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.”
The complete record
Every one of 703 lines we hold for Andy Allen, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 11 of 15.
“<BR /> <BR />The Ulster Unionist Party firmly supports the regulations because it believes that the most vulnerable should be protected. Whilst the Minister was, again, politicking on social media, we were liaising through other channels. We did not have to go out and politic: we were liaising with Westminster and the Housing Executive to ensure that the most vulnerable would not be impacted by the bedroom tax. We did not go out and politic —”
“It is because successive DUP Ministers did not — I repeat, did not — build enough social housing to be able to meet the needs of those who wished to downsize. I deal daily with constituents who have attempted to downsize. The housing selection scheme makes no provision for them to do so. Yes, they will perhaps receive underoccupancy points, but they will not receive enough points to compete with waiting lists continually spiralling out of control. It is important to point out that, whilst the DUP tries continually to say that it is protecting the most vulnerable, it has done nothing: it has not built enough social housing over the years. That is fact — it is clear fact. The Minister came to the House and said that he would build 9,600 houses. We hope to see that.”
“Like many people, I watched with mixed emotions the events that brought us to the scenario in which a regulation has to be brought before the Assembly without having gone through the proper mechanisms: being brought before the Executive and scrutinised by the Committee. I realise that the Finance Minister and Minister for Communities would rather resort to party politicking and using some of the most vulnerable as an opportunity for one-upmanship. Whilst they were going on social media — Twitter — and 'The View', trying to get one up on each other, I was liaising and dealing with constituents who had major concerns and fears that they would have to choose between heating their home, feeding themselves or paying the bedroom tax. <BR /> <BR />It is also important to point out and contextualise why we need the bedroom tax.”
“I ask that the Minister comes back to the regulations before us and not proceed with party politicking in referring to other matters that have no direct relation to these regulations.”
“The Member has asked us to give him facts. The fact of the matter is that, if the money that has been committed — £400 million — cannot be clawed back, it will be taken away from our roads, our hospitals, our social housing and our front-line services, which are in much need of it. There are facts for you.”
“Will the Minister tell the House how many social houses could be built from the £400 million, now in a black hole from the scheme, for those languishing on the social housing waiting list?”
“I thank the Member for giving way; indeed, I understand her comments about working in a constituency office and wanting to help everybody. This is an opportunity for those who serve and have served to be helped — not given preferential treatment but helped — and to allow there to be a voice on the covenant reference group. I will ask this again: will the Members abstain to allow the voice of the Northern Ireland service community to be heard?”
“I believe that it is our duty as MLAs to ensure that we provide for our armed forces community in Northern Ireland as best we can.”
“It is not about providing a passport so that somebody can queue-jump or move up the list to get something. I echo that I would not have it that I am put on a list before a doctor, a nurse or any one of our brave emergency services workers, or, for that matter, any other citizen in Northern Ireland, because, as an MLA, I fight day and daily to ensure that all our people are represented.”
“That is funding that will come regardless of whether we have a representative on the covenant reference group. However, if we have a representative on there, that will be a voice for those Northern Ireland veterans and their families. It will ensure that their needs and concerns are being voiced. We heard a comment about Combat Stress and the Somme Nursing Home receiving pivotal and vital funding. However, what we have not heard about is the fact that, owing to donations being scarce, Combat Stress has been forced into a decision to withdraw its welfare support from the front line. It has been revealed that nearly 3,000 individuals who rely on that service will be impacted on. Those are issues that could be raised at the covenant reference group. <BR /> <BR />I reiterate that this is not about providing preferential treatment.”
“The covenant reference group would give individuals a platform and an opportunity. I would have no difficulties with Mrs Hale being nominated on to it. Personally, I would much rather see a non-political representative. From the various discussions that I have had with military people on the ground, I know that they would like to see somebody who has no party political affiliation and who would report to the Minister for Communities, for example. I raise that only because of my engagement with the various armed forces' veterans and their families on the ground. That is what they are advising and telling me. <BR /> <BR />As has been outlined, the Armed Forces covenant reference group sets the priorities for £10 million a year funding.”
