Northern Ireland Assembly, 21 January 2014

346 contributions from 61 members. The official report.

Ministerial Statements

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to update the Assembly on the outcome of the January monitoring round.

Before moving to January monitoring, I want to provide the Assembly with a short summary of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s autumn statement and, in particular, the implications for the Northern Ireland Executive Budget going forward.

The Chancellor’s 2013 autumn statement continued the recent trend of reducing resource expenditure, with Whitehall Departments being asked to find a further 1% saving in 2014-15 and 2015-16. However, the continued protection for health and education budgets in England meant that the impact on Northern Ireland was largely mitigated because those areas have full comparability under the Barnett formula.

The reallocation of resources outlined by the Chancellor then resulted in a number of Barnett additions to our resource and capital budgets in 2014-15 and 2015-16. That means that, as a result of the autumn statement, our resource expenditure will increase by £48·9 million in 2014-15 and £55·7 million in 2015-16, while our capital expenditure will increase by £7·1 million next year and £6·1 million in 2015-16. We also received additional financial transactions capital funding amounting to £3·3 million in 2014-15 and £22·3 million in 2015-16.

Members will recall that, in my statement to the Assembly on the October monitoring round, I made reference to the significant challenges facing the Executive next year in managing the significant resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL) and capital DEL overcommitments. Although the additional autumn statement Barnett consequentials are helpful, there are other significant financial pressures building up across the Departments for next year and beyond. In fact, the financial outlook is becoming ever more challenging. The latest Office for Budget Responsibility projections suggest that our resource DEL budget, in particular, will remain severely constrained until the end of the decade.

It is in this context that I am particularly concerned about the lack of progress on welfare reform. I find it simply astonishing that some in the Executive still fail to grasp the serious financial consequences involved. Not only will a continued lack of progress reduce our resource DEL budget by £15 million in this financial year but the penalty next year will be at least £60 million. Indications are that the cost to the Executive will very quickly increase to over £200 million a year. That is simply not affordable within a reducing resource DEL budget envelope. Of course, it is also money that would otherwise have been used to deliver public services for the people of Northern Ireland.

Before I go into the detail of the monitoring round, it is worth pointing out that the focus continues to be on non-ring-fenced resource items, which I will hereafter refer to as resource expenditure or resource DEL. The Executive still monitor the ring-fenced resource and administrative expenditure positions, and those are included in the tables attached to the statement.

The key strategic financial management issue for the Executive for the remainder of this financial year will be to ensure that Her Majesty's Treasury Budget exchange scheme limits are not breached at the year end. However, given the resource and capital DEL overcommitments next year, combined with the other potential pressures, we aim to maximise the funding carried forward into 2014-15.

The limits on the Budget exchange scheme amount to 0·6% of resource DEL and 1·5% of capital DEL. That, of course, excludes the Department of Justice, which is subject to separate end-of-year flexibility arrangements. The actual amounts will be finalised and agreed with Her Majesty's Treasury later this year, but they are likely to be around £51 million in resource DEL and £12 million in capital DEL. Importantly, any end-of-year underspends in excess of those amounts will be lost to Northern Ireland.

The starting point for this monitoring round was the October monitoring outcome, which concluded with a £19·4 million overcommitment of non-ring-fenced resource expenditure and £8 million with regard to capital investment.

A number of adjustments made at the centre impacted on the overall financial position in this monitoring round. I will highlight those items.

Members may recall that, after the October monitoring round, the Executive held a balance of £4·8 million resource DEL to fund spend under the social investment fund, childcare strategy and Delivering Social Change projects in this financial year. Further expenditure on those funds of £2 million meant that the remaining £2·8 million became available for allocation in this round.

As I mentioned, the Budget exchange scheme allows the Executive to carry forward and draw down end-of-year underspends up to a limit agreed with Her Majesty's Treasury. The scheme requires the devolved Administrations to adjust drawdown to the final out-turn position. It became available only recently and showed that there were additional underspends in 2012-13 at block level of £1·8 million resource DEL and £0·6 million in capital DEL. There were also additional resource DEL Barnett consequentials for 2013-14 amounting to £0·3 million, as announced in the Chancellor’s 2013 autumn statement. Those additional amounts were also made available for allocation.

The latest regional rate forecast indicated that income in this year is expected to be £0·8 million less than was anticipated at the October monitoring round. This is due to the continued difficult property market conditions and created a £0·8 million resource DEL pressure in this monitoring round.

The Executive previously set aside £5 million of resource DEL to meet the cost associated with the devolution from Westminster of powers that would allow the Assembly to set the rate of air passenger duty on long-haul flights. I am pleased to report that Her Majesty's Treasury has now agreed that the actual cost in this year will be only £2 million. The remaining £3 million was, therefore, made available for allocation.

Funding was also released to the centre for reinvestment and reform initiative (RRI) borrowing, the centrally managed EU budget and salaries for individuals working in statutory bodies. In total, that amounted to £4·6 million resource DEL and £1 million capital DEL.

All of those centre items impacted on the starting position in this monitoring round. When those were taken into account, along with the October monitoring overcommitment, the result was a reduction in the starting overcommitment to £7·8 million of resource expenditure and £6·4 million of capital investment.

That set the starting position for the January monitoring round, before departmental reduced requirements, reclassifications and internal reallocations were taken into account.

The Departments declared reduced requirements in this monitoring round of £32·6 million in resource expenditure and £34·9 million in capital investment. Full details are included in the tables provided. In that context, a particular issue that I wish to highlight is the schools and further education end-year flexibility (EYF) schemes. Starting with the schools end-year flexibility scheme, I confirm that the Department of Education has not drawn down any of the existing £46·7 million EYF stock and has also not declared any reduced requirements for school reserves this year. As a consequence, the existing schools end-year flexibility stock of £46·7 million will be carried forward into 2014-15.

Members will recall that, in the June monitoring round, the Executive agreed to establish an end-year flexibility scheme for the further education (FE) colleges. That scheme commenced this year, with an EYF stock of zero. The Department for Employment and Learning has advised that it intends to add £6 million to the FE college EYF stock in this monitoring round, resulting in a reduced requirement of that amount being surrendered to the centre. That amount will be added to the EYF stock, meaning that £6 million will be carried forward into 2014-15.

It is good practice that Departments seek to manage any emerging pressures internally before bringing forward bids for additional allocations. Although the public expenditure control framework allows Departments scope to undertake many such movements on a unilateral basis, movements across spending areas in excess of the de minimis threshold are subject to Executive approval. In some instances, Departments have also sought permission to move allocations across spending areas to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for a particular function from one business area to another. The internal reallocations agreed by the Executive in this monitoring round are included in the tables. The Executive also agreed a number of reclassifications between the resource and capital categories in this round. There were also reclassifications between the ring-fenced and non-ring-fenced resource DEL categories. Those reclassifications are also shown in the tables.

Before I move on to the allocations made in this round, I have to return to the welfare reform issue. As I have said, I am hugely disappointed that no progress has been made on that issue. As a result, the Executive had no option but to set aside £15 million to cover the cost of financial penalties for the remaining three months of this financial year. This, in effect, as one Executive colleague described it, is dead money returning to the Treasury, which is unable to be spent on services that benefit our citizens. Those who resist the inevitability of welfare reform can answer for why our health budget, our roads budget or our schools budget have to lose out this year, and potentially next year too.

All the above issues impacted on the amount — [Interruption.] Maybe that is a resolution on welfare reform coming through. I might have known.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Order, Members. I ask all Members to please check their mobile phones.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

It is not as bad as £5 million leaving.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

That is right. It is not the worst crime.

All the above issues impacted on the amount of resources available to the Executive in this monitoring round. Taking into account the starting position, the reduced requirements, reclassifications and welfare reform penalties resulted in £13 million of resource expenditure and £26·9 million capital investment resources being available to the Executive.

Against the available resources, the Departments submitted bids amounting to £98 million for resource expenditure and £26·6 million for capital expenditure. The bids are detailed in the tables. The Executive agreed allocations totalling £37·9 million in resource expenditure and £26·6 million in capital investment. Those allocations are detailed in the tables, and I will highlight just a few of the main ones.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety will receive an allocation of £30 million towards key healthcare pressures. Although there are further significant pressures in our healthcare system this year, I have made it clear to the Health Minister that I expect his Department to contain the remaining costs. That said, the £30 million will help to alleviate the significant front line pressures that have emerged across the health and social care system during 2013-14. It will play a critical role in addressing a range of pressures on the front line services that affect the most vulnerable in our society, including patients, looked-after children and the elderly population. It will also directly benefit a large number of patients and other service users.

The Department for Regional Development was allocated £23·8 million, which will go mainly towards improving and maintaining our road network, with some funding also going towards improvements to local bus stations. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will receive an allocation of £3 million for expenditure disallowed under the common agricultural policy. Furthermore, the Executive agreed to provide a further £3·3 million for the rural development programme. The Department for Social Development (DSD) will also receive an allocation of £2·5 million for urban regeneration schemes.

I would also like to update Members on the position in relation to ring-fenced financial transactions capital funding. Members will recall that this funding can only be used for the purpose of providing loans or equity investment to the private sector. Following the October monitoring round, some £20·9 million of financial transactions capital remained unallocated. However, due to delay in the implementation of the agrifood loan scheme, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment surrendered £10 million in this round. My officials have been working closely with Departments to identify schemes that could use this type of funding. As a result of this work, I am pleased to announce that the Executive agreed to provide £35 million of financial transactions capital funding to the University of Ulster to assist in financing its greater Belfast development scheme. £25 million of this funding will be provided in this year, with a further £10 million to be provided in 2014-15. This loan funding is, of course, repayable, but the university benefited from a zero rate of interest and, in return, agreed to provide the Executive with £7 million from its accumulated reserves. This will be an extra benefit to the Executive in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

This is exactly the sort of infrastructure project that Northern Ireland needs, not just to improve higher education provision and regeneration of that part of Belfast city centre, but to provide a much-needed boost to our construction sector. This funding demonstrates the Executive’s commitment to the University of Ulster scheme, which hopes to receive significant financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The University of Ulster relocation will bring huge regeneration benefits to that area of Belfast, and I am pleased that the Executive agreed to play their part. I also thank the Employment and Learning Minister and his officials, and, indeed, the University of Ulster, for their part in taking this forward.

Following this allocation, £5·9 million of ring-fenced financial transactions capital funding remains unallocated. Members should note that I, along with Finance Ministers from the other devolved Administrations, recently negotiated a scheme with Her Majesty's Treasury that will allow us to carry forward up to 20% of financial transactions capital funding into 2014-15 and 10% into 2015-16. The Executive will now carry forward the remaining balance of £5·9 million under this scheme, which of course means that no financial transactions funding will be lost to Northern Ireland this year.

The Executive exit the January monitoring round with an overcommitment of £24·8 million of resource expenditure, while £0·3 million of capital investment remains unallocated. I believe that this level of resource expenditure overcommitment is perfectly manageable. I intend to closely monitor the financial position across Departments over the remaining months of this year to ensure that the carry-forward of funding under the Budget exchange scheme is maximised and that no funding is lost to Northern Ireland. Executive colleagues have agreed to cooperate fully in this task.

The Executive have shown that they can deliver on cross-departmental working, as evidenced in the financial transactions capital deal struck with the University of Ulster. We have shown that we can deliver on innovative proposals and, with public expenditure in Northern Ireland under pressure in future years, it is in that spirit that I wish to move forward on all areas of Executive business.

I commend this statement to the Assembly.

Daithí McKay (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. It is my party's view that the £15 million welfare reform money that the Minister referred to is not dead money. That £15 million is still in the pockets of many low-income people on working household budgets. It is more likely to be spent in the local economy through retail and other areas. That £15 million is not dead money; it is money that is quite important to the local economy.

As to the Committee's concerns about the moneys being returned and allocated, once again we find that £30 million has been given to the Department of Health. Although we are all sympathetic with the Department of Health and the needs of our communities and patients in the system, it is quite clear that the Department of Finance here is pumping huge amounts of money into Health with each monitoring round. Is it the case that the Department of Health and its Minister are not managing their budget correctly? Will the Department of Finance continue to prop up the Department of Health through these interventions in 2014?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Chair for his question. I want to begin by saying that he is wrong about welfare reform, and I think that everybody in the House, apart from the colleagues sitting around him, know that he is wrong about welfare reform. Whether we proceeded with the Bill or not, the £15 million the Member is talking about would not have been taken out of the pockets of any recipient of welfare in Northern Ireland. Work continues, and I have to commend my colleague the Minister for Social Development for the sterling work that he has done in negotiations with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop a package of measures that I believe will ameliorate the worst effects of welfare reform in Northern Ireland. It will ameliorate it in a way that will be the envy of anyone in England, and certainly, from my discussions with the finance Ministers in Scotland and Wales, I know that it is something that they are incredibly jealous of.

If we had not made provision for that £15 million, which will be £60 million next year and will rise very rapidly to over £200 million, we would have denied that money to some of the very same people whom the Member stands and tries to speak fondly about. By taking £15 million away this year from expenditure that we could put into health, education and other areas of DSD, we would have denied some of the very same vulnerable people key services that they require from day to day.

When the Member and his colleagues deny the inevitability of moving forward on welfare reform, which will be based on a package of measures that will take away some of the worst effects that people in Northern Ireland will suffer as a result of welfare reform, let him think about the effects that he will have — not in the future but right now — on vulnerable people in Northern Ireland. Denying that £15 million of expenditure in the remainder of this year, £60 million next year and £200 million thereafter will have a very serious effect on vulnerable people in Northern Ireland.

I am not sure whether the Member supported the allocation of some £30 million to the Department of Health. I would have thought that most Members think that it is a positive thing to give that money to a health service that is under constant pressure and is always looking for resources to do the sorts of things that it can do. I would have thought that that would be universally welcomed in the House.

I accept that, along with the Department of Justice, the Minister of Health should not be bidding for resources. However, when he faces the sort of pressures he does, I think that it is only right that he brings those to the attention of the Executive, if not to get additional resources, which, in this case, he has, then at least, as we head towards a new spending round in 2015-16 and beyond, to make the Executive aware of the pressures that he is under. I am happy to recommend to the Executive and gain agreement on an allocation of £30 million to the Health Minister, not just because of the good work that that will be able to do in relieving some of those pressures towards the end of this year but because I know that his intentions are good. He has shown that his intentions are good through the £700 million that he has taken out of the system in waste and administration costs, and, through Transforming Your Care, he has outlined a future for the health service that will ensure that, although we still provide the highest level of service, it will not cost as much in the future as it has in the past.

