Robbie Butler
Lagan Valley · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Officials highlighted that alignment was provided through existing EU-derived arrangements and that coherence with existing regulatory frameworks was identified as a main consideration.”
“I note that the Member for Strangford agrees: she understands the value of our fisheries in those areas. There are other complexities. The Isle of Man Government have now done a bit of a circle around that island, which makes it difficult for our fishers from Portavogie, Kilkeel and Portaferry to craft and graft a living from some of the…”
“The Committee took the opportunity to question officials on several issues and highlight matters warranting scrutiny at Committee Stage but was not limited to those areas.”
“As the Minister said, they have possibly been viewed as competing demands, but they are not competing demands, because clean water is part of sustainable food production.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am glad to see language in the Bill on the sustainability of the aquaculture sector, and I want to lean in a bit on that. Aquaculture pastimes have, perhaps, been underutilised, whether they relate to the angling fraternity or other river and water users.”
“Today, I want to talk about a very talented young girl from Lisburn called Freya Terris. Freya, who is 17 years old, attends Friends' School and studies the piano under former Lisburn resident Rory Dowse. Freya is an incredibly accomplished young pianist and has performed in the Ulster Hall.”
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“However, he at least showed the respect that has probably been missing at times over the past few years with regard to the institutions not running. He indicated the need, which is probably borne out of the Good Friday Agreement, for us all to move a little bit and show respect; that was welcome. Kellie Armstrong talked about the sovereignty of the flag. She also talked about the priorities that need to be addressed. Whilst this debate might be important to some of us and less important to others, there are other priorities that need to be talked about. Christopher Stalford actually spoke really well. I do not think that he is here, but I will give him a compliment. He spoke about the need to fly flags appropriately. He spoke about his distaste for tattered flags on lamp posts.”
“That is something that I and the Ulster Unionist Party share. Emma Sheerin has her background and her pain, and she does not feel that her Irish identity has been celebrated. However, I am British and have lived for over 48 years somewhere which is supposed to be British and part of the United Kingdom. You want to try it in my shoes, with people picking at you all your life from 1972; it is not an easy ride. I am proud of the flag. I understand the need to be respectful and fly it appropriately. I do not see that as thumbing the nose to anybody's identity at all. <BR /> <BR />Colin McGrath is not here now but he was actually very good. He talked about how, sometimes, it is controversial and has negative connotations.”
“First, I commend all the Members who spoke for the manner and tone of the speeches on this issue. Flags have, for many years, been an issue of pride from a unionist perspective or a nationalist perspective, depending on the flag that you like. However, they have also been a cause of much angst and many sad debates in this country. These are regulations that the Secretary of State is bringing before us as part of New Decade, New Approach, which, as was pointed out by a number of Members, is a mixed bag of regulations and priorities for many of us. We will have to show each other a lot of respect to bring it into line. <BR /> <BR />A number of points were picked out by Members today. The motion was moved by Keith Buchanan, who talked about the value of British identity to unionists.”
“Consequently and in order to meet that very tight deadline, the Business Committee was required to ensure that the Assembly had an opportunity to debate those proposals today. Members have now set out their views on them. I will not go through those views on behalf of the Business Committee, although I may pick them up myself. The Official Report records those views. The Business Committee has been advised, Mr Speaker, that you will send a copy of today's Official Report to the Secretary of State, who may then choose to amend the proposed regulations before laying them for approval by resolution of each House of Parliament. On behalf of the Business Committee, I ask all Members to support the motion. <BR /> <BR />I will now speak on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party and myself.”
“I may not use the five minutes. I will speak first on behalf of the Business Committee. Thanks to all the Members who made a contribution. I intend to be very brief in concluding the debate. The Business Committee's intention in bringing forward this motion was to give Members an opportunity to express their views on proposed amendments to the Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. The Business Committee has not considered the proposals or taken a view on them as a corporate body. However, the Secretary of State, when he wrote to the Speaker on 1 September, asked that the Assembly considers these draft regulations, which is what we are about today. <BR /> <BR />The Secretary of State asked for the Assembly to provide a report of its views by 14 September 2020.”