“I thank the Member for his point. I was not conscripted into the army. I went to Afghanistan quite willingly. I chose to go to Afghanistan knowing the potential consequences. I have had individuals approach me and say, "You sit and seek sympathy, but, going there, you knew full well that you could be injured or, worse, not come back". I accept that. I do not dispute that whatsoever. However, it is not unrealistic to expect government to look after us when we are injured, whether physically or psychologically. We should expect our Government to be able to step up. <BR /> <BR />I acknowledge that the various different service charities that support veterans day and daily, often unseen and unnoticed behind closed doors, do sterling work, but that cannot be the only work that goes on.”
“The military covenant rightly points out that we as a nation have an obligation to those who serve and have served and their families to ensure that they are not disadvantaged by virtue of their service. I listened with interest to Members opposite say how they could support the two values of the covenant but not the preferential treatment element. I call on them to rethink and ask them to abstain in the vote in acknowledgement that the motion does not, in any way, shape or form, call for preferential treatment. I speak to many veterans and their families on the ground, day and daily, and I am yet to come across any who want preferential treatment. I can sit here and say in testimony that, in no way, shape or form, would I have it that I be put in front of a doctor —”
“We go to try to protect those citizens whom we are sent to defend, and we do that as best we can. Unfortunately, quite often, we are put in harm's way. I am evidence of that. In 2008, I was injured in Afghanistan. I recognise that there are many like me who have suffered physical and psychological injuries through service to Queen and country.”
“As I sit here, I vividly recall, at the age of 15 or 16, sitting in a school not far from here, deciding my career prospects and eventually choosing to join the military. <BR /> <BR />In 2008, I was deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment. As my colleague Doug Beattie pointed out, we do not bring this motion forward to call for individuals to vote to legitimise or endorse any conflict. As individual soldiers, we do not choose where we go in the world.”
“Would the Member not agree with me that, in stating that he would agree with the two underlying principles that Mr Kelly pointed out, in reality, opposing this motion goes against that? The Armed Forces covenant reference group is about ensuring that those who serve and have served, and their families, are not disadvantaged by virtue of their service.”
“The Sinn Féin motion calls for the suspension of the housing sales scheme until a review has been carried out into the long-term impact of the scheme on social housing. Was Sinn Féin not aware of the review that the Minister has been carrying out?”
“Minister, are you in a position to advise how much of the money raised from sales under the housing sales scheme has gone directly into social housing?”
“Does the Member agree that the availability of land is a key aspect in building new and affordable social housing? Indeed, when we met the housing associations, they voiced their concern about readily available land.”
“That brings it back to the reality of not building enough houses over the course of the mandates. We will address the problem by building more social and affordable houses.”
“I will go back to the point I made before I gave way to the Member for West Belfast. What will happen — maybe the Minister will clarify this point — to those currently in the system who signed up to the scheme with the outlook of purchasing their own home? Will they not be able to avail themselves of the scheme if it does not go ahead? If an individual signs up to the scheme to purchase their social house, the reality is that they were going to remain in that home anyway. If they purchase the home from the housing sales scheme, the argument is irrelevant; that is not going to free up housing stock. Yes, it is going to remain within the Housing Executive, but that person is still going to be there. At the end of the day, we will still have 37,000-odd households on the housing waiting list.”
“I take that point from the Member, and I thank him for that. He mentioned vicious party politics; we often see that in here.”
“I accept the Member's point but I will make it clear: the Ulster Unionist Party believes in the values of the house sales scheme and we will not renege on them. We do believe that a review has been carried out, as the Member pointed out. Perhaps the Minister, in his response, can give us a clear and detailed overview of that review.”
“That is startling. We are in an epidemic here. We need to address this. We have far too many people languishing on the housing waiting list. Placing the house sales scheme at the crux of the argument is invalid. The scheme is not the problem; the problem is the lack of houses that we have built over a number of years. <BR /> <BR />We also have concerns. If the scheme were suspended, what would happen to those who have already signed up to it? Would they be left to languish?”
“<BR /> <BR />The problem here does not lie, in my belief or that of the Ulster Unionist Party, with the house sales scheme per se. The problem we have before us is the lack of social housing and the lack of housebuilding. During the Opposition debate, I welcomed the commitment that we got from the Minister. He is going to build 9,600 new social builds over the course of this mandate and that will go a long way to providing much valuable social housing to those in need. It has been recited throughout the Chamber on numerous occasions that there are 37,347 households on the social housing waiting list, of which 22,986 are deemed to be in housing stress and 15,747 are deemed to be statutorily homeless. To put that into context, the number of households on the housing waiting list would fill Windsor Park twice or the SSE Arena three times.”