Paul Girvan (DUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his statement. Some elements of it are welcome. Is the Minister confident that all financial transaction capital funding will be spent? I am aware that some moneys can slip, and I want to make sure that it hits the ground and is spent before it has to be redeemed or handed back.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. In asking about financial transaction capital funding, he highlights something that, on one hand, will pose a rising benefit to the Executive but, on the other, will pose an increasing challenge.

It is very clear that the Treasury wants to increase the element of capital expenditure that it gives to us through the block grant. That is a good thing, but it will do that through financial transactions capital funding, which will pose us some difficulties, as it will require us to work directly with the private sector and give it a loan or an equity share of projects. I think that that is positive in that it will see the public sector work with the private sector and that is to be encouraged. However, it has been something of a culture shock to many that we now have to think proactively about bringing forward those projects.

At the start and certainly back in June or July when I took up my post — I am sure that my predecessor will agree with this — I have to admit that we were somewhat concerned that we might not be able to spend all the money in this year because of the need to develop schemes.

Thankfully, we have negotiated an arrangement with Treasury whereby we can carry forward 20% of expenditure this year. That is roughly £8 million, and we can carry forward £10 million next year, which is a higher total. It is around £60 million next year, so that is about £6 million that we can carry forward next year. I hope that next year we will be able to develop some more projects that will absorb all that expenditure. The answer to the Member's question is that I think that we will spend it all. More importantly, none of it will be lost, but there is still a challenge for Departments to come forward with innovative projects that can absorb that expenditure. I also have to say that there is a challenge to the private sector to come forward with some ideas as well.

Dominic Bradley (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle, agus gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a ráitis.

I thank the Minister for his statement. Referring to the reduced requirements in table A on page 14, we see that the figure against legal cases is £2·1 million. Officials told the Committee a short time ago that that figure would be £1·9 million. Will the Minister give us the detail that lies behind that figure?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I cannot at this stage. I am happy to respond in writing to the Member, and I will, in fact, even copy the response to the Committee. I am not sure exactly what legal costs he refers to, but, rather than give him a half-baked answer, I will correspond with him and give him as full an answer as I can.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

It is good to see the statement this morning; it is very helpful. It is also good to see the centre and the moneys that are in it referred to, because that was a cloudy issue for a long time. Minister, you touched on financial transactions capital. I see from your report that £3·3 million additional moneys are coming in for 2014-15 and £22·3 million for 2015-16. We are carrying forward £5·9 million, presumably into 2014-15. How much will that actually be for 2015-16?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

It is just shy of £130 million; I think that it is now about £127 million for 2015-16. That emphasises the point that I was making to Mr Girvan, which is that this is quite rapidly ramping up as an element of our capital expenditure. The slower lead-in, where we have had roughly £40 million this year and slightly more than £60 million now with some changes that the Member pointed out for next year, kind of eases us into this mentality where we have to think about what sort of projects we can bring forward. Next year will be a bit more challenging again, given that there is a slight increase. However, the Member is right to highlight the fact that 2015-16, as we stand at the minute looking at it, will be a challenge with financial transaction capital. However, we have that intervening period in which to devise schemes, and I have been quite encouraged by how, all of a sudden, many Departments have started to get the potential of this. We have made some progress, as I said, on the agrifood loan scheme, which, I think, will absorb a significant amount of money next year and into the future. The University of Ulster scheme is taking not just a sizeable chunk this year but £10 million next year. I am actively working with Executive colleagues to devise other schemes, including some that are in the transport sector that I am looking at with the Member's party colleague the Minister for Regional Development.

(Mr Principal Deputy Speaker [Mr Mitchel McLaughlin] in the Chair)

Lots of ideas and thoughts are coming forward. We need to spend the next number of months working those up into viable propositions. We can then start to take them forward so that they can absorb some of that money in future years.

Judith Cochrane (Alliance, Belfast East)

I thank the Minister for his statement. Much has been said about the welfare reform fines, and I wonder whether the Minister can say a bit more about which budget lines will be affected by the need to find that money. Can he also comment on the concerning fact that, once again, the Housing Executive has given up another £17 million of its maintenance budget? In this full year, that now amounts to almost 50% of that budget, which surely is an area where we could really help our most vulnerable.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

The Member is right to point out the work in reverse and the concern with the Housing Executive not spending all its allocation on maintenance. It is disappointing that that money, which was earmarked specifically for that purpose at the start of the year, has not been spent in that area. That is where we wanted it to be spent, where it should have been spent and where it needed to be spent. It is unfortunate that it was not able to be spent on that. There are very good reasons around the procurement of contracts and ensuring that we got the right value for contracts, as well as ensuring that the Minister was not paying above the odds for some of the work that he wanted to see done in the Housing Executive's estate. In that sense, I am glad that we did not proceed, because we would have had a different problem in the future, which would have been people asking, "Why did you spend x amount more on this than you should have?". I am also grateful that he has consistently surrendered that money throughout the financial year in a timely way to allow us to reallocate it to other priorities. Other Departments will be the beneficiary of his sensible financial management in the Department for Social Development.

In respect of welfare reform — I dare say that this may not be the last time that it is raised today — it is not a matter of this, that or another Department having lost out. The Executive as a whole have lost out. As a consequence, Northern Ireland as a country has lost out, and our people, including the vulnerable people who may be most in receipt of social security, will lose out. Some of the pressures that were not met in the bids in this monitoring round include the likes of Health, which has vulnerable people in need of additional healthcare. There are severe pressures even in the Department of Justice, the Member's party colleague's Department. This will get only worse because, in the public expenditure landscape, we see not only pressures in our own budgets but pressure coming from Westminster in the allocations that it gives us. It is on the resource side, where this money is coming from, that the biggest pressures are, so I am deeply concerned. It is regrettable, to say the least, that we have had to make this provision now. It would be shameful if we had to do the same for £60 million next year. When we get into the scale of £200 million in future years, that is unthinkable.

Peter Weir (DUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his statement. Despite the bad and not unexpected news around the welfare fines, it contains a lot of positive elements. Identified in the statement are the levels of unfunded pressures along with levels of overcommitment. Is there any concern, in light of the levels of those two elements, that we risk any breach of Treasury controls?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Unthinkable as it would be to make provision for £200 million, it would be unthinkable that we would breach Treasury control totals. That is certainly not something that I want to do in my first year in control of Northern Ireland's Budget.

Exiting the monitoring round with pressures of £24·8 million on the resource side and around £0·3 million on the capital side is manageable at this time of year if we look at historical patterns in our public expenditure. The Member is right to highlight the unfunded pressures that are emerging. We will allocate resources to Departments at the start of the year, but pressures just emerge or sometimes we can see them looming on the horizon.

In the context of the Chancellor's remarks in the past fortnight when he expressed his belief that the UK Budget required a further £25 billion in cuts and the effect that that would have on Northern Ireland, it is important that Departments start to think now about how they can continue to reform the services that they provide so that we still get the same high quality of service, protect the most vulnerable and encourage the growth of our economy but do so in new, innovative and creative ways, so that we get more for less. The picture that we face moving forward is that we will be under serious pressure on the resource side and there will be emerging unfunded pressures in future years, as there have been in the past.

Michaela Boyle (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his statement. A significant increase in capital funding is being surrendered this year compared with last year, and a large chunk of that is from the Helm Housing grant repayment of £8·1 million. Given that DSD faces significant pressures on social housing right across the district, can the Minister give me any further clarification of why that crucial money was returned rather than spent on social housing?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I think that there was a particular issue with the repayment of a housing association grant for advanced land purchase in the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure's constituency, so she probably has better detail on the local aspects of that than I do. These situations arise from time to time where there is a requirement to surrender money. It is unfortunate that the projects that the money was earmarked for have not gone ahead. However, it is good that the Minister was able to relinquish it early. I would rather have got it earlier in the year, but it is better to get it now than to face the situation where that crystallises closer to year end and there is an inability to do anything with the money.

It is not as if we are sitting with lots of unallocated capital funding either. We have been able to put the money that the Minister for Social Development relinquished to good use elsewhere, including the roads budget. From time to time, circumstances like this arise in which Departments have to relinquish some of their capital money. In fact, even the Minister of Culture had to relinquish £4·5 million for the stadia issue. That was through no fault of hers; it was because of legal challenges and planning issues. So, from time to time, these issues materialise, where a good project is progressing but perhaps a little more slowly than we would want it to, and it is far better that Ministers, like the Minister of Culture and the Minister for Social Development, relinquish money early so that we can spend it elsewhere on other beneficial projects.

Adrian McQuillan (DUP, East Londonderry)

I, too, thank the Minister for his statement. How beneficial will the allocations be to our construction sector?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

The allocations that we have made in this monitoring round will be extremely beneficial to and continue to assist the sector, which has suffered very badly in the downturn. Pre-Christmas, I was encouraged by indications from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that its analysis of the work of that sector in Northern Ireland suggested that it was coming out of recession and, in fact, may even be out of its recession. That has to be weighed against the news of the likes of Mivan going into administration in the last week or so. It is a sector that is still very finely balanced. We as an Executive cannot take our concentration away from doing what we can, within our available resources, to assist the construction sector, which has suffered so heavily during the downturn.

On specific projects, the allocation of over £20 million to the roads budget will greatly assist aspects and areas of the construction sector, as will the very sizeable allocation to the University of Ulster's Belfast campus. That project was going ahead already, but it is a sign of our commitment not just to the project itself but to that type of project and to projects that are very labour-intensive on the construction side that we have decided to use £35 million worth of financial transactions capital to underpin the scheme.

Fearghal McKinney (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister. I refer to the £30 million heath allocation. The Minister referred to "key healthcare pressures" and went on to talk about children, the vulnerable and the elderly. Against the growing narrative of pressures in accident and emergency, which we believe amount to a crisis in the health service, how are his comments consistent with the fact that £20 million of the £30 million is for clinical negligence cases? Is that not, in fact, a health service failings scandal and a waste of public money?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Let me just correct the Member on the issue of clinical negligence: bids of £65 million that were put forward by the Minister of Health included £20 million for clinical negligence as a pressure. The Health Minister will be able to give the Member finer detail than I will be able to, but I understand that the origins of the pressures are that the courts are starting to move through settling and deciding on those cases much more quickly than they did in the past. In fact, I understand that the courts were picking up on a recommendation made by the Public Accounts Committee, of which the Member's colleague is the Deputy Chair, to settle cases as quickly as possible. Therefore, although that is not an unforeseen pressure, it is a pressure that has materialised much more quickly than was previously expected.

If the Member cares to look at the way in which the statement has been crafted and at what that money has been allocated to, he will see that it is £30 million for pressures in the health service. I have had discussions with the Health Minister, and he has assured me that the money will go primarily to front line pressures, the likes of which the Member has spoken about; to other pressures in the care system; and to pressures in looking after the elderly. The front line is where I expect the money to go, and that is where Executive colleagues agreed for it to go. However, that is not to say that the Minister does not face other pressures, including clinical negligence pressures. The Member can dismiss them, but they are a legal reality and have to be dealt with because of past mistakes.

Mike Nesbitt (UUP, Strangford)

I thank the Minister for his statement. In it, we see a reduced capital expenditure requirement of £3·5 million against the Maze/Long Kesh Development Corporation. I am interested in hearing the Minister's understanding of what is and what is not happening at the Maze site and the reasons why.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

What goes on or does not go on at the Maze site is not a direct responsibility of my Department. I have to deal, as I have in this set of circumstances, with the reality of no progress on particular projects on that site. That question is better put to those who are responsible, namely the First Minister and the deputy First Minister. It is unfortunate that we are not able to progress the full potential of the development of that site. I appreciate that there are huge sensitivities around certain aspects of the development of that site and I share those sensitivities, but I am sure that the Member will agree that, beyond one particular project earmarked for that site, there is huge economic and social benefit for Northern Ireland. I want that to be progressed as a matter of urgency because, like the University of Ulster's Belfast campus, there is huge regenerative potential and huge economic benefit from the site. I want to see progress on that, and I do not see why, if we cannot move on one aspect, that means that we cannot move on the important redevelopment and economic aspects that have the potential, I understand, to create around 5,000 jobs for Northern Ireland.

Ian McCrea (DUP, Mid Ulster)

I am sure that the Minister, like me, will be somewhat surprised that the official opposition are not in their place to question his statement. Nonetheless, I am sure that he will not lose any sleep over it.

The Minister will have heard the Chair of the Committee's lame excuse for its opposition to welfare reform, but can the Minister outline when the £15 million will be paid out by the Executive for not proceeding with welfare reform?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

The Member referred to them as the official opposition; I would not refer to them in such grand terms. I understand that one member of the party that he refers to is off today because his wife has given birth. I do not know whether that accounts for where Mr McCrea is, but I am sure he is offering his congratulations in some way or another.

I will move quickly on to welfare reform. The Member rightly identified that the defence put forward by those who are denying progress on welfare reform is pretty feeble, and I do not think that there is a sound and robust argument coming back on why they think that it is a good thing that Northern Ireland's budget has lost £15 million this year and will lose £60 million next year and £200 million beyond that. It is not a matter of talking about when we will lose it; through January monitoring, we are making provision for £15 million because we fully expect that £15 million will be taken out of our Budget when we finalise the accounts at the end of the year, around August. Treasury does not withdraw money from your account or anything like that, nor does it not send the money over. Treasury will correct it all at the year end. However, the prudent and sensible thing to do is to make provision for that now.

The effects of not moving forward on welfare reform are starting to hit the people of Northern Ireland. Up to now, it was just seen by some as being a threat that was never going to materialise. Let me say to the Member and to the House that it is no longer a threat; it is a reality. We are starting to see that money is coming out of our budget, and that is affecting our ability to deliver key services to vulnerable people in Northern Ireland. That figure will ramp up and ramp up and, therefore, the effect on vulnerable people will ramp up and ramp up as we move into future years.

