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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“I implore the Minister to do all that she can, working with her officials, to bring forward a scheme to support the people who are excluded.”
“Rightly, the Minister pointed out that the cost-of-living crisis will not end any time soon. It is apparent from the Minister's remarks and from the fact that individuals have been excluded from the energy support scheme and the emergency fuel payment scheme that many households in Northern Ireland will be pushed beyond the brink.”
“Will the Member agree that our current housing selection scheme is not fit for purpose? While I appreciate that amendments have been tabled, the selection scheme does not currently afford those who wish to downsize the ability to do so.”
“I am on record as having tried to come up with a plan to end the deadlock that we had at the Executive by suggesting a period of 10 years, but we are all cognisant of the fact that the mitigations will need to be in place for decades. That is the fundamental reality. I have not spoken to anyone, either outside the House or in it, who believes that we will not need the bedroom tax mitigations for many years to come. It is right and proper that we support amendment Nos 1, 5 and 7.”
“Had we not had the uncertainty around these institutions, or the fanfare as to whether we will have institutions post-election, we would have been pressing Members to support amendment No 4 to provide that agility to a future Minister. <BR /> <BR />It is right, proper and important that the review mechanism is in place. I commend the Members who have put forward amendments. During our various discussions at Committee, these issues were raised many times, and the passion and enthusiasm of each member was notable. Nobody denied that we needed to extend the mitigations. The disagreement was about the period of time for which the mitigations should be extended.”
“We need a change in how we deliver housing, including in relation to one- and two-bed properties in order to support families and households to be able to downsize if they so wish. They should not be forced to downsize where they do not wish to do so. We need to continue to build sustainable communities, as the Minister has said before, in that regard. <BR /> <BR />We tabled amendment No 4, which would have given a future Minister the power, through regulation, subject to the affirmative resolution of the House, to change the end date as necessary or appropriate, but we cannot ignore the uncertainty around these institutions when considering the amendments. Therefore, we will support amendment Nos 1, 5 and 7.”
“Unlike the Member for North Belfast, I was not involved in the long and protracted conversations about welfare reform at that time — I first entered the Assembly in September 2015 — but, as a constituency MLA who sees at first hand, as do many other Members, the effects of welfare reform on many of my constituents, I place on record my thanks to the Members who came together on this. I know that it was difficult. There were many disagreements, and many long hours were spent trying to come up with the mitigation package that we ended up with. <BR /> <BR />I will not rehearse all of the arguments around the housing crisis that Northern Ireland faces. It is well documented and noted.”
“<BR /> <BR />I place on record our thanks to the Minister and to the many organisations for campaigning and lobbying and keeping the pressure on for these much-needed regulations — and, indeed, the legislation that we will discuss later this evening — to be brought in. I place on record our support.”
“I do not intend to speak for long. I just wish to speak briefly in welcoming these much-awaited regulations to close what have become known as the loopholes in respect of the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. As we well know, it took over two years for the various elements of these mitigations to come to the House. I wish to reaffirm my frustration and dismay that that resulted in some £3·2 million being returned to the centre that could have gone out to support many individuals and families right across Northern Ireland, especially at a time when the cost of living is soaring.”
“Minister, you highlighted that very early in your tenure as Minister you brought forward the mitigations to the Executive. When did you become aware that there was a logjam in respect of the end date?”
“Given that the end date has been included in the Bill, I sincerely hope that, after 5 May, we are not in that unforgivable place of not having institutions, where we would be run down to another cliff edge. That would be deeply unacceptable in this instance and in many others where households and people across Northern Ireland would be adversely impacted. <BR /> <BR />It would be remiss of me not to echo the comments of the Chair and other Committee members in thanking the Cliff Edge Coalition and the many other organisations right across Northern Ireland that continued to keep this matter on the agenda and highlight it, even when the institutions were not operating. It is imperative that the legislation be passed.”
“Ordinary people in all our constituencies would lose their homes without them, because their household budgets would become unaffordable, even without the added pressure of the cost-of-living crisis that many households face right across Northern Ireland. That is the reality. We need to step up and address that. We need to do more, and I will not miss this opportunity to highlight the need for the Minister to bring forward a fuel poverty task force in that regard. <BR /> <BR />I welcome clause 3 on monitoring and reporting. It is important that we always assess, monitor, report and evaluate legislation, whether on mitigations, licensing laws or gambling. Whatever the legislation may be, we should always assess and try to improve it.”
