Northern Ireland Assembly, 7 April 2014

466 contributions from 72 members. The official report.

Matter of the Day

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Mr Sydney Anderson has been given leave to make a statement on the Lough Ree fishing tragedy, which fulfils the criteria set out in Standing Order 24. If other Members wish to be called, they should rise continually in their places. All Members who are called will have up to three minutes to speak. I remind Members that I will not take any points of order on this or any other matter until the item of business is concluded. If that is clear, we shall proceed.

Sydney Anderson (DUP, Upper Bann)

Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to raise this Matter of the Day. It is a Matter of the Day that I wish I did not have to raise, for it relates to a terrible tragedy that has affected my constituency and touched all our hearts.

On 20 March, a party of experienced fishermen from Portadown Pikers angling club set off for a weekend's camping and fishing at Lough Ree in County Westmeath. What should have been a happy occasion quickly turned to tragedy. Three of the men got into serious difficulties on the lake when the weather took a turn for the worse. Two were rescued from the water and one was lost in the water.

Within a few hours, David Warnock, aged just 27, passed away in hospital. David lived in Richhill and was not only a keen angler and chairman of the Portadown Pikers but an accomplished hockey player who played for Armagh Hockey Club. He leaves a partner and a four-year-old son. Thankfully, John Trimble, aged 60, who was also rescued, made steady progress in hospital and was later discharged. Despite his traumatic experience, John returned to the scene of the tragedy to help with the search for his missing friend Daryl Burke. Daryl was aged just 30. He was a landscape gardener from Portadown, and his wife is expecting their fourth child in a few weeks.

As time passed, it became clear that the search was for the recovery of a body. Thankfully, the family's anxious wait came to an end on Saturday, when Daryl's body was eventually recovered. This is a terrible tragedy, but at least the Burke family can now have some closure.

All the men were well known in County Armagh and beyond. The community is totally stunned by what has happened and is still trying to take it in.

It is at times such as this that you realise just what community spirit is really like. I have witnessed an amazing outpouring of sympathy, compassion and love, and I know that it is something that the families greatly appreciate. I have spoken to some of the family members and I cannot find words to express the depth of grief and despair. Their hearts are totally broken and our hearts go out to them.

I want to pay tribute to all who were involved in the search and recovery operation at Lough Ree. We are so grateful to them for all they have done. Over the past two weeks, the Portadown and wider County Armagh community has rallied behind the families involved in the tragedy, sending consignments of food and warm clothing to those involved in the rescue at Lough Ree. It is a genuine example of a community united in grief. I know that that has been greatly appreciated by the families involved in this tragic accident and by the Portadown Pikers angling club. I trust that the House will join me to offer its support and condolences to the families of David Warnock and Daryl Burke and to wish John Trimble a full recovery.

John O'Dowd (Sinn Féin, Upper Bann)

I, too, would like to add my sympathies and condolences and those of my party to the families of David Warnock and Daryl Burke in such tragic circumstances. Words will fail to express the deep grief that has been visited upon the families and communities. As has been mentioned, it stretches from Portadown to Markethill. Those men went out for an enjoyable fishing trip along with friends and colleagues and tragedy was visited upon them.

Words fail me in many ways because the grief that has been visited, especially on the young children involved, is very difficult for any family to bear. However, if there is one compensation for the family, it is that it has united the community across Portadown and Markethill. I can assure those families that they are in the thoughts and prayers of everyone in that area, and will continue to be for a long time to come.

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

I am sure we are all familiar with the old saying that none of us knows what a day might bring. That family certainly found out the full and true meaning of that saying. It is with great sympathy that I recognise the hurt, pain and distress, not only of having heard the news of the drowning but of the past number of days and weeks and the search for his remains. I hope that it brings closure to the tragedy. Their lives have been forever changed. I want to express my personal condolences, and on behalf of the SDLP, to both families. Incidents like this show the common humanity that we all share. I hope and pray that, over the next few days and months, when the families will need even more support, the community of Portadown will be there for both families.

In the coming months, perhaps some lessons might be learned about the tragedy and how to prevent such things happening. However, accidents do happen and, unfortunately, that family has suffered a huge loss. On behalf of the SDLP, I offer my sympathy, and I think it would be remiss if I did not also express our thanks to the emergency services and, indeed, the many volunteers who helped in the rescue and the search.

Jo-Anne Dobson (UUP, Upper Bann)

The sombre mood of the people of Portadown in response to the tragedy has been brought to the Chamber this morning. It is no exception to say that the entire community is in mourning today, and we join them. On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family circles of Daryl Burke and David Warnock. The news that we received over the weekend was met with deep sadness, but also a sense of relief for the family of Daryl that Daryl's body had been found and recovered and could finally be brought home.

The unimaginable pain of the family, which comes from waiting, can never be described. Following the confirmation of David's tragic death, we in the community, alongside the family, held our breath for any news from the site, hoping against hope, yet knowing in our hearts that, with each day that passed, the outlook became bleaker.

The members of Portadown Pikers and the entire community, who rallied round, joining the search and living down at Lough Ree, have nothing but my deepest admiration. As the community and the family try to come to terms with this tragic loss, I will never forget that Daryl's wife, Louise, who is in the late stages of pregnancy with her fourth child, never left the lough side throughout the search. Indeed, my party colleague Councillor Colin McCusker was David Warnock's second cousin and knew Daryl through supporting, as I have, Portadown Pikers club. He has been working very closely alongside the club and the families to bring home the vehicles and boats to Portadown. I know that the whole House will join me in supporting the club as it establishes a trust fund for Daryl's three young children, William, Callum and Brooklyn, and David's son, Matthew. We are soon to add a fifth to that list, a baby girl. All are left without a father. My thoughts are with Louise today and in the weeks ahead. As any mother knows, when giving birth, you need your partner's love and support to experience the joy that comes from bringing new life into the world. I cannot help thinking of her giving birth to their only daughter without her beloved Daryl by her side.

I end my contribution with the poignant words of Portadown Pikers:

"Today we search no longer, but start to grieve more stronger."

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

I join others in the House to offer the sympathy of the Alliance Party to the families of Daryl Burke and David Warnock, who unfortunately died a few days ago as a result of the incident. I thank Sydney Anderson for giving everyone in the Assembly the opportunity to offer their sympathy. As has been said, a young man has been taken away from a young family. The whole community, I am sure, must be devastated. We can recall when these things have happened. In our own village, a number of years ago, we lost four people in a drowning tragedy on Strangford lough. Even yet, people just simply cannot get over those tragedies. I offer my sympathy, and that of the party, to Daryl's family and David Warnock's family, and wish John Trimble every success. I hope that he can overcome what has happened to him.

As others have said, the emergency services have been tremendous in their work and in rallying round. Eventually, they found Daryl's body, so that it can be laid to rest by the family. As has already been said, a tragedy like this brings communities together. Our thoughts are with the families at this dreadful time.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I join the condolences from across the House to the two grieving families. It has been said that the sense of shock in the Portadown and Richhill area was palpable. I am sure that that is right. However, I think that it extended much further than that. I think that there was Province-wide shock at the dreadful loss that the incident revealed. No doubt, the lapse of time in the recovery of Daryl Burke's body greatly exacerbated the pain and anguish of that family. I think that we all think of them today. To the Warnock and Burke families, I express my heartfelt condolences. To think of the, what will be five, young children left without a father, in a moment, such as happened here, is quite shocking.

We should also think of John Trimble. Though he survived, he survived an incident that will be etched on his life for as long as he lives. He will, no doubt, have difficulties coping with that. Our thoughts should also be very much with the Trimble family.

Finally, our admiration is often unexpressed, but should be expressed, for the selfless work of the search teams in this incident and in others who showed that, for them, it is not just a job but a vocation. The families and all concerned are very grateful for those efforts.

Stephen Moutray (DUP, Upper Bann)

I concur with the comments of my colleague Sydney Anderson and others in the House this afternoon. There is still a great sense of disbelief, not only in the community in Portadown but further afield, that two young men, both experienced anglers, were lost in such tragic circumstances. Like my colleague, I was able to attend an event recently at which I met some of the family members impacted, and the sense of loss and pain that those family members were feeling really hit home. I also pay tribute to those, north and south of the border, who helped to search for those who were missing for over two weeks. Last week, my colleague David Simpson, the Member of Parliament for Upper Bann, went to Lough Ree and was greatly touched by the community spirit and the endurance of those involved. I trust that, in the dark days ahead, that community spirit will continue to sustain the families of those who were lost and others impacted by this terrible tragedy.