It is indefensible that we are losing that money when we have not moved forward on something that we know we have to do. It is not as though everybody in the House thinks that welfare reform is a wonderful and great thing. If we had had a blank sheet of paper, we would not have come forward with the proposals that the Government came forward with. However, we all know that we have to move forward on it. We have, through the good offices of the Minister for Social Development, negotiated a package of measures that will take away the worst effects for people in Northern Ireland. My party and, I think, other parties are content to sign up to that. In circumstances where that package of measures is in place and, at the same time, where £15 million this year, £60 million next year and £200 million in years beyond will come out of our budget, it is up to others to defend why they are not moving forward on welfare reform.

Jimmy Spratt (DUP, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister for his statement. As Chair of the Committee for Regional Development, I welcome the £23·8 million for mainly road improvement schemes. There appears to be a significant reduced requirement from the DRD for roads.

Can he give the House an explanation for the reduction?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. I am pleased to be able to allocate, with Executive support, over £20 million to the roads budget, particularly for structural maintenance, road patching, and so forth. As the Chairperson of the Committee for Regional Development, the Member will know that DRD is very good at spending those sorts of volumes of money at year end to improve the road network across Northern Ireland.

The reduced expenditure that the Member highlighted is another example, as Ms Boyle pointed out, of reduced requirements on the capital side, but this is another example of a good thing. There are two tranches: £2·3 million for the A2 and £8·9 million for the A8 and the Coleraine to Londonderry railway line. We were able to get money for the A2 from the EU sustainable competitiveness programme, and we got money for the A8 and the Coleraine to Londonderry line through the EU Trans-European Transport Network scheme. That money came to Northern Ireland from the European budget, which meant that we could release the money that we had granted to both schemes as an Executive and spend it on other capital projects. Although it may appear in the tables in the report as a negative, because we do not want Departments to give up money that was earmarked for certain projects, in these cases, it is a good thing for Northern Ireland.

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

I thank the Minister for his statement. He will have heard me cry "shame" when he said that £15 million had to be handed back. It is a crying shame and a disgrace that people who desperately need that funding will be deprived simply because Members will not get their heads together and realise that welfare reform will come about whether we like it or not, and people will be denied that funding.

I want to ask the Minister about the £30 million that will be allocated to the Health Department. Why has he left it open to the Health Minister to distribute that allocation as he sees fit as opposed to other allocations that are made for specific purposes? I am thinking particularly about children's services. I got an email this morning, as would indeed the Minister because he represents Ballynahinch and Newcastle, stating that Home-Start is on its knees and is going to close. This is about children's services. The email mentions £5 million for children's services, but how can we guarantee that that £5 million will go to children's services in places such as Newcastle and Ballynahinch or other areas where Home-Start is on its knees and on the way out?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his series of questions. He was absolutely right to shout "shame" when I revealed the extent of the penalties that we will face as a result of not moving forward on welfare reform. I have worked with the Member in the constituency for a number of years and, previously, as a councillor. Throughout that time, no matter what political disagreements he and I might have had from time to time, I have known him as somebody who stood up, in particular, for the most vulnerable people in our society, especially in the Strangford constituency. With his track record in doing that, he has realised and highlighted the fact that, although we know that welfare reform is not all good news, and there are bad elements to it, we face a reality here that we will have to deal with.

He and I know that we will lose £15 million this year, £60 million next year and then £200 million. It is worth emphasising that we have now started on this conveyor belt towards £200 million of resource budget, which goes to the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland, whether it be through the Health Department, DSD or whatever. That will have a seriously detrimental effect on his constituents, my constituents and the constituents of every Member.

If we were to give £300 million to the health budget, we would be able to spend it. However, I think the Member will agree that, in the very tight financial circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is good to be able to find £30 million to give to the health budget to relieve some of the pressures that it faces. I said that I expect the Health Minister to continue to manage the pressures in his budget proactively and aggressively. I want him to bear down and hollow out the pressures as best he possibly can. The allocation is not earmarked because many of the pressures, as the Member will know, are continually evolving. Mr McKinney, for example, raised A&E pressures, which we have seen very graphically, and there are other pressures that go up and go down. The Member mentioned child services, and there is a range of pressures in that area. I understand, from talking to the Health Minister, that many of them are coming from inquiries into what the likes of Jimmy Savile and other individuals have done. More people are coming forward and that is putting pressure — a good pressure — on that budget.

On the specifics of Home-Start, our Member of Parliament Mr Shannon has been in correspondence with me on its behalf, and I replied agreeing to have a meeting with him. I do not have responsibility for what it does, but I have an interest in what it does, and I am content to meet representatives of the organisation as a whole. It is maybe unfair to single out Home-Start, but I think that organisations such as that do a lot of good work, not just in delivering services here and now but in preventing other areas of government in Northern Ireland having pressures on their expenditure in the longer term, whether that is justice, social development or whatever it might be.

Tom Buchanan (DUP, West Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for his statement. I welcome the investment in the Belfast campus of the University of Ulster to assist in the financing of its development scheme. Can the Minister give us any indication of when that work is likely to start on the new campus? Is a date set for its completion?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Even though we are funding the project through the financial transactions capital allocation that I announced today, it is not a project that we manage. That is the nature of financial transactions capital: it is money that goes from the Executive to people in the private sector. In this case, it is the University of Ulster, and it is managing the project. There is an interest from the Department for Employment and Learning, and I know that the Member sits on the Employment and Learning Committee. In addition to what we are giving in the shape of a loan of £35 million over the next two years, I understand that that Department has given a capital grant of £16 million. One of the conditions of that is that twice-yearly progress reports have to be produced by the university so that the Department for Employment and Learning gets appropriate oversight.

I understand that preliminary work has already started on site. Those driving past it will see cranes on the horizon and that some buildings have been demolished to prepare for the more substantive work. I understand that it is the intention of the university to complete the work by March 2018, the idea being to start moving the first tranche of students onto the site in the academic year beginning in September 2018.

Joe Byrne (Social Democratic and Labour Party, West Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for his statement. I am glad that he is here in person and not down at the High Court indulging in that ministerial squabble.

On the DARD issue, will the Minister explain what the £3 million reallocated due to the CAP disallowances from Europe is for? I also note the Omagh hospital reallocation of £3·2 million to the fire station, which is welcome, but may we seek an assurance that the Omagh hospital will not be unduly delayed?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

That is more a matter for the Minister of Health as his Department's centre of procurement expertise will deal with the specifics of taking that forward. I am glad that this is another example where, even though a particular project cannot move forward, we have been able to reclassify the money for another worthy project in the west Tyrone area.

As the Member will know, the CAP disallowances are a pressure that we have been facing for some considerable number of years. The amount going back to the European Union because of disallowance was incredibly high. Considerable effort has been put in by officials from Land and Property Services to better map Northern Ireland so that the disallowance is minimised in years to come. It is incredibly difficult to get a complete handle on that, but I am confident and have been assured that the work that we have invested in getting better mapping is paying off and that the amount of disallowance is dropping as a result.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

I, too, thank the Minister for his statement and the additional £30 million for the health service. However, the health bid submitted to the Health Committee was for £67 million, and it included £43 million for inescapable pressures: clinical negligence, children's services, quality and safety of services, unscheduled pressures and winter pressures. Does the Minister believe that, given this time of peak winter demand, with the trusts already in deficit, it will be possible for them to balance their budget without affecting front line services or extending waiting lists?

Does he accept that the comment using the word "obscene" made by the First Minister towards the then Health Minister in 2011 seems more and more out of touch with what others are finding as they operate as Health Minister?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Let us set the context of this. The Member's party colleague the then Health Minister got one of if not the most generous allocations of all Ministers in the previous Budget. The Member will remember the context of the Budget that we faced back in 2011. That was the time when the Member's party was still running around with the Conservatives, which was the party that was slashing away at the Budget. That meant that we faced the pressure —

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Protecting health services.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

The Member said "protecting health services" but, as he full well knows, we got the Budget envelope that we got. We received a considerably reduced Budget, yet, even out of that overall reduced total, we still gave a considerably more generous allocation to the Health Department than any other Department in Northern Ireland. Following that, since the current Minister took over from the Member's party colleague, he has aggressively cut away at the waste and mismanagement that was still in the system when his party colleague was responsible for health.

The previous Health Minister turned a completely blind eye to the waste and inefficiency that was in the system, to the extent where the current Minister has reduced costs by £700 million. Let us think about the consequences of the fact that £700 million of costs have been reduced from the Health budget. The mapping out of a vision for the future of the health service through Transforming Your Care has given us a road map to a health service that will be better for the people of Northern Ireland and which will deliver more for the same amount of money than in the past.

It is a fact and a reality that the Health budget will always face pressures, because things sometimes come from nowhere. The Member will be aware of that from his constituency work and, indeed, from what we have seen in the news in the past number of weeks. I am glad that, even under the current budgetary pressures, we have been able to release some £30 million for the Health Minister to deal with the pressures that he is facing in the way that he sees best.

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim)

The Minister is quite right to set aside £15 million this year for the consequences of the head-in-the-sand economic policy that is being followed by Sinn Féin. I notice the silence of the SDLP on that issue as well, and I think that it is a bit ironic that we got £49 million in the autumn statement and then volunteer to hand over £60 million. I have to say that that will not be lost on the Treasury, where there are some people who think that we have too much money already.

I want to ask the Minister about the return of the money from the Housing Executive for the window maintenance contracts. The Minister for Social Development has done an excellent job in getting the price of those contracts down by 21·7%, although he has been criticised and is now subject to a political inquiry for doing it. Can the Finance Minister give us an assurance that, although the money has been handed back this year, the price-cutting, value-saving, resource-saving contracts that have been negotiated as a result of the work that the Minister for Social Development has done will be financed in the 2014-15 year?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. As I said in response to a couple of other questions, sometimes, as the Member will know better than most, reduced requirements appear in the tables that accompany the statement, which are automatically seen by others as negative. Sometimes, there can be a negative reason for that but, in this case, it is a positive thing. Our colleague the Minister for Social Development has seriously drilled down on the price of the contract and, if he had followed advice, he would have let the contract at inflated prices of a fifth more, and we would have spent all the expenditure allocated this year. The taxpayer and the ratepayer in Northern Ireland would have been the worse off for that. In the longer term, we can use those savings to spend on other services, as we have done this year.

It would be wrong if, after having been so sensible and prudent, the Minister for Social Development were to suffer in some way in his budget. Of course, we must never lose sight of the fact that, while he has been negotiating reduced prices for those contracts, people who have required the service of those windows and the maintenance of their properties have been missing out. There are still people who are in need, and we need to ensure that, with the money that the Minister for Social Development has saved, we serve those people as best we can in future years.

Paul Givan (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I commend the Minister for finding the money, in a very difficult financial environment, to allocate £30 million to the Health Department. However, I think that the public will focus on the issue that, due to the failure of others in the House to take tough decisions and act as responsible people in government, they are being penalised and deprived of £15 million in key services that will now have to be returned to the Treasury.

Look at the Department of Justice. The Minister will know that, outside Health, it is the other Department that faces significant financial pressure. The Prison Service exit scheme, which, as the Minister will be aware, is an invest-to-save programme, has released upwards of 500 officers. There are now fewer than 30 individuals remaining. Behind those individuals are families who are ready to move on. Those individuals have been told that they will be allowed to leave, but the money still has not been found. Looking into the next financial year, will the Department of Justice be able to meet that commitment to allow that programme to complete?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. He will know better than most, through his role as Chair of the Justice Committee, the extent of pressures that the overall justice budget is under. I can say on that front that the Minister of Justice and I have begun engagement on those pressures, principally around the police budget. There are obviously other pressures in the justice family as well. We are having engagement to hollow out the full extent of those pressures and, indeed, whether there is scope for further efficiencies and savings in the justice budget.

On the issue of the unmet bid, I regret that I could not recommend an allocation to the Prison Service exit scheme, because it is a good scheme. It has been proven to work in the past. Unfortunately, a lack of financial resources has prevented us from allowing it to go forward at this time. The Executive have agreed to ensure that we put the appropriate mechanisms in our Budget process, which we will start again next month, to ensure that if funds are released in year, we can channel them into other schemes. We can channel them towards Health and Justice, and quite possibly towards the Prison Service exit scheme. I support the scheme because it is genuinely reform-orientated in that it releases some long-serving members of the service and also brings in others. Savings are made as a result. I would like to see an allocation go towards it if resources permit this year or, if not, next year, if possible.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his statement. We are probably all aware that in his autumn statement, the Chancellor at Westminster announced that free school meals for all infant schools would happen in years 1 and 2. Has that commitment in England been translated into Barnett additions for Northern Ireland's resource budget? Can the Minister quantify those additions? If there is extra money, where has it gone and how is it being spent?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. He is correct: there were Barnett consequentials for the allocation in respect of free school meals in England for the first three years — nursery and years 1 and 2. I cannot remember offhand the exact quantity of the Barnett consequentials. However, I will get the Member that information. How we, as an Executive, move forward on that is an issue for us to agree on. Principally, in the first instance, it is for the Minister of Education to come forward with his views on whether spending those consequentials on a replica project in Northern Ireland is the best way to spend that money.

I have had interesting engagement with colleagues in other devolved Administrations who have suggested that, perhaps, it is not what they would do, and that they might better fund some existing schemes that provide similar support, such as breakfast clubs. We have some in Northern Ireland through extended-schools funding. However, they are not universal throughout the system. There could be other ways that we could have similar positive effects without having a direct facsimile of what England has done. Of course, that is the beauty of devolution: we have got the Barnett consequential and we can take a decision as an Executive as to where that is best spent, either in the education budget or indeed elsewhere in the Executive's budget.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I note that Mr McCrea and, indeed, the Minister were concerned about the whereabouts of the other Mr McCrea. I understand that he may be in a faraway place. I am sure that there are many Members on the DUP Benches who, last night and this morning, wish that they, too, were in a faraway place.

With regard to the Minister's allocation of his resource fund, he gifted £30 million of the £38 million that he had available to the Department of Health. I think, in consequence, the House and the public are entitled to know a bit more about where the £30 million is going. I am really backing Mr McKinney's point that a third of that was asked for on the basis of medical negligence claims. Surely the Minister knows, before he pays it out, whether part of his £30 million is going to medical negligence cases. Is it going to actual front line services? Surely the public — no matter how necessary it is to deal with medical negligence cases — are entitled to know whether the £30 million is actually going to front line services.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I am sure that my colleagues and I could have a whip-round to get the Member to a far-off place.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I am sure that that would suit very well.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

He is far enough away over there. That will do.