“That is an excellent question, and I believe that every Member in this Chamber will support that. The further engagement and the development has yet to be decided and is subject to further engagement, but the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma, has provided invaluable advice and assistance in shaping and informing the proposals that have led to the framework for the Youth Assembly. There will be further engagement with her office and with other stakeholders, and that is incredibly important. As I said earlier, the Commission's clear intention is that the processes and procedures of the Youth Assembly, including how its members are sought and chosen, are co-designed by young people themselves and that we have their voices well and truly heard in the design.”
“However, the Commission is determined that the Youth Assembly will be established and operational as soon as possible, and the Speaker has said that he looks forward to hosting his first formal plenary of the Youth Assembly in the Assembly Chamber next year.”
“That work will involve undertaking further engagement with the youth sector and young people, because it is the Commission's clear intention that the process and procedures of the Youth Assembly, including how its members are sought and chosen, should be co-designed with those young people in mind. The Commission looks forward to seeing the results of that input. <BR /> <BR />The Children's Commissioner has been extremely helpful in providing advice and support to the Commission, and she has accepted an invitation from the Speaker to join him on a steering group to guide the next phase of the engagement with young people. She is, in fact, meeting the Speaker this afternoon. Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on progress to date and may yet slow our progress.”
“I did not realise how small I was until I sat behind that Box. Thank you for your question. As Members will be aware, the Speaker, on behalf of the Assembly Commission, announced on 22 July a framework for the establishment of an Assembly-supported Youth Assembly. That framework now allows for detailed arrangements for the establishment of that Youth Assembly to be taken forward. The Assembly's Education Service has already started on that work, and it has also planned to recruit two youth sector workers to assist in the long-term development of the same Youth Assembly.”
“Minister, you called many of those involved in the sector first responders, and, in many cases, with regard to poverty and mental health, they indeed are. Can you tell us whether a study is being done to identify what services may be lost, as a consequence of any lack of funding, and what further support may be required to ensure that groups will survive the crisis? In particular, groups such as Atlas Womens Centre and Via Wings in Dromore.”
“If you are involved, as I am, in the field of mental health, you will know that we cannot neglect the high rates of poor mental health and addiction that we have in Northern Ireland and the correlation between excessive drinking, drugs and mental health and acts of violence. <BR /> <BR />I will support the motion and the amendment, but this conversation needs to be an adult one and the deterrent and rehabilitation pieces need to go hand in hand.”
“<BR /> <BR />This is a complex debate. I recognise the victims' campaigners, such as the widow of PC Harper. The pain that that lady will go through for her life and the impact on her family needs to be recognised when we have appropriate sentencing for premeditated murder. <BR /> <BR />There are many types of violence that can be inflicted on each of the people whom we are talking about today, whether that is through social media, the coercive piece or just not being treated the same and being slightly outside society in Northern Ireland, which is mostly relevant to our security forces and the unique way in which they have to live. It is unjust and intolerable. <BR /> <BR />While I believe in a strong deterrent, I am also a keen advocate for rehabilitation and justice. I cannot look at one without looking at the other.”
“I welcome the spirit of the motion. I also welcome the amendment. As my colleague said, we will vote for both. However, there are a couple of things that perhaps did not sit right with me with regard to the total conversation that we are having today. The Member for Lagan Valley and I agree on about 90% of things: issues such as abortion and so on. The one that we do not agree on is the Good Friday Agreement. In 1998, I was 26 years of age, and I was a prison officer. I voted for the Good Friday Agreement because I wanted something better. Everything that went on before that was absolutely wrong, and it was vile. I had to see some things that stuck in my throat, but I knew that it was the best thing for peace. I would vote for it again. I will have a discussion with anybody on that again. However, we are not in 1998; this is 2020.”
“Thank you for that. I absolutely will acknowledge that. For anybody who works in the community, there is domiciliary care, mental health nurses who are working on their own in complex environments and social workers, which is the Member's own background, I believe. All those workers step into areas where there is increased risk. It is not the same as working in a shop. The risk is already there. It is slightly increased. In fact, we have these peculiar circumstances in Northern Ireland where, for instance, if you are in the police, the Prison Service or any security job, guess what, you are not on social media as your normal self. We are still not there yet. There is still an increased pressure in Northern Ireland, so there is a conversation to be had.”
