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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“At the heart of the Bill is provision for a minimum threshold for protection of workers and workers' rights. That will apply to all workers whatever their sector. There has been engagement with trade unions representing a broad range of workers.”
“<BR /> <BR />The engagement has been constructive. People come from different perspectives on some of the issues, of course, and that will be discussed with them, but I have been encouraged by the quality and the constructive nature of the conversation to date. Trade union representatives and business organisations have been in the same room discussing the issues. That will be beneficial in the longer term, when we enter the legislative process and bring the Bill through the Assembly.”
“As I said, the consultation began, in effect, before the document was issued. This is the most substantial piece of employment legislation since the Good Friday Agreement. It is playing catch-up in a lot of areas, such as protection for workers, so there has been a lot of proactive engagement to make sure that we have on the table all the issues that we need to address. We have directly met trade unions and representatives of employers and businesses from a variety of sectors. We have met various stakeholders to hear their views on the consultation in a mixture of one-to-one meetings and large events attended by multiple stakeholders. Most recently, on Friday, the Department hosted a conference with Dr Lisa Wilson and other experts in the field of employment relations from across Ireland and Britain.”
“We are certainly open to considering what is needed. The consultation is open-ended and without predetermination, so, if people feel that there are issues that the Department has not adequately addressed, on which legislation or strengthening of the process is needed, we are very happy to hear about them and, if possible, to take action where that is required. The consultation officially closes on 30 September, but we have spoken to people before and during the consultation, and we will speak to people afterwards in order to chart an approach in the time ahead. The intention is to introduce legislation by the end of next year, but, if there are particular issues that the Member wishes to raise, we are very happy to hear about them and see how they can be addressed.”
“I launched the consultation on the good jobs employment rights Bill on 1 July 2024. My officials and I have engaged with stakeholders before and during the consultation. I welcome the constructive engagement to date. The consultation covers four key aspects of a good job: terms of employment; pay and benefits; voice and representation; and work-life balance. Stakeholder responses to the consultation will help to inform the content of my Bill. I encourage everyone with an interest in that important issue to respond to the consultation before it closes on 30 September 2024. I am especially keen to hear from workers and employers with personal experience of and views on how to address the issues covered by the document.”
“We have bid for support. We presented a bid to the interim transformation board panel last week and answered its detailed questions. I understand that it will have a final feedback call with the Department of Finance tomorrow. That will include an indication of next steps. We are reassured that the panel recognises the significance of the issues on which we are committed to doing what we can to improve the lives and opportunities of young people with special educational needs and their families.”
“There is a process going on at the moment around the transformation fund that the Department of Finance is running.”
“Certainly, we want to get very quickly to a situation where we can provide practical support for young people in those circumstances and make sure that that injustice is addressed.”
“Yes, I accept that, and it is why I have tasked officials with a piece of work on the issue. It is something that, as a constituency representative, I have lobbied for over the years. It is not acceptable that, although we have a responsibility to young people going through further and higher education and to provide support, people with special educational needs are effectively abandoned at the age of 19. Through that piece of work, my officials will make recommendations on whether legislative processes are required or whether we can make improvements through other processes. We have also bid for transformation funding to support it. This mandate is short, but I am hopeful that we can make some progress in this area before the end of it.”
“This work will contribute to the Executive’s commitment to supporting young people with special educational needs, as set out in the draft Programme for Government, and it will, hopefully, be underpinned by our transformation bid.”
“My Department provides a range of support for students with learning difficulties or disabilities to transition to and participate in further education. However, I am aware that the current provision is not meeting the needs of all our young people. Therefore, I have commissioned from officials a review of the existing skills and training provision for young people with special educational needs, including legislative protections, with a view to providing advice and recommendations. <BR /> <BR />The team has participated in DE-led parent/carer stakeholder sessions, has met representative organisations, has met Alma White — who, as many of you will know, I met in June, as part of her campaign for her son Caleb — and is due to brief the all-party group on learning disability.”
“It works to identify and support people who are economically inactive to try to bring them back to the workforce. We also need to make sure that such groups, the colleges and the universities are working collaboratively to try to make the best possible impact. That will apply most in the areas where those people reside, which tend to be areas of deprivation.”
