Nuala McAllister
North Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“I have submitted quite a number of questions for written answer on autism services, and the answers, sometimes on the same day from the Department, contradict themselves. The Minister often refers to the emotional health and well-being framework as the idea that will frame all of the uniform services.”
“Absolutely. Everyone is taking my speech; I was going to say that. Of course, it is complex and subjective to the individual person. If we are truly talking about keeping an individual safe and other prisoners safe, we would not do what the amendment proposes; we would carry on in the way that the system already operates, using a risk-bas…”
“I thank the Member for his question. The Assembly Commission is progressing a programme of remedial works to address defects identified in the roof of Parliament Buildings and to protect the long-term integrity of this grade A listed building. The works have been structured in two phases.”
“More often than not, we have conversations in the Chamber or in public about trans women, but that would place a trans man who has been convicted of a violent crime against a woman in a prison with women. It does not make sense, and it is not coming from the perspective of safety; it is coming from ideology.”
“In providing catering services throughout Parliament Buildings, the Assembly Commission strives to meet the differing demands of the special dietary needs of our wide customer base.”
“I support amendment No 96 and oppose amendment No 97. I do not plan to speak to amendment No 96, as there were a number of interventions last night, and I will leave many of the remarks to my party colleague the Minister of Justice. <BR /> <BR />We oppose Timothy Gaston's amendment.”
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“Think about it: a classroom has 30 children — some have 20 if they are divided amongst two — but that means that at least one child in every class in that ward is under the care of the state.”
“How somebody is not able to access free school meals nowadays is beyond me, but it is because they were not aware of it and are not able to access the tools online at home. The fact that they have to come to the likes of a constituency office to do that is really sad. However, we do that every day, because it is important that everyone gets the help that they deserve and absolutely need. That safety net is and should be there. <BR /> <BR />As I said, it is not just a single-Department issue. I know that we have the Communities Minister here, but I am talking about social services as well. One in 20 young people in the Water Works ward in North Belfast is under the care of the state. That is one in 20 people.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Department for Communities' 'Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report, 2022/23' said that 24% of children were living in relative poverty in 2022-23, compared with 18% in 2021-22. It would be interesting to see whether the Department has statistics that further drill down into each of the constituencies. I know that the Audit Office report and the Cliff Edge Coalition's briefing had those statistics. It is important that we collect that data, because it informs our policies moving forward. <BR /> <BR />I have talked about housing and health, but education also has a role to play. I know that many of us are contacted by constituents who are not able to access free school meals.”
“The people whom we see time and again are single mothers, more than any other category in North Belfast. We do not just offer food parcels; we offer referrals to the family support hubs at the Vine Centre, the Ashton Centre or the citizens advice bureau in Rathcoole. Across North Belfast, there are people willing to help, but they are not going to get to the root of what causes poverty and how to lift people out of it. <BR /> <BR />The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has tried to put a focus on the fact that poverty results in more health inequalities. It said that, per 1,000 live births, the regional infant mortality rate in the most deprived areas — North Belfast is number two — was 1·1 percentage points higher than in the least deprived areas. That is a sad indictment of our failure to deal with child poverty.”
“They have told me about the health inequalities such as obesity, for example, because of the rising price of food and the fact that people are not able to afford the right food to cook for themselves. There is also a rise in malnutrition. In fact, over two years ago, a leading consultant at the Royal Victoria Hospital said that she had witnessed a young child stuffing food down their nappy in order to keep it, which is horrific. This is not just something that is talked about on the news; we see it in North Belfast. <BR /> <BR />That brings me to my next point about food parcels, food banks and vouchers for food parcels. We all give those out at our constituency offices. I do not know about the rest of you, but it is increasing in my office every day.”
“I know that a lot of us get a lot of constituents coming through our offices who are dealing with that, and some of it is because of where they live. <BR /> <BR />Another issue is speech and language development. We know that it is important to read to children and to engage and have eye contact with them. However, when families across all constituencies are faced with problems and difficulties every day, it is not so easy to tackle those issues, especially if you are on your own. <BR /> <BR />Below my office in North Belfast is a Sure Start. Sure Starts are invaluable in every constituency. I pass one every day on my way to my office, and I see the people coming and going from it. I speak to the staff there, who often refer people upstairs and vice versa.”
