Andy Allen
East Belfast · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Member for her question. There are two accessible toilet cubicles available to visitors on the ground floor, one designated for male use and one for female use. On the first floor, there is an additional accessible toilet facility that is available for use by all visitors.”
“Before I begin, I declare an interest as a trustee of a charity. Through that role, I have seen at first hand the valuable work that charities carry out and the responsibilities that fall on trustees to ensure that organisations are properly governed.”
“I thank the Member for her follow-up question. While no formal assessment has been undertaken to establish a direct correlation between facilities and attendance by people with disabilities, we regularly engage with and welcome to Parliament Buildings people with disabilities through a range of forums, including involvement with the Youth…”
“<BR /> <BR />Perhaps the most significant issue for scrutiny is the extent to which important operational detail is being transferred from primary legislation into regulations.”
“Nevertheless, it would be useful to know how concerns relating to such organisations, should they arise, would be addressed and how cooperation between regulators would operate should issues arise.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The Assembly Commission installed a Changing Places facility in Parliament Buildings in 2011. Standard accessible toilets do not meet the needs of many people, including those with profound and multiple learning disabilities.”
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“The Member may have noted that towards the end of my remarks, I said that I and my party will give any proposals from the Minister a fair wind in that respect.”
“Minister, you have undertaken to clarify a number of points for our information. Another area that you could perhaps clarify has to do with the systemic failure of right to buy and how that scheme has been implemented. As I highlighted, it has not been perfect. How much revenue has been generated through the house sales scheme? Secondly, how much of that revenue has been reinvested in new social housing builds?”
“We need to see more detail on what would replace the Housing Executive right-to-buy scheme should we abolish it also. We will not support the amendments. <BR /> <BR />It was perhaps remiss of me not to put on record at the outset my and my party's best wishes for the Minister, Deirdre Hargey, and the Principal Deputy Speaker, Christopher Stalford, and to welcome the new Minister to her place. I am sure that she will join with me in welcoming Deirdre back when she is fit and ready.”
“She has also made very clear that she intends to deal with the wider Housing Executive and, indeed, the Housing Executive right-to-buy scheme at another stage. We have the transition period in the housing associations, and I take on board and accept the Member's and my colleagues' concerns about the inequality that that raises, but I hope that we will see — I see that the Minister is across the way — consideration being given to or legislation on the Housing Executive right-to-buy scheme. My party will give it an absolute fair wind. As the Member for Upper Bann also pointed out, we need more detail. In our Committee packs just last week, we found that the Department had come back to say that there was no additional detail on the voluntary grant scheme, so we need to see more detail.”
“I am not saying that it does not happen. I am saying that, in the majority of cases, those individuals have no intention of moving on. I cannot speak about those particular properties. I do not know them, and I am not familiar with them. Of course it happens, but, in the majority of cases, that is not the intent of the individuals in purchasing those homes. <BR /> <BR />Of course the right-to-buy scheme is not perfect. It needs to be amended. It could be a much better scheme. We do not support the Member's amendments. We feel that they are unhelpful at this stage. As I pointed out in my intervention, the Minister made very clear to the Committee when she presented to us on 13 May that the intention behind the Bill, which she is bringing forward, is to deal with the ONS reclassification.”
“I do not believe that the majority of those individuals who go on to purchase those homes have any intention of moving on from them, so that will not address the issue in the medium to long term. Most of those residents who go on to purchase their home intend to stay there, and their family intends to stay there. They are part of the community, they have been brought up in the community and they are part of the fabric of that community. They have no intention of moving on, and, indeed, that has been articulated to me by a number of individuals who have gone on to purchase their home.”
“The Member who moved the amendments outlined his rationale for tabling them as the haemorrhaging of housing stock from the social rented sector. I do not think that there is a Member in the Chamber who can seriously say that they have not dealt with constituents who are in need of social housing and who have been on the housing waiting list for years on end and that those Members have not been frustrated as they have navigated the housing selection scheme to try to get those constituents a roof over their head. <BR /> <BR />There has been a systemic failure in government by not delivering enough social and affordable houses, and that is part of the key problem. Mr Allister made a fundamental point.”
