Deirdre Hargey
South Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“His double standards, including his condemnation of and opposition to equality and rights for our LGBTQ+ citizens, have caused real harm to others. The revelations about his double life expose the staggering hypocrisy of the DUP's moral facade. We need to know whether failing to act sooner left more vulnerable people at risk.”
“One week ago today, Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty of 18 child sexual offences, including rape. That conviction was made possible only by the strength and resilience of the two victims who came forward and reported the abuse. Donaldson was an abuser. He abused children, but he also abused his position in politics and faith.”
“They now say that they knew about his behaviour, but, crucially, they did nothing to expose his inappropriate hypocrisy and double life. The 'Spotlight' programme and other reports have shown that senior members of the DUP — its most senior figures, including the then leader, Edwin Poots — were aware of serious issues and allegations abou…”
“It is therefore not credible to suggest that the intelligence agencies were blind to his compromised double standards and double life. <BR /> <BR />Those questions demand answers from the DUP leadership. They demand answers in the House from the deputy First Minister, who was closely associated with Donaldson.”
“It is clear that there is a huge disconnect between Whitehall and the reality that is being felt by people on the ground. A British Treasury policy that is managing decay, real-terms cuts and disastrous policy decisions such as Brexit or the funding of wars over public services comes on top of existing disparities between how public servi…”
“The answer is not the short-term fixes or cash injections that we have had in the past, which have allowed for the repeated Treasury script of record settlements and inability of the Executive to manage their finances — scripts that are often parroted in the Chamber.”
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“Yes, I can give a commitment that I will do that.”
“I thank the Member who raised the issue of the signer and the Ceann Comhairle. It is good, and we should definitely use it in the time ahead. I am aware of the British and Irish sign language framework being put in place; work around that is ongoing. I am meeting departmental officials again this week to look at a timeline for that legislation. That will start to develop over the coming weeks and months. I will update the Committee and the Chamber once I have a more definitive timeline.”
“On errors, recently the official adjustments figure was £22·5 million, so it is not a small budget. The fraud figure is £56·2 million, but the figure for those who are not getting the benefits that they are entitled to is £43·1 million. My focus is on reducing the error but also ensuring that, through the Make the Call line, those who are entitled to unclaimed benefits actually receive them.”
“I have some of the figures on convictions for benefit fraud over the last number of years. It is a figure that has declined in recent years. In '16-17, 280; '17-18, 316 — there was a slight increase; and then '18-19, 191. I will get the rest of that information in written form and send it to you.”
“I have set that out clearly: we have a resource that looks at issues of benefit fraud. There are prosecutions, and the figures stand for themselves. I will ask the Member a question back. You can start asking questions around NAMA and the property portfolio, where billions were wasted. When we look at tax avoiders, we see they are not listed on a system. We can start to look at all those issues. When you look at the money, you see that this is less than 1% of a £5·1 billion budget. It is an issue of proportionality, and I do not think it is proportionate to look at the most vulnerable. We need to look at those who, in terms of tax avoidance, have billions upon billions in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. That is where our focus should be, and it should be proportionate.”
“I want to focus more on the Make the Call campaign, where, in 2018-19, we secured £43·1 million of additional benefits that people were entitled to and had not claimed. We also want to look at issues of official errors and how we can reduce that, because, in the same year, the adjustments were £22·5 million, which, in many ways, outstripped the issue around benefit fraud. That is where my focus needs to be. I am about protecting the most vulnerable and ensuring that people get the access to the social security system that they should. That is notwithstanding the benefit fraud work that still goes on, but I do not see the need for me to publish that on my website. That is already done through the Court Service.”
“The first thing is that it has not been long-standing custom and practice; this was introduced again only in 2011. From 2007 up until that period, that custom and practice did not exist. Benefit fraud is a serious issue that my Department puts a large resource into, but names associated with benefit fraud are already published in the system that adjudicates on those issues — the court and criminal justice system — and that is where it should rest. <BR /> <BR />I have engaged with the rights sector over the last couple of weeks, and they feel that this creates an air of demonisation of poor families. I wanted to ensure that we militate against that. When you look at the social security budget, you see that it is £6·1 billion and less than 1% of that is around benefit fraud.”
“Thanks for your question. This is a critical area and one that I was acutely aware of. I have closed that loophole in the system, and, therefore, any change of circumstances around moving will now be mitigated for in the new proposals going forward.”