“As a public representative, I can confirm that the biggest single issue for the people I see coming into my office is the need for social housing. Indeed, a number of years ago, albeit not through the house sales scheme, I had the honour and privilege of purchasing my own home. The pride I felt in being able to provide that roof to put over my family's head is immeasurable. <BR /> <BR />As elected representatives, we should be doing all we can to give our citizens — our people — the opportunity to purchase a home, and the house sales scheme does just that. I understand and take on board fully the concerns that some have about the scheme. They have highlighted those quite clearly. In 2002-03, 6,000 Northern Ireland Housing Executive houses were transferred to individuals. However, those numbers have dramatically decreased over the years.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Does the Minister believe that there is any prospect of the £250 million for infrastructure announced in the Chancellor's statement being used to ensure that this vital project is commenced?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Minister, do you not agree that this decision goes against the ethos of the local government reform, given that devolving regeneration powers to councils was a central element of that? Is this an aspect of the Government retaining power for the sake of holding power? Minister, will you advise where this leaves community planning?”
“They must be removed from society and taken off our streets.”
“I thank the Member for West Belfast for bringing this very important matter to the House. It is with disappointment that, once again, we in the House are discussing evil and bad matters in Northern Ireland and not the good that Northern Ireland has to offer. <BR /> <BR />My sympathies are with the family of the man who has lost his life, and I urge anyone with any information about the shootings and violent incidents in west Belfast or, indeed, throughout Northern Ireland to bring that forward in an attempt to help us remove these individuals from our streets. As a society, we must do much more than just condemn these incidents. We must work together and show solidarity with the victims. No matter what they are alleged to have done or what they were involved in, it does not give anybody an excuse to take the law into their own hands.”
“As the proposer of the Adjournment topic pointed out, the further development of the site has economic value for Northern Ireland as a whole. A rates dividend will extend from that, on top of what has already been secured. I look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues. In the House, we agree or disagree on things, but this is an area on which we can unite and work together to secure further development on the site. I look forward to hearing the Minister's remarks; indeed, I look forward to working with the Minister in any way that I can to help promote Titanic Belfast. <BR /> <BR />In finishing, I reiterate what the previous Member to speak said: it is imperative that we continue to link Titanic Quarter with the working class of East Belfast and wider east Belfast. Like us, they are stakeholders in trying to develop the area.”
“I congratulate and thank him for bringing that forward because it is a massive asset to East Belfast. The attraction had over 800,000 visitors in its first year. It is owned and run by a charitable foundation. The architects said:”
“With 1·5 million square feet completed and a further 3 million square feet with planning approval, the Titanic Quarter's sheer scale allows it to offer a diverse range of modern workspace accommodation. The already completed 130,000-square foot Gateway Offices, located at the entrance of Titanic Quarter, is a template for the rest of the development. Fully occupied by Citi, the LEED "gold" building is one of Europe's most sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings, providing space for 1,300 workers. <BR /> <BR />The largest development is the £97 million Titanic Belfast visitor attraction, which holds the record for the island's largest-ever single concrete pour — 4,300 cubic metres for its foundations. The building opened on 31 March 2012. I acknowledge my colleague for East Belfast's contribution to that.”
“I have an affinity with it because my stepfather worked there. I remember, unfortunately quite a number of years ago, which is a crying shame, having the opportunity to go to a fun day in the shipyard and see the sheer scale of it in action. I very much enjoyed that; indeed, it was an annual event that the shipyard put on for the children of its employees. I very much looked forward to that event. <BR /> <BR />The Titanic Quarter is a large-scale regeneration waterfront comprising historic maritime landmarks, film studios, education facilities, apartments, a riverside entertainment district and the world's largest Titanic-themed attraction centred on land in Belfast harbour. Known until 1995 as Queen's Island, the 185-acre or 75-hectare site was previously occupied by part of Harland and Wolff.”