Paul Givan (DUP, Lagan Valley)

He could not get to Westminster.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

He could not get to London. We will not help him to get to London anyway, that is for sure.

The Member will note that, in fact, all of the resource bids that I received from Departments other than the Department of Justice and the Department of Health, which should not have been bidding but did, were met. I am sure that the Member does not intend for it to sound like this, but, as have others, his remark sounds almost unwelcoming of the £30 million that is going to the health service. I am sure that that is not the intention of the Member but, of course, in his usual tone, that is the way that it sounds. It is an allocation to deal with pressures that the Minister of Health is facing. From extensive discussions that I had with him, I know that he is having a series of evolving pressures.

In making the allocation, I have been very clear that the Minister of Health has not got all that he wanted; he wanted in excess of £60 million — £65 million. Therefore, he is still facing pressures within his budget, and it is up to him to proactively manage that. I expect, as the Executive expect, that the predominance of the funding going to him will go to front line pressures, and we have seen evidence of those over the past number of weeks in newspapers and on television screens in Northern Ireland. That is where the most acute pressures are, and that is what I want to see dealt with.

The Member will be particularly aware, given his background, that when medical negligence cases are agreed, they have to be settled and dealt with in-year. The Minister of Health certainly faces pressures on that front as well, every bit as much as he does in relation to acute care, A&E, children's services and other aspects of his budget.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. With your permission, I wish to make a statement in compliance with section 52 of the NI Act 1998, regarding the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) Inland Waterways meeting, which was held in Armagh on the 20 November 2013.

The Executive were represented by me as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure and by junior Minister Jonathan Bell from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Irish Government were represented by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs. The statement has been agreed with junior Minister Bell, and I am making it on behalf of us both.

The Council received a progress report from Dawn Livingstone, chief executive of Waterways Ireland, on the work of Waterways Ireland, which included the following achievements: the provision of 742 metres of additional moorings; sponsorship support was offered for 112 events with a total expenditure of €200,000; maintenance of the waterways with 99·65% of waterways remaining open to 30 September; and the production of three new publications — 'A Taste of the Waterways 2013', 'What’s On 2013' and 'Guide to the Grand Canal'.

The chief executive set out the key strategic direction for Waterways Ireland for 2014-16 and highlighted the following strategic objectives: to manage and maintain the 1,000 kilometres of navigation that are in Waterways Ireland’s care to provide safe, open and accessible outdoor access; to inspire more people to discover and enjoy recreational activities on the waterways and to explore their rich environment and heritage; to focus future development on unlocking opportunities to achieve recreational growth, economic benefits and social inclusion; to reorganise and optimise the use of resources to deliver a high-quality public service and to achieve budget efficiencies; to explore and optimise opportunities to earn income to fund future investment in the waterways; and to continue to develop Waterways Ireland to be the respected, valued custodian of the inland waterways.

Ministers noted that sponsor Departments are working with Waterways Ireland to finalise the business plan and budget for 2014. The Council received a presentation from the chief executive detailing the strategic challenges and how they can be met over the corporate plan period of 2014-16. Once agreed, both plans will receive approval at a future NSMC meeting, following approval from both Finance Departments.

Ministers noted that planning approval for the project to reopen the Ulster canal from Upper Lough Erne to Clones has now been received from all relevant authorities. The interagency group that was set up to explore funding options for advancing the project met again on 9 October 2013 and continues to examine funding opportunities for the project.

The Council consented to three property disposals. They included two leases: one at Knockvicar, County Roscommon, for the construction of a 10-berth boat mooring facility; and one for an area of land to Grand Canal Sports to facilitate the provision of a ramp and platform for wheelchair access to the canal. The third involved granting a way leave to Leitrim County Council for an area of the Shannon-Erne waterway at Ballinamore for the installation of a new storm overflow pipe at its wastewater treatment works.

The Council agreed to meet again in inland waterways sectoral format in spring 2014.

Michelle McIlveen (DUP, Strangford)

The statement advises that the interagency group continues to examine funding opportunities for reopening the Ulster canal from Upper Lough Erne to Clones. What progress has been made to secure funding? Can she update us on any discussions that she has had with the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister about tourism opportunities on the waterways?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

With the Member's indulgence, I will take the last part of her question first. I have not had any discussions with Arlene Foster about tourism, but that is in the planned schedule for things to do on this matter. It is quite important that the canal is reopened, because the benefits of tourism are huge, particularly in Mrs Foster's constituency.

On the interagency meeting about securing funding, my economists are finalising, if they have not, the latest economic appraisal. They are also looking at its status, given that it has been some time since it was last done.

As the Member is aware, I have also met Pat Colgan from the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) about any potential European funding. Again, in advance of the next sectoral meeting on languages and waterways, I hope to have discussions with my ministerial counterpart, Jimmy Deenihan, about anything additional that we can bring. Certainly, the Ulster canal remains top of my priorities. I hope that the Irish Government's economic situation has changed to a point where we can now start looking at ways in which we can develop that project.

Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin, East Londonderry)

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle, agus gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a chéad ráiteas ar maidin.

Further to the options for opening the Upper Lough Erne to Clones section of the Ulster canal, does the Minister have a definite time frame for that?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question and, indeed, his ongoing interest in waterways and the Ulster canal. As I stated previously in the House, given that this is a very significant project for both Governments, certain timelines have to be considered based on the availability of funding.

Funding availability has dictated options for timelines. A single design and construction contract, for example, can take up to two years. Three or four smaller contracts spread over three to five years is an option, as is a large number of small contracts over six to eight years. We are looking at additional options.

As the Member may be aware, the fact is that the original proposition has changed, but not just because of the availability of funding. We are looking at options based on funding that we have and potential funding that may be realised in the future, because, frankly, doing nothing or standing still around this project is not an option for me. I believe that it is certainly not an option for Minister Deenihan either.

Karen McKevitt (Social Democratic and Labour Party, South Down)

I thank the Minister for her statement. The chief executive set out a strategic direction for Waterways Ireland for 2014-16. In that, she mentioned budget efficiencies. Can the Minister highlight to the House what those might be?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The Member is right: the new chief executive gave us a very good and detailed presentation. Indeed, the Member will be aware — if she is not, she will be when I finish my answer to her question — that there have been additional pressures on everybody across the board in achieving efficiencies. However, as I have repeated to the Member and to other Members, and despite the meetings that I have had with Minister Deenihan around any proposed additional efficiencies that the Irish Government are saying are required, I am totally reluctant to go above and beyond any efficiencies that we agreed previously, and I have stated that to the chief executive of Waterways Ireland. That is the position. Following that, the Finance Departments and, indeed, officials and Ministers will hopefully be submitting additional or new budget plans very soon. I think that issues relating to any agreement to additional efficiencies lie beneath the Member's question, but I can categorically state that I have not agreed to those.

Michael McGimpsey (UUP, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister for her statement. Looking at the strategic direction for Waterways Ireland, I see that the need to explore and optimise opportunities to earn income has been highlighted. I also note and welcome the production of three new publications, 'A Taste of the Waterways 2013', 'What's On 2013' and 'Guide to the Grand Canal'. Does she believe that those initiatives have been successful in achieving an uptake in the number of users of the canal? What effect has that had in 2013 on the need to increase earnings and to up funds?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. He is right: the three publications that he mentioned have been very significant work for Waterways Ireland, but I want to use this opportunity to congratulate its partners as well. Waterways Ireland does not have enough money to do the things that it wants to do, as is the case with many of our all-island bodies. One of the things that struck me, and I remember junior Minister Bell asking a lot of questions of Dawn Livingstone, related to opportunities on the waterside to develop initiatives and events that could raise money. The difficulty is that, in order to achieve that, Waterways Ireland would have to spend significant money to make significant money to offset some gaps in its budget, and it is not in a position to do that.

One thing about the publications is that they reflected the opportunities for people who live and work on the waterways to make income. That is to be welcomed. I would like to see that developed to ensure that it is maintained and that those people have additional earnings and employment opportunities for the years ahead. Hopefully, in the years ahead, that will have some kickback for Waterways Ireland, in conjunction with the tourist product and partners in local government, to try to develop a better product from one length of the waterways to another.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister for her statement. I want to follow up on the question from the Chair of the Committee in relation to the Ulster canal project. Has the interagency group been working with our four EU officials from the Assembly to explore any cross-border projects that may arise from the next round of EU funding?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for her question. She will have noted that I mentioned the chief executive of the Special EU Programmes Body, Pat Colgan, the meeting that I had and the work of officials in both Departments with not just SEUPB but local government on the proposed areas for the Ulster canal. It is really important. From what I see, the theme of social inclusion in INTERREG V is where the potential lies to have any future money from Europe. I took part in some of the INTERREG IV waterways exchanges. They were very beneficial for people who have lived all their life and have their livelihood around the waterways, but we are also keen to open up our tourist product.

I assure the Member and others that I will continue to ensure that every opportunity, particularly through Europe, is explored. We need development to happen. It not only will provide construction opportunities for an area that has been starved of construction and investment for decades but will open up a waterway and connect people, families, villages and communities. It will provide social inclusion and enhance the tourist product for those areas. At the minute, the officials are doing their best, but they certainly need people like me in government to produce the goods in order to make that and their plans a better reality.

Oliver McMullan (Sinn Féin, East Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister indicate what level of economic return is anticipated following the investment in the development of our waterways?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The economic return has continued to increase over the years, albeit in a very steady way. As a result of the publications and the presentation that we received from Dawn Livingstone and the staff at Waterways Ireland, I became aware that the level of economic return has yielded significant economic benefits for people. By way of a couple of examples, private boating contributes €44 million per annum and the hire sector contributes some €20 million per annum. Indirect spend on recreation is estimated at €100 million, and it provides 3,000 full-time jobs. That is fairly significant. Part of the answer that I gave to Anna Lo mentioned opportunities for people, particularly around waterways and areas that have been deprived of significant investment for decades. I am convinced, particularly when it comes to places such as the Ulster canal, that, if the construction happens and the project is developed to its full potential, the figures will certainly be multiplied to a better level. It is important that we concentrate on what we are doing best now, add to it and keep our eye on future developments, which are really crucial for economic regeneration in those areas.

Dominic Bradley (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a ráitis ar an fhoras um uiscebhealaí intíre na hÉireann. Ba mhaith liom cuireadh a thabhairt arís don Aire teacht agus an dea-obair atá ar siúl ag Cumann Uiscebhealaí Intíre na hÉireann ar an chainéal idir Iúr Cinn Trá agus Port an Dúnáin a fheiceáil. Ceapaim go dtabharfadh cuairt ón Aire spreagadh dóibh le gabháil ar aghaidh leis an obair sin.

I thank the Minister for her statement. I once again invite her to come down to Newry to see the excellent work being carried out by the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) on the canal between Newry and Portadown. I am sure that a visit from the Minister would be a great inspiration for it to continue that good work.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member again for his invitation. I appreciate it. I will liaise with him to ensure that we set a date this side of Easter, and I will be happy to accept his invitation to visit the canal in Newry. I am very supportive of the work, even though it is not within the remit of work that people have done around canals and waterways in towns and villages. I look forward to setting an early date and joining him in a visit to the canal.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Cuirim fáilte roimh ráiteas an Aire, agus gabhaim buíochas léi as a freagraí go dtí seo.

Given that Waterways Ireland does not report to any board, can the Minister tell us what arrangements are in place for governance and accountability?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The Member is right that there is no board for Waterways Ireland as there is for other all-Ireland bodies. However, Waterways Ireland is accountable to DCAL and to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) and, indeed, the NSMC. As Ministers, we discharge our oversight responsibilities for Waterways Ireland through the NSMC. That includes consideration and agreement of the budget, corporate plans, business plans, progress reports, business targets and project milestones.

I also want to provide the Member with the assurance that, in addition, we have bimonthly monitoring meetings that are chaired by senior civil servants from DCAL and DAHG. The chief executive and appropriate directors attend to account for business performance and corporate governance. Waterways Ireland's audit committee meets three times a year. It comprises three external members and has unrestricted access to internal and external auditors who access the work of internal audit and receive reports/ Finally, I can give additional assurance that DCAL and DAHG have increased the remit of Waterways Ireland's finance committee to enable more detailed scrutiny of audit and recommendations.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

For all its double-spaced padding, what is really in this statement? We hear about a few extra metres of moorings. We hear that there are three new publications: wow. We hear that we want to inspire people to discover and enjoy recreational activities on the waterways. Do we really need to spend time and money on sending Ministers to the formality of a council to talk about such mundane and inane things, which really are at the level of council functions?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I am disappointed that the Member has such a disparaging and pitiful attitude towards the work of Waterways Ireland and has no regard for the people who work, live and try to develop their businesses on the waterways and around those communities. He has no knowledge whatsoever of how important these publications and the government support are, and, as we all know, he has no regard for the connection of waterways the length and breadth of this island. If the Member has so little regard for anything that is said in the statement, I wonder why he is here today.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. With your permission and in compliance with section 52 of the NI Act 1998, I wish to make a statement regarding the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) language body meeting that was held in Armagh on 20 November 2013.

The Executive were represented by me as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure and by junior Minister Jonathan Bell from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Irish Government were represented by lead Minister Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for Gaeltacht affairs, and Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The statement has been agreed with junior Minister Bell, and I make it on behalf of us both.

The meeting dealt with issues relating to the language body and its two constituent agencies. Ministers noted progress reports from the chairpersons and chief executive officers of Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, which included the following achievements from July to November 2013. Foras na Gaeilge has maintained ongoing measures for the implementation of the new funding arrangements, including seeking expressions of interest from qualifying organisations wishing to be considered for selection as a lead organisation. Progress was also made with key schemes, including the advertisement of scéim na nOifigeach Gaeilge 2013-16, the Irish language officers scheme. In order to support the Irish language in the arts sector, 57 applications for funding were approved under the festivals scheme 2013 as well as 10 applications for funding under the drama companies scheme 2013. Seventy projects were approved in order to provide opportunities and events for 3,000 young people to use the Irish language, and seven Irish language booklets were circulated with the 'Irish Daily Mail' in September.