“There were some elements of that that meant, when you looked at it, that the tax system would have taken some of that money if we had paid it out, so, in effect, it was not going to protect the most vulnerable. Announcements I will make in the coming weeks will be around working with the sector and with people who have been impacted, and any future mitigations we want to bring forward will be to really test what works well and develop mitigations that protect the most vulnerable and the larger number of people in our society. I will roll out my plans and my approach to that in the coming weeks.”
“It is an area that I am looking at. The last round of mitigations that were secured played a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable. They were developed over a very short period, of around five weeks, and then introduced.”
“I have asked that the regulations for the mitigation payments also continue the vital annual funding of the advice sector. It is critical that we have advice available for those in crisis. <BR /> <BR />I have to say that there are also skilled staff in the Department and in the local jobs and benefits offices. I encourage any Member who finds someone in need to access independent advice or to go through local jobs and benefits offices. I am keen to ensure that the resource for the advice sector is retained.”
“I thank the Human Rights Commission, Cliff Edge Coalition and Advice NI, to name but a few.”
“However, other mitigations need to be looked at, and we need to review the mitigation measures that we committed to in New Decade, New Approach. <BR /> <BR />I will continue to liaise with stakeholders and work with them on co-design and on how we move this necessary work forward. I acknowledge and thank the organisations that I have met in the past few weeks. I have prioritised this area of work.”
“That is an estimated 38,000 households or families that receive the supplementary payments that protect them from the bedroom tax. <BR /> <BR />In the coming weeks, I will introduce legislation to extend the essential mitigation, which will continue to safeguard more than 38,000 of the most vulnerable households in our society from the harsh welfare cuts that we have seen. The proposal will cost £23 million per annum. Aligned with that, over the coming weeks, I will bring forward regulations on the other strands of the existing welfare mitigations, such as the benefit cap and those transitioning from disability living allowance to the personal independence payment. The cost of that will be around £17·3 million per annum.”
“From the outset, I should state that as an individual, an MLA and, indeed, a Minister, I am opposed to austerity. That will come as no surprise to anyone. I also believe in compassion and human rights for all our people. Those things are embedded, not just in the Good Friday Agreement but in New Decade, New Approach. All the decisions that I make will be based on objective evidence and need. Therefore, I welcome the question, which provides me with the opportunity to set out my stall. <BR /> <BR />This morning, I announced that the Executive have agreed to my recommendation, in line with New Decade, New Approach, for the urgent extension of the bedroom tax mitigation beyond March 2020. The mitigation scheme provides financial support to people who would otherwise have lost out as a result of welfare cuts.”
“I do not have that information. I have asked for a breakdown of all the current library programmes. I will follow up that question to you in writing.”
“While I appreciate that, due to budget cuts, some libraries have reduced their opening hours, they continue to deliver real valuable services across the whole community, and I am keen to engage in this area in the time ahead.”
“<BR /> <BR />Recent innovations include the introduction of Lego clubs in the majority of libraries to encourage a wide range of users, such as fathers and their children. This initiative aims to promote social engagement, help to deliver motor skills, improve communication skills and nurture individuals' self-esteem through collaboration and creative thinking. Other programmes being delivered include rhythm and rhyme sessions for parents and children in every library, knit and natter and tea and newspaper activities, which promote social inclusion, particularly for older people. <BR /> <BR />Libraries NI also offers support for people seeking employment to find jobs, to prepare curricula vitae and to make online applications through internet access and Wi-Fi, which are both offered free to the public.”
“I acknowledge and appreciate the great work that Libraries NI delivers on behalf of my Department across a network that includes 96 libraries, 16 mobile libraries and a home-call service. Libraries NI contributes to well-being right across the community through its health, education and other extended programmes. Unfortunately, due to continued budget cuts over previous years, not all libraries provided late-night opening over the summer period in July and August, some smaller libraries closed for a week during the summer period, 14 larger libraries reduced their opening hours over the Christmas period from 23 December until 31 December, and the remaining 82 libraries closed over the Christmas period from 23 December to 1 January inclusive. In all cases, Libraries NI has tried to minimise the impact on services to those local communities.”
“I agree wholeheartedly with the Member. Thank you for your question. It should be about the social value that is added and particularly about targeting objective need. I fully agree with that, and I will look closely at that in the time ahead.”
“I thank the Member for making an important point. I have written to the Minister for the Economy to pick up on a number of those issues, so I hope that we will meet in the coming weeks. This is one of the issues around the skills and employability agenda that we will discuss in the time ahead, so hopefully we can move forward on those issues cross-departmentally.”
“Yes, I will look at those best practices and take them forward in the time ahead.”
