Danny Baker
West Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Member for giving way. It is a fundamental right to give girls this choice, rather than allowing them it. Does the Member share my frustration with the DUP's position and that of the Minister? They have created a contradiction here. They are even shutting down the debate today by the Minister's not being here.”
“Does the Member agree that it shows the importance of the Education Committee and what we have done here, given that, clearly, by not even showing up today, the Minister has shown that he was never going to do this? He has sent a very clear message to all those young girls out there that he just does not do equality.”
“On Saturday, I was in Lisburn with a number of my colleagues to take part in a leaflet drop across Lisburn and Lagan Valley to promote our Assembly candidate and councillor Declan Lynch. Declan, his wife and mother and I were all subjected to intimidation and sectarian abuse by a number of loyalists.”
“Every Member of the Assembly must be able to go about their job without threats, intimidation or sectarian abuse. The people responsible for that type of behaviour want to drag us back in time. They want to divide us and want hate and fear to dominate, but they will not win.”
“Our commitment and that of Declan Lynch is to work for everyone in Lagan Valley, and that is what he will do every day. <BR /> <BR />I conclude with this: the silence from political leadership in that community is deafening.”
“The very modest ask from Caleb's cause was for the Minister to prioritise preparatory work towards legislation to support those children. That did not happen. In fact, that campaign was gaslighted. That is shameful. As we head towards summer, when families need a bit of respite, it is a postcode lottery when it comes to direct payments.”
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“I thank the Minister for her statement. Investing in infrastructure, Casement Park and our people is to be welcomed and supported. Can the First Minister provide an update on the Shared Ireland initiative?”
“There is a litany of failures by the Minister. However, the past two weeks have been the straw that broke the camel's back. He championed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and went to Israel and visited a school in an illegally occupied territory, using departmental resources to promote the whitewashing of genocide. At the same time, schools here are being told that they cannot spend their budgets. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has lost the confidence of teachers, unions, pupils and parents. He attempts to overwhelm our school leaders with consultations and surveys. If he continues down the path of destruction, it will take years to rectify the damage. He is a lame-duck Minister, and he needs to go.”
“That, coupled with the uncertainty that families face with school transport and the hike in the price of music programmes, shows that we need a Minister for all children. Instead, we have a Minister who wants to build a regressive education system that will harm our young people by removing coursework and AS levels and setting up a one-off high-stakes exam. We have a Minister who took a trip to Florida to promote his agenda while children with special educational needs had no school places and who ignored the Education Committee's proposals, which would have cut uniform costs and ensured that girls could wear trousers if they wanted. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has spent money on vanity projects. He spent a quarter of a million pounds on a pilot scheme for mobile phone pouches: how many school meals would that have covered?”
“For a long time, we have had no confidence in the Minister of Education. Arrogance, incompetence and financial mismanagement have been the hallmark of Paul Givan's time in office. He blames everyone but himself. Just last week, the Education Authority (EA) informed parents and education other than at school (EOTAS) staff via social media that the price of school dinners was to increase by 20%, referrals to EOTAS were to stop and children were to be locked out of music programmes. <BR /> <BR />Owing to the Minister's mismanagement and ideology, the Lagan Valley Education Project in my constituency will be forced to close its doors. For decades, that organisation has helped young people on their last chance by educating them outside of school.”
“Minister, I have a private Member's Bill, which you replied to me about at the beginning to tell me that you would not be supporting it, so I know where you stand. <BR /> <BR />The proposals made by the EA were brought to the board for noting; there was no decision. Why are you standing here trying to mislead the Assembly, once again?”
“Thank you, Minister. What steps will the Department take to monitor and assess whether the new youth custody and supervision orders are being used as a measure of last resort?”
“It something that we all have to work together on, and that is not me trying to single out any particular Minister, whether it is Education, Communities with welfare, or Health. It is about us all working together to get it better going forward. We need to start getting it right now.”
“These are children in our society who are being made vulnerable because the system is broken, and we need to start getting it right. Families need to stop having to fight for absolutely every single thing, and policy and Ministers and us as MLAs need to start understanding the challenges from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the kitchen and from the kitchen to the classroom or into the ER. <BR /> <BR />Thank you for sharing your story. I have no doubt that it is a difficult decision to bring your child there. They are maybe not too sick to bring, because what they have to go through is so traumatic, but it is the knock-on effect that that could have had going forward.”