“The Member points out an inequality, but does he accept that the Minister said that she wanted to decouple the two issues and intended to come back to the right-to-buy scheme in the Housing Executive at a later date? Does he also accept that there is a two-year period within the right-to-buy scheme for housing associations? His argument does not stack up.”
“It would be helpful to know how that scheme will be administered. What will the grants look like, and what form will they take? As the Member across the way pointed out, how will it be decided what housing stock will be sold etc? <BR /> <BR />We support the Bill, and I am happy to work with any Member who wants to strengthen it.”
“Thankfully, to date, I have not had a negative experience, and they have always been proactive and willing to engage to resolve any issues. <BR /> <BR />My party and I are on record about our position on the right-to-buy scheme. We recognise that the right to buy was not perfect. It was not a utopia. There were problems with that system, and no one is denying that, but it provided those who wished to get on the housing ladder with an opportunity to do so. However, we fully understand and appreciate the necessity, in the Bill, to abolish the right-to-buy scheme, and we reluctantly support that. In turn, we welcome the voluntary scheme. As my colleague across the way pointed out, some further detail would be good. I raised that point at the Committee with the Minister and officials, who said that they would come back with that information.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are all cognisant of the various and profound issues that the Minister, Committee Chair and my Committee colleague across the way highlighted, including the impact that the failure to achieve reversal of the reclassification will have on many of our constituents across Northern Ireland, the impact on financial transactions capital and the impact for the many tens of thousands of individuals and families on social housing waiting lists across Northern Ireland. We feel that the Bill and the majority of its substantive clauses are necessary, proportionate and measured. We welcome the fact that we will still see regulatory oversight of housing associations. The majority of housing associations operate in a good manner. I have had very good dealings with housing associations when engaging with them on behalf of constituents.”
“First, before I go into the Bill's detail, I place on record that I understand and fully appreciate the position taken by the Member across the way. Under normal circumstances, we would not like to see the Bill progress with accelerated passage. I understand where the Member is coming from, but I take a slightly different position in the current circumstances. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the Bill. It is good to see its introduction, nearly four years on from the original decision made by the ONS. We were promised it on numerous occasions throughout the previous mandate. Regrettably, we were not here for three years, when we should have been dealing with these topics and important measures.”
“The Minister and, indeed, Committee colleagues have outlined the rationale and reason for accelerated passage. I will not rehearse those arguments. Social housing is, indeed, essential for many people across Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, many are unable to access it. Any detrimental impact on the ability to build social housing would be catastrophic. With that and, indeed, the mitigating circumstances — I believe that the COVID-19 crisis is a huge factor in taking the Bill back to ONS and going through the various stages — my party will support accelerated passage.”
“I thank the Minister for her statement. Minister, a recent survey by Chief Officers Third Sector (CO3) and the Institute of Fundraising — it surveyed 206 chief executives — highlighted that the majority of them have indicated that cash flow is a major problem, and 92% further highlighted that they were ineligible for other grants. The Minister indicated that the charity fund of £15·5 million that is allocated as Barnett consequential will be limited, so can she outline what additional support her Department is considering to supplement that fund?”
“Thank you, Minister, for your engagement, and we support the Bill.”
“We hope that that will be commuted in most cases to tenants, but, unfortunately, as with everything, there will always be those bad apples and there will always be those who will be affected by that. <BR /> <BR />2.30 pm <BR /> <BR />It is important to note that the vast majority of the private sector landlords — 18% of people here live in 134,000 private sector households, which was outlined — are very good and very responsible, and, in most cases, they carry out their duties as they should — but there are those who do not. The Bill is required to safeguard those who may be at risk of eviction during this period. It is proportionate and reasonable, and, indeed, I look forward to continuing to engage with the Minister should there be a necessity to extend the Bill, although I hope that there is not.”
“<BR /> <BR />As has been outlined by Members and the Minister, the intention behind the Bill is to increase the notice-to-quit period from four to 12 weeks for those in the applicable category. At this worrying time for us all across society and across the world, individuals should not be worrying about whether they have a roof over their head. It is imperative to do this; in fact, it is the right thing for us to do to ensure that we take every proportionate step to make sure that tenants have a roof over their head and do not have that additional stressor over them. <BR /> <BR />As the Minister alluded to, support packages have been announced by various Ministers and, indeed, the UK Government that will potentially support landlords.”