“If a young person has no suitable safe place to sleep at night — somewhere that is their haven — how can they be prepared every day for school or interactions with their peers when they live with the pressures at home and see those through the eyes of their parents or caregivers? <BR /> <BR />We also see many health inequalities when it comes to poverty, and I will talk about some of them. Air pollution is more rife in impoverished areas, for example, in areas of North Belfast, than it is in affluent areas because of dense inner-city living, and that can exacerbate health inequalities. We might not see it now in the kids who come to our constituency offices with their parents, but you can bet that, in 10 to 15 years, some of them will have conditions such as COPD.”
“We hear every day in our constituency offices about people living in housing poverty, and many of those affected are children and young people.”
“In our constituency offices, we see that manifest in many ways. We also see it manifest across the board and across every area of Executive responsibility. I will take the opportunity to focus on some of those elements of the report. I hope to hear from the Communities Minister, but I also hope to put pressure on all other Ministers to make tackling child poverty a priority. <BR /> <BR />I will start with housing. There was an Adjournment debate on housing in North Belfast some months ago. Carál Ní Chuilín secured the debate. Issues were raised in it that were not new to all of us. One such issue was the outcomes and consequences of poverty. We cannot help bring people out of poverty if we do not give them suitable housing in which to live.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister for Communities for coming to the Adjournment debate, and I thank MLAs, particularly those from outside North Belfast, for staying for it. I am sure that a lot of the issues that we will discuss today are not new to anybody, but it is important that we highlight them and make them a priority, particularly as this debate follows the publication of the draft Programme for Government (PFG), the report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and the Cliff Edge Coalition briefing on child poverty in Northern Ireland, not to mention the fact that child poverty is not decreasing. <BR /> <BR />I will focus for a moment on the Audit Office report. It highlights the fact that 29% of children are living in poverty in North Belfast. To state that in even more stark terms, that is 7,200 children.”
“That out-of-state care in the Republic of Ireland or the UK could cost upwards of £20,000 per week. It is not about being unable to afford to help those families in their own homes, because we cannot afford not to do it. <BR /> <BR />Over the years, I have dealt with many families and stakeholders on the issue. I have also brought it directly to the previous and current Health Ministers, both at Committee and through Assembly questions. In fact, in one of those instances, when I questioned the Minister about third-party providers being paid by the trusts to offer services that were not actually being offered, I got a blank face and inadequate answers. That is something that those families face every single day. Those families are not OK. They deserve our help.”
“Children now need long-term care placement options because families can no longer cope and have been abandoned. That is not a choice that any family wants to make or comes to easily, but there are no options yet available for long-term care placements. We now hear from the Department and the trusts that they are looking for out-of-state care for those children.”
“Indeed, the most recent call for help was made last Friday by a new family in my constituency. The form of help that was offered to them through the trust was a direct payment, so they were forced to look for assistance themselves. The trusts are, in some circumstances, unwilling to give families the help that is desperately needed, because, they claim, they are not able to provide help. They say that they cannot provide the workforce to help those families. How on earth can families be expected to secure that help for themselves at home? <BR /> <BR />The situation has not developed overnight. There has been long-term negligence in the provision of respite care in Northern Ireland and help for carers across every one of our constituencies. We are at crisis point.”
“I will highlight the issue of respite services in Northern Ireland. Tonight, a 'Spotlight' documentary titled 'I Am Not Okay' will air on BBC1 NI. The documentary is available on iPlayer, so I took the opportunity this morning to watch it. The distress and the pleas for help that I saw and heard are neither new nor individual, and that is an outright disgrace. <BR /> <BR />Respite care across Northern Ireland was failing our families long before the COVID pandemic: while what was on offer was marginally better, it was still not good enough. Like many in the Chamber, I too often hear stories of families pleading for help, of parents being forced to take legal action and of desperate calls being made to social workers and trusts, all in the hope of getting some form of help.”
