Conor Murphy
Newry and Armagh · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“More detailed consultations with individual childcare providers and parents are taking place this month and into February. The group agreed that the research would conclude in March 2025. The work is on schedule; there has been no delay. Childcare is an excellent example of various Departments coming together to deliver for our people.”
“The Bill looks at the issue of flexible working, but at every meeting that we have had with employers, we have made a point of talking to them about the need for them to be flexible, particularly in relation to women who are returning to the workforce, and to offer people arrangements that entice them back to the workforce and give them t…”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion. <BR /> <BR />Although the Department of Education leads on childcare, it is a priority for the Executive as a whole. When setting the Budget for this financial year, the Executive earmarked an additional £25 million for childcare.”
“As a matter of fact, I publicly launched the scheme and the courses in the Met last summer. My officials are also working with our six further education colleges to develop childcare microcourses for future delivery. <BR /> <BR />I also offered to assist Minister Givan's Department as required.”
“The group identified the need to better understand the business models for childcare, what type of support is needed to ensure the sector's financial viability and how support should be targeted. Given my Department's business expertise, we volunteered to take that work forward.”
“No tensions or obstacles have been placed in the way of any of that work, and I hope that that continues to be the case, because the issues are much more important than party political exchanges across the Chamber. We will continue to work in that manner.”
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“I understand that the Committee was anticipating the debate, but we need to ensure that that does not happen again. <BR /> <BR />Dr Aiken raised points about streamlining the Budget process and the difficulties of that. I spoke about that before taking up this post, and I am determined to assist in delivering a more streamlined, accessible and understandable Budget process. The ongoing review of the financial process will help Members and the wider public to scrutinise the Budget, the Estimates and the accounts. We intend to take forward that work in the not-too-distant future. <BR /> <BR />The Member raised a number of other points about the fiscal council and its role. He has been speaking to people who have experience of fiscal councils, and the issue of independence has been raised by the Committee.”
“I thank Members and Committee Chairs for their participation in the debate. I thank Members who supported the Budget proposals for their input, and I listened with interest to Members who spoke against them. With the last couple of Members to speak, certainly the two in the corner, I am interested to see whether, rather than simply speaking against the Budget, they vote against it. I will try to respond to as many of the points raised as possible, although multiple points were raised by all who spoke and some of those were overlapping and cross-cutting. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Chair of the Finance Committee for his contribution. He raised the question of the notice given for the debate. That was an error in the Department. The Committee was not made aware of the exact timing, and I apologise for that oversight.”
“<BR /> <BR />I look forward to the debate, and I commend the Budget to the Assembly.”
“Members will know that we have had some difficulty lending out financial transactions capital. Some £73·6 million of FTC is available this year, and it has been allocated in full in the final Budget: £38·8 million has gone to the Department for Communities for housing, and £34·7 million has gone to the Department for the Economy for business support loans. I commend those Departments for making use of that lending facility. <BR /> <BR />With a standstill Budget from Westminster, our public services will remain under pressure. However, the Executive have used their carry-over flexibility and borrowing capacity to increase investment in economic and social recovery. This is a Budget that, in difficult circumstances, progresses many of the NDNA commitments, and it will have a positive impact on workers and families.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Executive allocated a record £722·5 million capital to the Department for Infrastructure. That is 40% of the total capital and an increase of £164 million or 29% on the previous year. Over £160 million has been provided for new social housing, which is an increase of over 11% on last year. A total of £111·9 million has been committed to deliver flagship projects. The Department of Health has been provided with £32·6 million for the mother and children's hospital and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's learning and development centre. The Department for Communities has £20 million to deliver the redevelopment of Casement Park stadium. The Department for Infrastructure has £6 million to deliver the A5 project.”
“While we have used flexibilities to stretch our Budget as far as possible, the general picture remains the same on resource spending: it is a flat-cash settlement that, effectively, means reductions once increased costs and demands on services are taken into account. Ministerial colleagues will therefore need to prioritise their budgets. <BR /> <BR />The capital budget is much more positive, and that will help to stimulate economic activity as we move into the recovery phase. Between the draft Budget and the final Budget, the Executive have borrowed a further £30 million from the reinvestment and reform initiative (RRI) facility, bringing the total up to £170 million. The use of RRI will be monitored throughout the year. If it is not needed, it will not be drawn down.”