“Like the previous Member, I thank our colleague in East Belfast for bringing the Adjournment debate before the House and indeed the Minister for giving up his time to respond to the debate. Like the previous Member, I will attempt not to cover areas that have already been covered. <BR /> <BR />Belfast's Titanic Quarter is a 75-hectare brownfield site of largely cleared land located at Queen's Island within the Belfast harbour estate, close to Belfast city centre. The site was once part of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, which, at the height of its success, employed over 30,000 people. On that point, I think that, if you went throughout East Belfast and indeed other parts of Northern Ireland, you would struggle to find people who did not have a direct affinity with the shipyard.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Minister, I have been engaging with the RNIB, which is promoting accessible healthcare information, and it believes there are difficulties for individuals. Would you be content to meet me and the RNIB to discuss that?”
“Would the Member note with interest that, every time you refer to the previous mandate, those on the opposite Benches continually refer to the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP being in that Government, but they now no longer have that cover to blame the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP for their failure, and they will be found out for exactly what they are?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. As my colleague in the SDLP alluded to, perhaps the Minister could give us some feedback on the discussions that officials were at on Friday.”
“— based on a five-year period. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, we do not support the Sinn Féin amendment as we do not believe in the suspension of the housing sales scheme. We are supportive of a review —”
“We are here and are prepared to deliver, instead of putting things forward when it was made quite clear to the Chamber that our motion referred to a four-year period and Members tried to put that down —”
“Yes; OK. Thanks very much for that. <BR /> <BR />In short, we need to build more homes. I will reiterate and point out that it is disappointing that our original motion was changed. I take on board the rationale and reasoning for that, but we should have been consulted. Our motion calls on the Minister for Communities to commit to prioritising at least 8,800 new builds. That is more than the DUP amendment calls for, because ours is four not five, remember. <BR /> <BR />We have moved to an outcomes-based PFG, and the fact that we have moved to that is a realisation that the previous Government were not working. We have had nine years of the DUP and Sinn Féin not delivering for our people. <BR /> <BR />I am quite happy to sit here and say that we are not totally faultless. We are quite happy to stand up and take the criticism.”
“I sat here not so long ago listening to a Member on the DUP Benches critiquing the Opposition for the way in which we behaved.”
“I thank the Member for that valid point. I sat here not so —”
“The Member knows full well that we were around that table and would have continued to be around that table if he and his Executive colleagues were not escaping to the Castle for their secret talks.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. I think that we will find that, across the House, the Executive parties critique for the sake of critiquing, but we never see delivery. When we start to see delivery, we will work constructively with them.”
“As my party leader pointed out, when we had the Programme for Government (PFG) discussions, we should have been around that table, housing should have been put on the whiteboard, and we should have been discussing how we will collectively approach the housing crisis.”
“<BR /> <BR />In fact, recent research by NIHE identified a potential annual saving to the NHS in Northern Ireland of £33 million if targeted improvements were made to housing. Additional research pointed to the cost of homelessness to the NHS as being between £24,000 and £30,000 per annum per individual. Prioritising the prevention of homelessness and the improvement of homes therefore has cascading and multiple impacts on our health and public purse. Indeed, I firmly believe that we need to see cross-departmental working on this issue; we need to see all Ministers stepping up to the plate.”
“As the Member from Sinn Féin pointed out, yes, they are statistics, and I will take no lectures on the reality of those statistics either. I do not quote those statistics loosely. Like the Member and other Members, I see, day and daily, individuals who cannot access social or affordable housing. We, in the House, need to do all that we can to give them the opportunity to access that. <BR /> <BR />In 2013, the homeless charity Crisis carried out research that identified that Northern Ireland had a higher rate of homelessness than any other region in the UK. Indeed, the SDLP Member and my Opposition colleague pointed out that there are five basic human rights and that housing is fundamental to that. It is well established, for example, that poor housing is one of the biggest detriments to the health of any population.”
“Like the previous Member, I declare an interest as an individual who was raised in social housing, so I will not take any lectures from him or, indeed, from any other Member, on the needs of those in social housing. Indeed, I will not take lectures on championing the needs of those with disabilities because I think that I full well understand the needs of those with disabilities. I will not sit here and take any lectures, thank you very much. <BR /> <BR />On the problem with housing, we need to ask four questions. What is the problem? What is the solution? What is the existing legislation? What are the proposed changes? As we have heard already, we know full well the problem: we have 37,347 individuals on the housing waiting list, of whom 22,986 were deemed to be in housing stress and 15,474 were deemed to be statutorily homeless.”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I take offence at your remarks. As somebody who cannot get up and stand up, I take utter offence at those remarks, and I would ask you to take them back.”