“You tend to find that the areas with the most economic inactivity and that we need to target most are the areas of highest deprivation. It can go from 25% overall economic inactivity up to 35% or 36% economic inactivity in the north-west and areas like that. That is, of course, where the focus has to be. We are in a position where a lot of the skills money that the Department for the Economy traditionally relied on was European funding, which has not been replaced. We have had to identify sources of funding to try to ensure that we provide money for skills and training support, which I did in July with £11·5 million of support. <BR /> <BR />We also have to ensure that we work closely with regional colleges, the community and voluntary sectors and with groups such as the Clanrye Group, which the Member will be familiar with in our area.”
“There are good examples that we can all work from and that other councils can work from. <BR /> <BR />We want to ensure, partly through the regional balance posts — the regional partnerships that we will bring about — that Invest NI not only supports those but supports councils and council officials to make sure that they are up to the level that we find in some councils. Some councils are not just as engaged as others, but we want to make sure that all councils are acting on the economic policy levers that they have and are very proactive in areas that they think need support. Some of that, undoubtedly, is around skills and our skills academies and making sure that we direct people towards certain sectors where employment is available for them.”
“I met all the group leaders, the chief executive and a number of officials from Belfast City Council the other week. We talked about skills, access to work and a range of areas. Belfast City Council is good at what it does in that regard. There is a model there for other councils that perhaps do not have the same resource and have not had that opportunity to develop their economic side of council policy in the way that Belfast has done.”
“We are trying to ensure that the limited resources that we have stretch as far as we can stretch them and that we make sure that we are doing actions that complement each other and do not contradict each other.”
“We are working with other Departments on a number of issues. We are working with the Department of Education to make sure that careers advice for young people is consistent across schools. We are working with other Departments to ensure that people who have special educational needs (SEN) post 19 have access to training and employment. Policy needs to be set in that regard, as there is an inequality there. We are working with the Department for Communities and the Department of Finance in relation to community wealth building, with two pilots projects in Larne and in Derry. <BR /> <BR />It is about making sure that there is collaboration across Departments, and I have to say that good cross-departmental work is happening under the Executive.”
“They generally find that people with caring responsibilities or people who have other education or health issues need most support in order to find jobs. <BR /> <BR />We have to ensure that we are consistent in that approach, that those are the areas that we target and that those are the types of people that we target. We work with the community and voluntary sector and the regional colleges, which have a strong regional presence, to make sure that we are effective in what we do.”
“We have a broad level of support for getting people into employment and trying to ensure that we have job opportunities across the board for all areas and all sectors of people. We have a good network of people who do first-level provision in the community. They work closely with all the regional colleges — we have a strong regional college presence across the North — and, in turn, they are linking with higher-level education institutions. <BR /> <BR />The Department needs to ensure that we work at all levels with people. The £11·5 million that we announced in July was to go across a range of initiatives, all of which are aimed at trying to draw people who are economically inactive into the workforce.”
“With regard to sustainable jobs, I have identified the creation of good jobs as one of my four priorities. To that end, we are focused on growing sectors that have the greatest potential to provide decent and secure employment for workers and their families. My Department is also consulting on an employment Bill that aims to improve the quality of jobs across the board. <BR /> <BR />On skills development, I announced a new skills fund of £11·5 million in July. Community-based providers, as well as the regional network of further education (FE) colleges and our higher education (HE) institutions, are key to ensuring access and inclusion for everyone.”
“We want to lift everybody up to a level where they articulate their needs and have support and resources to do that. That is intended to be the approach. I intend to launch a statement on that next week, and I will be happy to give more detail in that regard then.”
“As I said, it is a matter of trying to support the enterprise agencies to do the work that they do well. There is a range of them across the region. We have had the opportunity to meet them individually and collectively. In the time ahead, I think, the balance will shift in what Invest NI, as the primary delivery arm for the Department, does on setting targets on growth and start-ups. Those focuses perhaps did not get the attention that they deserved over many years, so I see that work as changing the balance and then changing the picture. If you ally that to the local regional partnerships that we intend to set up, that puts a much greater emphasis across all the council areas. Some council areas are strong on economic development, and some are not so strong.”