“Where there have been issues is in the party politics and the apportioning of blame. I am not interested in that. Yes, I am frustrated that it took so long to get the mitigations into the House. It should not have taken that long. There should have been an ability to come together to compromise. One party had a view on a clause on the end date; another party had another view. My view on what the end date should have been, in the context of our having a housing crisis, is on the record, but we will not address that crisis any time soon. <BR /> <BR />We need to move beyond party politics. This is about ordinary people who would lose their homes if we did not have these much-needed mitigations.”
“We have over 45,000 applicants on our housing waiting lists, and tens of thousands of people are being taken off the waiting lists, so we do not have a true perspective on them. If we were to lose the mitigations, it would be unforgivable. I am not saying that we will lose them; it is clear that the consensus across the House and in the Committee for Communities is that the mitigations need to be extended.”
“<BR /> <BR />Will the Minister provide an update on her ongoing engagement with DWP in respect of getting it to recognise the particular circumstances that we have in Northern Ireland, which is that we are in the midst of a housing crisis?”
“This is a relatively small Bill in comparison with some that have gone through the House. Even in the last two days, Members have been in the Chamber until well past 9.00 pm for consideration of one particular Bill. <BR /> <BR />It is a small Bill, but it has a huge meaning for the tens of thousands of households right across Northern Ireland that will be impacted should we lose the mitigations. We can get into the party politics of whether we should or should not have the mitigations and who is responsible; but we are in the here and now. The reality is that we need to safeguard for and protect the tens of thousands of households across Northern Ireland that are impacted.”
“<BR /> <BR />I believe that we could and should have dealt with the issue through the normal route and mechanisms of the House and through the Committee. We should not be at the point at which we have to use a tool that should only be used in exceptional circumstances. I accept that, in this instance, because of the political stand-off that has been created on the issue, we are in the arena of this being an exceptional circumstance. As the Minister highlighted, over 40,000 households will be impacted by this if we do not progress the legislation by accelerated passage. I am reluctant to support accelerated passage on the majority of issues. We should not use it in most cases. However, given the mitigating circumstances in this instance, we should support accelerated passage, and we are happy to do so.”
“It is important to cast our minds back to 2019, when we did not have the institutions and when various media outlets raised and magnified this issue and the fact that we were heading towards a cliff edge. Rightly, the Cliff Edge Coalition has highlighted repeatedly the fact that there is an unacceptable cliff edge and has lobbied and campaigned for politicians to resolve the situation. We were told repeatedly by the Department that the legislation had been drafted and was ready to go. At that stage, there were calls for Westminster to step in and remove the unacceptable cliff edge that we were heading towards. Thankfully, in 2020, these institutions were re-established. As the Minister outlined in her speech, she has attempted to get this important matter on the agenda, to no avail.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Minister, during that briefing, your officials confirmed to the Committee that no consideration had been given to additional funding for the three-year budget period. We talked about the need for ongoing support for further years. How will the Department achieve that with no additional funding?”
“The Minister and her colleagues highlighted the unprecedented scale of the cost-of-living crisis that we are facing. We are all of the mind that that will last for many years, unfortunately. Will the Minister outline the Department's long-term strategy to deal with that? As such, has it given consideration to the introduction of the warm homes discount?”
“Will the Minister elaborate on some of the needs highlighted by the charities, and will she give a commitment today that the full £5 million will go out the door to those charities that desperately need that money?”
“Minister, in the October monitoring round, your colleague the Finance Minister highlighted £66·7 million of unallocated financial transactions capital funding. Are any proposals under consideration by your Department to further leverage that funding?”
“I welcome the Minister's confirmation that she has written to her colleague the Finance Minister in relation to the Barnett consequential derived from the UK vulnerable household scheme. <BR /> <BR />Minister, the rising cost of living will be with us for a very long time. With that in mind, can you advise whether you have engaged with sectoral colleagues and those in the sector with expertise and knowledge in this area to develop a fuel poverty task force to support your Department to bring forward solutions in the long term?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer and commitment to look into the issue. When will the consultation on obstructive parking go live?”