The Ulster-Scots Agency oversaw the enrolment of 20 primary schools in the scheme to work towards securing Ulster-Scots flagship school status and provided support for the Walled City Tattoo, which attracted 13,979 visitors to Derry as part of the City of Culture programme. It also delivered the Donegal Peace Proms in Letterkenny, which was the largest event of "The Gathering" in the county and involved the agency's first-ever collaboration with the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. In conjunction with North Down Borough Council, it showcased Ulster-Scots culture at Cockle Row Cottages in Groomsport in July and August, attracting over 17,000 visitors. It also developed an east-west heritage project with the Scottish Maritime Museum about the Ulster-Scots shipbuilders of Belfast.

Progress was also made on collaboration between the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge. This included the submission of the joint revised equality scheme to the Equality Commission for approval, the updating of the safeguarding policy to include cyberbullying and the development of an initiative to provide cultural workshops for secondary schools in the integrated sector in conjunction with the delivery of the citizenship curriculum. A series of lectures took place on Ulster place names as part of two open days at the Public Record Office (PRONI), and there were discussions on a number of joint projects, including a display about the charter towns, a series of lectures for Key Stage 3 children and a heritage project on the stories of Hamilton, Montgomery and Conn O’Neill.

The Council noted progress to date on the development of the 2014-16 corporate plans for Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, including the emerging strategic objectives. Ministers further noted that draft 2014 business plans for Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency had been prepared, with the focus on the delivery of key priorities for each agency. The Council also noted that the sponsor Departments would work together to finalise the 2014 business plans and budgets and the 2014-16 corporate plans. After Finance Ministers' approval, they will be brought forward for approval to a future NSMC meeting.

Ministers noted that the 2010 consolidated language body annual report and accounts were laid in the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Assembly on 5 July 2013, and it is envisaged that the 2011 consolidated language body annual report and accounts will be certified and laid by 31 January 2014. The Council also noted that, with regard to the 2012 consolidated annual report and accounts, the field audit had been completed for Foras na Gaeilge and was due to take place shortly for the Ulster-Scots Agency. It further noted that certification by the Comptrollers and Auditors General will follow as soon as possible in the new year. Ministers acknowledged the ongoing cooperation with the independent offices of the C&AGs in both jurisdictions, as a result of which 11 consolidated annual reports and accounts for the language body have been published since 2005.

The Council agreed that its next language body meeting would take place in spring 2014.

Michelle McIlveen (DUP, Strangford)

I note that the business plans, budgets and corporate plans for 2014 are to be brought forward to a future NSMC meeting. Given that it is already 2014, will the Minister confirm that that will be sooner rather than later?

The Minister referred to the Walled City Tattoo. Will she support that project from the legacy funds, or will the burden for that fall to the Ulster-Scots Agency?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I share the Member's frustration. I am trying to the best of my ability to ensure that the reports and everything else that needs to be done are brought to the NSMC sooner rather than later. I raised that and other issues at the last NSMC meeting. I offered assistance to both bodies to achieve that much earlier. We are looking at everything that we can do because it is unacceptable to me, as it is unacceptable for Members to hear the same thing from me, time and again, about what we intend to do. Sometimes an intention is realised; at other times it is not.

I am very supportive of the Walled City Tattoo and have gone on record as saying that. Since then, I have had a meeting with the Speaker and the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Mrs Arlene Foster. I am looking at channelling investment to future tattoos through legacy programmes rather than having the burden fall on the agency, though it will still have a role to play. Given the significance of the event, which I attended, and its potential not only to provide social inclusion and cultural awareness but as an economic driver, the Executive need to look at opportunities to provide investment and have a better, joined-up approach to it and similar events.

Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin, East Londonderry)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a dara ráiteas anseo inniu.

I thank the Minister for her second statement today. Will she outline the key strategic priorities for the Ulster-Scots Agency in the corporate business plans?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. The Ulster-Scots Agency presented its key strategic objectives, which include the recognition of 20 Ulster-Scots flagship school programmes. That has been very successful. The agency also intends to establish two Ulster-Scots heartland areas; brand and market 50 Ulster-Scots heritage sites through the Discover Ulster Scots initiative; and develop a programme of activities around the Ulster Scots and the Great War of 1914-18, leading into the decade of centenaries. It also intends to support the development of a North/South and east-west Bruce heritage trail. Those are the key themes in the strategic objectives to which the Ulster Scots Agency is working, and I fully support them.

Karen McKevitt (Social Democratic and Labour Party, South Down)

I thank the Minister for her statement. Will she explain to the House the detail of the latest developments in the new funding arrangements announced by Foras na Gaeilge last week whereby certain groups have lead organisation status? What responsibilities will each of those have?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The Member is aware that Foras na Gaeilge met last Friday, when it decided that the lead organisations would be as follows: Gaelscoileanna, which will have responsibility for Irish-medium immersion education and Irish-medium preschool; Conradh na Gaeilge, which will have responsibility for awareness raising, language protection and representation; Gael Linn will have responsibility for education in the English language sector and for adults; Oireachtas na Gaeilge will have responsibility for supporting the use of Irish and the establishment of networks; Glór na nGael will have responsibility for community and economic development; and Cumann na bhFiann will have responsibility for the development of opportunities for the use of Irish and of networks for young people.

I am sure that Foras na Gaeilge will come before the Committee, not only to explain the decisions that it made last week, which I just read out for the record, but to look at practical ways in which they can be implemented across the island. These programmes and this core funding are about all-Ireland responsibility for the Irish language, focusing on those in most need and making sure that it goes to people in the community and has a longer and more enduring impact on the development of the Irish language.

Michael McGimpsey (UUP, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister for her statement on language. We see good levels of activity and delivery through both Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency. However, I want to ask about the ongoing implementation of the new funding arrangements under Foras na Gaeilge. The Minister is aware of reservations about those arrangements among a number of language activists, some of whom are long-standing and of some stature. Will she indicate where that dispute, argument or discussion is and ensure that Foras na Gaeilge looks after and includes all people in the sector?

I note that the east Belfast Irish language centre has started work. I understand that a three-year tester class provided the impetus for that. Are there any plans for the Ulster-Scots Agency to take a similar approach because, clearly, the agencies can learn from each other?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his questions. Just to reassure him, I also met some of the groups that were resistant to or had difficulties with the new funding arrangements, and I will continue to meet people in the sector. I met many people across the sector, and I want to ensure, as I have always stated, that core funding is not about big administrative costs or big offices but goes into the community. It is about protecting and enhancing the Irish language and for people who wish to learn it. There is still a role for those people through the core funding arrangements and, indeed, other funding arrangements through different bodies and different opportunities in the North. I am keen to make sure that they are enhanced and developed. There will be a change management process in Foras na Gaeilge. There should be an appointment this week — certainly next week at the latest — to help groups with the transition.

I welcome the Member's comments on the work with the East Belfast Mission. That happened through the Líofa initiative, not through any work of Foras na Gaeilge thus far. Foras na Gaeilge has given support, but it has not been one of its core functions. Although the Ulster-Scots Agency is not going for a Líofa-type initiative, it is certainly looking at aspects of heritage. I am looking forward not only to the work set out in its strategic objectives and key priorities but additional programmes that I can help to support. It is crucial for me and for us all to get behind the work of these agencies, bodies, groups and individuals, which, in a quiet way, are getting on with it. The Member is doing the right thing in not only supporting that work but looking for other opportunities. That is what we need to do.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

I thank the Minister for her statement. In the new corporate plan for 2014-16 is there any plan for collaboration between the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The Member may not be as aware of this as others, but Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency have joint projects. I mentioned in the statement their equality scheme, which was presented to the Equality Commission. I believe that they have added to that. I certainly think that they have taken on board some of the evidence heard at the CAL Committee on child protection. They are in touch with people in the community and are taking on board anything that they can do to enhance joint working. That is one good example.

They have been working with the integrated sector. However, they have also gone to the maintained and Catholic sectors to talk collectively about their work and to enrich young people's views of cultural heritage. That joint work is important. As the Member and other Members have done, we need to support that work and encourage additional work. It is crucial that people have full respect for identity, cultural heritage and language because only then can we fully accept each other's cultural identities and backgrounds. We certainly need to get on with that.

William Irwin (DUP, Newry and Armagh)

Can the Minister give us more details on the development of an east-west heritage project with the Scottish Maritime Museum on the Ulster-Scots shipbuilders of Belfast or any other east-west initiatives?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Other than what is in the statement, I am happy to write to the Member. As the Member is aware, I was concerned that the east-west dimension was not fully reflected. I met his colleague the then Minister of Finance to look at ways in which we could develop that within the rules and regulations that we are governed by. In fairness to the Ulster-Scots Agency, it has risen to that challenge.

We are looking at connections, both North/South and east-west. We looked at Slí Cholmcille, the Colmcille trail, and we are now looking at Robert the Bruce and others. It is very important that the same respect and value is put on North/South and east-west connections and that we can learn from each other. It is only when we do that and do it continually that we can enrich the programmes that we have to offer and build on the need to develop future programmes for future corporate plans and business plans.

Oliver McMullan (Sinn Féin, East Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Can the Minister outline for us the benefits of the Discover Ulster Scots initiative? Is it supported by any other Executive Department?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The Discover Ulster Scots initiative is one example of work in which the Ulster-Scots Agency, through its partners, has tried to build on tourism aspects. This touches partly on the question that Mr Irwin asked. The initiative is primarily about maximising the positive impact of Ulster Scots on tourism. As the Member for East Antrim will be aware, tourism is one of the key building blocks of the Executive's Programme for Government.

The agency intends to support cultural tourism as one of the most important elements of Ireland's tourism product, which, as I said in a previous statement, is really important for the stimulation of job creation and economic regeneration. The Ulster-Scots Agency also intends to use this initiative as a vehicle for increasing the international appeal of Ulster Scots. The way in which it has done that has been beneficial. It is a good exemplar that we can use across not just this body but Foras na Gaeilge and other bodies. The Member will be delighted to know that this has all been done for a sum of £20,000.

Dominic Bradley (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat arís, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas fosta leis an Aire as ucht a ráitis. I gcomhthéacs an ráitis a d’eisigh Foras na Gaeilge Dé hAoine seo caite, d’fhág sé sin droch-bhlas i mbéal Gaeilgeoirí anseo sa Tuaisceart, nó níl oiread agus grúpa amháin as an chuid seo tire a bhfuil stádas mar cheann-eagraíocht aige. Ba mhaith liom a fhiafraí den Aire cad é a déarfadh sí leis na daoine sin san earnáil Ghaeilge anseo a cheapann go bhfuil breith an bháis tugtha ar eagraíochtaí ar nós Pobal, Iontaobhas Ultach, Altram agus eagraíochtaí eile nach iad; eagraíochtaí a bhfuil saineolas agus saintaithí acu agus a bhfuil fréamhacha acu i measc an phobail anseo.

Many people in the Irish-speaking community here in the North feel that the statement issued by Foras na Gaeilge last week has left an extremely sour taste on their tongue. I note that no group from the North has obtained the status of lead organisation. What would the Minister say to those in the Irish language sector here who say that this new system is a death sentence for long-standing organisations such as Pobal, Iontaobhas Ultach, Altram and others, which have accumulated vast expertise and experience and are deeply rooted in the community here?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his questions. The Member will be aware — indeed, I said this in an answer to his colleague — that the funding is on an all-island basis. While the groups may have offices in Dublin and be based there, they all have an all-island complexion. I will ensure that, at the very least, one quarter of that work will be felt in the North and that staff will be based in the North representing language development and sitting on the partnership fora.

The new core funding arrangements have been in the making for some time. Indeed, as I said to his colleague, a change management process will be available to help groups who want to avail themselves of additional or other opportunities from Foras na Gaeilge or any other Departments.

I am totally committed to ensuring that the Irish language is funded, maintained and sustained. I have made that commitment even outside of the funding that is invested through Foras na Gaeilge. I will continue to meet not just the groups that the Member has mentioned, two of which I have met, but other stakeholders who want to ensure that there is better collaboration across the island and longer-term security to meet the future needs of people in the Irish language sector.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a freagraí go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for her answers up to now. An dtig leis an Aire a rá linn, le do thoil, cé hiad na scéimeanna agus na tograí atá maoinithe cheana féin ag Foras na Gaeilge nach dtagann faoin scéim bun-mhaoinithe? Will the Minister tell us which schemes and projects already funded by Foras na Gaeilge do not come under the new funding arrangements?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for her question. There is a list of numerous schemes that meet the information requested by the Member. I am happy to provide her with a breakdown of those schemes in writing. In addition, in 2013, Foras na Gaeilge committed over £2 million to a variety of schemes and projects to promote the Irish language. The Member will be aware, because she has raised this with me before, that half of that was spent on supporting the language officers in the community scheme that works across the development of people to work in the community. Other schemes supported by Foras include festivals, drama, bilingual signage projects, the production of electronic and printed magazines and newspapers and, indeed, youth clubs and organisations. However, as I said, I am happy to provide the Member with a full breakdown of all the schemes.

Assembly Business

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

That concludes questions on the statement. The next item of business on the Order Paper is a motion on non-farming rural dwellers —

Pat Sheehan (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

On a point of order, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Yesterday, during Question Time with the Employment and Learning Minister, I inadvertently missed my slot for a topical question, and I apologise to the House for that.

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

OK, I thank you for having the courtesy to come to the House and apologise in person, even though you interrupted me in the middle of my statement.

Private Members' Business

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

The Business Committee has agreed to allow up to one hour and 30 minutes for this debate. The proposer of the motion will have 10 minutes to propose and 10 minutes in which to make a winding-up speech. One amendment has been selected and is published on the Marshalled List. The proposer of the amendment will have 10 minutes to propose the amendment and five minutes to make a winding-up speech. All other Members who wish to speak will have five minutes.

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

I beg to move

That this Assembly calls on the Minister of the Environment to bring forward revised legislation, which would adequately meet the needs of this and future generations of rural dwellers, given that rural planning policy PPS 21 on sustainable development in the countryside restricts the majority of non-farming rural dwellers from applying for planning permission and obtaining planning approval to build in the countryside.

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Tá mé an-sásta an rún seo a mholadh. I am happy to propose the motion and pleased that the Minister of the Environment is attending the debate. The motivation for tabling the motion is really about meeting the needs of the rural community and helping young people, for example, from rural a background to live in the countryside where, very often, they were raised. It is about the need to maintain and encourage vibrant and sustainable rural communities. The motion's emphasis is on problems faced by the majority of people who live in rural areas — rural dwellers who are not directly involved in farming.

In some cases, at least, farming families have some possibilities when it comes to developing a house on their farm.