“I was not minded to speak in this debate, but I have to, and I also declare an interest. I have 20 years' experience both as a prison officer for four years in the Northern Ireland Prison Service and 16 years as a firefighter. So, if anybody wants to have a conversation with me with regard to what it feels like to work as an emergency worker and live under those threats, I can tell them that it is a job like no other. I have never been a nurse, but I have nurses in my family. <BR /> <BR />Many of those roles are not ordinary roles. They are exceptional roles, and I pay credit to each and every one of those people, whether they are in the police, the Prison Service, our hospitals, health centres, fire stations, paramedics and many others. Some of those have been named by Members today.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am certain that Dr McCullough's background and wealth of experience will enable her to carry out the important functions of the Commissioner for Standards robustly and effectively. The Assembly Commission recognises the importance of filling this key position. I commend the appointment of Melissa McCullough as the Commissioner for Standards to the House.”
“Between 2009 and 2020, she served as a ministerially appointed non-executive director for the Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland and as a member of the governance, reference and remuneration sub-committees. She is a visiting academic at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, an assessor and chair for undergraduate medical programmes for the Medical Council of Ireland, and she acts as a law and ethics specialist on the clinical governance board at Synergix Health in London. Dr McCullough's published work and research interests include professionalism, organisational ethics, applied ethics, equality and justice in policy and practice, diversity and inclusion and public health ethics.”
“<BR /> <BR />While there have been some delays between the date of the recruitment competition and the date of today's motion, the Assembly Commission is satisfied that drawing from the merit list for this recruitment competition remains valid. The Assembly Commission is, therefore, delighted to nominate Dr Melissa McCullough as Assembly Commissioner for Standards for a period of five years as set out in the 2011 Act. <BR /> <BR />Given the importance and significance of the role, it is important that we appoint a person who has the experience and expertise to undertake the duties with skill, wisdom and judgement. Dr McCullough has worked as an academic in law, ethics and professionalism in the UK and Ireland since 2005.”
“<BR /> <BR />The recruitment panel comprised two members of the Assembly Commission of the time, Alex Maskey and Stewart Dickson, the Clerk/Chief Executive, Lesley Hogg, and the former Commissioner for Standards for what was then the Welsh Assembly, Gerard Elias. I place on record my thanks to all the panel members, but I especially want to thank Mr Elias for his insight and expertise, which was of tremendous assistance to the panel. <BR /> <BR />As the Committee on Standards and Privileges was not in place, the approach adopted for the previous recruitment competition, whereby the Chairperson of that Committee sat on the recruitment panel, could not be replicated. The Speaker, in his role as Chair of the Assembly Commission, has kept the Chairperson of the Committee on Standards and Privileges updated on the matter.”
“The Assembly has delegated that function to the Assembly Commission, along with the responsibility for making arrangements for determining any criteria for appointment and for determining the terms and conditions under which such an appointment is made. <BR /> <BR />Members will recall that the tenure of the last commissioner, Douglas Bain, ended in September 2017. I would like to thank Mr Bain for his committed and professional service in what was, at times, a challenging role. While the Assembly Commission had undertaken a fair and open recruitment exercise in advance of Mr Bain's tenure ending, it was not possible for an appointment to be made at that time, as the Assembly was not sitting and could not, therefore, pass a resolution, as required by the 2011 Act.”
“The Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 provides for the role of Commissioner for Standards. It also provides for the commissioner's independence and powers, which includes the same powers as the Assembly to call for witnesses and documents. The primary role of the commissioner is to carry out investigations into complaints that a breach of the Assembly's code of conduct has occurred and to report the outcome of those investigations to the Assembly. Therefore, the role of commissioner is important in ensuring that MLAs uphold high standards of conduct in public life. <BR /> <BR />The 2011 Act that provides for the office of the commissioner requires that the person to be appointed as Commissioner for Standards has been identified by a fair and open competition.”
“I know that mental health will get picked up, so I will just leave it there because I am sure that some of my colleagues will deal with that.”
“I know that one of the Minister's priorities is to look at educational underachievement, and this, right here, is an example of that. This young man really wants to get his predicted grades of two Cs and a D. What compounded his problem was that, on her deathbed at the start of this year, he made a promise to the granny who took him in that he would go to university. That was his promise to her. He wants to go to university. He does not want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a teacher. He wants to be the best that he can be. That is what we want our young people to be: the best that they can be, regardless of what that is. We need to re-evaluate our values. We need to make sure that that young man gets the opportunity that he deserves and, indeed, that every student who has been caught in this gets their opportunity.”