“When individuals approach the Housing Executive's housing officer for a particular area, however, they are often advised that the turnaround in that area is very low — there are hugely sought-after areas where turnaround is low — and that naturally leads them to revise their areas of choice. When a housing association approaches the Housing Executive to determine housing need in an area, the information is skewed and is not reflective of the reality. Is that situation monitored? Will we look at that flawed approach to assessing where there is housing need? <BR /> <BR />The Member touched on the constituents who have come into his constituency office. I am sure that we could all point to similarities across our constituency offices and report how overjoyed we were for constituents whom we managed to support —.”
“Is that being monitored, and can the Minister advise whether we know if anyone has lost their home due to our inability to close the loopholes? <BR /> <BR />During the Adjournment debate, I posed another question. I did not get a suitable answer to it, so I will pose it again. It was about constituents engaging with the Housing Executive, and I am sure that it will resonate with Members. I put it on the record that the Housing Executive staff and teams at every level do tremendous work in difficult circumstances and with limited resources to deliver houses.”
“<BR /> <BR />I speak about that system daily with constituents who have been on the housing waiting list for years upon years with no prospect of being housed. Those individuals feel that they have been driven, with no other choice, to the private rented sector, where there are increasing costs. We spoke earlier in the House about the increasing cost of living. That is acute and real for many across our constituencies, and many families and individuals have to top up their rent with their social security payments. <BR /> <BR />I pose this question to the Minister about the welfare reform mitigations and, moreover, the loopholes: does the Department have any statistics or figures? I emphasise that those statistics and figures relate to individuals and families who have lost their home as a result of our inability to close those loopholes.”
“During that debate, I asked whether the figure of 45,000 households on our housing waiting list was the true reality. I do not believe that it is, and I will tell Members why. A number of months ago, I posed a question for written answer to the Department for Communities to ask how many individuals had been taken off our housing waiting list. The Department revealed that 28,000 households had been taken off the waiting list due to the Housing Executive receiving no reply to a renewal reminder. In a follow-up question for written answer, I sought to ascertain how many of the applicants who had been taken off subsequently reapplied. The answer was 7,000. That leaves 21,000 people who gave up on our flawed and failed housing system because they recognised that it would not house them and their families.”
“She has not shirked her responsibility in admitting that, and I welcome the initiatives that she has taken forward in her short time in the Department to tackle the spiralling housing waiting lists. <BR /> <BR />There are 2,500 households on the housing waiting list in my constituency of East Belfast. Of those, 1,500 are deemed to be in housing stress. If we put that in the context of Northern Ireland, with that figure being replicated across every constituency bar maybe three or four where the number is nearly double, it equates to 45,000 households on our social housing waiting list. Some 31,267 households were deemed to be in housing stress as of 30 September this year. <BR /> <BR />The Minister will recognise the following comment from the Adjournment debate that we had in the House two weeks ago.”
“It will be no surprise to Members across the House that I will speak in support of the motion tabled by the Member opposite and his colleagues. I thank them for bringing this important motion to the House. <BR /> <BR />There are times in the House when, as parties, we do not all agree, whether that is on the goings-on at the Executive about the universal credit uplift and what happened behind the scenes etc or what is happening with the blockade on welfare mitigations being discussed. However, we can all agree on our endeavours to support the most vulnerable across our society. We can also agree that we are in the midst of a housing crisis. I have heard the Minister acknowledge that on many occasions.”
“Does the Minister agree that, given that we are discussing the impact of the cost of living on many people across Northern Ireland, it is incredible that her Department had to return £2 million in the October monitoring round in respect of the closure of loopholes under the welfare mitigations? Will she call on the parties to remove the blockade on that and, in order to do so, consider an initial 10-year period for the mitigations, with the ability to extend where necessary?”
“<BR /> <BR />The Minister might also be able to provide an update on her departmental proposals to utilise the £14 million fund. I know that it is only a drop in the ocean in comparison to what we need, but there is a £14 million fund derived from the UK for vulnerable households. Will the Minister bid to her colleague the Finance Minister for the entirety of that £14 million? What will those proposals look like? Will they be one-off payments? How will those one-off payments be measured against the impact on individuals on the ground? I will leave my remarks there.”