That is welcome — of course it is — and it is perhaps too restricted, but the emphasis in the debate is on all those people who live in country areas for whom there is even less scope and much less hope of building a single dwelling in the countryside to meet their residential requirements.

I and our party say that any assessment of needs criteria should not be limited to agricultural need alone. I am mindful of many young people who will be returning emigrants and who entertain some hope of living in the area where they were reared. Recently, a school from south Derry visited the Assembly at the invitation of my colleague Ian Milne. I asked the young people in a vox pop-style way how many of them lived beyond the development limits of a town or a village. At least 80% of those young people from the wider Magherafelt district put their hand up to show that they lived in a rural area beyond the settlement limits of a town or village. I suggest that, for those young people, the possibilities of building their own home in the country are extremely limited as the rules stand. I also want to provide for care and support arrangements for people's ageing relatives. That area is too restrictive as well.

Some people have said to me that the countryside is for living in as well as for looking at, and the current opportunities for people who are not directly involved in farming are far too limited. I accept that we need to balance support for rural communities with the need to protect our countryside, but I will point out that I also accept that there is limited provision for non-farming rural dwellers. I am sure that the Minister will detail the areas of replacement dwellings, social and affordable housing schemes, clusters, ribbon developments and dispersed rural communities. The Department may say to people that there are possibilities for a dispersed rural community, but my understanding is that, in the likes of County Tyrone, for example, there might be as few as one dispersed rural community formally identified. So, it is all right saying that those things exist, but they are far too limited.

Our party is happy to absorb into our motion the amendment in the name of Mr Maginness and Mr Eastwood. That is because it perhaps gives the motion the maximum chance of achieving consensus or support in the Chamber today. It also helps in the sense that it refers specifically to the proposed single planning policy statement, which is inclusive of PPS 21. So, happy to absorb the amendment; no problem.

As a councillor between 2000 and 2010, like many others who represented people at local government level, I attended hundreds of site meetings, which were of huge importance to local people. The demand for dwellings came from families that have close ties to a given area, and people were always mindful that the traditional settlement pattern in Ireland, North and South, was largely rural. Some may have, but I and others never argued that every site was a good site. Not every site was the perfect site, but there is such a thing as a good site in the country where you can achieve integration, road safety, sight lines, sympathetic design etc. So, not every site is a good site, but there is such a thing as a good site in the country.

Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for giving way. He said that he never argued that every site is a good site, and I totally accept that. Did he ever argue that a site was a bad site?

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

Believe it or not, on one occasion I did. It was in the Carrickmore area, and I reached an agreement with the applicant that I felt that he had been misled by, in that case, an agent to whom he had paid a fee. He applied for the sake of it, with no hope of success, and I told him that his best bet was to agree that it is a poor site and to re-enter a better site. So, I am very pleased that Tom Elliott extracted a positive from me there. I am very grateful, Tom.

Let us go back to the recent history of all this. In 2006, we had Minister Rooker's attempt to impose a blanket ban on rural planning. We had draft PPS 14, which was, effectively, a green belt policy disallowing rural planning except in a very restrictive set of circumstances. There was a presumption against development in the countryside.

In September 2007, there was a review of rural planning policy, and then we had draft PPS 21, which was introduced more latterly in 2010. All the while, a group was set up to look at the needs of non-farming rural dwellers, which was a recognition by the Executive that there was a problem in this area. The SDLP amendment also acknowledges, by accepting the word "revised", that there is an issue that needs to be addressed. A review of all that was said to have concluded in June 2013, but it definitely did not succeed in meeting the needs of non-farming rural dwellers. That review was far from comprehensive.

There is a need to establish the principle of a single dwelling in the countryside and that there is a possibility of it being a good site if it achieves integration etc. I am not in favour of speculative building — of people building houses in the country and then trying to sell them on. We could live with occupancy or residency conditions for people who have a local tie, but the basic point —

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim)

Will the Member give way on that point?

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

Yes.

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim)

Does the Member accept that if this is designed to help rural dwellers, and if residency conditions are attached, only those who have cash or can get money from sources that do not require them to get loans are likely to be able to build a house? Increasingly, building societies and banks are saying that if there are restrictions such as residency conditions, they will not lend money.

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

There are difficulties, of course. I would like to see the introduction of a local clause, but seemingly that would run into difficulties with the European Commission and might result in infraction proceedings or whatever.

So, this is not without its difficulties, but I hope that the Department of the Environment will look more seriously at the needs of non-farming rural dwellers who, at this time, are practically written out of the script. They need some possibilities, some scope and some hope. There should be provision for well-sited, well-designed new dwellings within, for example, non-nucleated settlements. At this time, young people who are thinking about building a house in the countryside are not making those applications because they know that they are destined for failure.

The debate stood suspended.

The sitting was suspended at 12.33 pm.

On resuming (Mr Deputy Speaker [Mr Beggs] in the Chair) —

Oral Answers to Questions

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Question 12 has been withdrawn.

Sydney Anderson (DUP, Upper Bann)

1. asked the Minister of the Environment what actions he intends to take in light of the recent review of waste disposal at the Mobuoy site and the lessons learned from the future regulation of the waste industry in Northern Ireland by Christopher Mills. (AQO 5336/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The independent report provided by Mr Chris Mills powerfully illustrates the problems that we have with waste management in Northern Ireland. Mr Mills confirmed that the scale of the illegal Campsie waste dump is large by UK standards, with an estimated total of 516,000 tons discovered at the site. He also found that it is not an isolated problem, with criminality being widespread in Northern Ireland's waste industry. He estimated that the cumulative lost revenue and cost of clean-up could run into hundreds of millions of pounds.

Mr Mills reported that there are a number of compliance failings across the waste sector. He also noted that that is a problem across the UK and Ireland and in other developed nations. He recommended a number of solutions, including potential legislative tightening of duty of care and fit-and-proper-person tests; more systematic and effective regulatory oversight by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA); better linking among NIEA, the Planning Service, the PSNI and other enforcement agencies; and better use of the "polluter pays" principle. Above all, Mr Mills called for a single and comprehensive strategy. The strategy should do two things: reduce the creation of waste in the first place; and create a much more robust and compliant waste system for the remaining waste that is created.

I released the Mills report to ensure that everyone has access to its recommendations. I am determined that the management and regulation of waste in Northern Ireland will be dramatically improved. That is critical to protecting our environment and supporting industry growth. As I stated, I have directed the NIEA chief executive to prepare proposals for implementing the report's recommendations. As soon as I have received and approved the proposals, I will announce the actions that will drive the changes needed to improve waste regulation in Northern Ireland.

Sydney Anderson (DUP, Upper Bann)

I thank the Minister for that response. Mr Mills is highly critical of the regulatory authorities and stated that the planning office played a pivotal role in authorising developments that were ultimately used for illegal dumping. Will the Minister assure the House that every effort will be made to put in place a joined-up approach by all the relevant authorities, agencies and Departments that will help combat this organised crime and put the criminal gangs out of action across Northern Ireland?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The need for a joined-up approach was highlighted, as if it were needed, by Mr Mills in the report. Where gaps exist anywhere in legislation, regulation or enforcement, there are unscrupulous people out there willing to expose them for their personal and criminal profit and gain. Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us, especially on me as Minister of the Environment, to close the gaps that exist and ensure that there is a more joined-up approach between the Department and other agencies and within the Department among planning, NIEA, those charged with waste and those responsible for enforcement. I have every intention of doing so and look forward to bringing my action plan forward in the coming weeks.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra. Will the Minister clarify how much it will cost to fully clear and decontaminate the Mobuoy site?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat as an cheist. NIEA is engaging top-class experts to advise on clean-up options at the Campsie site, including cost estimates. Mr Mills estimated that the cost could run into hundreds of millions of pounds. Obviously, we all hope that that does not materialise.

Clean-up decisions will be based on the expert advice that we are currently receiving. As that is happening, the NIEA has already received some high-risk waste, removed it, and increased its monitoring of the surrounding environment. Every legal effort is being used to recover those costs from the polluters. Obviously, there is a criminal investigation ongoing, and that should assist us in doing so. It is a high priority for enforcement action. If it is not fully successful, I will consider fully funding options at a later stage.

Dolores Kelly (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Upper Bann)

With respect to a joined-up approach with the PSNI and, indeed, an all-Ireland approach, what discussions has the Minister had, if any, in relation to tackling organised crime on an all-Ireland basis?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

As outlined in my initial answer, this problem is not exclusive to the North. It is not exclusive to this island; it is a problem across developed nations. On an all-Ireland basis, it is an issue that I have discussed with my counterpart, Phil Hogan, at my last North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meeting in the environment sector. We realised that there is a lot of trans-frontier shipment of waste going on, a lot legally and, as the report highlights, a lot illegally. It is therefore vitally important that we work together. I spoke earlier of the importance of agencies here working closely together and in a joined-up manner. It is vitally important that that continues across the island. There is a good lot of work going on between my officials and their counterparts in the Republic.

Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for that update. Will he confirm whether anyone has been convicted or charged with any offences in relation to the Mobuoy site?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr Elliott for that question. There is a criminal investigation ongoing and I am not at liberty to disclose the details or progress of that.

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

2. asked the Minister of the Environment for his assessment of the rise in road deaths in 2013. (AQO 5337/11-15)

Christopher Hazzard (Sinn Féin, South Down)

11. asked the Minister of the Environment to outline his Department's strategy for reducing the number of road accidents in 2014. (AQO 5346/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I propose to answers questions 2 and 11 together and would be grateful for additional time to do so. I know that this is an issue of huge importance and interest in the Chamber.

The provisional number of road deaths here in 2013 was 56, compared with 48 in 2012. My sincere sympathy is with all the families affected by these tragedies. That was a rise of 17% on the 2012 figure, but is 5% lower than the figure for 2011, when there were 59 deaths. It mirrors the position in Ireland, where there was also a 17% increase in fatalities last year. An increase in motorcyclist fatalities, from four deaths in 2012 to 10 in 2013, is a particular concern. Figures for serious injuries are not yet available, but indications towards the end of 2013 were that they appeared to have fallen.

It is impossible to be definitive about the reasons for the rise in deaths because of the range of different factors that can impact on road safety and on individual collisions. Further, there are no details at this time on the main causes of fatal and serious collisions in 2013. Those will not become clear until the police complete investigations and produce verified statistical reports. Indeed, those might not indicate any particular underlying issue. We might be, sadly, witnessing an effect of what are now, thankfully, statistically quite small numbers.

However, we do know that in 2012 the principal causes of collisions in which someone died or was seriously injured were speeding, inattention or attention diverted and drink- or drug- driving. I think I can say with some confidence that those causes will again feature prominently when data emerges for 2013.

The rise in fatalities in 2013 and at the start of this year is saddening. To date this year, eight people have died, compared with three last year and one the year before. We must not get disillusioned. The overall trend in road casualties in recent years has been down. Indeed, over the past five years the number of people killed on our roads in Northern Ireland has halved, but we must not allow ourselves to be complacent. We must work tirelessly to make 2014 a safer year on our roads.

I am committed to continue working in partnership with all stakeholders to deliver our road safety strategy, which contains over 200 action measures to reduce road casualties. To that end, and in response to the rise in road deaths at the beginning 2014, I last week convened an urgent meeting of the road safety forum. At the meeting, which was very well attended by stakeholders, the police presented an anonymised report on the fatal collisions, which was followed by a discussion on what more might be done.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

The Minister's time is almost up.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The meeting agreed that we need to continue our efforts, take every opportunity to communicate road safety messages and take a number of immediate actions.

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a fhreagra. The Minister, more than most in the House, knows that the loss of a life on a road is more than just a statistic. I echo his comments and pass my condolences to the families of all the people who are deceased.

Will the Minister outline to the House how his Department and its agencies work to support excellent community-led initiatives such as the Ulster GAA's Live to Play campaign, which aims to encourage road users, particularly young people, to be safe on our roads?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat as an cheist. The dissemination of the DOE's road safety messages is very important and, over the years, has proved extremely successful. The principal focus is often seen to be our television campaigns, which have a great record. Statistics show that they work and strike a resonance with viewers. However, an equally important part of our information and education campaign is the work that we do with organisations such as the GAA and the Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster, both of which attended the urgent meeting that I convened last week.

It is vital that we use all avenues at our disposal to get the message out to road users, particularly young road users, who are sadly still over-represented in the figures for casualties and fatalities on our roads. Therefore, I refresh my appeal to Members to use the opportunities and any influence they have to get organisations such as their local club or school to reinforce road safety messages to their members.

Christopher Hazzard (Sinn Féin, South Down)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answers to date, and I follow on from the sentiment of my colleague Mr Flanagan. Will the Minister outline some of the outcomes that were agreed at the forum? Indeed, does he have any plans to engage with the Minister of Education, given the dangers, especially for young people, on this issue?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat as an cheist arís. In my opinion, last week's meeting was very productive, and I was heartened by the turnout. Over 30 people from different organisations attended.

One of the agreed outcomes was that the PSNI gave a commitment to increase visible traffic policing, including the positioning of speed cameras, particularly in areas that might be susceptible to road traffic accidents. A Member has said in the House that he believes that such cameras should be located in areas where speeding is a real problem and danger rather than in areas where they might simply be perceived as a cash cow.

Last Monday in the Chamber, my ministerial colleague Danny Kennedy gave an undertaking, which was reinforced by a DRD official, who said that it was going to look at its gritting procedures. The very clubs that I mentioned — the GAA and the Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster — undertook to get DOE information to their members. My Department will use its vehicle testing centres to hand out information and reinforce road safety messages, and I have given the go-ahead for a new television campaign and a print media campaign. There was an ad in the papers yesterday, which is an updated compilation of previous campaigns.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mrs Cameron for her question. Our road safety campaigns have played and will continue to play a significant part in our ambition to work towards zero road deaths in Northern Ireland. I recognise that it is difficult to measure the sole or unique contribution that any specific area of road safety, including advertising, makes towards reducing casualties. I think that there is a consensus that the huge reductions that we have seen over the years are due to a combination of improved education and information, improved engineering and, indeed, stronger enforcement. Research shows that DOE campaigns are very influential in improving driver attitudes and producing positive changes in behaviour.

A recent study by Oxford Economics isolated the role of DOE advertising. It calculated that, from 1995 to 2011, over 20,000 men, women and children in Northern Ireland have been saved from death and serious injury on our roads. Further analysis and surveys that have been carried out with road users show how high in their minds, when they are behind the wheel or on the road, our advertising campaigns are and how effective they are in reinforcing that message.