“<BR /> <BR />Those changes have enabled the Executive to make additional allocations as part of the final Budget process, including £35 million, as I said, for teachers' pay; £20 million for safe staffing in the health service; £12·3 million to recruit an additional 100 PSNI officers; £1·4 million to extend the Bright Start school-age grant scheme, which provides much-needed support in disadvantaged areas, rural communities and the schools estate, as well as the holiday grant scheme for disabled children; £0·9 million for the public service route from Derry to London; and £0·16 million for the translation hub.”
“The Secretary of State has still not confirmed the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) and confidence-and-supply money. However, in order to allow Departments to plan effectively, the Executive agreed a number of allocations as part of the final Budget process. While those are not in the Budget outcome for each Department, they are shown separately in the Budget document and will be in the Main Estimates and reflected in departmental outcomes at June monitoring.”
“The £126·9 million of COVID funding that was held at draft Budget stage to allow time to assess the changing course of the pandemic and, consequently, the needs of the Departments has been allocated in the final Budget. In addition, following negotiation, Treasury agreed that funding for COVID-19 that was provided in late 2020-21 can be carried forward into 2021-22. That equates to £238 million resource, £75 million capital DEL and £14 million financial transactions capital (FTC). That is in addition to the normal Budget exchange scheme amounts that will be made available in the June monitoring exercise. <BR /> <BR />Although that funding was confirmed by Treasury, the Secretary of State did not write to confirm it. Therefore, legally, that funding cannot be included in the final Budget outcome.”
“Funding has been provided for the Job Start programme, which will create opportunities for people aged 16 to 24 who are at risk of long-term unemployment. <BR /> <BR />Rates have been frozen for households and businesses at a cost of £230 million. The rates holiday for the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic has been extended for a further year. <BR /> <BR />I will now take Members through some of the detail. There have been four main changes since the draft Budget. Following the reassessment of all central items, £7·1 million was released and has now been allocated. Further funding of £411·9 million was announced as part of the Chancellor's Budget on 3 March. Of that, some £224 million was a consequence of additional health spending in England.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Budget also prioritises funding for children and young people, given the huge impact that COVID has had on their well-being. Education has received 18% of the resource budget and £103 million of COVID funding. That includes childcare sector support and funding for the Engage programme, which helps to address the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on learning. A further £35 million has been allocated for teachers' pay. <BR /> <BR />On social and economic recovery, the Department for the Economy's recovery plan has been funded in full. The package of almost £300 million includes £145 million for the high street voucher scheme, which will act as a stimulus in our town centres and high streets.”
“In summary, the Executive were provided with an increased capital envelope but a standstill budget in terms of resource spending. There was also a reduction in COVID funding. The Executive published their draft Budget on 18 December 2020 and initiated a short period of consultation that closed on 25 February 2021. The consultation revealed three consistent priorities: health, education and social and economic recovery from the pandemic. Despite the challenging financial position, those priorities are reflected in the Executive's final Budget. Health has been allocated nearly 50% of the resource budget and £430 million of additional COVID funding. That includes funding for Health and Social Care (HSC) workers and the roll-out of the hugely successful vaccination programme. A further £20 million has been allocated for safe staffing.”
“I discussed that with Rishi Sunak in London a couple of weeks ago, and he confirmed his intention to move to a multi-year Budget in the next spending review. I very much welcome that.”
“At the outset of today's debate, I will address the amendment to the motion. Following Executive agreement to the final Budget of 2021-22 last month, I provided both a written and an oral statement to the House. At the time of my oral statement, Members were also provided with a detailed Budget document. That document was not officially laid at the time, resulting in the amendment to today's motion, which reflects the actual date when the Budget document was laid in the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />Members will know that I had hoped for early confirmation of a multi-year Budget. That would have provided Departments with greater certainty and facilitated the longer-term planning of services; instead, on 25 November, we were provided with a single-year Budget.”
“I also beg to move the following amendment:”
“The Community Renewal Fund is, if you like, the pilot scheme for that. If it continues in that vein, it will be detrimental to projects here. I do not think that we will receive anything like the same level of support that we would have had under EU arrangements.”
“It is not so much a levelling-up fund. The expectation is that the Shared Prosperity Fund will be set against a levelling-up agenda. Most people who understand British politics will understand that the levelling-up agenda is focused largely on the north of England, where, undoubtedly, there is economic deprivation. There are significant areas of deprivation here and, I am sure, in Scotland and Wales as well. In any dialogue that I have had with the Scottish and Welsh Finance Ministers, we have all felt that the levelling-up agenda is unique to England. If projects here have to bid for support on the basis of those criteria and in competition with projects in England, it will put us at an unfair disadvantage. <BR /> <BR />The Shared Prosperity Fund prospectus has not yet been released and is expected over the summer.”