“I declare an interest as a private sector landlord. My Committee colleague across the way has raised a number of important matters that I was going to raise too, but I will not rehearse them. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the intention of the Bill and, indeed, the fact that the Minister came before the Committee on 6 April to engage with us, as she outlined earlier. I thank the Minister for her extensive engagement with the Committee and, indeed, all Assembly Members throughout the course of the pandemic. She has kept us updated, and she has worked constructively with Committee members to ensure that we safeguard and protect the most vulnerable in our society.”
“To echo the comments of my Committee colleagues, the Ulster Unionist Party does not support accelerated passage routinely or lightly. However, given the nature of this, the exceptional circumstances that we find ourselves in and the fact that the Bill will not take effect until it receives Royal Assent, there is a necessity to deploy the Bill by accelerated passage, so we will reluctantly support that. We would have liked to have had more time in the Committee to scrutinise the Bill and, indeed, as my Committee colleague outlined, other measures could have been included in the Bill to safeguard others. However, we will support the motion.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I am glad to hear your commitment to special educational needs schools being fit for purpose. On the back of that, a number of parents have contacted me about the lack of communication from the EA. Will the Minister give a commitment or guarantee that the EA will directly communicate with parents of children who are attending special educational needs schools, in order to listen further to their concerns and engage them in the wider process?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I declare an interest, as I have a relative who is going through the process. From the engagement that I have had with parents whose children are involved in the special educational needs assessment process, it has been indicated to me that communication between them and the Education Authority has been abysmal. Will the Minister undertake to review how the Education Authority communicates with parents to keep them updated on assessments?”
“I have worked very well with the Minister in the past, and I have no doubt that she will do everything that she can to invest. <BR /> <BR />I note that there are plans to enhance greenways. The current greenway stretches for seven miles. My young children — aged 11, seven and 15 months — very much enjoy going out at the weekend with their nanny Linda and walking along a stretch of the greenway. I am very happy that the Member brought the matter to the House. I am very happy to support it and to work with him, other colleagues across east Belfast and colleagues across Northern Ireland to work towards the realisation of that commitment to invest in our greenways.”
“It would be remiss of us to zone in on the cycling and walking benefits. There is so much more to greenways. They bring potential footfall to businesses along their route. When doing a bit of research prior to this Adjournment debate, I came across some statistics. It is estimated that, for every £1 invested in greenways, the return is up to £4. It is about looking at greenways in that wider context and the positive benefit that they deliver for our wider communities. <BR /> <BR />Recently, people from the wider community made representations to me. They want further investment in the Comber greenway and, indeed, the enhancement of greenways right across Belfast and Northern Ireland. I welcome the fact that the Minister is here. I welcome her positive attitude towards greenways and the commitment that she has given to them.”
“I follow the esteemed Member and colleague from East Belfast whom I have had the opportunity, from my time in the House, to work with on a number of occasions. We have worked quite well together. I recall him securing previous Adjournment debates. I am sure that he is glad to be back down to the area of the House from where he can again contribute as a Member working for the community on the ground. I am sure that he continued to do that in his role as Speaker. <BR /> <BR />As the Member, quite rightly, pointed out, the Comber greenway is a wonderfully tranquil green corridor that runs all the way from Comber to the heart of east Belfast. As he highlighted, the greenway is about much more than just east Belfast. It is about looking at the wider context of the greenway and all the positive benefits that flow from it.”
“I call on the Justice Minister to review our bail system and to look at how we can tighten that up, because individuals are being released, and in our malign society, we see paramilitaries being able to come out and intimidate families and witnesses.”
“I have seen it in action, and it can help some of our vulnerable young people to move away from the clutches of paramilitary gangs. It can help them to move away from those brigadiers that my colleague Doug Beattie mentioned, who send out those young, vulnerable foot soldiers to do their bidding, while they profit from the misery of others. We can and must do more. Our actions need to speak louder than our words. It is OK. Across the Chamber, we can easily condemn bombings and shootings and highlight statistics, but behind those statistics are families, individuals and people who have had their lives ruined. <BR /> <BR />I pay tribute to the Ogle family, who have stood head and shoulders above the criminals. We need to support them in the days ahead.”