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

I wish to associate myself and my party with the words and thoughts of condolence to the families. There have been many touching tributes today, particularly from people who knew the victims very well. It is important that we stop for a moment, as the whole House does on occasions such as this, and think of how quickly joy and pleasure can turn to tragedy, and to think of those left behind. It will be so difficult for those families to come to terms with their loss, and young children will have to grow up without the influence of a father figure. As Mr Allister rightly pointed out, we should think about John Trimble and the Trimble family and all those who are suffering the consequences and repercussions of this awful event, which will live on with them for many years to come. We think about them, and I am quite sure that the community will continue to support them not only in these difficult days but in the weeks, months and years that lie ahead.

Danny Kennedy (UUP, Newry and Armagh)

I join with others in the expression of sincere sympathy and condolences to all the families impacted, particularly the Warnock and Burke families and, indeed, John Trimble and his family. It is not an overestimation to say that the entire north Armagh area has been very touched and affected by this tragedy. That impact has been felt across the entire community and is reflected, rightly, in this afternoon's event in the House marking the tragedy.

Mr Warnock lived in Richhill, and his parents are from Armagh; Mr Burke was from Portadown; and Mr Trimble is from Markethill. Therefore, the entire area of north and mid-Armagh has experienced great grief and sorrow at this tragedy. We assure all the families involved of our ongoing prayers and prayerful support, and of our practical support, which has been so much in evidence since the tragedy. We extend our sympathy and caring to the members of the Portadown Pikers angling club. Once again, I express our deep appreciation and admiration for the work of all those who searched and helped with the rescue and recovery. It has been a very dark period, and we ask that God's blessing will come upon all those impacted in any way.

William Irwin (DUP, Newry and Armagh)

I concur with the Members who have already spoken. The tragedy that unfolded in Lough Ree, which claimed the lives of David Warnock and Daryl Burke, has shocked the community in County Armagh and further afield. In the aftermath of that awful tragedy, we have witnessed a huge coming together of the community to assist in providing help and supplies, including donations, for the families who are struggling with this ordeal. The efforts of all those involved in the search have been commendable and, indeed, deeply moving.

I was relieved to hear that the body of Daryl Burke was recovered on Saturday, as it has been such an awful ordeal for his family to endure day after day. At last, they can plan to say their final farewell to Daryl. It is just so tragic; such a terrible outcome to what was to be an exciting trip. How tragic and painfully unpredictable life can be that such an occasion turned so terribly sad.

I wish John Trimble a full recovery. I am sure that it has been a very traumatic experience for him and his family. I also wish to pass on my sincere sympathies to David Warnock's father, the rest of his family and his partner and young child, and to the family of Daryl Burke. I assure them of my thoughts and prayers in the coming days.

Ministerial Statement

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Mr Speaker, if it is appropriate and in order, I would like to join with colleagues in expressing my condolences to the Warnock and Burke families at this very difficult time for them.

I would like to make a statement today to update Members on two important rating issues to do with the review of public administration (RPA). The issues are about managing rates convergence and the funding of transferring functions; issues that I know are of great interest in local government and amongst the general public.

The purpose of the statement is to assure Members that everything that needs to be done is being done to facilitate the first major reorganisation of local government in 40 years. Over that period, there have been a lot of changes in the way in which this part of the United Kingdom has been governed. I wish to play my part in bringing about this long overdue and major reform.

One of the enduring strengths of local government here is its financial independence, which has allowed councils to decide their own priorities, service levels and spending patterns. Unlike other parts of the British Isles, we do not really operate a system of equalisation grants to help local authorities that have a less wealthy tax base. Therefore, it is not surprising that major variances in district rate levels have developed across Northern Ireland and between adjoining council areas — areas that are now joining together as part of the reorganisation.

It is in that context that DFP and DOE have been looking at the issue of rates convergence; an issue that is critical to the success of the local government reform programme.

The financial modelling that has been carried out so far has shown that ratepayers in some existing council areas are likely to experience significant rate increases and, in some cases, decreases if district rates were simply combined at the point of local government reorganisation. Our objective therefore is to implement appropriate transitional arrangements to ease the rates burden on ratepayers where there are wide disparities in district rates between the merging councils.

The Executive have already set aside up to £30 million to develop a scheme that will fulfil the primary objective of delivering an effective, affordable and deliverable scheme that best meets the policy requirements of mitigating the impact of rates convergence on ratepayers. The scheme that we are developing will allow councils to strike a new district rate in the normal way, but Land and Property Services (LPS) will apply a subsidy in the rate bills to those ratepayers, domestic and commercial, who would otherwise face sudden and excessive increases in rates as a result of the mergers and other boundary changes.

That will work through an adjustment to the district rate figure for those ratepayers who need protection over the next few years. It will apply to many ratepayers — up to 300,000 — and will mean that the change will be gradual. That approach is acceptable to DOE, finds favour in local government and has the endorsement of the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV), which has conducted an external assessment of the various options.

Over recent months, my officials and their counterparts in DOE have been keeping the various local government reference groups up to date with current thinking and plans for managing rates convergence. The feedback from the local government sector has been generally positive.

Now that we know the final district rates for the 26 councils, work can begin on the detailed figure work to enable a consultation process to start after Easter to help to inform decisions on the exact eligibility criteria and the scope of the scheme. That will include consideration of the options on the use of thresholds, the required duration of the scheme and the height and depth of the steps necessary to ensure, within the available funding, that the scheme is as acceptable as possible to ratepayers and the councils that serve them. I hasten to add that early analysis suggests that an effective scheme can be developed within the £30 million that has been set aside.

Another issue that I wish to mention is the mechanism for funding the new responsibilities that local government will have, including local operational planning, regeneration and community development, physical regeneration, some housing functions and a number of local economic development and tourism activities. That will all need ongoing finance. Recent work by my Department has estimated the total transferring costs to be in the order of £80 million, although I hasten to add that the final cost is still being worked up by the donor Departments in discussions with local government. My Department is, therefore, not in the lead in taking forward that difficult process, which looks as though it will take a few more months. Ultimately, it will have to be agreed by Ministers.

The payment mechanism is an issue that my Department has been involved in, working with DOE. It had always been assumed that we could use the rating system to help to fund the new functions, thus preserving the independence and accountability of local government. A few years ago, there was talk of increasing district rates and providing a regional rate offset in each of the new council areas. My Department has looked into that and, not surprisingly, it has proved to be impracticable. At the other end of the scale, we could simply continue to provide direct grants from the donor Departments. That is undesirable and would shackle the new councils, going against the whole philosophy of RPA, which is to give them the freedom to decide how best to provide new services in their council areas. Furthermore, it brings with it the whole public expenditure regime, with its bidding, monitoring and control issues.

Therefore, the Minister of the Environment and I are proposing a mechanism that is a halfway house. It would operate like a grant, but it will use the rating system without interfering with it. In effect, it gives each of the new councils an ongoing supplement to their rate base, which will equate to the settled net cost of delivering the new functions and services. In subsequent years, that amount will vary in line with changes in the district rates, which, of course, councils control. It is an approach that, again, the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation, as well as the two Departments, has endorsed. We have engaged very heavily with the various reference groups that we deal with in local government to explain its workings.

To that end, DOE introduced a clause into the Local Government Bill at Consideration Stage to enable a new grant mechanism to fund councils in a similar fashion to the derating and rates support grants. It will allow a supplementary net annual value (NAV) to be associated with each of the new councils, which will be set out in regulations early next year. The amount of grant that each council will be paid will be worked out simply by applying the prevailing district rate to that NAV figure. In effect, the new rate base supplement would lead to the same financial boost for a council as a new large office block or shopping centre being bequeathed to it in April 2015, generating the extra revenue needed to pay for the new functions.

One other issue that I wish to touch on concerns borrowing and what my Department has been discussing with Treasury in Whitehall. I have stated previously that the overall programme of reform will deliver savings in the long term. Therefore, it is right that local government should contribute to the upfront costs, as it will enjoy the savings. One of the ways that that can happen is for local government to be able to borrow now to meet some upfront costs, such as staff severance, alignment of services and the costs associated with operating the new councils in shadow form prior to April 2015. To facilitate that, my Department has secured agreement from Her Majesty's Treasury to issue capitalisation directions for up to a total of £33 million over a four-year period for the upfront costs associated with delivering the reform of local government. This means that local government will be able to capitalise those initial costs and borrow for them when they arise, and so spread the costs by repaying the loans from the savings that will result from the reforms over a longer period, without any spike in district rates.

I must stress that any decision to borrow is for the councils to make. What my Department has done is to facilitate that as an option for councils to consider when making their decisions. It is also worth stressing that that borrowing facility is in addition to the allocation of £17·8 million, which the Executive agreed in February 2013, to assist local government with transition costs, as well as the £30 million for rates convergence, which I mentioned earlier.