“I will also do other work cross-departmentally around a social value Act, which is an important piece of work. I have experience from working in local government of looking at local government strategies around inclusive growth. It is a critical point as we move forward that contracts cannot be looked at just in terms of low cost. We need to look at the impact that they have on social value and on targeting objective need, and also at issues around how we change the culture and use public procurement and contracts to do that on issues such as a living wage, where we mark up those employers who are living wage employers to try to create a more just economic model and system.”
“I thank the Member for her question. The Executive policy of integrating social considerations into contracts defines public-sector commitments to incorporate social clauses into public procurement. The buy social model has been operated by the strategic investment board since 2016 and has proven to be an effective means of providing targeted recruitment and training opportunities for long-term unemployed people, apprentices and students. Social clauses are intended to provide genuine, sustainable training and employment opportunities and are not to be seen as a source of low-cost labour. <BR /> <BR />I am committed to the promotion of the buy social model to incorporate social clauses into construction and services contracts according to the relevant thresholds as set out in the procurement guidance.”
“Obviously, money is one part of it, but we could make fundamental changes to the system to make it easier for people to access and receive the support when they need it. I will look at that issue in the coming weeks.”
“Thank you for your question. I will have a meeting this week with a number of people who have been impacted by the cruel policy of the six-month rule. It is something that I will look at in the time ahead. Obviously, all of that is subject to budgets, because we do not get the additional money through the block grant. I will look at further mitigations to protect the most vulnerable. I will outline my plans, but, importantly, I will look at co-design with the community and voluntary sector and the advice sector and also those who have been directly impacted: the people on the ground who receive those social security protections. I want to listen to them in the time ahead and consider what else we can do. It is not always a financial solution.”
“I am keen to sit down and have a chat with you.”
“Thank you for your question. This is an issue that I first raised when I went in to the Department. Obviously, we have not seen the full roll-out of universal credit. We have been looking closely at the pilot in England. We need to ensure that we have the IT systems in place, particularly where we want to mitigate and protect against the worst excesses of the austerity agenda. I have asked officials to look at what additional measures we need to bring in and to ensure that those are costed. I will provide that information in the time ahead. I know, from the questions that he has sent me, that the Member has a keen interest in that. I am more than happy to sit down with you, as I move forward with new proposals, to seek your advice and recommendations and to hear about the experiences of the claimants who come in to your office.”
“Are there fundamental changes to the welfare and social security system that we need to make? This is about protecting the most vulnerable and prioritising those who are in greatest need and that is something that I will lay out in the time ahead. Importantly, I will be engaging with those in the sector on the ground who are working with and talking to the people who have been directly impacted.”
“I do not have the exact numbers on food banks, but I can follow that up. As I touched on earlier, the welfare agenda and making cuts was ideologically driven by the Tory Government. We do not have our own fiscal powers and we are reliant on a block grant. People will remember that, back in 2016, when this issue was on the agenda, threats to the block grant were made and penalties imposed on a regular basis because there was no agreement. <BR /> <BR />We have the mitigations in place. I made an announcement today, which I will speak to in answer to another question, on extending those mitigations. I will also be engaging with food banks to find out the intelligence from the people who access those services. What more can we do to protect people? Are there further mitigations that we can look at?”
“Yes, those are the issues that I will be looking at over the coming weeks. Obviously, there are repayments up to 12 months for the advance payments and they can be extended to 15 months under exceptional circumstances. From October 2021, that will extend to 16 months, but we can do more. I will engage with the grassroots who have been impacted by this to look at what the Department can do to set protections and look at changes that we can make. I commit to doing that and I will announce plans in the coming weeks on how I will take that forward.”
“The fund is available to anyone who is making a claim for universal credit and is experiencing hardship, and, to date, it has paid out over £1·5 million and impacted on 7,500 lives. <BR /> <BR />There are serious issues with universal credit. I have given a commitment to the Human Rights Commission; Professor Eileen Evason, who led on the first round of mitigations; and the Cliff Edge Coalition that I will look seriously at the issue in the time ahead. I also want to engage with Members to look at what further progress and mitigations we can make as we move forward.”
“<BR /> <BR />A range of flexibilities and mitigations that were agreed by the previous Executive are helping to offset some of the worst aspects of welfare reform here. One of those is the universal credit contingency fund, which is unique to here. Other places, such as England and Wales, are looking at the mitigations that we were able to secure, because they are having an impact, albeit they do not go far enough.”