“That is happening day and daily, so that is a system that is completely failing. If we cannot even deliver a sensory room in 2025 and not have that, there is something seriously wrong. Going forward, we need to start getting everything right. We need to make sure that families are heard at the table. It is not just about an architect designing a room or a building; it has to be there to meet the needs of that child, and it is simply not happening. It is not happening across the board, and it needs to start happening now. <BR /> <BR />There is commentary coming from across the water that is starting to bed in here where we are now trying to see the reasons why children have autism as if we are trying to understand that. It is appalling language where some people are wanting to bring this.”
“My child does not have to wait eight months to get a filling or have an abscess treated. I cannot wrap my head around it: eight months of a wee child biting the hand off themselves in pain.”
“Cheryl, thank you for securing the debate this evening and for sharing your story. <BR /> <BR />Society and the system make our children with additional needs vulnerable. This is about a very basic ask; it should be there in the first place. In my constituency, I find it very frustrating that so many families need us intervene in order for them to get some of the most basic equality measures. In education, children with additional needs are offered places that do not exist. We do not do that to mainstream children, so why do it to children who need that support? In health, I have been blown away by some of the cases that I have to deal with. I think of children who need a dental appointment: very recently, I had a case of a child having to wait eight months for an appointment, and it was only with my intervention that that took place.”
“Minister, you touched on this already, but will you give a wee bit more detail on what support you asked for in respect of working families?”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. When things are good, you, like the Education Minister. always love a wee pat on the back. All the organisations are saying that this will make no tangible difference. How are you going to make that right with those organisations? They are not just making it up, Minister.”
“My private Member's Bill will at least be a piece of the puzzle to end child poverty, and, with the support of the House, it can be delivered in time for next summer.”
“Deirdre Hargey's work was blocked at a certain point in the Executive. That is something that the Minister could probably outline in his closing remarks. <BR /> <BR />The Education Minister's uniform Bill could, through amendments, have gone a lot further in ensuring equality and reducing costs. We could have been using the best practice that has worked elsewhere in the North across the board, delivering a comfortable, inclusive uniform for less than the price of a uniform grant. <BR /> <BR />Let us be clear: the DUP has no interest in tackling the real issues that are putting families under pressure. All Ministers have budgets. They must prioritise: they cannot always blame and hide behind the Executive.”
“Whilst ending holiday hunger is not a panacea for ending child poverty, it is at least an opportunity to support 90,000 children during the school holidays. This is a real, tangible change that we in the Chamber can make that would positively impact on people's lives. <BR /> <BR />However, when it comes to legislation, we have already seen missed opportunities this week. The Education Minister's uniform Bill could have been a game changer for children and families. Sadly —.”
“Organisations and individuals wrote to him outlining their concerns, but it seems that this Minister believes that the experts are wrong and his lacklustre plan is right. <BR /> <BR />Whilst we in this place are under harsh financial constraints imposed by London, we could make important interventions that could have a significant impact on people's lives. My private Member's Bill to end holiday hunger is one step in the right direction in tackling child poverty. I hope to see my private Member's Bill in the Chamber very soon, and I hope that it will receive support from every corner of the House. We know that, when children are more food-secure, their educational attainment goes up and reliance on food programmes, such as food banks, reduces.”
“I thank the Members who tabled this important motion. In my time in the Assembly, we have had a number of motions highlighting the need to tackle child poverty. Sadly, the current anti-poverty strategy is another false dawn for hard-pressed families in the North. I will be clear from the outset: it is the Minister for Communities' anti-poverty strategy. This Minister simply took all the well-researched and co-designed work of his predecessor, Deirdre Hargey, and threw it in the bin. <BR /> <BR />The key stakeholders are all of the same opinion: the current anti-poverty strategy will make no tangible difference to people's lives. Not only is there no consensus on the Minister's plan; there is absolute opposition to it.”
“If that is the case, will the DUP support my private Member's Bill, the aim of which is to end holiday hunger?”
“Does the Member know that this is about dual language signage, in English and Irish, and that nothing is being forced through, because, democratically, that is the policy of Belfast City Council?”