Local government in Northern Ireland is moving through one of its most challenging periods of reform since 1972. Such large-scale transformation offers new opportunities to seek out and strengthen partnership relationships to deliver better, more efficient services to the public and local business communities. In central government, the newly established public sector reform division brings together expertise, including innovation and ideas generation; economic review and appraisal; project and programme management; and internal consultancy.

I am keen to explore opportunities for local councils to access new, innovative financing solutions. Last month, I met senior local government representatives to discuss how to enhance infrastructure provision by local councils. The discussion included how our local councils may benefit from European Investment Bank funding or the Executive’s financial transactions capital. I very much see this as the start of a dialogue that I intend to continue in the coming months.

The reform agenda across government requires us to build confidence in all public services. To that end, I am keen for the facilities and support being developed in the public sector reform division to be made available to bodies outside central government, including local councils. I believe that there is an opportunity for those involved to collaborate and optimise their resources to ensure that best practice methods are adopted to embed reformed processes across the wider public sector for the benefit of the citizen.

I have heard it said that the new councils will result in huge rate increases for some. I hope that my statement offers reassurance that massive rate hikes will not happen because of the amalgamation of existing councils. I make clear to Members that my Department will do everything that it can to assist DOE in making RPA a reality in 2015, in a way that is acceptable to ratepayers and the new councils that will serve them.

Daithí McKay (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his statement and welcome the £30 million relief being provided for the new councils. However, I ask the Minister, as I have asked his officials, whether it will be enough. Will the £30 million set aside be sufficient for local councils? What projections has the Minister made? Also, I am sure that Members are conscious that non-domestic revaluation will dovetail into the new council period next year. How will that affect the transitional relief scheme? Finally, how confident is the Minister that no council has set an artificially high district rate in advance of convergence to maximise the relief allocated subsequently?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for his questions. There may be no more left after Mr McKay's three-parter. I thank him for welcoming the £30 million for rates convergence. His first question was whether that was enough. Ultimately, that will depend on decisions taken at the end of the consultation that I intend to launch after Easter. However, initial analysis by my Department, based on the rate struck by the outgoing 26 councils, suggests that £30 million is enough to do it in the way that we have envisaged, which is over, perhaps, a three-year period, with a stepped decrease in transitional relief. However, if the consultation throws up various issues that we consider valid, and if the appetite is there, it may be necessary to extend that, which may involve some additional cost. I point out, though, that with budgets under pressure, in not just the coming year but future years, for a host of reasons, there would need to be significant reasons why we would want to extend the quantum of funding beyond £30 million, which, in the context of where we are, is quite generous.

The Member's final, and related, question was on how to avoid excessive rate increases. I do not think that there is much evidence of councils doing that this year. In fact, quite the opposite is the case, with many councils striking a zero or below inflation rate. I am sure that the timing of that, in an election year, is merely coincidental, but it has been done nonetheless and obviously assisted in getting round that problem. I am absolutely adamant that, over the next three years, we must ensure that some review or oversight mechanism for the convergence scheme is put in place to ensure that councils do not use, or attempt to use, transitional relief to mask more excessive rate increases than would otherwise be the case. None of us wants that to happen. It must be avoided, and I will do everything that I can to avoid it.

The Member is also right to raise the issue of non-domestic revaluation. It is an incredibly busy time with changes to our rates system. April 2015 will see the roll-out of the non-domestic revaluation, and it is likely that a similar transitional relief scheme will be required to smooth out any significant spikes that there might be regarding changes in valuations for non-domestic customers, but that is being developed in parallel. It will not be merged with this scheme, but the next number of months will be very busy for LPS in making sure that both schemes and, indeed, some other changes that it is going through will be implemented.

Paul Girvan (DUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his statement. He just mentioned the transitional relief for ratepayers. How will that work alongside the possible transitional rate relief scheme that will be put in place in 2015 to deal with non-domestic revaluation?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

As I pointed out to the Chair of the Committee, it is an incredibly busy time for LPS in dealing with the non-domestic rates revaluation, which has been going on for a number of years and is due to be reported on over the next couple of months before being implemented in April of next year. As I mentioned to Mr McKay, I dare say that that will require, as it has in the past, some form of transitional scheme. It is important that the two schemes are kept separate as they are on a different scale and the legislation in place does not permit a single composite scheme. However, our officials continue to investigate how the two very different transitional rate relief schemes will interact, because non-domestic customers will be affected by both schemes potentially.

The schemes, I have to point out, would not involve any payment to councils. That is key. Councils can continue to strike their rates in the normal way and will receive all the rates income that they would have got, even if transitional relief had not been applied. That removes this process from the council's budgeting and makes it a lot cleaner for them, albeit that it will be incredibly complicated having two schemes having to interact, operating in parallel while being separate and distinct.

Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Minister for his statement and welcome what he has said today. Does he agree that, although some councils have been very good at creating savings and sharing services, there is no good reason why all councils could not have done that and created more savings around the ICE scheme and things like that? Maybe some of the issues would not have been so stark if that had been done.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I like to take things at face value. Maybe I am less cynical than the Member, but I think that there are occasionally very good reasons why, even at a time of change such as local government is going through, capital expenditure is still required. We must not forget that, beyond April 2015, there are services that still need to be delivered that will require capital investment in many cases. For example, if a leisure centre is old and dilapidated now, it will be old and dilapidated after April 2015, and there will be a requirement for a continuation of leisure provision, particularly in most major towns and areas. We could go through lots of areas of responsibility where capital investment is still required.

Although I think that there has perhaps been some cynical application of this in past years, where councils have taken decisions in advance to invest in something because they perhaps fear that a new, bigger council might swallow them up and outvote them, I understand that they would want to ensure that that capital investment is there so that it will remain. He is right that performance in developing reserves and prudence in the management of ratepayers' money at a local government level has been different and has been patchy across the Province. I agree that it would do well for all of us, whether at local or central government level, to have that prudent long-term view of our public services and to ensure that we do not spend money foolishly when we have it and regret it at a later stage.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his statement. It is certainly very interesting. Minister, I would like to raise the question of borrowing powers, if I may. You mentioned £33 million capitalisation over the four-year period, which is obviously the length of a council term. Do you see this carrying on for other resource and capital expenditure in years to come? Can they be capitalised again? In other words, is it ongoing? I was also interested to see mention of my favourite subject: financial transactions capital. Will you explain how that may, in fact, work here with local government?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I will take the Member's first point first. What we have negotiated directly with Treasury is, as the Member says, £33 million of loans that can be capitalised to pay for what are, in some cases, revenue expenditures. It could be severance or running costs for new councils, particularly when they are in shadow form. That would, of course, be expenditure that you would not traditionally capitalise, but the Treasury has been receptive to this, as it has been in examples in mainland GB, and sympathetic to the fact that this is expenditure at this point in time that will reap benefits in the longer term and is a necessary part of any reform or reorganisation process.

At the moment, it is not compulsory for councils to avail themselves of this £33 million over four years. To go back to Mr Eastwood's point, many will have reserves that will become bigger as they combine, and it is up to councils whether they want to use those reserves. They could raise the rate, although I am not sure that that would be a massively popular thing to do. There are other options. This is an additional option that they now have to spread the cost of reorganisation over a lot more years, so that — whilst we all anticipate and expect savings in the longer term — there is not a spike in the rates or in costs at the outset that will, obviously, have a negative impact on ratepayers.

The option is there, but it does not extend beyond the four-year period at this time. I am not prone to testing the patience of the Treasury, which has been very helpful on this occasion. However, I wonder whether there may be a possibility of extending it marginally beyond the four years if some of the programmes are rolling out and reaping benefits. I would not rule that out entirely; it is not on the agenda at this stage. Everything that could, should and needs to be done is doable within that four-year period, but we will obviously look at it.

The Member will recall that under the Local Government Finance Act, which was passed some years ago, borrowing powers for councils were greatly extended. They are able to borrow much more, and I encourage them to do that prudently by investing in their area.

The Member raised again the issue of financial transactions capital. He will know that the rules pertaining to that are that it must not be spent by us in government or even by local government. However, I have been keen to explore that in concert with local government, particularly given some of the new borrowing powers that it has, its bigger rates bases and some of the powers it is getting, especially around the likes of regeneration. I imagine that every new council will want to compete with the others to improve their infrastructure. In some ways, particularly around regeneration, they are no longer shackled by central government priorities. Priorities that are high up the list at a local level can get funded much more quickly at a local level than they might if they were dependent on us in central government taking those decisions.