“There will also be a rates holiday for quite a lot of businesses next year, so a lot of people in retail and hospitality will have two full years without having paid rates. There is continued support for businesses, but not through the LRSS. That is obliged to stop once businesses reopen.”
“The LRSS is defined by regulations that allow money to be paid out only when businesses have been advised or instructed to close or are severely impacted and restricted. I think that everyone recognises that businesses will struggle to get back to full trading. Undoubtedly, the restrictions and guidance on social distancing and all that will be in place for some time and will have an impact on businesses. As I said, the LRSS is able to pay money only if businesses are forced to close or are severely restricted. <BR /> <BR />We have fully funded the Department for the Economy's economic support and recovery package to try to assist businesses in other ways, and, of course, measures such as the voucher scheme are coming through.”
“<BR /> <BR />There are arrangements that can be worked through with businesses, but, in relation to a backlog, I am not aware that that is now a significant issue, but I will check with the Department and if there is any further information on that, I will get back to the Member.”
“As I said in response to the previous question, the scheme was developed at a fast pace, and people have been very grateful for the support on the ground. However, where errors have been made, it is a difficult situation for businesses. LPS will work with businesses to make sure that the error is corrected. If the money has to be recouped, arrangements will be made. However, they can also offset that, so that if the person is due another payment, perhaps from the top-up scheme for those who did not get LRSS, they should be fitted in there instead, LPS will ensure that it is taken from that, rather than the business having to find the money to repay it.”
“My Department is working through that backlog as quickly as it possibly can. It is good practice anyway, but, after discussions with the Audit Office, staff were obliged to reassess as they went along, to make sure that where errors were made, they would, at a very early stage, try to recoup the money lost. Therefore, they have written to a number of businesses about that. <BR /> <BR />I am not certain that there is much of a backlog at this stage, but I can find out for the Member what payments are due and valid for people. The main question in recent times has been the attempt to recoup some of the money. As I said, it represents some 1·7% of the total, which shows a significantly high level of success.”
“<BR /> <BR />Some of them may have wrongly received LRSS but are actually entitled to some top-up, so you may find that one payment will cancel out the other. They should engage with LPS to find out whether it is the case that LRSS was wrongly applied to them, and they might be able to avail themselves of an additional scheme that will compensate for that. I advise them, in the first instance, to engage, but there has been a very small percentage of error in the scheme, which was huge and was done at a very significant pace.”
“Out of the hundreds of millions of pounds allocated over the course of that scheme, something like 1·7% was paid out in error. That it is a very high success rate for a scheme that was done quickly by an agency that is not a grant-giving agency but a revenue intake one that repurposed itself to do that. I accept that, in doing that at the pace with which it was done, it was inevitable that there were going to be some mistakes. LPS will work with people. If people feel that they are wrongly being asked to return money, they can appeal. Some of those cases have been revisited and the payments upheld. I advise them, in the first instance, to engage with LPS and appeal if they feel that they are being wrongly charged.”
“As I said, we discussed that this morning. I cannot promise anything, except that we will continue to look for where the gaps are and whether there is anything that can be done for them.”
“No matter how we devise one of these schemes, you will always find that people have fallen outside them for some reason. I had a discussion with LPS this morning, and that issue was raised in relation to that specific part of the childcare sector. It is very difficult to devise schemes to include everybody. We are now operating on a very limited amount of COVID money that is left. We have other areas, including multiples, that we have not been able to address to date, and we are trying to get support to them. We recognise that other supports have been available for some sectors as well. We are trying to take all that into account. However, I will continue to look at where we find gaps and see what we can do in the time ahead. We are coming to an end of that type of support scheme through the rates body.”
“We have been making a substantial push with the recruitment exercise that is ongoing to make sure that there is a very widespread knowledge of that, that people are encouraged to apply and that the Civil Service makes it very clear that it is an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from across society. I think that the apprenticeship scheme will be important in looking to people who come from sectors or geographical areas from which they would not have traditionally considered applying to the Civil Service and in people realising that there are opportunities for them there. Through doing that and, as I said, through changing the work practices in the Civil Service estate, we can get a much more diverse Civil Service that reflects society.”
“I hope that, over the course of all these matters coming together, we see a much greater transition in the make-up of the Civil Service — in gender, in disability and in sexual orientation — so that it is a Civil Service that truly reflects the entire society that it serves.”