I take on board the Member's concerns that there might almost be a saturation or switch-off point. We will continue to monitor the situation. I, for one, do not want to put money in one direction to reduce casualties when it might be better spent in another.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

Poor visibility is a major factor in many accidents that involve pedestrians. In the Republic, for example, there are national campaigns to provide high-visibility wear to pedestrians and media campaigns to encourage people to put reflective strips on their clothing or children's school bags. Will the Minister consider doing something similar?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Chairperson of the Environment Committee for her supplementary question. It is important that we look at what happens elsewhere and good practice that we can follow. However, this is not revolutionary thinking. The measures that have been outlined by Ms Lo have previously, if my memory serves me correctly, been taken and highlighted here.

One area that I will focus on in coming months is a campaign to increase the awareness of all road users, not just drivers but cyclists and, of course, pedestrians, who are the most at-risk road users, and to reinforce the simple messages that, I am sure, all of us learned at school, such as wearing high-visibility clothing. A previous questioner asked whether I had had any dealings with the Minister of Education on the issue. I am certainly happy to talk to him and explore measures we could take through schools to perhaps give out high-visibility jackets or bands to improve safety for pedestrians.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

3. asked the Minister of the Environment why the designation programme for areas of special scientific interest has not been completed 28 years after the enabling legislation was passed. (AQO 5338/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The area of special scientific interest (ASSIs) programme remains one of my Department's key priorities. That is reflected in previous and current Programme for Government targets. Declaring an ASSI is a complex and resource-intensive activity that requires the efforts of many individuals. They include scientific surveyors, administrative staff, data-mapping specialists and liaison officers. Once they have been declared, ASSIs require management and monitoring. As the number of ASSIs increases, so do the resources that are required to undertake those essential activities. In addition, NIEA has European obligations to fulfil, such as the habitats and birds directives, and other competing priorities to deal with. As a result, the declaration programme has not yet been completed, but strong and targeted progress continues to be made.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

As the Minister knows, the relevant legislation here is the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. The equivalent legislation in GB is the 1981 Act. Since that was initiated in GB, 4,100 SSSIs — as they are called in England — have been designated. There have been 1,465 in Scotland and 1,019 in Wales. A total of 6,584 SSSIs have been designated. All the designation was completed 20 years ago. Here, where the latest figure is between 200 and 300 ASSIs, we are still, 28 years later, trying to explain why we cannot designate such a small number of areas. Is that not the case?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr Wells for that supplementary statement. To date, NIEA has designated 360 areas of special scientific interest that cover 105,000 hectares, which represents approximately 7·5% of the total land mass of Northern Ireland. I have given assurances that work will be ongoing and is ongoing to ensure that the rest of our ASSIs are designated. The targets have been reduced, due to the intensity of resources and the tasks required to designate. Initially, the target to be designated each year was 25, and that has been reduced to 15. I might add that that was some years ago, prior to my predecessor taking up the post. I know that the Member has a special interest in this, which I share, and I am determined to see more done, and more done well.

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

Does the Minister accept that an arbitrary figure of the number of ASSI designations each year is not the best way to decide on designations? Rather, it should be on site-specific and environmental aspects.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mrs Overend for her question. Yes, I agree that that is the best way. I do not think that we should go by figures. We have to go by quality rather than quantity. However, those targets have been set through the Programme for Government and, as a Department, we are obliged to meet them. I would be happy to beat those targets and go beyond what is required. However, it is vital that what is being done is done well.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

When an ASSI is designated on land that includes active farmland, it brings a great restraint and burden on the active farmer in terms of restraining some of his activities, yet there is no compensatory package for the fact that the farmer is denied the right to exercise rights that he previously had.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Can we have a question, please?

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

Will the Minister look at introducing compensation and recognise that that would make the introduction of ASSIs much more compatible with the views of farmers and make them much more amenable to them?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr Allister for his question. This could be a case where, possibly, the law is an ASSI. [Laughter.] The issue has been raised with me on a couple of occasions, and I discussed it with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as recently as last week. It is incumbent on our Departments to work together to ensure environmental protection, but not at the expense of farmers trying to make a living. I do not think that the economy and the environment should be at loggerheads, nor do they need to be.

I am looking at a potential future land use strategy with officials, and that will involve some consultation with DARD and other bodies, notably the Ulster Farmers’ Union. I think that it could be of advantage to all landowners, land users and environmentalists across the North.

Alex Easton (DUP, North Down)

4. asked the Minister of the Environment for an update on the Belfast metropolitan area plan. (AQO 5339/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The Department of the Environment adopts area development plans after all necessary statutory consultation processes and independent examinations of the issues raised have been completed. The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) completed its independent public inquiry into the draft Belfast metropolitan area plan (BMAP) in May 2008 and sent its report in stages to DOE between January 2009 and January 2012.

My predecessor, Alex Attwood, published all the PAC reports on the draft plan in June 2012. My Department has now completed its scrutiny of those reports and all other material considerations and has finalised the draft plan for adoption and publication. My Department submitted BMAP to the Department for Regional Development for assessment of the plan against the regional development strategy 2035. I confirm that the plan was awarded a certificate of general conformity on 21 October last year.

I recognise the importance of the plan for the region's future development, as well as the need to ensure that it is adopted and published in its final form as soon as possible. I have sought agreement from my ministerial colleagues that my Department now adopts and publishes the plan.

Alex Easton (DUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his answer. Has the Attorney General advised him that the Belfast metropolitan plan is a cross-cutting issue and requires Executive approval?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I am aware of the view that BMAP is a cross-cutting policy issue and, therefore, of the view that it needs Executive approval. In my initial answer, I outlined that I have sought approval from my ministerial colleagues to proceed with publication, particularly given the uncertainty that the delay in publication is causing outside among developers, businesses and so many others. So, I am aware of the issues. I recognise that point of view and have now brought the issue to the Executive for discussion.

Fra McCann (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh míle maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answers up to now. He is aware that, over a lengthy period, there have been concerns about the growing numbers of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and the impact that that has on residential neighbourhoods. What consideration has he given to the policy framework governing approvals for HMOs?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat as an cheist. HMOs, or the lack of control over them, is an issue that has, indeed, come to the fore in some parts of Belfast. Therefore, it is imperative that BMAP addresses those issues and gives more certainty and protections to residents in those areas. I am hopeful that, upon the publication of BMAP, the Member will be satisfied that those protections have been put in place.

Fearghal McKinney (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast South)

What views have the business community expressed about the adoption of BMAP?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr McKinney for the question. I have received correspondence from various areas of the construction industry expressing grave concerns over the continued delay in the adoption of BMAP. Many house builders see the adoption of BMAP as critical to the recovery in their sector. Additions to the workforce can be sustained only by a continuous supply of planning approvals. A substantial number in the business community, including builders, have participated in the plan process since its initiation. It is no exaggeration to say that those participating in the public inquiry into BMAP have invested millions of pounds, engaging specialist consultants and legal advisers, undertaking specialist studies and submitting evidence to the inquiry to secure zoning of land for housing and employment.

Whilst the release by my predecessor, Alex Attwood, of the report by the Planning Appeals Commission has provided some assurance to landowners, many builders who have been supported by their banks through the most severe recession in living memory are now under severe pressure from those banks to deliver on these sites to recover the significant sums invested in the BMAP process. We have a duty of care to those people, and that is why I am determined that BMAP should be published as soon as possible.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

That is the end of oral questions. We now move on to topical questions.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Waste tyres are a very big issue in some parts of the North and in some parts of the island more than others. My work and my Department's work in tackling the problems caused by waste tyres includes collaboration with our counterparts in the South. It is important that we promote better the ways in which tyres can be disposed of responsibly and the advantages to businesses and the wider economy of so doing. That would include highlighting further the potential reuse and recycling of tyres for very useful initiatives.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mrs Cameron for her supplementary. Yes, my Department has taken on board those recommendations and is fully committed to implementing them and carrying them out in practice.

Mervyn Storey (DUP, North Antrim)

2. asked the Minister of the Environment whether he has had any further contact with Westminster in relation to the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) situation and whether he can give us an update on the current position, given that he will be aware of the continuing anxiety of those who are employed at DVA offices, and the very successful campaign, which he was involved in, to ensure that the jobs were retained in Coleraine, which has an impact in my North Antrim constituency and in other locations in Northern Ireland. (AQT 582/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr Storey for that question and the fact that he thinks that the campaign was successful. Unfortunately, as of yet, we are not aware of whether the campaign has been successful. It certainly was successful in uniting the House, and that is something that was and is appreciated very much by the DVA workers whose jobs are under threat.

Together with senior officials, I went to London on 6 November and met Mr Robert Goodwill, the Minister responsible for making this decision. I took the opportunity to emphasise to him the huge damage that the removal of these jobs from the North, particularly from Mr Storey's constituency, would have economically and socially. I also reiterated the lack of business sense in so doing, given the exemplary record of delivery that the central office in Coleraine has. He seemed familiar with the arguments, which gave me heart. He was well abreast of the situation. Subsequent to that, I provided an aide-memoire to the First Minister and deputy First Minister, who have engaged with the Prime Minister on the subject. It was intimated to me by Mr Goodwill that the final decision on the issue might well lie higher than his office. I believe that there is interest in this at the highest political level, and I am hopeful of a positive outcome for all involved.

Mervyn Storey (DUP, North Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his answer. With regard to ensuring that we do all in our power to retain jobs in Northern Ireland, does the Minister have any concern about the recent announcement on the discontinuation of the printing of the tax disc, which may or may not be indirectly linked to the long-term strategic plan regarding the retention of jobs in Northern Ireland?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I have been suspicious — some might say "paranoid" — about any development in vehicle licensing since taking this post. However, I have been assured by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in London that there is no link between the two. At the moment, I would like to fight one battle at a time, and the one that we are fighting together is huge. I am hopeful that we will succeed.

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

3. asked the Minister of the Environment for an update on any appeals or alternative schemes being considered following his predecessor’s decision on Rose Energy. (AQT 583/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mrs Overend for her question. Well, I do not really thank her for it; rather, I acknowledge her question. There was a judicial review, and it is awaiting a hearing. I have been contacted by the original objectors to the plant. I believe that they are seeking some contribution from the Department to their legal costs, given that their position, they believe, has been vindicated by the ruling of the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC).

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

I thank the Minister for his response. Considering that Moy Park is currently undertaking a programme of expansion and considering the fact that the agrifood report 'Going for Growth' suggested that the poultry sector had immediate potential for growth, what is the Minister doing through his planning policies to assist the wider sector to reach its full potential while meeting its obligations under the nitrates directive?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency is represented on an intergovernmental group tasked with coordinating a response to the Going for Growth action plan. Agency staff have been working with Moy Park to facilitate solutions to those very issues in the agrifood sector. Our aim is to help the industry hit its growth targets but to do so with good environmental performance. As a competitive advantage, a team has been set up and officials designated to it with the particular mission of assisting with Moy Park's applications as and when they come in. I am aware that a lot will be coming, and we are hopeful of getting them dealt with quickly.

Paul Givan (DUP, Lagan Valley)

4. asked the Minister of the Environment to elaborate on what his Department is doing to tackle fuel laundering, given that the Minister will be aware, through the organised crime areas of his Department, of the damage that is caused to the environment by this practice. (AQT 584/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank Mr Givan for his question. Fuel laundering continues to be a problem for my Department, the Department of Justice and the people of the North. Therefore, it is important that my Department, along with others and the PSNI, does all that it can to combat it. I met Ministers Ford and Kennedy recently, and this was one of the issues that reared its ugly head. I also raised fuel laundering with Leo Varadkar during the most recent North/South Ministerial Council meeting in transport format. He opines that they have made massive inroads into tackling fuel laundering over recent months due to the introduction of a new marker. That corroborates opinion that we are getting from London about a new marker that has been introduced there. We hope to see it introduced here in the North by this spring to make life more difficult for the criminals.

Paul Givan (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I thank the Minister for that and commend him for his efforts and wanting to make life more difficult for the criminals. To that end, what actions is he taking as Environment Minister to encourage his colleagues that it is time to support the National Crime Agency, which is responsible for seizing the assets of the very people who are engaged in fuel laundering and in causing huge damage to our environment?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

We remain very focused on making life more difficult for criminals and doing all that we can to make sure that they are brought to justice. We are speaking about fuel laundering. If Mr Givan had been in the Chamber earlier he would have heard a similar discussion about waste crime and the importance of all Departments and agencies working together with the PSNI and other enforcement and crime prevention agencies to ensure that this becomes a thing of the past.

Steven Agnew (Green, North Down)

5. asked the Minister of the Environment whether the systematic failure in his Department has been identified and, if so, what is being done to address it, given that, in response to a recent question for written answer, the Minister outlined to me that 33 of 54 special areas of conservation were in unfavourable condition and not showing signs of recovery. (AQT 585/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I am trying to remember which question for written answer that was; Mr Agnew sends me a few. It was not a systematic failure by my Department; it was a failure of resources. I suppose that that could be seen as systematic, as resources may not have been allocated in the manner that they should.

I aim to address the issue shortly. I have announced a restructuring of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, which I think will come as welcome news to everyone in the Chamber and outside it. It is important that the NIEA does its business better and quicker and ensures environmental protections. However, again, that should not be at the disproportionate expense of, for example, farmers as I said in answer to an earlier question from Mr Allister. It is possible to have a balance between a good environment and a good economy. That is what I strive for and what we should all strive for, and I look forward to working with the Member on that.

Steven Agnew (Green, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his answer and for his many answers to my questions for written answer. I do not know whether it is a resource issue, but does the Minister accept that a review of mineral extraction has to be a key part of looking at the problems faced by special areas of conservation? If so, will he indicate when we will see such a review?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Mineral extraction is a theme that runs through Mr Agnew's questions for written answer and rightly so. It is a matter of great concern to Mr Agnew and many others. The number of mineral extraction applications that have to be dealt with retrospectively is a cause of great concern to me. They require a lot of time and resources, and they are difficult to assess and make decisions on. I have not yet determined whether a review of how mineral extraction is dealt with is required, but we are happy to speak to the Member and others about how they think it could be brought forward.