“I believe that we can and should catch the tail of that, but there were some lost days. <BR /> <BR />This next example is more stark, so please listen to it. I have permission to share this, without giving the name. A student was awarded a U, an E and a D. His target grades were not As or Bs but Cs and Ds. The young man had a mother who was severely mentally ill and was assessed many years ago as not being capable of looking after her family. The young man's problems were compounded by the fact that his dad was violent and had a temper. On his fifth attempt to run away from home, this young man was successfully picked up within his own family and became a looked-after child. That bit is important: a looked-after child; one of our most vulnerable.”
“We know, from the information and data that we have, that adverse childhood experiences and trauma are what inform us now in how we are going to beat mental ill-health. As has already been picked out, 11,000 grades will need to be changed, so I charge CCEA with carrying on that work post-haste to make sure that universities and further education colleges are able to allocate places fairly. <BR /> <BR />In the next two minutes I will give a couple of examples. The first example, and I have heard it many times, is one that came to me. A young female student who lives in Lagan Valley was predicted four straight As in her A levels. She was an A-grade pupil; a high-achieving pupil. Instead, she got one A, two Bs and one C. We know that that will be fixed. The potential loss to her was a place at Queen's to study law.”
“I thank my Committee colleagues for how robustly we worked on that together. I thought that that was remarkably good, and it perhaps gives some hope to the people of Northern Ireland that, when we come together, we can achieve much. <BR /> <BR />Let us look at what happened last week and what those young people were faced with. When they got their results on Thursday, some received emails from universities rejecting their place, which must have doubled down on their pain. That was coupled with what already exists, and that is the anxiety related to getting exam results. For many of us, that was some time ago, but that is a real pressure for young people, and it is probably worse now than when any of us went to school. That is picked up in the high levels of mental ill-health in Northern Ireland.”
“We absolutely are in unique times and unique circumstances, and there is no doubt that we needed a unique response to the problem. <BR /> <BR />The Minister's U-turn on the GCSE and A-level awards, with the decision to award students the best of their teacher-predicted or CCEA grades, is one that everybody here should be rightly grateful for. That will bring great comfort and give some hope to those students and their families. I do wish, however, that it had come sooner. <BR /> <BR />During the Committee's work on this, there was, I have to be honest, only a little bit of flag planting by some over the issue. I thought that we worked collegiately and that it was one of the best things that I have been involved with as an MLA. There was some flag planting, but not too much.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I welcome you back after the long break. I want to pass on my regards to the SDLP. It has had a hard time over the past year: it lost not only John Hume recently but John Dallat and Séamus Mallon, so there has been a great loss to the SDLP family. <BR /> <BR />I want to acknowledge the voices that have been mobilised over the past four or five days. There have been many, and they have been loud. Each of us, regardless of the party that we are in, will have been inundated by emails, text messages, Facebook messages and phone calls, at all hours of the day and night. The voices were those of students, parents, carers, teachers, other professionals and student advocate bodies, and they all agreed that something needed to be done because something just was not right.”
“I thank the Minister for his lengthy statement and for his service. He rightly pointed out the good work not just of his Department but of those who have served on the front line. It is good, as an MLA from Lagan Valley, to note that the Lagan Valley Hospital has been recognised today for its capacity, its reputation for excellence and its central location to provide the hub for the elective procedures, moving forward. Will the Minister join me in thanking the staff of the critical care unit, who changed their unit into a COVID response ward and, at great cost to themselves, performed heroically? I put on the record my thanks to them and to those like them throughout the health service in Northern Ireland who have stepped up to the plate at this challenging time.”
“Minister, you mentioned the work with the Children's Commissioner in the report, but there is no doubt that it will work only if we have the buy-in from parents and support at home that has been referenced here. There are good organisations, like Parenting NI, that are involved. Have you any thoughts on who would provide the voice of parents for this?”
“Can the Minister tell us of any import that he has given or will give to the panel with regard to looking at that issue and that correlation?”