“Again, we hear those stories on a daily basis. <BR /> <BR />Ultimately, I want to deliver a welfare system that is compassionate, and that sits with the New Decade, New Approach deal, where we are saying that we want to have politics that is different, is compassionate and protects the most vulnerable, and a system that is based on objective need to ensure that those who need it get it. My approach is to embed a human rights-based approach in the Department when looking at issues of social security and dignity. I have engaged with a number of welfare groups and campaigners over the past couple of weeks, and among the key points that were raised was the way in which people's dignity is stripped from them when they go through these processes and the impact of universal credit. That is something that we need to deal with collectively.”
“I think that that is playing out, and not just here; we are also looking at the consequences of that approach in England, Scotland and Wales, where the poorest people are suffering. <BR /> <BR />Each week, approximately 860 new claimants for universal credit are due to receive their first payment, with 95% of those paid at the end of the first five-week period. Whilst I am pleased that my staff are able to make sure that most people get their first payment when it is due, I do not believe that it is right to make people wait that long in the first instance, so there is a critical factor that needs to be addressed. I believe that waiting five weeks for the first payment is wrong. It is clear that I need to state that. It also creates real hardship for families, forcing many into debt and having to use food banks.”
“This is a crucial area, and, obviously, since I came into post three weeks ago, it has been high up on my agenda. Members of this Chamber have raised concerns, and also groups who work at the coalface of this issue. Thank you for raising the question. It is a serious problem for people who are claiming universal credit for the first time. <BR /> <BR />When the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was here a few weeks ago when the institutions were re-established, I made it clear to him that welfare reform was hurting many of our people, and particularly the most vulnerable in our society. I reiterated to the Prime Minister that austerity and the attack of welfare changes was punishing poor people for being poor.”
“If there are specifics that you would like to raise with me, I am more than happy to meet and provide follow-up information.”
“Thanks very much for your question. A number of funding streams have been in place since 2016, particularly around historic environments, and one is the historic environment fund. We provide funds of over £800,000 per year to look at those issues. Whilst I recognise that there are constraints, some of that is because of austerity and the impact on budgets in my Department. Just under £300 million has been taken out of the Department over the last five years. There is a broader conversation to have in the Executive, looking at the block grant and the impact of austerity. I give a commitment that I am looking at all of those in the budget-setting process going forward, ensuring that we have the necessary resources in place but also ensuring that those most in need are prioritised.”
“We have been having ongoing engagement with the local council looking at the issue and the planning that was granted, and I will continue to do that, while also liaising with the Department for Infrastructure around the impact that that is having on that historic site in the time ahead. I give a commitment to you. I am happy to sit down and engage with you and to meet with the community group to see if we can get a resolution in taking this mater forward.”
“Thanks very much for your supplementary. I commend those organisations and campaign groups at a grassroots level that work to protect our heritage and environment. I am aware of the Knock Iveagh issue. In 2017, a telephone mast was erected. My Department consulted the council, and there was successful enforcement action. Obviously there are ongoing issues around the wind turbine, which was also erected in 2017. That was from a previous planning permission from the Department of the Environment at that time, dating back to 2013 and which my Department was not consulted on. <BR /> <BR />Obviously, since then, planning powers have been transferred to local authorities. I engaged with my Department this week, and it is keen.”
“In the use of its powers, my Department seeks to work closely with relevant communities and stakeholders to ensure that we strive to hand down to the next generation the rich heritage we have inherited.”
“<BR /> <BR />My Department is responsible for drawing up a list of buildings of special architectural or historical interest. Currently, we have around 8,900 listed buildings. Making alterations without listed building consent is an offence. My Department must be consulted by planning authorities on applications that affect listed buildings and historic monuments, and also on draft local development plans. I will be engaging with councils in the time ahead around those local development plans as they progress. <BR /> <BR />My Department also has special powers regarding enforcement action for unregulated work to protected places and buildings and to fund activities relating to the historic environment.”
“I thank the Member for this important question. A society that understands the past is stronger for the future. Therefore, it is important to me that my Department helps communities to enjoy and realise the value of our historic environment. My Department's relevant powers and responsibilities are set out in two pieces of legislation: the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects Order 1995; and the Planning Act 2011. <BR /> <BR />Under the legislation, my Department has a duty to maintain 190 state care monuments and to facilitate access where possible. My Department is responsible for compiling a schedule of historic monuments, and there are currently approximately 2,000 scheduled. Scheduling provides additional protection through the requirement for scheduled monument consent before carrying out any alterations to these monuments.”
“Deimhním go bhfuil mé toilteanach glacadh leis an ról seo. I confirm that I am willing to take up the office of Minister for Communities, and I affirm the terms of the Pledge of Office as set out in schedule 4 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998.”