“<BR /> <BR />I would like to quickly point to the murder, in my constituency, of Mr Ogle, which was mentioned by my friend, a Member for East Belfast, Ms Bunting. He was a family man and an east Belfast man through and through, and he was savagely and barbarically beaten and stabbed to death by individuals who portray themselves as protectors of our community. They left a man dying and bleeding, with his life ebbing away while they ran into the dark. Are those defenders of our community? Certainly not. I served in Afghanistan, where real men have gone. Those individuals are not real men; they are cowards. They prey on the vulnerable in our communities. <BR /> <BR />I would also point quickly to restorative justice.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. As you outlined, I have only two minutes, so I will attempt to keep my comments concise and to the point. <BR /> <BR />As we heard from Members across the Chamber, individuals are masquerading as paramilitaries. They portray themselves as defenders of communities and as heroes, but that could not be further from the truth. They are nothing but cowards. They are criminals. They prey on the most vulnerable in society to create lucrative criminal empires that put profit in their pockets. As communities and political leaders, we must do more, and, collectively, we can do more. We can educate our communities not to support these criminal individuals by purchasing their knocked-off goods and advise them to turn their backs on the drug dealers and those who rule communities through fear.”
“I am sure that we, as constituency MLAs, have all seen the impact of welfare reform and universal credit right across our respective constituencies. Is the Minister confident that the IT infrastructure for universal credit is suitably efficient to deal with the number of claims coming through? Will it be able to deal with the capacity of claims when universal credit is fully rolled out across Northern Ireland in respect of new claimants and those on legacy benefits?”
“I take this opportunity to thank the Member for North Belfast for bringing this very important matter to the Floor and the Minister for coming here today. Minister, I have also written to you on this matter, and, indeed, I am aware that your officials have been to see one of the families who engaged with me. From my engagement with the clinicians, it is my understanding that it is, indeed, resources and infrastructure that are a barrier to the other three families being offered this procedure. If that is the case, will you have engagement with the health trust to ensure resources and infrastructure are in place to offer this procedure to the other three families?”
“Will the Member not agree, then, that they should perhaps have reflected on the wording of the motion, because it certainly comes across as pointing to a failure on the Housing Executive's part?”
“Will the Minister give a commitment to meet me to discuss an issue that I have discovered with the affordable warmth grant scheme, where a constituent on low income is being penalised because —”
“<BR /> <BR />There is no denying that, over the next 20 years, as stated in the Savills report, the Housing Executive will face severe financial constraints in maintaining and bringing its level of housing stock up to a fit-for-purpose standard. It is important that we as Members do all that we can to challenge the Minister, and it is also important that we constructively add to the debate and the argument and that we support the Minister on Statutory Committees and in the House through coming up with alternative ideas and options that can be taken forward to maintain our housing stock. <BR /> <BR />In finishing, I share with the House a recent constituent enquiry that I came across. It concerns the affordable warmth —”
“I have seen walls and ceilings that are completely covered in black moss, and, as Mr Easton rightly pointed out, people are often told that that is down to lifestyle choices, the lack of heating, too much heating, a lack of ventilation or condensation developing. In many cases, it is a result of the lack of cavity wall insulation. It is important to recognise that having poor housing was often not the intention. No one set out to provide poor housing, and no one set out to provide housing with a lack of cavity wall insulation or housing made with poor materials that would deteriorate over years. Housing was provided to the best standards of the time, but we have progressed, moved on and advanced. It is important that we adapt and overcome the difficulties in front of us.”
“As I was saying before the Member's intervention, we hear often in the House about the need to improve our current housing stock to ensure that it is fit for habitation. Indeed, I have attended many constituents' homes and have seen pictures of homes of a shocking standard. <BR /> <BR />Is the Member looking to come in there? No? Sorry, my poor eyesight means that I could not tell whether you wanted in. <BR /> <BR />Quite often, constituents are being informed by Housing Executive staff, who are often operating under severe financial constraints, but that is not an excuse. We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball and allow constituents to live in houses that are not up to the fitness standard.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Member for his intervention. Whilst I realise the Minister said that building 9,600 homes is an ambitious target, I would like to see it go beyond that. Indeed, if we look at the housing growth indicators in the regional development strategy, we see it points to 6,000-plus units per year being needed to address the housing shortage. I believe the 9,600 target is ambitious, and I commend the Minister for setting it, but I do not think it goes go far enough. I believe we need to challenge ourselves to set those targets higher.”