“As I said, the recruitment process has just started, and it is part of a much wider programme of reform in the Civil Service. We also want to push forward with an apprenticeship scheme, which, I think, will also be beneficial. I do not have the precise figures, but I am told that most of the jobs will be located between Belfast and the north-west. That will then be complemented by the regional hubs that we are promoting, which means that people who are considering jobs in the Civil Service, particularly those jobs that are headquartered in Belfast, do not have the same consideration of having to travel five days a week from more peripheral areas around the border in and out of Belfast every day. That makes those jobs more available to them.”
“We hope that, when we get this policy agreed and endorsed by the Executive in this next short while, we will see some real change. It is a progressive policy and is starting out where it needs to start to have impact, but its ambition is to go much further over the time ahead.”
“Part of the reconstitution of the Procurement Board, even outside of legislation, was to recognise that we wanted to bring on practitioners to get the best possible policies that were well tested through dialogue on the board and also to make the approval of procurement policy an Executive matter rather than just a matter for the Department of Finance. It was previously a Department of Finance policy, and we tried to encourage other Departments, down through to their arm's-length bodies and agencies, to respond accordingly. We agreed that an Executive endorsement of procurement policy gives it a consistency through each Department, so we will expect each Minister in the Executive to ensure that something that they endorsed is followed through right down through the Department.”
“The social value measures about which I was responding to the Member for West Tyrone were in relation to procurement policy matters, which we are progressing through the Procurement Board and will then take to the Executive. I have indicated a long-standing desire to do social value legislation as well to complement and reinforce that. Obviously, with the pandemic and the emergency approach, on all of the other issues that all of the Departments were facing, a lot of our planned legislation has been kind of shunted sideways. We are trying to pick that up, and I am hopeful that we will have time left in the mandate to get social value legislation devised and through the Assembly. I think that what we are doing with procurement will have a significant impact, but I would like to see that reinforced by legislation.”
“It is up to the members to decide their approach, and we will respond accordingly then.”
“I will await the response. I have had discussion and dialogue with a number of trade unions. Some of them have been very receptive to what has been offered, while others have taken issue with it, and that is their right. They all know from my discussions with them over the year that I would like to be in a much better position in order to make a much better pay offer to them. Given what is available to us, however, we have done our very best. We also got the Executive to break with the pay-freeze policy that has been established in Westminster. The previous time that a pay freeze was introduced in Westminster, it went on for a number of years, and it took effect here as well. We have broken with that tradition, and a number of the unions recognise and appreciate that. I will wait on the outcome of the consultation.”
“The pay offer is a difficult balance between recognising civil servants for their work and managing public money carefully in the face of the most challenging economic position for many years.”
“What I can confirm is that a pay offer has been made to the recognised trade unions, and a pay bulletin was issued to all civil servants last month. It is a two-year pay offer and represents a 4·8% increase on the Civil Service pay bill over two years, at a cost of £44 million. It will make the Civil Service a living-wage employer, fulfilling the New Decade, New Approach commitment. It focuses on the lowest paid, fulfils the commitment to multi-year pay offers, where that is possible, and improves terms and conditions for staff. It is the best that can be offered in very difficult circumstances, against a flat Budget from Westminster. Importantly, the Executive agreed not to follow the pay freeze imposed for 2021 by the Westminster Government on most civil servants in England.”
“My Department is working with the National Lottery Community Fund to promote the overall purpose and to encourage new and resubmitted applications. The fund is not a programme replacement fund. Rather, it is designed to meet the gaps that traditional funding models cannot address.”
“The purpose of the dormant accounts fund is to build capacity, resilience and sustainability in the third sector. The purpose of and criteria for the fund were informed by a significant consultation and engagement process with the sector, and it has been co-designed to reflect that aspect of local needs. It includes supporting new and innovative ways of working, supporting cross-organisational working and developing the skill sets in organisations to allow them to thrive into the future. <BR /> <BR />There were 211 applications to the fund between 12 January and 30 April. The fund does not have a closing date and remains open. To date, the success rate of applications has been relatively low, because many of them received have sought replacement programme funding and not met the capacity-building requirements.”
“It is time to get beyond the noise about Brexit and the protocol, resolve any issues that arise from it in the best interests of businesses here — there are supply chain issues across the world that have nothing at all to do with Brexit that are impacting on here as well — and get on with availing ourselves of the opportunities that are presented by the situation with the protocol and our unique position between both markets.”
“I do not recall it being written on the side of the bus when it was starting on the Brexit tour that we were going to end up as net losers as a consequence of that exercise, even though, as the Member will, I am sure, recall, many of us warned of a detrimental outcome. <BR /> <BR />There are significant opportunities. There are expressions of interest from different parts of the world, given our unique position in the British markets and the European markets.”