“Again, however, collapse meant that that opportunity was missed. Our health service cannot afford another missed opportunity. Stable, recurrent funding is urgently needed for transformation, which is why urgent reform of the institutions is crucial. Hopefully, next year, we will not see again what we have before us today in the Budget (No. 2) Bill and can move forward and aspire to much better so that we can deliver for all across Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />As Members from the Alliance Party and the Opposition have said, one of the most crucial elements in ensuring that we have a stable Budget in upcoming years is not to have the continuing cycle of collapse of the institutions, because that affects how each Department runs its budget. One example of that for Health is that Ray Jones's report on the review of children's social care specifically mentions that such collapses cause "considerable difficulties in sustaining services" in children's social care. I could go on to name many other elements across every Department. I am sure that many others will agree that, while they might not sign up to reform, reform is the best way in which to ensure that we have sustainability. <BR /> <BR />The Executive were close to agreeing a three-year Budget for 2022-25.”
“<BR /> <BR />Another example of working together is for us to ensure that we impress on the Executive and all parties the need for multi-year Budgets. We all agree that multi-year budgets would be the right approach, but we need to ensure that, when we get them, we prioritise our departmental budgets. For example, when it comes to the Department of Health, notable organisations such as the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) welcomed the inclusion in the draft PFG of the priority to cut waiting lists but noted that it would require multi-year Budgets in order to achieve that. While we are living with the Budget that we have before us now, we all recognise that it is not the Budget that we aspire to and that we can and absolutely shall do better. We must do that by working as a collective.”
“I absolutely agree with the Member. To be serious about the Budget, we — every party in the Executive — need to work as a collective to hold Departments to account. Indeed, the Opposition also have a role to play. Where an individual Department has a budget, it does not mean that that Department should act alone on matters. <BR /> <BR />The Member mentioned policing and mental health in particular. Another issue is speech and language development. Young people do not just appear in the criminal justice system with speech and language difficulties; those difficulties have been there from an early stage in their life. Therein lies the argument that the Department of Health and the Department of Education have a role to play. I agree that every Department must play its role in working together.”
“If Members from the Health Minister's party intend to ensure that we abide by the Budget or even attempt to do so, they must look at their own Minister's Department. <BR /> <BR />That leads me on to my next point. As Executive parties, we must all work —.”
“There is no reason that all Ministers cannot prioritise implementation in line with their available budget, but it appears that the Health Minister has no intention of doing so. <BR /> <BR />I ask that you indulge me for just a moment, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. As a member of my party's health team and a member of the Health Committee, I have, many times, brought to the attention of Department of Health officials where there has been a serious lack of spend in line with the budget and where they have taken their eye off the ball. For example, I brought to the attention of the previous Health Minister the fact that payments had been made to third-party providers for respite care but that that respite care had not been provided for well over a year.”
“Something is simply not right, so something needs to change. <BR /> <BR />We must also recognise the lack of responsibility that the Health Minister's party has taken for the Budget. I will reflect on some of the points that Members have made. In numerous debates in the Chamber and at the Budget (No. 2) Bill's Second Stage, we asked the Health Minister what he wanted. Was it 75%, 80% or perhaps 100% of the current Budget allocation? There would then be even less for policing, for which the UUP Member who spoke previously claims to be an advocate. That is not realistic. We must all live within the current Budget. An all-or-nothing approach to healthcare does not need to be taken.”
“I will continue to play my part in our party, alongside the Finance Minister, in putting pressure on the UK Government to ensure that we receive the funding that we are rightly due. <BR /> <BR />The key issue for me, as one of Alliance's health spokespeople, is our health service. The fact that over 50% of the entirety of the Budget has been allocated to Health is of enormous significance. We cannot underestimate the fact, however, that, although the Health budget has continued to grow year-on-year, our people are getting sicker and waiting longer.”
“Like everyone else, I recognise the financial situation that we are experiencing. It is not a financial situation that we, as political parties, wish to find ourselves in, but, as a party of the Executive, we recognise, alongside the Finance Minister and the majority of other Ministers, that, where there is a Budget, we must abide by it. <BR /> <BR />Like many others, I recognise the fact that Tory austerity over the years has cost us a lot in respect of not just our Budget but the health and well-being of all our citizens. Given the Chancellor's speech this morning, hopefully, austerity is not back and will not be back, and we will see the Labour Party puts its money where its mouth is and look after the citizens of the entirety of the United Kingdom.”