“That leads to more regional balance, because it means that people come together in their area and recognise their strength. I hope that the work that we are doing on regional balance and local regional partnerships will enhance that approach.”
“Areas such as mid-Ulster have a strong and well-organised manufacturing base and have seen the power that, collectively, they can yield. They are examples to other areas where we can get a sector together and create a cluster. We encourage the creation of clusters not just here but across the island. It gives smaller and more medium-sized businesses more economic clout and more clout in ensuring that skills pipelines are met and that they work with the skills providers to make sure that they meet the big challenge that we have for all our businesses, which is getting sufficient people with sufficient skills. The more areas are organised in that way, the more they can enhance what they already do. It is remarkable in many cases, given the size of the region and of our economy, that we have so many world leaders across different sectors.”
“First, we have to recognise, as you did, the quality of the work of those agencies. That work is vital in supporting start-ups and our small and microbusinesses to grow. As part of the regional plan that I will announce next week, Invest NI will have targets for start-ups, growth and FDI. I think that that will shift the balance somewhat. I see Enterprise NI playing an increasing role as we drive growth in that area by ensuring that the local regional partnerships are very focused on the businesses in their area and on finding the support for them to grow in the time ahead.”
“Enterprise NI is a vital part of our entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are primarily a small business economy, and the work that Enterprise NI does to support small and microbusinesses, including by delivering Go Succeed, is hugely important. Early in my tenure as Economy Minister, I met the chief executive of Enterprise NI, Michael McQuillan, and the chief executive of Mallusk Enterprise Park, Emma Garrett. I have also appointed Conor Patterson, chief executive of Newry and Mourne Co-operative and Enterprise Agency, as one of my expert advisers. My officials and I continue to engage with Enterprise NI and the local enterprise agency network about opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses across the North.”
“I thank those who contributed to the debate. I particularly thank the Chair and members of the Committee for their scrutiny of the draft order and support for it. Philip McGuigan makes important points about the support that we need to provide for people who find themselves in problem debt and about the work that charities and other organisations do in that regard. I am glad that the order is providing some level of assistance by moving us in the right direction after a gap of some time during which we should have been moving on such issues. I commend the motion to the House.”
“It will allow them to make a fresh start, free from the consequences of living under a debt burden. <BR /> <BR />The order that Members are being asked to approve has been agreed with the Committee for the Economy. In conclusion, I believe that it should now be approved by the Assembly.”
“While, to many, the fee will appear modest, it has proved a significant impediment to many individuals on a low income in seeking debt relief. I have therefore also approved the removal of the application fee from the Department's scheme, and that came into effect from 17 June 2024. That means that applications to the scheme can now be made completely free of charge. <BR /> <BR />The increases brought about by the order and the removal of the application fee will have a significant impact on the ability of those in financial difficulties to free themselves from problem debt. The order will allow more people to access my Department's debt relief scheme, in particular those on a low income with no means of repaying their debts and who are most in need of assistance.”
“Accordingly, my officials are liaising with their counterparts in that Department to make the necessary changes to the legislation. <BR /> <BR />One final amendment to the scheme relates to the application fee. Until recently, anyone applying for a debt relief order had to pay a £90 fee to the Department.”
“They are that the total amount of an individual's debts, the total value of their assets and their surplus monthly income must not exceed specified amounts. <BR /> <BR />The order increases the limit on total debt from £20,000 to £50,000, the limit on total assets from £1,000 to £2,000 and the limit on surplus monthly income from £50 to £75. There is a fourth monetary limit that is not included in the order, and that limit relates to the value of a motor car owned by an individual who is seeking to access the scheme. A vehicle for domestic use is not counted as an asset if its value does not exceed a prescribed amount. As the legislation by which that amount is prescribed is enshrined in regulations that relate to court procedure, it can be amended only by the Department of Justice.”