“We will continue to press for that information and for a different approach. Ultimately, even if we maximise what is possible under the current arrangements, it will still be way short of what the Executive had under EU funding.”
“That is what I would expect the Department to do. We have not received that type of information. The functions of local government in Britain are different from those of local government here; they are much more limited. We have been told that there are three themes, but the Executive are able to express an interest in only one of those themes — transport — and the other areas of town centre renewal and arts and culture are outside of the Executive. We are happy to work with local government and to make sure that, with the limited funding that is available and our limited input to it, we can maximise whatever we can from that. We are happy to continue to engage with Departments in Britain because we have been trying to get as much information on those issues as we can for some time now.”
“It is also not new money; it is spending power that should have been given to the Executive to deliver. That approach cuts across the responsibilities of the Executive. The role that is envisaged for the Executive is to apply for a limited range of the funding and to comment on applications. The £11 million also falls far short of the amount that we would need to replace EU structural funding, by which, in past years, the Executive have benefited from some £70 million per annum. On what we know so far about those funds, Brexit will have cost the Executive a significant sum.”
“The Community Renewal Fund is the pilot for the Shared Prosperity Fund, which is intended to replace EU structural funds. I have discussed both funds extensively with Ministers from the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the NIO and from other devolved areas. I have also had frequent engagement with local government and third-sector organisations. My most recent meeting was with Michael Gove at the Cabinet Office on 12 May. Prior to that, together with the Economy and Infrastructure Ministers, I met the MHCLG and NIO Secretaries of State on 10 March. <BR /> <BR />The £11 million has not been allocated to us as the question suggests. The MHCLG plans to deliver it directly, using the Internal Market Act 2020.”
“In the early stages of reopening, people will expect some increase in economic activity, but, over the longer period, it is expected that there will be a downturn. That will mean less revenue for a lot of Departments as well. It will be a very challenging time. We are glad of the additional money that we have received, but I have no doubt that the approach of a one-year Budget that does not give us any additional cash will be very challenging for the Executive.”
“Last year, as the Member will know, we received a significant additional allocation of £3·3 billion of COVID funding, some of which we have been able to carry over. This year, however, we are struggling with a flat-cash rollover Budget, and, so far, we have received in the region of £900 million of additional COVID funding, which we allocated largely in the Budget that was announced in the last number of weeks. We are engaged in an exercise to allocate about £300 million of that so that Departments will, early in the year, have a sense of what they have to spend. <BR /> <BR />That is as much, as we have indicated, that we will get. It will be very challenging against the backdrop of an expected general economic downturn.”
“<BR /> <BR />Where some of the existing projects that were funded under EU funding schemes do not fall within PEACE PLUS or the Shared Island Fund, we will continue to engage with the Treasury, as I have been doing with my Scottish and Welsh counterparts, to establish the fact that the Executive should have a role in doing that and that spending here should be against Executive priorities and not against levelling-up priorities that are decided in Whitehall. We have a unique set of circumstances here in relation to cross-border projects, which are in two jurisdictions. We need to respect that, and we continue to engage with the Treasury on that basis.”
“It depends very much on what London intends to distribute that funding for. As the Member knows, Peace funding will continue, and we are consulting on PEACE PLUS. That takes in the old Peace funding, which is at the Peace IV stage, and INTERREG funding, which was specifically for cross-border projects, and merges them into one fund. The new fund will continue for five or six years, and there is potentially over €1 billion in that. We will, of course, continue to engage with the Government in Dublin on the Shared Island Fund, which will also be beneficial in cross-border terms.”
“However, the limited information that we have, coupled with the delivery mechanism for these replacement funds, tells us that the result is likely to be detrimental to the Executive's Budget, and, if the Shared Prosperity Fund is delivered in the same way, that detriment will be amplified in future years. <BR /> <BR />The Department for the Economy was allocated £42·5 million by the Executive in the 2020-21 January monitoring round to help to mitigate the impact of reduced income from EU structural funds in 2020-21.”
“Due to the nature of EU funds, the financial framework in which they operate and the uncertainty around replacement funding, it is difficult to quantify the loss of EU funding for 2021-22. Despite the British Government's assurance that farm payments would be funded in full, due to the approach that they have taken, DAERA projects a £14·4 million loss in farm payments for 2021-22. <BR /> <BR />The continued lack of information on the Community Renewal Fund and the Shared Prosperity Fund means that we are unable to make a complete assessment of the reduction in spending power in relation to the other funds.”