“Charities are having to provide financial and welfare support to those people because they cannot afford to heat their homes and they have to choose between heating and eating. That fuel poverty task force would support the Department for Communities to develop solutions to support those constituents who are facing fuel poverty. However, importantly, it would also help to develop long-term solutions to help to prevent many more individuals and families right across Northern Ireland from falling into fuel poverty. <BR /> <BR />We have heard remarks about the Housing Executive. We have had various reports, such as the cavity wall report, but where is the long-term meaningful outcome in respect of that? The Minister might be able to update the House today on the long-term action plan to properly insulate our Housing Executive homes.”
“<BR /> <BR />Yes, the fund that is proposed in the motion is a short-term solution. It is similar to the short-term solution that the COVID heating fund provided in the context of the COVID pandemic. It is short term, and we need long-term meaningful solutions to address the issue that is facing all our constituents right across Northern Ireland. That is why we, as a party, have called repeatedly for the establishment of a fuel poverty task force. <BR /> <BR />I am sure that people will listen to that and say, "Not another task force. Not another body. Not another quango", but what would that task force do? I have spoken to and liaised with many of our subject matter experts in the fuel industry and in charities, which, day and daily, have to top up our constituents' gas and electric meters.”
“I have listened intently to comments from Members around the House. Some pointed out that it is beyond our capacity within our budget to address the issues: the cost of living issues that have been rightly pointed out; the cost of living issues that are squeezing families right across all our constituencies; and the cost of living issues that, as my Committee colleague pointed out, are a matter of life and death. I am sure that his colleagues in the DUP are the poorer for him not being in the Department for the Economy and bringing forward his passion about the energy crisis that we face. I have listened to the Member intently in our Committee, and it is clear that he has vast knowledge in that area. I am sure that he is feeding that to his current Minister.”
“Does my Committee colleague also recognise that, when officials briefed the Committee, they pointed to the fact that it would take several months to develop the IT system to deliver the UC uplift?”
“I understand the point that the Minister makes on the right-to-buy scheme, but does she accept that many of the individuals who avail themselves of the right-to-buy scheme have no intention of moving from what is often the family home? On another point, the Member who proposed the Adjournment debate mentioned the skewed assessment of housing needs in areas. Will the Minister give an overview of the current process to determine housing need and tell us whether there will be a review of it? There is a problem there.”
“Minister, you mention keeping the good and important aspects of the Housing Executive and also retaining that public body element. Has there been any scoping of the impact of the ONS's reclassification of housing associations, which we saw in 2016, on whether there will be any implications for the Housing Executive retaining that public body element?”
“We can tinker around the edges — they are important changes; I am not knocking that — but the fact is that, as many of my constituents have highlighted to me, points make prizes. What they mean by that is that one point can be the difference between them being offered a home or not. We really need to address that. <BR /> <BR />I am committed. I am up for the challenge. I will work with the Minister and other Members across East Belfast to do what we can. I believe that we are united in that joint approach. Northern Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis. We all need to step up to the mark to address it.”
“The interim Minister highlighted ambitions plans for transformation of the Housing Executive, but, again, what will be the unintended consequences of that? By separating the Housing Executive's two components, will we create a super-housing association that will compete with existing housing associations and drive up land prices? There are also issues with the cost of materials. The Minister has rightly put a further injection of finance into addressing that, but will that have any knock-on impact on housebuilding? <BR /> <BR />There is also the housing selection scheme. Earlier, in response to a Member's question, the Minister highlighted the fact that it would take three years for the 18 recommendations to be fully implemented.”
“<BR /> <BR />Other problems, such as those regarding the sewerage and water infrastructure, must be addressed to enable building and increase capacity. There are also problems in our planning system, whereby applications are not going through the system anywhere near quickly enough. It is important that applications go through the process of due diligence and that individuals have an opportunity to feed into it. It is absolutely important. However, it is also vital that any undue delays are weeded out of the system. <BR /> <BR />East Belfast is a thriving community — absolutely. However, communities are broken apart when individuals are forced to move out of the area. I want to pose other questions to the Minister. Can she provide any further updates on her housing transformation plan?”