“Instead, application to the scheme is through an approved debt adviser working in the charitable sector. If all the eligibility conditions are met, the official receiver, who is an official in the Insolvency Service, makes a debt relief order. That order protects the individual from action by their creditors for a one-year period, at the end of which their liability to pay the debts listed in the order is fully extinguished. <BR /> <BR />The scheme is not intended for those who have accumulated substantial debt, nor is it for those who possess significant assets and could afford to make payments to the creditors. Therefore, it is important that it has clearly defined monetary limits for those who wish to access it. There are three such limits provided for in the order.”
“I seek the Assembly's approval for the draft Insolvency (Monetary Limits) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024. The order increases three of the monetary limits for access to my Department's debt relief scheme. The scheme was set up in 2011 and assists some of the most vulnerable people to obtain relief from problem debt. It is based on a similar scheme that operates in England and Wales, and it is administered by my Department's Insolvency Service in partnership with debt advice charities. It gives individuals who are burdened with relatively low levels of debt and have few assets the opportunity to obtain relief from those debts. <BR /> <BR />The scheme is not administered through the courts, as is the case for other insolvency procedures.”
“As I said, some of the students were taken at risk in last year's intake. Ulster University covered those in the hope and anticipation that the Department would provide the finances for that eventually. As I said, that, to me, demonstrates its commitment to Magee. It also demonstrates our commitment, in that we found the finances to support that and found further finances for additional students. I cannot specify exactly where the students will go, but, over the summer, we will ask the university to give us some figures on where that intake is going. A clearing process goes on over the summer for applications to other institutions: who eventually ends up where and what courses they take. We are happy to provide that information to the Member over the summer as it becomes available from Ulster University.”
“<BR /> <BR />We have limited finances, and, of course, the Executive have set themselves a priority, which is supported by the whole House, to engage on getting a proper financial arrangement with the British Government, one that recognises our level of need. Clearly, this is but one statistic that reflects a deterioration of investment in public services. It has consequences for individuals and for our economic growth.”
“I would attribute the decline to, first, financial issues. The fact is that support for universities has been reduced year-on-year, so it has been difficult to increase numbers. As I said, the level of support for students who come from households that have a low income has remained static because our budgets have been under pressure for so long. That makes university inaccessible for a lot of people, and that has a detrimental impact on our economy. It means that the number of people coming out with qualifications reduces. That is the consequence of 14 of years of austerity: rather than growing the economy, we end up shrinking the economy because we are not investing in the necessary skills and education for people.”
“I do not doubt that we have all had it brought to our constituency offices at some stage or another. A resolution will require collaborative work. Some responsibilities will fall to the Department for Communities; some to the Department of Health. We cannot allow it to be a silo issue. That would prevent us from dealing with a critical equality issue for young people. <BR /> <BR />We are very committed, and I have asked officials to look at this to see whether there are measures that can be taken in the interim and, if it requires legislation, to consider how we can progress that legislation at the earliest possible opportunity. If legislation is required, the ambition is to have it done in this mandate.”
“Like most elected representatives of any experience here, we will know of and will have met people in that situation in our constituencies. When they reach the age of 19, they are no longer the responsibility of the Department of Education or further or higher education and effectively fall off the edge of a cliff from the system, and there is little provision for them. We are committed to trying to address that. The treatment of those young people has been a problem and an inequality for far too long. If we can do anything in this institution, it should be to provide services for people who need them most. That should be our ambition. <BR /> <BR />I am committed to working to find a resolution. I had a discussion with Alma a week or two ago. I am sure that all of us are familiar with the issue.”
“There has been dialogue between the task force and Translink to make sure that the issues of the increased numbers of students and transport requirements are identified early and action is taken to address those. <BR /> <BR />There is a range of work. The group has been meeting and been proactive. It has been involving the community in its discussions. It is off to an excellent start, and we look forward to continuing to support it to get that outcome of 10,000 students at Magee.”
“The task force continues to meet regularly. I think that it met yesterday, and it will continue to meet over the summer. Some of the areas that it is looking at, I am told, include accommodation and the relationship between the university, which is expanding and will continue to expand, and the residents around it to make sure that Magee is a good neighbour. There are precedents in that regard in Belfast in how universities have interacted with local communities. There were community representatives at the last task force meeting having those discussions. <BR /> <BR />The task force is also looking at the issue of transportation for students.”