“Minister, this is your wee trick that you do all the time. You will take all the praise for yourself when you think that everything is going to go right, but, when it is going to go wrong, regardless of what it is, you want to place the blame on everybody else. Make no mistake: this is your Bill.”
“It has agreed to scope out the policy intent of a Committee Bill to amend your School Uniforms Bill. I am disappointed, because the evidence that we heard in Committee did not make it into your Bill. Minister, you will be judged by parents next year. You will have no protections then, and you will not be able to blame anybody but yourself. Our young people have been silenced on equality through the Bill. The Minister and the DUP know that the Committee amendments that were not selected for debate would have been passed by Members and would therefore have been made to the Bill. Everything now depends on the guidelines, but, at this stage, there has been a massive missed opportunity. It is no day for celebration here. We should have been changing mindsets together today, but, unfortunately, we are not.”
“If you want me to give way, I will give way. You do not have to shout across the Chamber. It is no problem. <BR /> <BR />Had you followed the inquiry and listened to the evidence that we took, particularly from our young people when they talked about violence against women and girls and misogyny — some Members in the Chamber would do well to learn from that evidence — perhaps you would value it, but, then again, you probably would not, because you do not like the voice of equality, Minister. <BR /> <BR />Minister, you asked for trust and faith in your Bill. In reality, everyone in the Chamber will be voting blind today, because your Bill is light on detail. Everything will depend on guidelines that no one has seen, even though they were promised. <BR /> <BR />The Committee will not rest on its laurels.”
“Thank you. As I say, Committee members worked around the clock, because the Minister took the line that we had to work harder. He has mocked our Committee quite a number of times in the Chamber, particularly about its relationships and sexuality education (RSE) inquiry, on which he did not seem to place any value.”
“It all boils down to the fact that we were promised the guidelines but never got them. We were told, "You will have them next week or the week after", but we never saw them.”
“Minister, let me be clear from the outset that, because of how everything has played out, this is your Bill. It is not the Executive's Bill, the Committee's Bill or even the Assembly's Bill. Rather, it is yours and yours alone. From the beginning, you and your officials have not acted in good faith. The Education Committee, along with its staff, worked around the clock to scrutinise your Bill in a very short time. We did so in good faith, and I regret that now. <BR /> <BR />You have mocked —.”
“They are shaped in our schools, communities and the support services that are available to our young people. Young people are ambitious. They want to contribute and succeed, and they see a future here. It is our responsibility to ensure that the structures are in place to support them. That means having careers advice that is modern and relevant. It means that strategies such as the 14-19 strategy should give choice and flexibility and that Departments should work together and not in silos. That is the work that the Minister has been delivering on and the work that is already making a difference. It deserves our full support.”
“By carrying out that review, the Minister has ensured that the service is being reshaped, giving young people the best possible guidance grounded in the real needs of our economy and the ambitions of our communities and young people. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has also taken forward the 14-19 strategy, which is about creating clear and flexible pathways for young people as they move from school into further education, training and employment. That strategy recognises that not every young person takes the same route and that success should not be defined by a single path. Whether it be through A levels, apprenticeships, vocational courses or degrees, every young person deserves that support to follow their talents. <BR /> <BR />Skills are not the responsibility of the Department for the Economy alone.”
“I welcome the debate today, because it goes to the very heart of what we want for the next generation: opportunity, fairness and a future in which they can thrive — a future for all our young people. <BR /> <BR />When we talk about addressing skills gaps, we are not just talking about statistics or strategies; we are talking about the lived experience of our young people in our schools, colleges, apprenticeships and workplaces across the North. A significant step has been the ongoing review of the Careers Service. Too often, young people and parents have told us that careers advice can feel inconsistent or too narrow and does not reflect the opportunities in the modern economy.”
“We need more than words, and we want you to prioritise special educational needs. That is not just about capital: it is about how we treat young people when it comes to placements. You are asking for Executive endorsement for a flagship investment programme. Can we expect a sea change in how collaborative work happens between Departments? What work has gone on with the Minister of Health, for example? I ask that because it is about more than just buildings. We need allied health professionals to be involved from the very beginning.”