I have been working with them on how we can, perhaps, use them as a conduit or an enabler for infrastructure development in their areas, particularly around the likes of some of the sites that will be transferred to them and some of the regeneration projects that are maybe at an early stage. The Member will be familiar with the Queen's Parade situation in Bangor, which goes back many years. That is the sort of scheme that councils can be part of, perhaps using financial transactions capital or other sources of finance to help fund the development of those in a way that we in central government have been restricted from doing.

Judith Cochrane (Alliance, Belfast East)

In welcoming the statement I should, perhaps, declare an interest as somebody who currently lives in Castlereagh and will fall into Belfast. Currently, it would appear that some councils decide the rate burden that they will place on constituents, make a wish list and then prioritise it in line with their agreed rate budget, whereas others seem to make a wish list and simply say to their constituents, "Foot the bill". Whilst it is important that councils have financial independence, all Northern Ireland ratepayers should expect similar consideration of the burden that it will place on them. Does the Minister see any opportunities for his public sector reform division to bring innovative ideas to councils to help improve their efficiency?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

As I said in my statement, I am very keen that the division, which is a public sector reform division and not just a Northern Ireland Executive or central government reform division, is utilised across the public sector and not just by the Civil Service but beyond into arm's-length bodies and right out into and including local government. Given the pressures that every layer of government will face over the next couple of years, I do not think that any of us can sit in isolation and say that we have all the answers to this. There will be shared experiences and shared lessons mirroring some things that have been done, particularly in Great Britain, in trying to be a little bit more innovative at local government level and using local government, because of its proximity to our citizens, as a test bed for some innovative and creative ideas for public service delivery. So, it is a resource that is as much at the disposal of local government moving forward as it is at the disposal of colleagues in the Executive and their Departments.

I have been keen to stress that it is not a prescriptive resource, and I am not saying, "These are the only areas". We have lots of different skills and are starting to develop innovation and ideas-generation capacity, but we also have economic appraisal, business appraisal and consultancy services that are already in-house. Those can be applied to basically any situation. I have not said, "These are the only four or five areas that this resource can be applied to". It is very much an open door to allow local government in this case to come forward and say that it would benefit from the assistance and experience that the division is developing to apply to potential efficiencies and more effective delivery at local government level. So, it is a resource that is there for everybody. I see a huge opportunity for local government to work with the division, particularly at this time of reform and given the challenges that reform and reductions in public expenditure generally bring.

Peter Weir (DUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his statement. He highlighted in an answer to an earlier question the need to keep monitoring the situation to ensure that, as things develop, it is fit for purpose. It is obviously an issue that relates to DFP and DOE, and I wonder how, in conjunction with DFP, he intends to review the operation of the transitional relief scheme.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

We hope that the consultation that we are about to launch will ensure that we get the scheme right in the first instance, but it was always the intention of the Department to monitor and review the scheme midway through its life, as we habitually do with any and all schemes. That was to guarantee, first of all, that we stayed within budget — Mr McKay's point about the quantum of money available for rates convergence was right — and to ensure that all councils acted responsibly in setting their district rate. I made the point to Mr McKay that councils should not game it or use it as an opportunity to perhaps bury some cost.

Even though the scheme will deliver relief directly to eligible ratepayers, we do not want to create a situation where one or two councils might set a higher rate than they would otherwise have done. That is not to say that councils cannot be trusted. I want to make it clear that they can be trusted to manage their own affairs — of course they can — but this is a new situation that we are dealing with, and £30 million is a lot of public funding for a transitional relief scheme. We have to make sure that all public expenditure is used appropriately and has the intended effect, That, of course, is quite different from the review that has been demanded and is now part of the Local Government Bill. A new clause was passed at Further Consideration Stage that — unfortunately, I think — seems to want to open the door to even more funding down the line and for an extended time. Whilst we will always review the scheme to ensure that it is working properly, including the level of expenditure, to almost give councils a signal that this could extend for ever and a day beyond the three or four years is not in keeping with the spirit of local government reform, which is all about empowering local government at a time when it is still seeking to drive further efficiencies and reforms into local services.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Cuirim fáilte roimh ráiteas an Aire. I welcome the Minister's statement. It talked about the European investment banks. With the practices for borrowing, there is obviously a borrowing element but also a repayment element. What financial practices will be in place to ensure that ratepayers are protected in respect of loans and repayments?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Principally, it will be more of an issue for DOE to consider, but, personally speaking, I think that the measure and the checks and balances that are in place are local accountability and the fact that there will be councillors elected to ensure that, whatever is borrowed and wherever that is borrowed from, the council can repay that and that the ratepayers of the borough or district can repay that and do not stretch themselves to breaking point. It is up to our councils, and I have every faith in them to be prudent in the management of their funds moving forward, and I have every faith in them understanding that they will have an extent to which they can borrow beyond which they cannot simply afford it. There will be some overall total restrictions in the amount that local government can borrow year to year.

I have seen it reported quite a lot in the local press and in the regional press that councils having borrowings is almost a bad thing. I can understand, in the context of merger, how a council that does not have a lot of borrowing would see it as a bad thing that it is taking on from another council. I will make the point that, as long as it is affordable within the overall spending envelope that councils have, it is manageable and that borrowing, particularly to invest either in making further efficiencies or particularly in improving infrastructure that may help to deliver better local services, is a good and positive thing. It is something that the Executive do to the tune of £200 million a year through the RRI, and it is not something that I would want to dissuade our new councils from doing either.

Adrian McQuillan (DUP, East Londonderry)

I also welcome the Minister's statement. Has the Minister identified how councils can utilise the bigger rates base to invest in local infrastructure?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

That is something that I have been keen to explore over the last number of months. I can understand and appreciate that particularly DOE and the councils have been very much focused on making sure that everything fits neatly together in April next year. Obviously, there is an election coming up in the next number of weeks, and there will be a lot of focus and attention on that. In my view, there is perhaps not enough attention being placed on the possibilities and opportunities that the review of public administration presents for local government in Northern Ireland.

One of the biggest opportunities is, as some other Members have picked up on, the ability of our councils to be conduits for investment in local infrastructure. Councils already invest in infrastructure, but it is principally around leisure and community expenditure. There is a possibility, particularly with the transfer to local government of powers around regeneration, for them to become serious level investors in infrastructure. It also presents opportunities for us, in the context of their community planning powers, to work with central government, whether it be in health, education, libraries or other public services, to see how that could more neatly fit with local government's plans to invest in infrastructure in their areas. There are huge opportunities. That is why I have wanted, at the early stage, to start a conversation with local government officials. I had a meeting last month with between 20 and 30 senior officials, chief executives, finance directors and development directors from right across Northern Ireland to start to whet their appetite about the opportunities, including opportunities such as the European Investment Bank, which was at that meeting to brief them, and financial transactions capital, which I mentioned to Mr Cree, and generally to raise ambitions and extend the horizons and the vision that local government has, stemming from the greater powers that it will have. There are huge opportunities. I am prepared to work with local government in a constructive way to help it to realise that and to give whatever assistance, whether that is through the public sector reform division or whatever, to help it, through DFP, to realise those opportunities.

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his statement, which highlights how the Executive intend to deal with an issue that is particularly worrying in areas such as Fermanagh, particularly for the business community. Would the Minister be willing to come to Fermanagh with me some day to meet members of the local business community to explain directly what action the Executive are taking to deal with the issue but, more importantly, to hear from members of the local business community who are anxious about the continuing rises in various cost bases?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I know that it is an issue that causes great concern, probably particularly in the Fermanagh and Omagh area, but, as Mrs Cochrane mentioned, there are issues in respect of not just mergers but boundary changes in and around the Belfast area, particularly around Castlereagh. I know that the issue has caused concern. That is why I hope that today's statement, which, I hope, Members will communicate to their constituents, will offer a reassurance that there will be no sudden and excessive rate increases as a result of the merger of councils and reorganisation through the RPA. I am happy to communicate that in whatever way I can, particularly to businesses that are going through revaluation at the same time.

Unfortunately, I am sorry to have to inform the Member that, perhaps not for the first time, Arlene Foster has beaten him to it. I have accepted an invitation from her to speak to businesses in the Fermanagh area. However, I am happy to ensure that the issues that the Member raised are communicated to them at that meeting, and I am happy to do that with other Members around the country.

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

I welcome the Minister's statement. It is good news for ratepayers, and they will be very pleased. That said, Minister, there is many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, and 2015 is some time away. Your statement says:

"I hasten to add that early analysis suggests that an effective scheme can be developed within the £30m that has been set aside."

