bureaucratic. Schools are at varying levels of shared education and to prescribe participant hours of shared education would require maybe a table of formulae and possibly a progression chart. At this stage, I am undecided whether we will support this amendment. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 11 is consequential to amendment No 8. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 12, which is in the name of the Committee, extends the power to encourage and facilitate shared education to all sectoral bodies; ie those not funded by the Department of Education. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 13, from the Minister, is a new clause, "Power to form company". I understand that this is for the purposes of the Strule shared campus at Omagh. I am not convinced that this is the best route for a shared campus. Initially, it struck me as a bit of a cop-out.”
“That is commendable because a school closing down completely will result in a reduction of sharing opportunities in that area. There may be other occasions when sharing is completely out of the question due to a lack of resources, but the fact that it is being taken into consideration during consideration of decisions has to be welcomed. I look forward to hearing more about that amendment from the proposer. That was discussed at Committee Stage, and I questioned departmental officials specifically on the issue. It will be interesting to hear the Minister's response to the amendment and whether it is needed on top of having a duty placed on the Department. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 10 from the Alliance Party inserts a new clause about participant hours and drafting regulations. I am not really sure how that would work.”
“Amendment No 8, which is from the Committee and John McCallister, is about ensuring that there is a duty on the Department of Education to promote, encourage and facilitate shared education, and amendment No 11 is consequential to that. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 9, in the name of Mr McCallister, ensures that shared education is taken into consideration in all decision-making. It is difficult not to support that one, but the concerns are about the finite resources available. For example, if a school has experienced dwindling numbers in recent years but could be saved if there were some arrangement to share teachers or resources with a neighbouring school, enabling there to be a reasonable number of children from different religions and socio-economic backgrounds, consideration must be given to saving the school and implement sharing.”
“I have completed those forms for my children, as I said in Committee, maybe more recently than anyone else who is debating this now, and I can see the form in my mind's eye. It details "Church of Ireland", "Presbyterian" and all the various religions, and "no religion" was an option on that. The Department's amendment on that aspect makes sense to me. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 5, in the name of John McCallister, is about the purpose of shared education. I do not have any real issues with those suggestions. We discussed the need for shared education to be measured to some degree, and these points provide for that. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 7, in the name of the Minister, is a technical amendment.”
“We had much discussion about that issue and members did not want to exclude those with no religion in the surveying of pupils in shared education analyses. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 4, which is from Mr Lunn, and amendment Nos 6 and 7, which are from the Minister, are tweaks. Amendment No 4 inserts an extra option of "none", and amendment No 6 allows for a definition of religious belief that includes an "absence of religious belief". I remember in Committee that the departmental officials told us that the current analysis of a child's religion also has the option of "none" and that there is, therefore, no real need for amendment No 6. However, the Committee decided that it was useful to see it in the Bill.”
“We will wait to hear his explanation for proposed subsection 2A(b), which mentions a "single relevant provider". It seems to refer to an integrated education body or schools that are naturally sharing already. I would have thought that that is covered by the original clause 1(2)(b) under "relevant providers". Mr McCallister has also chosen to omit the "reasonable numbers" part of the original clause 1(2). That is quite a significant omission in that the Committee sought a ministerial assurance that the "reasonable numbers" aspect of the definition would be interpreted flexibly by the Department. We will listen to what the Minister has to say on that with an open mind. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 3, the Committee amendment, refers to the definition of the religious background of the child.”