“At the minute, it falls way short. Looking at Members across the Chamber and thinking about what happened in Committee, I see that they do not get the child-centred part of the legislation. The Minister has to prove, by his actions, that we can trust him. As it stands, based on my experience in the Chamber, I do not have that trust. That is why we needed the amendments that did not come through; that is the reality.”
“That is exactly what I was doing. I was pointing out that the amendments were drafted in close consultation with the Bill Clerks, who are experts in the field. Other Members commented that amendments were not within the scope of the Bill: how would they know? I suppose that it drives it back to that. That is why I was doing that. <BR /> <BR />I want a child-centred approach to education. That includes the uniforms Bill. The Bill has the potential to be good for parents and young people.”
“I am confident that all amendments were relevant, competent and entirely within the scope of the Bill. I would be keen to see the advice that the Speaker received in the process that led to the amendments' exclusion from the debate.”
“That is a step in the right direction, making school uniform policy more compliant with children's rights, including articles 2, 3 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Amendment No 6 ensures that uniform items are available from at least one non-exclusive retailer. Schools can keep contracts if they offer value for money; otherwise, parents must have choice. Amendment No 7 requires schools to publish contract details annually. Transparency is essential. That is the whole ethos of what we have been trying to say. <BR /> <BR />All the amendments that were well researched and based on evidence. They were drafted in close consultation with the Bill Clerks, who are experts in that field. The amendments complemented each other as we went through the Bill.”
“I had not really moved away from the amendments. I was dealing with amendment No 3 when I was talking about the rights of the child. It all fits into it, as does the evidence that is taken in Committee. That is the whole point of a Committee. When we saw the Marshalled List come through on Friday, I asked whether there was any point to the Committee when the Minister just wants the Bill to be as is. We have not seen the guidelines. That is the principal point of it. I will go back to the amendments. <BR /> <BR />Amendment No 2 changes "may" to "must". That places a duty on the Department to issue guidelines, which means that families will have more clarity on the school uniform policy. Amendment No 3 requires consultation with pupils and parents or guardians.”
“I bring up the RSE inquiry because, in the evidence, young people told us how important it would be in tackling violence against women and girls. It also included upskirting.”
“I suppose that, the whole way through this, we have been blind because we did not get the guidelines. I completely understand why the Minister had a good weekend and something to be cheerful about, because, when the Marshalled List came through on Friday afternoon, all the hard work that we had done in the Committee had been very much thrown in the bin, if I am being brutally honest. It was disappointing. We are being asked to trust the Minister and to have faith in him, if I remember correctly. Trust is earned. I have been here long enough to have heard it shouted across the Chamber that the Education Committee needs to work harder and to have heard derogatory comments about work that we have partaken in such as the relationships and sexuality education (RSE) inquiry.”
“Thank you to the Member for giving way. Will he not share my frustration and disappointment that the majority of the amendments put forward by the Committee have not made it today for debate? Will he not question why, given that they are well within the scope of the Bill yet are not there?”
“Minister, you referenced the RAISE programme in your statement: it has been flawed from the outset. Why did you reference that in relation to TransformED, when it was initially meant to be a two-year programme? Has further funding been made available by the Dublin Government?”
“Please tell us that you will drive delivery for children with special educational needs in the time that we have ahead and before the end of this term.”
“<BR /> <BR />How do we go about providing the right placements? How do we go about making sure that children are placed at the same time as their peers and then not waiting at the front door for transport, which is what I have heard this year? Minister, that can be done only by prioritising our children with special educational needs. That is a SEN-first approach. That is a child-centred approach. That is what we need. I am quite happy to be here to support you in doing that. What we do not need to hear is the bluster that sometimes comes across in here. We heard it in Question Time earlier on, when you set out the finances. Then, however, when you were asked a different question, your response was, "Look at my success over the past 18 months".”
“They really are doing a great job, but not everybody is pulling their weight, and that is the sad reality. <BR /> <BR />Talk to parents. Really listen to them. What I have heard in the past couple of weeks is, "What we are getting now are special schools on the cheap". They are not getting that integrated education. Far from it. We have children going into specialist provision in mainstream schools (SPiMS) placements or into units, or whatever you want to call them. Some could be in P2, while others could be in P6. That is insane. What we have there is placement by numbers. It is all data, but when you drop into the weeds of that, you will quickly find that, in the past number of years, children in their hundreds, if not in their thousands, have been placed incorrectly. That is the real scandal in all of this.”