You seem to be very confident that £30 million will suffice. What is the basis for that confidence? Will you share some of that early analysis with the House?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I agree with the Member that it is good news; it was intended to be good news for ratepayers. There has been much public speculation, even in this House — in fact, I have heard black propaganda spread by some — that RPA and the reorganisation and merger of councils will result in huge increases in individuals' rates. The intention is to give the House an update on the thinking on rates convergence, borrowing and funding mechanisms and, at the same time, ensure that people and Members understand the rates convergence scheme and the fact that the £30 million that has been set aside by the Executive will ensure that there will be no sudden and excessive increases in rates bills for the next number of years.

We have not finalised the scheme. The Department intends to start a consultation after Easter that, I am sure, will reveal issues that we expect it to reveal and some that we had not anticipated. We have not come to a hard and fast judgement that this is absolutely the way that we will do it. One way that the scheme might be done is through a stepped decrease in support, as has been the case with other transitional schemes. At the time of the change from rental values to capital values, there was a stepped decrease in the support that was offered to the ratepayers who were hit the hardest, so that sort of scheme might be used. We talked about it being done over three years, and we know our quantum of money. We also know the final rates for the outgoing 26 councils. A basic analysis of that and what it means for convergence, as well as a stepped decrease in support, which is, traditionally, what we have done with transitional schemes, has given us confidence that the £30 million will be sufficient to cover the needs of domestic and non-domestic ratepayers as a result of the RPA.

Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for bringing the information to the House, although I appreciate that it is limited at the moment, and there is more meat to go on the bones. He said that there was an endorsement from the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation about rates convergence and that it had carried out an external assessment of the options. Will the Minister make that assessment available, along with the options, in the consultation?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I appreciate the Member's point that the information is limited, but I still think that it is important to update the House and, by extension, the people of Northern Ireland about our intentions, particularly around rates convergence. There will be more and more concern about the issue as we progress towards April 2015, and it is important that we make it absolutely clear that no sudden and excessive rate increases will result from the RPA.

It is also important that the best scheme was not just decided by DOE and DFP. Through consultation, the mechanisms and reference groups that the DOE Minister set up, we got some degree of understanding from local government. The feedback that we have is that it is generally positive about the preferred path forward. However, we also have outside, independent endorsement from IRRV, and I welcome the fact is that it has been involved in the process. It brings an unparalleled level of experience and understanding of what can often be very technical issues. So to have the IRRV on board and endorsing the way forward has been helpful. I do not particularly see any reason why we cannot make the IRRV assessment available, either through the consultation or by some other means. I am happy to investigate how that might best be done in the weeks and months ahead.

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

I welcome the Minister's statement. Most of this is based on the premise that the new council models are going to save money, which, some might say, is up for debate. Given the very fact that, even in public sector reform here, the Minister is struggling with Departments — some of which are blocking it — how can he achieve that? How can he make sure that those savings are achieved? What actions will he take against councils that do not achieve those savings?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

It is not for me to take action against such councils for not making savings. RPA creates an opportunity for local government and councils to make those savings. It is not just about saving a few pounds here and there; substantial amounts of money are involved. It is so that, in making those savings, councils can deliver better services for their people. That is the primary objective of reform.

Reform, change and innovation in the public sector are always difficult. It will be challenging at local government level. However, the one thing that gives me more confidence about local government is the attitude that I have already seen from people in local government. There are a lot of good examples, particularly in Belfast City Council, which is often characterised as a council where people are at loggerheads and in disagreement all the time. Although there are issues on which there is disagreement, a lot of progress has been made in Belfast. What Belfast has been doing, for example, with the IBM Smarter Cities initiative allows it to assess the value of what it spends on the basis of the outcomes that are achieved. That is exactly the sort of thing that I want to see happen in central government as well. The attitudes that I have seen though the direct engagement that I have had with people in local government about infrastructure, make it very clear that there is that vision and understanding and they have to be a lot more ambitious than they have been in the past.

Local government faces a huge change, and it will pose its own difficulties and challenges in the short term. However, in the longer term, local government has vast opportunities to reshape its local communities in a way that would have been the envy of councillors in the past. There is a huge opportunity, and it is slowly but surely dawning on political representatives and officials at local government level. I hope that that optimism continues.

Ian McCrea (DUP, Mid Ulster)

I welcome the Minister's statement. Like him, I hope that those who have been scaremongering about huge rate increases have been listening and will reflect on their previous statements. Can the Minister outline any ways in which his Department can work and assist the new local councils to realise the savings that will flow from the reorganisation process?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

Again, I think it is very much up to local councils. Beyond the obvious and very immediate savings that can be made by merging councils, such as needing fewer senior officials and so on, which, of course, come with a cost at the outset, there are opportunities for savings. It is principally the responsibility of local government, which knows its own patch much better than any of us know it, to identify where efficiencies and reforms could not just yield savings but produce better services.

There is one area in which I am keen to assist local government. I think there is a huge opportunity for local government, instead of reinventing the wheel, to avail itself of and piggyback on the success of some of the things that we have done in central government. I am thinking particularly of shared services, which I intend to pick up with the Environment Minister when we meet in a couple of weeks to talk about public reform in general and local government reform specifically. We have a very successful suite of shared services programmes that have been rolled out over the past six or seven years, such as IT Assist, which, in this Budget period alone, has saved us nearly £20 million in the delivery of IT systems across the Northern Ireland Civil Service. If there is spare capacity for that to be rolled out beyond the Civil Service, it is a conversation worth having with local government so that, instead of having to go back to the beginning or to the drawing board, it can look at what we have done and do that or come on board with what we are already doing in our shared services programme.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

Will the Minister give some clarification on the subsidy to ratepayers who will face an increase on convergence? Is it a 100% subsidy and will it be maintained at the initial level for whatever number of years it lasts? Do we have any indication of how many years that will be?

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I am keen to tease that out in a consultation to take the appetite of local government in a more structured way and, of course, of the population at large. There are any number of different ways in which a scheme could be implemented. I mentioned in response to Alban Maginness that, in the past, a stepped change downwards was preferred, so, for example, it was 100% in the first year and went down at different stages as you moved forward. There are, obviously, alternative ways in which that could be done. It could be a steady change across a number of years. There are pluses and minuses in both approaches. The key message is that it will be a time-limited scheme of around three or possibly four years. Again, that will be determined as a result of consultation. It has to have a time limit because we have to ensure that, given the fact that local government's service levels will have stabilised in those first couple of years and it will have a clearer picture of its financial circumstances, it has to regain that financial independence at the heart of local government in Northern Ireland as quickly as possible. I do not see this as a scheme that should run on forever. If it did, you would risk losing that financial independence, and there is the risk that the Chairman, Mr McKay, raised, namely that some councils could potentially use and exploit the scheme to mask significant rate rises. That is a real possibility.

Executive Committee Business

Nelson McCausland (DUP, Belfast North)

I beg to move

That the Final Stage of the Licensing of Pavement Cafés Bill [NIA 24/11-15] do now pass.

The Bill is a significant and necessary piece of legislation. Indeed, Northern Ireland is the first region in these islands to promote a Bill specifically dedicated to the regulation of pavement cafes. The Bill will provide district councils with a sound legal framework to regulate an activity that has been part of the streetscape for some time but has developed in a rather haphazard way. Well-managed pavement cafes will complement my Department's investment in public realm works in towns and cities across Northern Ireland.

The Bill will prohibit the operation of a pavement cafe except under licence granted by a district council. Applications will be considered from owners of cafes, restaurants, pubs or other premises selling food or drink to the public. The Bill will place an onus on a council to grant a licence unless it has a good reason to refuse an application. Councils will be able to impose a range of licence conditions and charge a reasonable fee, and may vary, suspend or revoke the licence in certain circumstances. There will be a power to remove facilities at unlicensed pavement cafes, and several new offences will be created to aid enforcement.

A number of important safeguards have been included in the licensing regime to ensure that authorised pavement cafes will be safe, well managed and sensitive to the needs of street users and the surrounding area. The legislation will be backed by comprehensive guidance informed by best practice elsewhere. The guidance will address important practical issues and will have to be taken seriously by district councils.

Following scrutiny of the Bill by the Social Development Committee, I tabled a number of amendments that were passed at Consideration Stage. The more significant amendments addressed concerns that the Committee had about the wide-ranging nature of the powers to revoke or suspend a licence. Several technical amendments were also agreed. I am grateful to Members for supporting these amendments.

I again put on record my thanks to the Chair and members of the Social Development Committee for their comprehensive and effective scrutiny. Likewise, I thank Assembly officials and the Office of the Legislative Counsel for their dedicated work in getting the Bill to this important stage.