“When they are faced with paying rents in excess of £600 or £700 and have to top up their universal credit housing payment with social security benefits, it is unaffordable. People are being forced to choose between heating and eating. Is that acceptable? It really is not. I do not believe that it is. <BR /> <BR />There is also the work that seems to have been in the system for an age: the public land registry. I have asked repeatedly for updates on that from the Minister's colleague the Minister of Finance. I know that it is an intense piece of work. However, there are various pieces of public land. I have tabled questions to all Ministers across Departments. That has revealed that there are countless pieces of land across Northern Ireland that could be leveraged and used to build and support social housing.”
“I would argue that it is not, and I will tell the House why. Recently, the answer to a question that I tabled to the Minister revealed that, in the past five years, 28,000 people had been taken off our housing waiting lists due to no reply to a renewal reminder. Over that same period, only 7,000 people reapplied. Where did the other 21,000 individuals and families go? Did they simply give up on a housing system that did not deliver for them? I am sure that we can all relate to having constituents come into our offices to say that they have given up or that they have gone to the private rented sector, where rents are unaffordable. We often talk in the House about the cost of living. The costs of heating and energy are a brutal reality for many people.”
“I do not believe that it is acceptable that we have constituents who are being forced to move out of the area in which they grew up and where they have been all their lives. That is a result of our lack of homebuilding. <BR /> <BR />Some 15 or 20 years ago, a number of housing charities called on this Government to build in excess of the number of social homes that we build now. At the current rate of housebuilding, I estimate that it would take something like 20 years to address the housing crisis. I pose this question to the Minister and her Department: what is their assessment of how long it will take to address the housing crisis that Northern Ireland faces? <BR /> <BR />I also highlight the fact that 45,000 people are on our housing waiting lists. Is that a true reflection of housing need?”
“<BR /> <BR />As the Member mentioned, in East Belfast, 2,500 individuals and families are on the waiting list. The Minister has acknowledged that Northern Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis. There is no denying that. We all acknowledge that, but what our constituents want to hear and need to know is this: what are we going to do to address that? What will we do to help them to get affordable social housing so that they can live with their families in homes that are located in the community where they grew up? <BR /> <BR />As the Member pointed out, East Belfast is a superb place to live. I am from East Belfast. I am East Belfast. When I have travelled the world over, I have told people that I am a proud East Belfast man. I am proud of the community that I come from.”
“I start by thanking the Member for securing tonight's important Adjournment debate, and I apologise to her for not being in the House at the outset of her remarks. She raises a broad range of important points, none of which I disagree with. No doubt, I will touch on many of those as I lay out my remarks. <BR /> <BR />Across Northern Ireland, 45,000 individuals and families are on our housing waiting lists. Behind that figure are individuals and families living in housing stress and in conditions that none of us would accept. Tonight, I will go home to my family in the knowledge that many constituents do not have that opportunity. Many constituents have to rely on the goodwill of family and friends. Often, their relationships with those providing accommodation for them are pushed to the limit.”
“Has the Minister given consideration to establishing a Department-led fuel poverty task force made up of sector experts who could assist the Department in developing solutions to support those who are in fuel poverty and prevent many more from falling into fuel poverty?”
“The Member may well be about to raise the important issue of homelessness. Often, MLAs from across the House have constituents coming into their constituency offices regarding homelessness and, in particular, the 28 days that must have passed before the Housing Executive can press "Go" to progress their application. We need to look at that vital area.”
“I look forward to seeing the legislation go through Committee Stage, to hearing from a broad range of stakeholders and renters and to looking at how we can further shape the Bill.”
“It is larger than our social housing sector, but the arguments about our social housing sector are well rehearsed. We are in the midst of a housing crisis, and until such a time as we can build adequate levels of housing — at least 5,000 homes a year — to accommodate people who need housing, we will continue to see people going to the private rented sector. It is therefore vital that we provide the necessary security of tenure, support and safeguards. <BR /> <BR />Clause 11 is important, and I welcome the Minister's comments on it. Eight weeks does not go far enough, however, and we need to look at how much further we can extend that. <BR /> <BR />Speaking as the Ulster Unionist Party's communities spokesperson, I broadly welcome the Bill's Second Stage.”