“I thank the Minister for the statement. I think that he referred to the fact that this has been an issue for many years, but young people today are at a disadvantage that we were not faced with. Like the Member for North Belfast, I am from a socially disadvantaged background. I did not get my GCSEs and did not do well in the transfer test, but I was able to succeed. However, children today do not have that opportunity, because it is more competitive to get jobs in the Fire and Rescue Service or the Prison Service, where I spent time. That puts extra emphasis on this welcome piece of work. However, for a really transformative project, it is important that we recognise the correlation between social deprivation and mental health and well-being.”
“I will not detain the junior Minister long. Would the junior Minister agree that making the change as proposed is to forget the political reality that we operate in? This is not the politics of unicorns and fairies. We have had a very disruptive and very disrupted term of politics, never less than in the last four to five years. Work needs to be done that is underpinned by 'New Decade, New Approach'. This may be just a step too far, given the confidence and the relationships that need to be built.”
“Will the Member agree that, although the electorate will get the opportunity, at a very late stage, to express their displeasure with a decision that is made in the Chamber, if the Bill passes, we cannot undo the damage that may be caused and that, by backing the amendments today, we will give ourselves a short window of time to ensure that we get it right first time? We have three parties in the Chamber that sit on the Executive but cannot agree on the purpose of the debate. They may vote the same way, but that lack of confidence, which led to a three-year hiatus of the Assembly, is the risk that is being fought out today in this discussion.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does he recognise that that is not just the case in respect of those who have died from coronavirus? There were, perhaps, 4,500 or 5,000 deaths between the beginning of April and the end of June, and all the bereaved deserved the right to have a funeral and pay their respects.”
“I was delighted to hear that the Department was committed to working closely with the carer representative bodies and was cognisant of the Carers UK report 'Caring Behind Closed Doors: Forgotten families in the Coronavirus Outbreak' and that guidance was published on 10 April and 22 May. It was also good to note that mental health got a significant mention and that there was information provided on that. <BR /> <BR />As I come to the end of my five minutes, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, it is with delight that I speak on the subject and support the motion.”
“For those who were already isolated, perhaps, it is even worse. Access is what we are talking about today, because, for the protection of the carer and those who needed the care, some of those services have been restricted or stopped, to prevent them from an even more insidious danger. Then, there is grief and loss. If you are a carer, especially for someone with complex needs, the fear of the loss of that person is a constant, dark companion. It is a burden that is hard to bear and has been exacerbated by COVID. I wrote to the Health Minister on 24 May on that topic and asked several questions in respect of the impact of COVID and the impact on carers.”
“Whether they fall into that role due to being a parent or a child or a sibling, we need to recognise what they do and the value of that for the person who needs that care. It is very likely that most of us may perform that function, as my colleague Kellie Armstrong has eloquently said today and so many times. That brings a real level of reality to what we are talking about. <BR /> <BR />I looked at a report about the four top things that carers have been exposed to over the COVID pandemic. Some of them existed before, but they have been compounded and magnified by COVID. One of them is visibility. The doors have been closed, and, perhaps, it has been even harder to get out and to interact with other people and certainly to avail themselves of services. The next was isolation, and there has been isolation across all facets of our society.”
“I support the sentiment of the motion. <BR /> <BR />It is important that we recognise what a carer is. It would be a disservice to not peel it back a little. A carer today, in 2020, we now know, can be a child. It can be adult; it can be a family member; it can be a friend who gives care to somebody because of their frailty, their disability, their addiction or some other issue because that person cannot cope. That person provides the lifeline for the individual. The thing about being a carer is that, many times, they do not see themselves as carers; they see themselves as having to fulfil that function because there is no one else. Carers are champions, and we should not be afraid to put them on the pedestal where they deserve to be.”
“I think that "exceptional" is an important word there, because it is often unseen and unheard what family members and close friends do in the provision of care in the unpaid sector. The motion goes on to talk about the temporary withdrawal of:”
“When we assess the impact of COVID-19 across our society, those who are most vulnerable must be at the top of our list, not at the bottom. The motion recognises the impact:”
“In those two all-party groups, we have the advocates, the carers, the community and voluntary sector, the statutory sector and the service users represented, and it is one of the most refreshing platforms to be working on as a politician in these days. <BR /> <BR />Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, if you do not mind, I will read out the motion. It is a powerful motion, and it seeks:”
“I welcome the first cross-party motion since the resumption of the Assembly earlier this year, and I recognise the work of Chris Lyttle, the chair of the all-party group on learning disability, and the work that has gone into bringing the motion to the Floor of the House. It is good to be able to talk about a motion about some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and the people who provide the care for them, often in a hidden form. I also recognise the work of the all-party groups on learning disability and disability, which have, in my time over this past four years, been relentless in trying to give a voice to those who are often unseen and unheard.”