The Bill balances the need for robust regulation with the necessary flexibility for councils to respond to local circumstances. Key stakeholders have been calling for this statutory licensing scheme, and I am pleased to introduce it. I commend the Bill to the House.

Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin, Belfast South)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Speaking as the Chair, I, first, thank the Minister for bringing the Final Stage to the House. The Bill was referred to the Committee for Social Development in accordance with Standing Order 33(1) on completion of its Second Stage on 25 June 2013.

In response to its call for evidence, the Committee received 23 written submissions and took oral evidence from eight organisations. I thank the organisations that took the time to engage with the Committee. In particular, I highlight the assistance provided to the Committee by the Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC) and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Both organisations brought to the attention of the Committee the difficulties faced by people with disabilities in moving freely in public spaces and made very clear to the Committee the problems that inappropriate design and location of pavement cafes posed to them. The Committee was eager to pursue this with the Minister and is glad that he has given his assurance that the accompanying guidance will:

"place strong emphasis on putting the access needs of pedestrians at the heart of the licensing regime." — [Official Report, Vol 92, No 7, p4, col 1].

Indeed, it is fair to say that the Committee was given good support from the Department’s Bill team throughout its consideration. That is reflected in the Minister’s broadly positive response to the Committee’s suggested changes. As the Minister said during Consideration Stage, the more significant amendments addressed concerns raised by members at Committee Stage. In addition, the Committee was content to support a number of technical amendments that the Minister put forward. It is encouraging to see the positive impact that scrutiny by a Committee can have on legislation when a Department is prepared to work on a collaborative basis to establish in a positive way what can be done rather than providing reasons not to effect changes. Hopefully, this approach can and will continue.

We can all appreciate the potential economic and social impact of pavement cafes on our town and city centres. However, as the Minister referred to, the current approach to regulation, which is based on toleration, is not sustainable. In fact, the introduction of a mandatory licensing scheme was well overdue.

I believe that the Bill strikes a balance between establishing a sound statutory footing for the regulation of pavement cafes and ensuring a welcoming environment for residents and visitors alike, while safeguarding the ability of pedestrians to move freely and without danger. The support given to the Bill at Consideration Stage reflects that view. We will, of course, have to monitor the implementation of the Bill and to what extent the councils adhere to the guidance to be issued by the Department, particularly in respect of people being able to navigate their way along footpaths.

I conclude my remarks by thanking all the organisations that assisted the Committee in its scrutiny by providing a written submission or an oral briefing and the members of the Committee, who dedicated significant time to considering the legislation. I also thank the Committee staff and officials, who have been very supportive of the Committee in its consideration of this Bill and many others. I am very happy, on behalf to the Committee, to support the Bill at Final Stage.

Paula Bradley (DUP, Belfast North)

There is not really an awful lot left to say as we said most of it at the various stages of the Bill. On behalf of the DUP members of the Social Development Committee, I join the Chair in offering our thanks to the Committee Clerk and staff, the Assembly officials and, probably more importantly, the many witnesses who brought us lots of information that enabled us to make suggestions and changes.

I want to highlight the fact that, as an elected representative for North Belfast, I live and work on the periphery of what used to be a small village and has now grown into an ever-expanding town, and that is Glengormley. Anything at all that the Assembly can bring forward that will help our town centres, make them more attractive and bring in higher footfall and more tourism has to be applauded. I know that, in my town centre of Glengormley, DSD has provided a great deal of financial help to bring it up to a better standard and make it aesthetically better. Also, we have a very exciting master plan ahead in Glengormley. Anything at all that the Assembly can bring forward most definitely has to be praised, so I welcome the fact that we are now at the Final Stage of the Licensing of Pavement Cafés Bill.

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

On behalf of the SDLP, I welcome the Bill. I will be interested to hear from the Minister about the time frame. Some of the cafe owners in Lurgan are asking me whether the legislation will be passed in time for this summer for their business. Secondly, as others said, I hope that the guidance to local authorities is very strong, particularly around the needs of people with disabilities, including those with a visual impairment. That is most important, because some in the RNIB do not believe that the legislation goes far enough in securing their rights. So I think that it is important that the guidance is explicit in any assessment of the needs of people with a disability.

Michael Copeland (UUP, Belfast East)

The Ulster Unionist Party also welcomes and concurs with the comments of the Minister and, indeed, the Chair of the Social Development Committee. We enjoyed — if that is the right word — the engagement between the people who made presentations to the Committee, and, in fairness, the points that they made were well made and were taken into account. The Department was particularly amenable to listening to those concerns, and the Ulster Unionist Party welcomes the eventual passage of this legislation.

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

On behalf of the Alliance Party, I support the Bill at its Final Stage. As has been said today and, indeed, on previous occasions when we have debated this legislation, a cafe culture is beginning to emerge in our villages, towns and cities. It is important that we have the appropriate measures in place to regulate this welcome development. Although we will have to see how it works in practice, my party is satisfied that the legislation provides appropriate regulation while giving councils a degree of discretion and minimising bureaucracy. The safeguards that this legislation puts in place are important to ensure that pavement cafes are suitable for the surrounding area and will not negatively impact on traffic, pedestrians, the environment and public safety, including young mums and dads with prams. The same applies to wheelchair users and people with mobility issues and to people with a visual impairment. All our pavements must remain obstacle-free.

I am disappointed by the fall of my party's amendment at Consideration Stage. That amendment would have required councils to consider the good relations impact of a pavement cafe and what is displayed in the licensed area. The Alliance Party is fully committed to shared space and good relations, and these areas should be free from anything of an intimidatory nature. What is perhaps more disappointing is that, as I understand it, officials from the Department confirmed to my colleague Mr Dickson that at no time did they even consider good relations or the concept of shared space when forming this legislation. Given that, much work remains to be done. The concept of a shared future cannot be put into a little box of its own. It must permeate all relevant policy, including that which addresses how we make use of the public realm. The fact that neither the Department nor many Members of this House believe that the concept of good relations is relevant to this legislation demonstrates how the requirements for building a truly shared society remain underappreciated and, indeed, maybe at times, that they are viewed as suspect. Although we believe that an opportunity has been missed in this regard, we welcome the measures in the Bill, which should remove any confusion about licensing requirements and assist businesses as they cater for visitors and the general public.

The potential to increase the usage and vibrancy of our urban centres and rural villages makes this another weapon in the armoury of businesses as they continue to fight against the effects of the economic downturn. Every business in the country has had to fight for survival over the past number of years.

We support the Licensing of Pavement Cafés Bill.

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim)

I also welcome this legislation, which is timely, as we saw during the Committee evidence sessions, and the reaction from traders' associations, councils etc. It is timely for a number of reasons. First, it captures a desire to regenerate the centres of our towns and villages. If anything can add to the life of the streets in shopping areas of towns, this will. That, in itself, will help the process of urban regeneration.

It is not something that even five or 10 years ago would have been regarded as attractive or desirable in many of our towns and villages. More and more, however, as we promote tourism and promote town centres as destinations, it has been acceptable and there has been demand for it. I remember a former Secretary of State, Mr John Reid, commenting on something similar when he was here. He said that, when he was in London, if you saw seats and tables sitting outside, you said, "Ah, a pavement cafe". If you saw it in Glasgow, you said, "Aw, there's an eviction taking place". I suppose that was the difference between urban centres in the south of England and other parts of the United Kingdom, but I think that it is catching on.

Secondly, it forces traders, especially in the catering industry, to think, "How can we make our premises more attractive?" In some cases, of course, because of our climate — although as the Green Party would remind us, in the future pavement cafes will be very feasible in Northern Ireland, what with global warming: we will be able to sit outside till 11.00 pm at night. However, at present, we probably have to make special arrangements, but more and more places are doing this with outside heaters. As the technology changes, it has been more possible.

Some people have mentioned the safeguards. I just put in a word of caution about the safeguards. There is now a responsibility for local councils, but let us be absolutely sure that councils do not over-stress some of the safeguards, because the kind of regulations or ways in which councils administer some of those safeguards could kill off the ability of businesses to do this, if those safeguards are too restrictive. There is a delicate balance to be had between allowing these things to happen and making sure that they do not impinge too much on the public.

I just want to mention, in closing — although he is not in his place — the point that Mr McCarthy made about building some good relations strategy into this. Of all the parties in this place, the Alliance Party, ironically, seems to be obsessed with flags and symbols. Sometimes they point the finger at unionists and nationalists, but they are the ones who seem to be obsessed with it, from the latest convert to republicanism, who is standing for them in the European elections, and her infatuation with symbols along the route of the Giro d'Italia, to good relations being built into pavement cafes.