David Hilditch (DUP, East Antrim)

6. asked the Minister of the Environment how many local road safety committees remain active in the 26 district council areas. (AQT 586/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Member for that question. Unfortunately, I do not have that detail to hand. However, as a former member of a local road safety committee in the north-west, I am well aware of the value they had and the difficulties they faced under previous Ministers.

David Hilditch (DUP, East Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his answer. Much good work is still being carried out by the committees that are active. Is there an opportunity to reactivate the system and provide the resource?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Earlier, in response to questions from Mr Flanagan and Mr Hazzard, I spoke about the importance of using every tool at our disposal to get road safety messages out.

Through various initiatives, the local committees were certainly a valuable tool, whether through public speaking competitions, quizzes, activities for schools or events for more senior drivers.

I do not have with me the details to answer your main question as to how many committees are still active. I will get that information for you and, in so doing, will look again at how those committees might be reactivated. Through the committees, a lot of good people gave of their valuable time to do valuable work in the community.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Mr Michael Copeland is not in his place, so we will proceed to question 2. I advise Members that questions 6 and 8 have been withdrawn.

Michelle McIlveen (DUP, Strangford)

2. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel to outline any engagement he has had with the European Investment Bank in relation to using its financial resources. (AQO 5351/11-15)

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for her question. I am very keen for the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund projects in Northern Ireland, and I intend to engage with senior officials from the bank in the coming months on the issue.

I met the European Investment Bank and the University of Ulster last year about the relocation of the Jordanstown campus to Belfast city centre. As the Member may be aware, the university has been in intensive negotiations with the European Investment Bank over recent months. I understand that those discussions are progressing positively.

Michelle McIlveen (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Minister for his response. Will he give us his assessment of the role that the European Investment Bank can play in local investment?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

There are huge opportunities for Northern Ireland to avail itself of funding from the European Investment Bank. As I said, the University of Ulster is in ongoing negotiations with the bank. I hope that, in the coming weeks, we will hear that the university has been successful. However, we should not rest on our laurels and take that as the full extent of what we can do with the EIB. The EIB offers projects of the size and scale of the university's relocation from Jordanstown to the centre of Belfast and the opportunity for funding over a longer period, sometimes at a significantly lower rate than projects could get elsewhere on the market. I am keen to explore other possibilities with the EIB and intend to meet its officials again in the next few weeks.

Without having any specific projects in mind, one area in which there could be huge opportunities is for our reformed local government to avail itself of some of those potential EIB borrowings. If we have bigger councils with more powers, such as the power to regenerate town and city centres, there are opportunities for those councils to work with the EIB, either on individual projects or in bundling projects together in order to avail themselves of cheaper finance and, importantly, to get projects and infrastructures on the ground that will improve the lives of people in Northern Ireland.

Alban Maginness (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast North)

I agree entirely with the Minister that there is huge potential. How does he propose to engender the same obvious enthusiasm that he has for the European Investment Bank with his colleagues in the Executive and other government bodies?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

As you can see from my January monitoring statement to the House this morning, there is a willingness, and I referred to the allocation of some £35 million in a two-year loan to the University of Ulster for moving into the Member's constituency. Although the work with the EIB was not contingent on getting that, it sends a clear marker to the EIB that the Executive are serious about working with it to fund potential projects in the future.

We have issues with using EIB funding to build central government capital projects such as roads, schools, and so forth. If we avail ourselves of the funding, it will come off our block grant, and even though it is a lower rate of interest, we would still have to pay the interest so we would be net worse off in the longer term. That is why I think that there is potential for colleges and universities such as the University of Ulster and Queen's University, which are at arm's length from government, and for local government, because such finance does not score on balance sheets in the same way. That is why I am keen to meet the EIB to scope out those potentials for Northern Ireland, of which there are many.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

Will the Minister clarify what the EIB could be used for? You just said that it could not be used for building schools. Are there other areas in education where we can use its funding to help schools?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

It could be used for schools, but there would be no benefit in that. We could access that money, but, because of Treasury rules, it would score against us, come off our balance sheet and we would have to pay interest. That is not advisable. This sort of work is in the very early stages. The EIB has been around for a while and is showing some interest in Northern Ireland as a place where it wants to invest. We are in a slightly better position with our capital budget than we were a couple of years ago, but finances are short and things are still tight. At a time when private sector infrastructure and construction work still languishes, it is important that we scope out all opportunities.

It is almost a case of central government issuing a challenge to local government, universities and others in the education sector, the health sector or whatever it may be that as long as they are outside government, we are happy to work with them and facilitate their bringing forward any projects and working with them and the EIB to make them a reality.

In some ways, I see the role of the Department of Finance, and of the Executive as a whole, as facilitators and enablers of projects so that we can reap the benefits from them, as we have, in a way, with the University of Ulster.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister expand a wee bit on how the new council structures could access that funding? Will he issue guidance or provide support on that?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Local government reform is principally the responsibility of the Minister of the Environment, but I appreciate that this is not an area of work that the Department of the Environment focused on historically. I can understand why, at this stage, the Department of the Environment would be keen just to make sure that the RPA happens within the time frame set out for it. However, if the Executive wait until after reform and the 11 new councils are in place, an opportunity will have been lost at least to have a conversation to engage councils in the potential of the EIB and other ventures to bring in outside money to develop local infrastructure.

My understanding is that council borrowing powers are now less restricted as a result of the Local Government Finance Act a number of years ago. I think that the Member was still on the Committee at the time. Obviously, the new councils will have bigger rate bases and more power to spend that bigger rate income. There are huge opportunities, as can be seen, for example, in Scotland, where they have ramped up their infrastructure spend over the past number of years. By and large, that was done not by central government but by councils. Given the Treasury's treatment of that expenditure, I want us to work with local government to enable councils to get into a stronger position where they could work with the EIB, the private sector or others to get investment for infrastructure in their locality that would not only improve their area but have a beneficial impact for the whole of Northern Ireland.

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

3. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel for an update on the withholding of block grant finance from HM Treasury contingent on the lack of Executive agreement on welfare reform. (AQO 5352/11-15)

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 18 November, when he reinforced his intention to impose penalties should the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly not progress the Welfare Reform Bill by January 2014. The UK Government have not yet specified how this departmental expenditure limit budget reduction will be applied. However, as the Member will know from the January monitoring round statement earlier, I have had to make a provision of £15 million for penalties that we will incur this year. The Northern Ireland Welfare Reform Bill remains stalled at Consideration Stage. We now need to progress it as a matter of urgency to avoid any further fines.

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

I am indebted to the Minister for his answer. I heard what I thought was a meaningful warning about the rolling on of debts or call-ups by the Treasury, which could end up at £200 million if we do not do something about this. I think that it is about time that we did do something about it. However, since April 2007, prices have risen by 18% where the average —

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Could we have a question, please?

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

Pardon?

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Could we have a question, please?

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

Can I repeat, Deputy Speaker, where I was in the middle of a question?

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Could I have a question shortly, please, or we will move on?

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

I will tell you what, Deputy Speaker: I will sit down. I do not like the way you are doing this.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

OK. We will move on, then. I call Mickey Brady.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

4. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel what engagement he has had with banks in relation to their lending practices to small and medium-sized businesses. (AQO 5353/11-15)

Brenda Hale (DUP, Lagan Valley)

12. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel what contact he and his departmental officials have had with local banks in the past six months. (AQO 5361/11-15)

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I am not quite sure what happened there. With your permission, Deputy Speaker — I am not sure whether I will get it or not — I will answer questions 4 and 12 together.

I am in the process of meeting the local banks as part of the ongoing series of discussions that I am having with them, along with the Enterprise Minister. Earlier this month, I met separately Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske Bank, First Trust, HSBC and Santander. I am due to meet Ulster Bank next month. I discussed a broad range of issues with each of them, including trends in lending, their overall performance, restructuring, and the use of national lending initiatives.

The Enterprise Minister and I have also met bank representatives about the agrifood loan fund initiative. I have spoken to Ulster Bank management on a number of occasions about the interruptions to its service because of IT failures. Over the past six months, my officials and I have also regularly engaged with the senior management of the banks on specific issues at other times and events.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

I thank the Minister for his answer. The Minister is aware that SMEs are the key to economic growth in our local economy. Does he agree that there remains suspect dealings between the banks and SMEs? Has he any confidence that the banks will not engage in any such activities in 2014? Go raibh maith agat.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. We are sometimes very focused on attracting big-name companies into Northern Ireland to create jobs; that is very much part of our economic strategy. However, I agree with him entirely that it will be through the recovery of the small to medium-sized enterprises, which account for such a large section of our economy, that we will really start to see the recovery creeping back, with an increase in employment and economic growth.

You hear entirely different stories about whether the banks are doing a good job or a bad job depending on who you talk to, when you talk to them and what circumstances they are in. It depends very much on the particular circumstances of the customer who goes in and asks for services, and when they do that.

As the Member will be aware, we get some headline lending figures from the British Bankers' Association. From 2010, when we started getting the figures, that showed a downward trend in lending. However, it was interesting and positive that, in the first two quarters of 2013, there was an increase in new lending. That was reflected in an increase in the average loan value over the past three years.

In the engagements that we have with banks, they are repeating what two banks stated in evidence to the Westminster Select Committee a couple of weeks ago. They said that, for them, the issue is now much less about supply of funding and more about demand coming through the door. We could rehearse that there might be a responsibility on the part of the banks as to why people are not coming in and whether there is a fear about coming in. I am aware of some of the concerns that have been expressed by individual businesses about the treatment that they have had from banks. If anybody has any evidence of bad treatment and thinks that my office can help to assist with the banks in any way, I am more than happy to help.

Brenda Hale (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I thank the Minister for his answer. What discussions has he had locally with Ulster Bank and RBS and with the appropriate Treasury Minister to ascertain what can be done to prevent more companies from being forced out of business by the seizing of assets and calling in of loans?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for her very good, timely and pertinent question. As Mr Brady alluded to, this issue has been rumbling on since the start of the crisis. There is evidence, albeit anecdotal, coming forward from various companies of what people might describe as the sharp practice of some banks that were seizing their assets and putting them out of business in order to repair their own balance sheets. I add that that is anecdotal. We get some of that evidence coming through the Department and it is hard for us to assess whether it is true or accurate because we do not have a full view of everything.

Lawrence Tomlinson, whom it so happens I am meeting tomorrow, carried out a review on behalf of the Business Secretary, Vince Cable. Since his report was published and before setting up that meeting, some people have raised concerns about the practice of the banks with them. I have passed that all on to the appropriate people. Of course, there are various inquiries going on following on from Lawrence Tomlinson's report, and I will engage him tomorrow in how we can feed any Northern Ireland evidence into that. As I said to Mr Brady, if individual Members or those outside have evidence of so-called sharp practice, I am more than happy to pass that on anonymously through the appropriate authorities.

Patsy McGlone (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Mid Ulster)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as na freagraí cuimsitheacha. I thank the Minister for his comprehensive answers. Can he give the House an update on the key themes of any submission or engagement that he has had with the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee's inquiry into banking in the North?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. I gave evidence to the inquiry just before Christmas. If the Member wants to listen to me talking for an hour and a half, I am sure that it is available on the Internet. Maybe he just wants a potted history.

I very much welcome the inquiry that it has initiated. It is timely. In fact, it is probably overdue in many respects, and we will all probably agree that there has not been sufficient attention at a national government level on the particular banking problems in Northern Ireland. There has been a belief that the problems that affected banking and lending to small businesses in particular in Great Britain are exactly the same as the problems here, and the Member will be aware that our problems have been very different from those in mainland Britain. They are not entirely different but different in that it has been much more of an issue of risk caused by the property overhang. In that sense, we have, as I said in my evidence, more of an Irish problem than a British problem.

I welcome the engagement. There was a good discussion back and forward about some of the solutions, with some concentration, as you might expect, on RBS and some possible solutions to that situation and, indeed, banking in general. I welcome the fact that Westminster is focusing on this issue, and I look forward to the report. In fact, there is still more evidence, particularly from our local banks, to feed into that, and I hope that it will help, along with other work such as the joint ministerial task force that Arlene Foster and I are engaged on with Treasury Ministers, business Ministers and our Secretary of State. It adds up to a renewed focus on banking and the need to get lending out into the community, because I am sure that the Member will agree that, as we see signs of recovery creeping into the economy, we need our banks to start functioning properly again and getting much-needed lending out to businesses that are about to grow again and start to employ people so that we can get things moving.

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

I welcome the Minister's comments and commitment. The small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our local economy, and we know the difficulties that they have had in recent times. Despite all the good intentions of the Minister —

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Can we have a question, please?

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

Yes. The problem still exists. Has the Minister explored any possibility with the local credit unions in Northern Ireland to see whether a business credit union could be established to assist and to get over the hump that we are experiencing with banks at the moment?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his question. The whole issue of credit unions came up in the evidence that I gave to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on the back of a question from one of its members. Credit unions have traditionally played a very good role in Northern Ireland. They have a much better penetration into the market here than they do in Great Britain, and I can recall that, a couple of years ago, legislation was changed so that regulation of the credit unions rested not with the relevant Department here, which is DETI, but with the Financial Services Authority, which is now the Financial Conduct Authority. So, there is potential for credit unions to expand their scope, particularly on personal lending. I am not sure whether they want to get into business lending much beyond the small level on which they do it at the minute. I have not had any formal engagement, but I would certainly welcome engagement with them, as I would with anybody who wants to get into the Northern Ireland market to help, whether it be on the personal banking side, people who want to get mortgages, or business lending. I am willing to meet anybody who wants to get into our market, discuss the issues and encourage them to come into Northern Ireland, because one of the problems over the past couple of years is that there has not been competition in our banking sector in many ways. We are starting to see a bit more of that now, but we need to see new entrants at all different levels. So, I very much welcome any engagement with the credit union movement.

Bronwyn McGahan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

5. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel why average household income is over £2,000 lower than in Britain. (AQO 5354/11-15)

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for her question. Average earnings in Northern Ireland are linked to the general performance and overall structure of the local economy, including factors such as labour productivity and the relative supply and demand of suitably qualified staff.

Although we have made some good progress in recent years, growth in output and employment has, historically, tended to be in relatively lower value-added areas, which typically pay lower wages. It is also important to recognise that the overall UK average is very much influenced by London and the south-east regions, where household incomes are significantly higher than in most other regions.

Bronwyn McGahan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister for his response. How does he propose to address the challenges of income inequality?