“Although the House is coming down and the Minister leaves office on 1 March, I welcome that he committed to building 9,600 new social starts and to funding 3,750 co-ownership homes. It is important we build new homes and invest in new homes for people, but it is also vital that we invest in our current stock to bring it up to a standard where they are fit for purpose and habitation. <BR /> <BR />Mr Speaker, I have attended many constituents' homes —”
“There is no doubt that energy efficiency is the best way to tackle fuel poverty. <BR /> <BR />We are told in the Programme for Government that there is a major desire to tackle fuel poverty, and one of the key ways of doing that is to address the lack or poor quality of cavity wall insulation in Housing Executive homes. At the time many of the homes we are talking about were built, often the highest industry standard was used, but, as the years have progressed, those standards have improved and the materials used then have become not fit for purpose. <BR /> <BR />We have, on many occasions in the House, discussed the need for new social housing; indeed, we point to the 40,000-plus people on the social housing waiting list and demand that the Minister does more.”
“The Northern Ireland energy strategy, which was updated on 18 January 2017, states that one of its goals is:”
“Further on, under the heading, "Reasonable degree of thermal comfort", it states:”
“I take this opportunity to thank the Members responsible for bringing this important motion before the House, and I thank the Minister for coming today to listen to the concerns of Members from across the House. <BR /> <BR />If we look at the Department for Communities's statutory minimum fitness standard for housing, we see it outlines that one of the criteria is that a home should be:”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Minister, I am sure that you will understand and appreciate that for many of those children waiting on the assessments will have an impact on their school life. Will you give a commitment to review what support is being offered, and also perhaps look at the level of training being offered to teachers and classroom assistants to support those children?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Minister, given the uncertainty at the prospect of the proposals in the draft area plan, will you outline what work your Department has undertaken to identify and address any shortage of school places in East Belfast to help to increase the prospect of children securing their first preference school and the school best suited to their needs?”
“How will the Minister support community childcare providers as the most cost-effective childcare option?”
“Like the Member, I got involved in politics to represent and fight for the people of East Belfast and, indeed, all the people of Northern Ireland. Perhaps the Member can tell us this: what do you tell the nearly 40,000 people on the housing waiting list for whom successive DUP Ministers have not delivered? What do you tell people who cannot get a house and have to wait and languish in hostels?”
“Yes, Minister, I was looking to see whether you were satisfied that the appeals service has adequate resources to deal with the potential increase in appeals as a result of welfare reform. Can you also give a commitment that those in receipt of mitigation will not be prioritised over those who are not?”
“I place on record my praise for the PSNI for its sterling efforts to remove drugs and those who are dealing them from our streets. What engagements has the Minister had with the PSNI to ensure that all available resources are in the police's hands to continue to remove drugs and bring these criminals before our courts?”
“Does the Member share the concerns of his party colleague Mr Dunne, who raised DETI and Ofgem's dual responsibility for the RHI policy? Does he share my concerns that, if the policy had been right in the first place, it is likely that we would not be in this scenario?”
“Does the Member agree that, whilst it is welcome that the regulations safeguard some 34,000 people, it is imperative that, whatever institutions we come back to post election, a longer-term strategy is looked at with a view to building enough one, two and three-bedroom houses and exploring mitigation post 2020?”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. It is important to remember that we are in the here and now. I am clearly stating that we support the regulations that are before us. We support the mitigation for the most vulnerable. No one needs to explain to me the impact that this will have because, as I outlined, I have liaised and dealt with many constituents who highlighted their concerns and fears. Whilst the rest of us have no fear of going to the electorate and putting ourselves forward, the DUP and Sinn Féin will, no doubt, continue politicking about some of the most vulnerable, and this is when Sinn Féin members cannot even make themselves available for a Committee meeting to scrutinise welfare reform and hear from individuals about the potential closure of jobs and benefits offices. We support the regulations.”