Does the Alliance Party really think that the owners of restaurants, bars etc are going to erect symbols on the pavement outside the place, saying, "By the way, we do not want customers from one tradition or the other"? That is how nonsensical the whole idea of building good relations into the Bill is. Good commercial sense will ensure that pavement cafes, what goes on in them and how they are designed, welcome customers instead of driving them away. Therefore, we do not need the kind of regulation that the Alliance Party has suggested.

This is a good Bill. It has been a long time in coming, which is my only criticism of it. I hope that it is very successful and has the impact, which I believe it will have, of making town centres even more attractive destinations.

David McNarry (UKIP, Strangford)

As a supporter of the Bill, I congratulate the Minister, the members of the Committee and Members in general for the work that has been put into the journey that has led us to where we are today.

The definition of a pavement cafe area in the Bill is a public area, or it could be another area belonging to a private place used by the public. I realise that this is a late entry, and I am not asking for changes. I am, however, raising the issue of smokers for consideration.

Establishments that serve food and drink or beverages offer their outside surroundings — and they call them their "outside surroundings" — to smokers. With that space likely to be utilised, because of the Bill, primarily for the purpose of eating and drinking outside, we should pause for a while to think about where smokers will congregate. I see Mr Wilson saying, "Get on your bike" or nodding as if to say, "Go down the road a bit, there."

Smokers have rights. So if the area that they have been using has been designated, if not in law but in spirit, for smokers, do they then, as Mr Wilson would want, get pushed away down onto somebody else's patch? What is the public area? Is the public area the length of a pavement?

The last thing that I want is non-smokers' enjoyment to be spoilt by smokers. As a smoker, an eater and a drinker, I do not like going into establishments that have been, or will be, smoke filled. I just do not like that: I like the freshness of an area free from smoke. However, as a smoker, and smokers will be with me on this, if you want to have a smoke after your meal, it is nice to go outside to the area that is provided for you. That way, you have your smoke, come back in and maybe have a drink, refreshment or beverage of some sort.

As the service stands, where people are already trading with tables and seats provided outside their establishments — in general, with ashtrays provided on the tables for their customers — I want to be assured that somewhere down the line there could be some guidance given. While we are enacting this Bill, and, as I said, I am in favour of it, what is the provision for smokers to smoke outside, which they are directed to do anyhow, without disrupting the majority of non-smoking customers?

That is a point that I wanted to make in deference to the members of the smoking community, who enjoy, and will enjoy, the society that is being created here. Cafe culture outside is something that many can point to having enjoyed for many, many years on the continent, where smoking does not seem to be as much of a bother to many people as it is here.

Minister, that is just a point that I am raising. Perhaps, as councils get involved in this and as the law stretches itself, there might be some consideration given to how we cope with smokers.

As I have said before, I am trying extremely hard to kick this habit, and it is extremely hard. So, I really do not want a lecture and someone saying that the easy thing is for people not to smoke. The reality is that people smoke and get a certain enjoyment from smoking, at no time more than when they go on a night out. They should have the freedom to enjoy their meal etc and not bother anybody but go outside to smoke. It is that area, in particular, that I have in mind. Today, you can walk outside and there is an area where you feel comfortable and are not really bothering anybody. With the introduction of this Bill, the question is whether there will be directional signs telling smokers to go this way or that way when you go out to those areas. It is a point that, I feel, is worth making.

Nelson McCausland (DUP, Belfast North)

I thank Members for their contributions to the debate. I am gratified by the high level of consensus that the Bill has enjoyed. A number of points were made, most of which were discussed at earlier stages of the Bill, but I thank Members for raising them.

Three things in particular were raised. The first, raised by Mrs Kelly, was the timeline for the introduction of the scheme in each council area. The Member knows that the Bill has completed its Final Stage or will do so shortly and will then go for Royal Assent. Subject to the passage of the Bill, councils will need some time to complete the preparations necessary to administer the new statutory licensing scheme. The Bill will come into operation on a date appointed in an order that will be made by my Department following liaison with councils. It is a matter that is very much in the hands of councils in bringing forward their individual schemes as soon as possible. We will introduce an order in due course.

I want to pick up on the issue of good relations. I see that Mr McCarthy has left us, but he obviously feels very strongly about that matter. However, it was only thrown in by the Alliance Party as an afterthought and at a very late stage. They did not mention it at all when they made their initial submission to the consultation, so it is somewhat belated. If we are looking for good relations, the fact that Sammy Wilson quoted the chairman of Celtic Football Club on street lighting in Glasgow is a major advance.

The final point was that made by Mr McNarry about smoking. That issue is very much a matter for the Health Department, and it does not come within the scope of the Bill. It is also a matter for councils, which currently enforce the smoking ban. I am sure that it will be touched on, but it does not fall within the scope of the Bill.

As I said at the start of the debate, the Bill seeks to balance the need for robust regulation with the necessary flexibility for councils to respond to local circumstances. Key stakeholders have been calling for the introduction of such a scheme, and the Assembly is now delivering.

We look to councils to make the preparations necessary to administer the scheme, and we should have confidence in them that they will implement the scheme in a way that benefits all concerned. I formally ask the Assembly to pass the Licensing of Pavement Cafés Bill and allow it to move to Royal Assent.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That the Final Stage of the Licensing of Pavement Cafés Bill [NIA 24/11-15] do now pass.

Assembly Business

Committee Business

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

The Business Committee has agreed to allow up to one hour and 30 minutes for the debate. The proposer will have 15 minutes in which to propose the motion and 15 minutes to make a winding-up speech. All other Members who wish to speak will have five minutes.

Mike Nesbitt (UUP, Strangford)

I beg to move

That this Assembly notes the report of the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (NIA 59/11-15) on Assembly Committees European Priorities for 2014.

I have great pleasure in moving the motion, a motion that is a first for the House. It is the first time that we have had the opportunity to debate European priorities as selected by the Assembly's Statutory Committees for the year ahead, as well as giving us an opportunity over the next hour and a half to reflect on the work done on their respective priorities during 2013.

The Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister leads on European affairs in the Assembly, but each Statutory Committee has its own responsibility for scrutinising EU matters that fall within its remit. The report gives a significant indication of the breadth and depth of work being undertaken by our Committees on European affairs, which affect people in Northern Ireland. I take this opportunity to thank each of the Statutory Committees for their contribution to the report, and I look forward to hearing from Committee members during the debate.

Although, geographically at least, Northern Ireland may be on the periphery of the European Union, European affairs have a very direct effect on our people. A significant proportion of policy and legislation on a wide range of issues emanates from the European Union, and, for that reason, it is vital that Committees here can engage with that policy and legislation in an effective and timely manner. In the report, it is heartening to see the work that Committees are doing in scrutinising and supporting the Executive Departments in how they go about the business of making the Northern Ireland view heard and respected on EU matters.

Relations with the European Union are the responsibility of the UK Government. However, the implementation of EU policy often falls to Departments of the Northern Ireland Executive. The UK Government have already given a commitment to the devolved regions to involve them as directly and fully as possible in decision-making on EU matters that touch on devolved areas and on non-devolved matters that have a distinctive impact on Northern Ireland. I am sure that all Members will agree that it is vital that our Ministers and Departments work hard to ensure that the Northern Ireland voice is heard loud and clear in any UK negotiations in Europe with other member states. For that reason, the process by which Assembly Committees select their European priorities for scrutiny for the year ahead from the annual European Commission work programme is a useful tool to identify policy and legislation planned by the European institutions that will have particular relevance to people here. It provides Committees with a look ahead to see issues on which they can scrutinise and support their Department. At this point, I take the opportunity to thank the Assembly Research and Information Service for the excellent work that it does in supporting the Committees in selecting key priorities from what can be, frankly, a daunting list of European policy initiatives.

The Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister has agreed three issues from the work programme as priorities for 2014. The first is a non-legislative initiative on tackling the gender pay gap. The initiative aims to promote and facilitate effective application of the principle of equal pay in practice and assist member states in finding the right approaches to reducing the persisting gender pay gap. The EU average pay gap between women's and men's hourly gross earnings is 17·8%. The Office for National Statistics measures the gap in the UK for all employees as 19·7%. Calculating the gender pay gap is not straightforward; there are different results depending on whether the mean or median average is used. There are different perspectives within and between industries and different outcomes for full-time and part-time work.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

I thank the Member for giving way. He outlined the importance of narrowing the gender pay gap and the averages in Europe and the UK. Has he any indication — I do not — of the gender pay gap here in Northern Ireland?

Mike Nesbitt (UUP, Strangford)

I am not aware of the figure off the top of my head, but I thank the Member for raising that important issue. What is clear is that the pay gap is not shrinking in the manner that was intended and desired by the Assembly and the Executive. I will certainly get back to the Member on the local figures.