“The Minister will recognise that there are many instances when stakeholders have taken the Department of Education to court on behalf of the parents of children who have that legal right to education and are under the age of 18. Will the Minister outline that he will put into legislation the right for children to receive support until the age of 25?”
“<BR /> <BR />I hope that all parties can get behind our amendment. It was tabled not to detract from the motion but to add to it. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response.”
“We need multi-year Budgets to ensure that we have a long-term, sustainable plan. We support the Health Minister and all Ministers in ensuring that we have multi-year Budgets in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />We also need political stability. We can all talk about health transformation, but we cannot see it if we continually have a stop-start Government in Northern Ireland. We need to reform our institutions to ensure that we can honestly hold our hands up and say that we will transform the health service. We cannot expect one Minister or all Ministers to do that if just one party can pull down the system. I say not just to the DUP but to Sinn Féin to join all the other parties today in committing to never again collapsing the institutions so that we can move forward collectively and truly transform the health service in particular.”
“We all need to get behind the transformation. Whether you are a Member from my party, the UUP, Sinn Féin, the DUP, the SDLP or one of the smaller parties, we need to ensure that we all sing from the same hymn sheet. <BR /> <BR />I am proud to say that the Alliance Party is an evidence-led party in all aspects of its policymaking, and that includes health service reform. We will continue to listen to the evidence that comes from the health and social care sector and any advice about necessary changes. Our policy will be taken on board by the clinicians, professionals and stakeholders who are listening to the debate. <BR /> <BR />Another aspect that we touch on in our amendment is multi-year Budgets. If we are truly going to tackle waiting lists, we cannot do that on a year-by-year basis solely.”
“That does not really weigh up. We need further information about how the Health Minister will truly collaborate within the sector. <BR /> <BR />To be fair to the Health Minister, who is new to the job, and the UUP in taking on the health portfolio, it is not just about one party. We need to ensure that there is true political leadership on the issue. We can all stand in the Chamber or sit on our Committees and talk about the need for health transformation, but, far too often here, we see the same parties standing on local picket lines, writing articles for local media and parroting misinformation when presented with transformation proposals in their own backyard. I will stand with the Health Minister when he tackles the issue. There are some, even in his party, who similarly argue against proposals.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is important that every party get behind the reconfiguration blueprint. Some organisations already have the blueprint, yet MLAs do not. My understanding is that it is out there and that many have seen it. My only hope is that the point of doing that was for true consultation and to listen to the clinicians, the experts on the ground and the management overseeing the service across all trusts in Northern Ireland. I hope that the reason that the reconfiguration blueprint was issued to those stakeholders was that feedback and engagement. I hope that, when the blueprint comes to the Assembly, there will be positive changes in it. <BR /> <BR />That is not the only example. The dental access scheme, on which we await further detail, was developed without engagement with the British Dental Association (BDA).”
“We can all agree that the surgical hubs, for example, are working and doing a fantastic job, and the Department must be commended for taking the lead on that. Many times, however, many royal colleges have said to us that they have proposals that could make surgical hubs more efficient, but, unfortunately, they are not being brought around the table. There is a difference between having someone sit on a collaborative forum as a box-ticking exercise and listening, engaging and responding in good faith. We saw that on the Health Committee when discussing the development of the reconfiguration blueprint with the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). When Committee members from across all parties directly asked, "Has there been a level of engagement?", the answer, in short, was, essentially, no, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately, whether it is through the Health Committee or engagement with stakeholders whom we meet individually and privately as parties, that is not something that we are getting truly from the Department. Too often, the collaborative approach to transformation is lacking. <BR /> <BR />In recent months, it has come up many times at the Health Committee, particularly on the issues of transformation and tackling waiting lists, that departmental officials and trust representatives have failed to engage with the relevant stakeholders. Just to be clear, there is some engagement across all sectors in Northern Ireland, but, if we were truly to listen to those who are working on the ground, we would see a much greater level of transformation.”
“It is important to acknowledge that, if any progress is to be made on transformation, it must include partnership working across Health and Social Care (HSC). That means proper engagement and consultation with the relevant allied healthcare professionals, the healthcare workforce and the community and voluntary sector, all of which have a role to play in supporting the Department in its public health goals of preventative health, diagnostic treatment and ensuring that we can tackle the waiting lists. <BR /> <BR />On the subject of engagement and consultation, we have for too long relied on consultation as a box-ticking exercise. What we mean when we talk about "health transformation" is true engagement with the sector in order to create clinical-led, evidence-based policy to transform our health service.”
“Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, for keeping us right. <BR /> <BR />I rise to propose the Alliance amendment. I thank my colleague from the DUP for proposing the motion, which is of vital interest to everyone in Northern Ireland who either is waiting for treatment or has a loved one who is receiving treatment or waiting for treatment. It is important to all of us as elected representatives, it is important to the sector and, of course, it must be important to the Minister and his Department. <BR /> <BR />I will focus a little more on an area that has not been touched on, which is collaboration. Whilst we support the motion, we hope to highlight key specific issues that, we believe, were omitted from the original wording. We hope that people can support us on that.”
“Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, and thank you —.”
“I thank both Ministers for the statement this morning and welcome its launch. Notwithstanding the independence of the judiciary from the Department of Justice and the Executive Office, it is important that all parts of our criminal justice system work together in tackling violence against women and girls. I want to ask specifically about the issue of bail. I think of the brutal murder of Katie Simpson. Her murderer was let out on bail and not remanded back into custody. How will the First Minister and deputy First Minister engage with the judiciary regarding that aspect of bail and those who are charged with serious offences against women?”
“I hope that all Members will join in making sure that everyone works together and puts pressure on to ensure that all 93 of those young people can get the surgery that they need as soon as possible.”
“They have been more than eager to work with the Minister to come up with plans to tackle the waiting list, particularly when it comes to possibly transferring children to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. <BR /> <BR />We all know people across Northern Ireland who are on a waiting list, and, indeed, some of us are waiting. However, when it comes to children being on a waiting list for issues that cause pain and discomfort, we can understand the frustration that those parents feel. I stand with them when they lobby the Minister and the Belfast Trust to ensure that they are expedited through the process in a way that, of course, meets clinical need and ensures that they can get the right treatment for their children.”
“There are long-term and short-term effects of the use of nasal feeding tubes, such as the displacement of the tube, vomiting, coughing, loss of appetite and even pain and discomfort. As a parent, I never want to see my child in pain or discomfort. <BR /> <BR />Some of those families and one in particular have been waiting for over three years for the surgery. Given that the list is definitive — there are 93 children on it — we must hear from the Health Minister on what plans there are to ensure that those children can be seen as soon as possible. We understand the resourcing issues, but, when we are dealing with such a specific and narrow group of young people in Northern Ireland, there must be plans in place. We have engaged with the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.”
“I rise to talk about an issue that, I am sure, many in the Chamber have been in touch with constituents about: the paediatric percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube surgery waiting list. There is a small group of parents and carers across Northern Ireland — I believe that the number is sitting at 93 — whose children are waiting for PEG tube surgery. For context, that is surgery to insert a feeding tube through the abdomen. Currently, the majority of those children have a feeding tube through their nose. Unfortunately, the parents of those children find themselves having to visit their local GP, be visited by the community children's nursing teams or even be trained themselves to reinsert the tubes, because, for various reasons, they often come out.”
“I hope that we can continue to build consensus around ensuring that we have a fair and appropriate settlement for the entirety of Northern Ireland.”
“When everything has been cut time and again, you cannot keep making cuts when there is nothing left to cut. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the Minister's contribution to the debate. I also welcome the contributions of Members, and I highlight again that we will not support the amendment from the DUP because it removes the cost-of-division element. One Member mentioned the need for a baseline and for it to be retrospective. We support that, but our issue is specifically around removing tackling the cost of division. We simply cannot do that. We in Alliance will always call for a shared future and for ensuring that there is that transformation in society, and one of those elements is tackling the cost of division. <BR /> <BR />Thank you, everyone, for contributing to the debate.”
“However, the reality is that Departments need to live within their budgets, otherwise, as the Minister said, we would be repaying the £550 million that the previous Government wrote off. Whilst we would like to step forward and say at every opportunity that we will not do x, y and z and we want to implement absolutely everything that is on every party's wish list, we simply cannot do that right now. Until we get that proper settlement from the UK Treasury and Government, we are going to be coming back to this, and that is why is it so important that we all speak from the same platform. We all need to ensure that we work collectively. Whether we are part of the Executive or not, the onus is on us all, because this is for every citizen of Northern Ireland.”