“The funding for Coleraine will come in under the UU's allocation, and the UU is committed to all of its campuses to make sure that there is continued growth. There was a specific NDNA commitment in relation to the Magee campus; it is my responsibility to lead delivery on that, but it is an Executive-wide responsibility. We want to see availability on all campuses from UU, and it has stated many times that it is committed to the continued development of the Coleraine campus.”
“Advice is being given to 14-year-olds now, but, in some cases, we do not know the types of jobs that will be available when they enter the labour market. We need to make sure that the advice is as up to date as possible and is consistent.”
“As a first area of work, the Minister of Education and I have agreed that we will task officials with making sure that not only is that advice there but that, when you get into the education sector, that advice is provided consistently. <BR /> <BR />It is important, particularly at a time when a cost-of-living crisis means that students accessing a university have the potential of taking on debt, that people are aware that a much broader range of opportunities are available to them and that a lot of those can involve working and learning at the same time and not necessarily incurring that debt. We just want to make sure that people are aware of that. <BR /> <BR />The nature of employment is clearly changing very rapidly.”
“Both Ministers have come together with our officials. We have agreed that, while the Careers Service is provided from the Department for the Economy and schools are the primary deliverer of that, we are concerned that there is inconsistency in its delivery. There is not, perhaps, consistency in making sure that young people, particularly in the 14- to 15-year-old bracket when they get careers advice, are fully aware of the range of pathways available to them in continuing their studies. <BR /> <BR />We want to make sure that that advice is consistent and is provided consistently and that the full range of information is there.”
“There is a higher rate of student support for people attending London, where living costs are high, and we want to see if something comparable could be put in place for students in Dublin. <BR /> <BR />There are a range of issues. Some work has already been undertaken. I have had dialogue with the previous Minister responsible, who is now the Taoiseach, but I have not had dialogue with the new Minister responsible, Patrick O'Donovan. We are very much intent on bringing forward that work to remove the barriers.”
“There are a number of issues where alignment and removal of barriers would be welcome. In years gone by, a significantly higher number of students were accessing universities North and South from either part of the island. Some work has been undertaken on the leaving cert and A-level equivalence that is required in respect of the award of points to secure entry, but there is more to do. There is sometimes a language requirement in relation to entry because of the nature of the leaving cert, where there is a broader range of subjects. Again, that acts as a barrier. <BR /> <BR />Information is key. We are not getting that distribution of information on both sides of the border in respect of access to university. There are obviously higher living costs in Dublin, which puts off some applicants.”
“The Member is correct that SKILL UP has been popular and accessible, and the feedback has supported that. It got the lion's share of the funding available to go into skills. We look forward to getting more detail on the number of people who will join that and the types of course. There is something like 300 courses that people can access. We are pleased to be able to continue that. <BR /> <BR />In relation to the 50 places, we have made funding available, but there is significant research that Queen's and other institutions have done on that accessibility issue. I will be happy to get feedback from the university and provide it to the Member on the numbers and the regions that it expects that intake to come from.”
“That is widely welcomed across most sections of society in the north-west, and I encourage everybody to get their shoulder behind that wheel and to drive the project forward.”
“It is our clear intention and the clear intention of the task force, which met yesterday and continues to meet regularly, to look at the entirety of the requirements to get us to the 10,000 number. We are not setting the level of recruitment at a pace year by year. That has not been the case, and it will not be the case. Our intention is to get as quickly as possible to that Executive commitment in 'New Decade, New Approach' (NDNA) of 10,000 students. The task force is working diligently to assist us in that. Ulster University is playing its part. As I said, it took students at risk. We are playing our part, in that we provided the financial cover for it to do that and to increase that again, and we will continue to do that in the time ahead.”
“That cost has now been covered by us, and it will allow for the recruitment of 500 students in total, including those who were taken in at risk. We have to be clear about that. The intention is to ramp that up. Where those students will go will depend on the clearing process over the summer. That will take place in the normal way when there is recruitment to universities.”