“We see the adherence to the regulations and we see that footfall. <BR /> <BR />I was reading recently of the richest people in the UK. I am not sure if the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is the richest, but he was not impacted by COVID. I would go so far as to say that there were people who financially benefited to extraordinary measures that we would not enjoy here. We need to see that our legislation marks time with our businesses and with our health to ensure that people return with confidence to support the businesses that underpin Northern Ireland plc. I welcome the amendments.”
“8) regulations, it is good to see feet on the ground of our town centres once again. It is remarkable to see the lengths that have had to be taken to provide social distancing inside and outside shops. It is weather dependent, and, obviously, the last few days have not been kind, but there has been a great financial impact on our shops. Whilst the intervention of the British Government has been very welcome and gratefully accepted, we need to discuss the ability to trade on in the weeks and months to come. The easement that we are seeing here that allows our shoppers to go back and shop local is really important because our local shops underpin our employment opportunities for the people who live in our community, so it is vital that we encourage people to shop locally but safely.”
“We have problems here that are decades old, which we are collectively trying to fix, but COVID has magnified that. <BR /> <BR />We will look at all the implications of COVID, and we will talk about some of those things tomorrow because COVID has brought death to the door of many, whether it is through COVID or whether it is to do with a lack of services, but that mental health impact will be felt for generations. It is something that we will have to deal with and collectively adjust and be honest about what we did and did not do at this time. <BR /> <BR />The inability to grieve in a time like now cannot be learned from a book or be fixed by a book. It will take time and it will take the rebuilding of confidence. I welcome the easing of the amendment (No. 7) regulations. <BR /> <BR />If we look briefly at the amendment (No.”
“It has forced them into unique challenges with, for instance, face-to-face counselling and the ability to interact on that very personal basis because what you lose when you spend time with somebody is picking up on the little cues that you get that words do not give, whether it is the wink of an eye, the nod of a head, a fidget or a nervousness. We welcome the easing of the amendments and the ability to have that social interaction again. <BR /> <BR />The SDLP MLA Sinéad Bradley heads up the all-party group on social isolation. That is something that is really gaining momentum. The ability for families to socially integrate again is really important. However, we cannot forget that we still have the crisis of mental health that existed before COVID. It was not COVID that caused it.”
“The ability to spend time with each other in someone else's home is really, really welcome. That is the case for many reasons. There are many social reasons for that. We have talked about mental health at length since I became an MLA. We cannot waste an opportunity not to raise it as the most significant issue even at a time such as this with COVID. In fact, COVID has potentially magnified what was already a pandemic and a crisis that we had here in Northern Ireland. It has certainly stymied the ability of the health service and those health professionals who work in mental health from doing the best that they can.”
“Like my colleague Doug Beattie, this is the first time that I have spoken on the regulations. Looking through them, I think that the import of the implications of the easements of the regulations has been highlighted by many Members. These are not normal times, and this is not normal legislation. The regulations have been described as draconian. Let us hope that we never have to revisit them again. <BR /> <BR />I want to take the opportunity to congratulate the majority of the wider community, businesses, the community and voluntary sector and, in particular, statutory services, who have had to look at the amendments to the regulations and alter how they provide their services, how they keep us safe and how they serve us. <BR /> <BR />In respect of the amendments, in particular, amendment (No. 7), we all welcome the easement.”
“She has worked with children, adults and families to ensure that the needs of those with a learning disability have a higher priority with public services. <BR /> <BR />Ms Kelly has worked with the Assembly and a range of Departments on the development and improvement of policy and practice. She also has extensive experience in commissioning, managing and publishing research, as well as ensuring that an evidence base underpins policy and practice. <BR /> <BR />I record the Assembly's thanks to the former ombudsman, Marie Anderson, for her work as the first ever Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO). Today, the Commission seeks the Assembly's agreement to the nomination of Margaret Kelly as the Public Services Ombudsman. I have no doubt that Margaret's skills and experience will enable her to be an excellent ombudsman.”