“What we have seen and what we may hear today is that we have progressed some sort of measure from last year: the number of children who are not placed is in the single digits. One is far too many, but the reality is that there are hundreds of children who are not in school this week because their place is not ready. We all know, and the argument has been well rehearsed, that those places could also be the wrong place. What does that mean? It means that children end up on a reduced timetable, thus losing out on vital education. It is so unfair. <BR /> <BR />We then have the same schools doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to those on free school meals, those living in deprivation, newcomer children and children with special educational needs. They are doing it all.”
“<BR /> <BR />What will it mean for that family if we do not make changes to policy, investment and prioritisation in the Chamber? That child will always watch as his sibling progresses and gets his place at the same time as their peers. The other child may not even get transport to school if it is needed. If he is lucky enough to get a place, his transport may fail because we failed at the very start. When you do not have the placements right, that rolls on into transport. That creates a vicious circle for families, and it will happen again when the children go into secondary school. Even though they are well known in the system and they may have their statement, they still have to fight for that support and for that place. Lo and behold, it may not even be the right place.”
“That is about getting it right from the very beginning. <BR /> <BR />My first speech in the Chamber was about special educational needs, making the point about early interventions being key. I made a Member's statement this morning and used one of my own cases as a parameter for success going forward, were we to somehow be successful. I gave the example of a family with a set of twins who are going into nursery school. That should be the happiest time for parents, grandparents and the whole family, when they have the experience of seeing the children off to their first day of nursery. One child got a place, but the other child did not. The child who has special educational needs was the one who did not get a place.”
“It is really sad that we are here again today to talk about the failures in special educational needs that our children face daily. I cannot describe how angry and frustrated I was before recess that we could not get the Minister to come to the Chamber to talk about the plans for families who had not been placed at that time. Their numbers were in the hundreds, and they just needed communication. Communication and a bit of respect cost nothing, but we did not get it. If you are going to prioritise, I advise that we prioritise the most vulnerable children in our society. That means that we have to do everything possible, which means working together. I will not stand here and completely blame the Minister for everything that has gone wrong in the past, but he can very much change the future.”
“<BR /> <BR />If we do not see change — if the Minister and the chief executive of the Education Authority do not get real on this — this is how that child's life will map out: come P1, their placement will be an issue, as it will be in the next transition year, when they go into first year. They will also have transport issues. Their parent will fight tooth and nail for support for that child, while the other child goes through the education system almost seamlessly. We need to stop that. We need an inclusive education system for all children. It is we who can deliver that. I want to work with the Minister and everybody in the House to make that a reality, but it will happen only if it is prioritised.”
“<BR /> <BR />I will quickly make a wee point about one of my cases, because it maps out the journey that children will have if we do not take this seriously and start prioritising those children. Seeing a set of twins start at nursery should be the happiest time for a parent and grandparents. In one of my cases, one twin has additional needs, and the other, who is in the mainstream, does not. Guess who got the nursery place. The wee child with additional needs watches his sibling go off to school, and the child who probably needs the most interventions and the most support is left behind.”
“My first speech in the Chamber was about the need to prioritise special educational needs and early interventions, and I hoped that we would see improvements, but, unfortunately, we have not. That is simply not fair. It is not fair on those children, who are always left behind. We must ask these questions: why are they not being prioritised? Why do we not have a SEN-first approach to placements? Why, in 2025, do we not invest in high-tech IT for transport, given that a small number of staff are still working with pens and pieces of paper to map out routes? That is simply not good enough, and it shows where the priorities lie, which is certainly not with children with additional needs.”
“I stand here to be a voice for children with special educational needs, who continue to be left behind. Before the recess, I tried everything that I could to have the Minister of Education come to the House and communicate to families his plan for children who did not have placements. Before we went into the recess, the number of such children was in the hundreds, and that is what the headlines were about. Today, we could say, "The number is down to single digits, and that shows some sort of improvement", but the detail is in the weeds, because hundreds of those children will not be in school this week because their place is not ready. Sadly, some of those who were lucky enough to get placements were left at home this week because of transport issues. <BR /> <BR />This happens year-on-year.”