“I am sorry, I missed the end of your statement, but I agree that we have to work with the Republic of Ireland Government because it is important that we make sure that any money that is spent on a shared-island basis is spent cost-effectively. <BR /> <BR />I did not quite catch the end of your statement, but I will move on because I have a few points to answer. I hope that the Member does recognise that, when it comes to tackling the inefficiencies of our system, the reason that we do not have the budget settlement is about options; it is about how we can move forward, and the choices that we have in front of us. <BR /> <BR />I was going to move on to some of the Member's points around the fact that austerity has hurt people in Northern Ireland. I absolutely agree that it has hurt people in Northern Ireland.”
“It is important that we do so, it is financially responsible to do so, but we also owe it to the many people who see that division across society. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Minister, in particular, for coming to the Chamber, and I welcome the work that the Minister has been doing to ensure that engagement with the UK Treasury is ongoing. I think that the relationships there are becoming more positive than they were with the previous Government, but I will highlight again some of the points that the Minister made, particularly on Departments living within their budgets.”
“We need to ensure that we work together so that money is not wasted or effort duplicated across Departments. <BR /> <BR />The issue of duplication brings me on to another issue that was mentioned, and that was the cost of division. I want to respond to the leader of the Opposition's comments that the cost of division is not in the Programme for Government. Surely the leader of the Opposition will recognise that that is a four-party Programme for Government. Also, the Opposition's plan for change did not reflect the cost of division, and it is an Opposition of just one party. We need to be realistic; we will not get everything that we need in the Programme for Government. However, our party is not a party of quitters, and we will consistently raise the issue of tackling the cost of division.”
“It is about early intervention and prevention before it is too late for many people. <BR /> <BR />In the discussion around education, we mentioned the £250,000 that is to be spent on electronic pouches for mobile phones. It is a pilot project, and surely that means that the Minister intends to roll it out to all schools at some point, wasting £25 million, in my calculation, so it is not about just £250,000. We need to get real when we talk about transformation and recognise that we need to put the money there to ensure that it is done for the long term. <BR /> <BR />There was a lot of discussion about working collaboratively across Departments to ensure that that happens. I touched on that in my speech yesterday regarding policing and its interdependence with Health. That is just one aspect, but this is across all Departments.”
“Nevertheless, that does not mean that we, as an Assembly or an Executive, should give up. Instead, we need to ensure that we do not lose our course and that we add further fuel as we hold the Government's feet to the fire on those issues. <BR /> <BR />I want to touch on the issues of health and education. The majority of Members who contributed to the debate discussed health and education, and particularly around the issue of transformation. When discussing health in particular, every debate that we have mentions Bengoa and transformation. Unfortunately, many political parties simply pay lip service to that idea, and we are well beyond that time. We need to ensure that what we do is true transformation. It is about ensuring that we use our resources in the most cost-effective way to save lives.”
“To be perfectly clear and to reiterate what many people have said, it is Alliance's view, which is shared by many others, that austerity is not about saving money. It is not necessary, nor is it about being fiscally responsible. It is a damaging, poverty-inflicting political choice, and it is that policy that has resulted in the ever-increasing budgetary pressures that currently face the Executive. <BR /> <BR />We had hoped that, perhaps, the time had come for us to move beyond those austerity measures, but, unfortunately, as we have heard recently — the Minister highlighted it — through engagements with the UK Government and the removal of the winter fuel payment from a majority of pensioners in the UK, that is not to be the case with the new Government.”
“Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I am sure that everyone will be delighted to know that I will not take the whole 10 minutes. <BR /> <BR />I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. It is important to highlight, first, that there is a recognition and consensus throughout the Chamber around moving forward and ensuring that we have the block grant that we deserve in Northern Ireland and which is overdue. It is important that we all get on the same page, and I thank everyone for contributing in such a way that we can build that consensus. <BR /> <BR />There have been a few recurring points and themes in the debate, and I want to touch on some of them before we close and move to the vote.”
“I will pick up on the review of environmental crime fines and penalties, which the Minister mentioned in previous answers. Will the review cover waste crimes so that a similar scandal does not happen in future?”