OFMDFM is reviewing its gender equality strategy, which includes tackling the gender pay gap — the issue that the Member raises — as a key action. The Committee has already engaged with the Department on the review and in 2014 will continue to scrutinise the outcome of the review and the plans to tackle issues including the gender pay gap here and how it will be influenced by European policy in that area.

Secondly, the Committee will scrutinise developments on a proposed European Accessibility Act aimed at improving the market of goods and services that are accessible for persons with disabilities and elderly persons on the basis of a "design for all" approach. The UK Government have already expressed their view that they are not convinced that there are gaps in EU legislation on accessibility that would warrant such an Act and are concerned that such legislation could be burdensome on business, expressing a preference for a non-regulatory approach to more accessible goods and services.

The Committee, in its remit on equality, will maintain a watching brief on developments with the proposed legislation. As the implications become clearer, the Committee will seek evidence from the Department on the impact that the Act will have on Northern Ireland and, where applicable, take evidence from stakeholders. As the proposals develop, the Committee will feed its views into the European Scrutiny Committee at the House of Commons and the European Union Committee at the House of Lords, to ensure that a Northern Ireland viewpoint is included in the UK position.

The Committee has agreed to keep a watching brief on the legislation on the forthcoming accession of the European Union to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. EU accession to the convention is complex. It will be the first time that a multinational body has done so. There is some ambiguity as to how accession will work in practice, as the EU already has a Charter of Fundamental Rights. As the proposals develop, the Committee will seek a view from OFMDFM on what the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights will mean for Northern Ireland, including any potential requirement for further legislation in Northern Ireland to ensure our compliance.

During 2014, the Committee will continue its role in scrutinising European legislative proposals to assess compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, the principle that the EU shall not take action unless it is more effective than action that could be taken at a national, regional or local level. The UK Government have identified legislative proposals in the European Commission's work programme that present possible concerns in relation to compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, including proposals relating to the data protection package, the freedom of movement of workers, future priorities in the areas of justice and home affairs, the labour mobility package, business failure and insolvency, the establishment of the European public prosecutor's office and the European Accessibility Act, which I mentioned just now. The Committee will monitor developments in those areas and, where appropriate, will seek the Department's view of any impact on Northern Ireland. The Committee will liaise with the other Statutory Committees in the Assembly, where applicable, and, where concerns are identified, will communicate its view to the European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons and the European Union Committee in the Lords.

The final European priority for the Committee for OFMDFM for 2014 is the Committee's inquiry into the work of the Executive's Barroso task force. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, announced a European Commission task force for Northern Ireland on 1 May 2007. The first ever task force for a specific region in the European Union, it was created to support the peace process, with particular emphasis on how to support Northern Ireland in its efforts to improve its economic competitiveness and create sustainable employment. The task force comprises a group of representatives from the European Commission working with officials from the Northern Ireland Executive Departments to strengthen European engagement. President Barroso's term runs out in October this year, and the indications are that he shall not seek a third term. Therefore, the Committee has agreed to conduct a short inquiry to reflect on the work of the task force and what it has achieved. The Committee's call for evidence has just closed, and we will use that evidence to assess the outcomes from the work of the task force and identify lessons learned. The Committee will produce a report on the inquiry and, depending on the evidence gathered, may make comment on future structures of Northern Ireland Executive engagement in European affairs.

During 2014, the Committee will undertake other work with a European focus. We look forward to considering an early draft of the Northern Ireland Executive's European priorities for 2014-15 and, later in the year, considering the Executive's review of performance against the 2013-14 priorities. As Chair, I will continue to represent the Assembly on the EC-UK forum of chairs of the UK and devolved regional parliamentary committees that have responsibility for European affairs. The Committee will continue its work on subsidiarity monitoring at the Assembly and will follow with interest the work of the European division of OFMDFM, including the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels.

I will make some brief comments on the work on EU matters that the Committee undertook during 2013. In the context of the ongoing scrutiny of performance against Programme for Government commitments, the Committee monitored progress against commitment 26, which is the Executive's commitment to increase the uptake of competitive European funding by 20% through to 2015. With the revised baseline drawdown of £13·4 million of competitive funding in 2010-11, the target for drawdown is £64·4 million over the four-year period. The Committee noted positive progress against the target and will continue to monitor the Executive's performance in that area, particularly with regard to the exciting opportunities offered by the new funding streams, including the €80 billion available under Horizon 2020. As each Department has a responsibility for that Programme for Government target, I encourage all Committees to closely monitor their respective departmental performance in this regard.

The Committee scrutinised the EU framework for the national Roma integration strategy and its relevance for integration in Northern Ireland. OFMDFM decided not to develop a specific Roma integration strategy, as Ministers considered it more appropriate to deal with the issues raised by Roma and Irish Travellers within the context of the revised racial equality strategy. The Committee has been briefed on the new strategy and has been briefed by the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities. The Committee will continue to follow developments closely and looks forward to OFMDFM launching the consultation on the revised racial equality strategy in the near future.

The Committee also followed developments in relation to the evaluation of the Peace III programme —

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

Will the Member give way?

Mike Nesbitt (UUP, Strangford)

Briefly.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

I thank the Member for giving way. He mentioned the racial equality strategy. Do you know when it will be published for consultation? It has been there for nearly five years now.

Mike Nesbitt (UUP, Strangford)

I thank the Member for her query. Like her, I am pretty much in the dark as to when that and other strategies will actually come out of OFMDFM. Like her, I very much look forward to the strategy being published for consultation.

As I said, we looked at Peace III programmes, and I am pleased to see that €150 million has been set aside under the multi-annual financial framework for a proposed Peace IV programme. The Committee held meetings with the European External Action Service on the role of the EU in peace building, and we liaised with Committees in the Houses of Parliament on matters of subsidiarity.

During 2013, the Committee took evidence from the Minister of State for Europe, the Rt Hon David Lidington MP, who was giving evidence to an Assembly Committee for the first time. We also hosted a visit by the Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, Paschal Donohoe TD. That was Minister Donohoe's inaugural visit to the Northern Ireland Assembly. We took evidence from the Minister on a range of issues, including the role of the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union, the role of Parliaments within the European Union and the democratic accountability of the EU institutions.

In association with the Northern Ireland Assembly and Business Trust, we also hosted the then Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton TD, at an event to mark the midpoint of the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Minister discussed the priorities for the presidency and progress on a number of key issues, including intensive negotiations on the European budget, which included allocations for PEACE IV; tackling youth unemployment; reform of the common fisheries policy and the common agricultural policy; enhancement of the single market; and negotiations on the new EU/US free trade and investment agreement.

I hope that I have given the House a brief flavour of the range of work that the Committee has undertaken on European matters in 2013 and of our continued focus on such issues in our remit during 2014. Please note that I have spoken without reference to the £18 million set aside for the proposed peace-building and conflict resolution centre at the Maze. European issues range much more broadly than that. I look forward to the remarks of other Members during the debate.

Stephen Moutray (DUP, Upper Bann)

I support the motion, which proposes that the House notes the report of the OFMDFM Committee on Assembly Committee's European priorities for 2014. The Chair has outlined the process used to collate the information, and it is important that we thank Committees for their cooperation in drafting the report. Many of the priorities emanate from the European Commission's work programme for this year, and, because 2014 is the final year of José Manuel Barroso's term, the Commission's work programme was significantly smaller. We therefore invited Statutory Committees to include details of other European-related activity that their Department was prioritising.

I welcome such a report, as it gives a holistic, all-encompassing overview of where and what the Assembly is doing to ensure that the maximum is being done to draw down and utilise funding from Europe's extremely large budget. Unfortunately, the UK still puts a lot more into Europe than we get out. However, reports such as this help to guide us and give us confidence that we are working to improve our drawdown. Furthermore, the OFMDFM Committee has made it clear to the Statutory Committees that, each autumn, it will request that a report on activity on European priorities be provided so that a further report can be drawn up and submitted for plenary debate. It is not enough to outline our priorities as a Government; performance and success must be measured. In some instances, that will highlight weakness and areas where further work is needed.

I will not take time to look at all of the priorities. However, at the outset, I would like to commend the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure under the chairmanship of Michelle McIlveen. It is encouraging to know that the CAL Committee is looking closely at the Creative Europe programme for 2014-2020 and consulting stakeholders in seeking to assist in raising awareness of the application process. I also welcome the fact that the Committee is looking at piracy in the music industry and is scrutinising the Bill presented in 2012. That will certainly be welcomed by the industry, which has been badly hit by rogue traders and piracy. It is also welcome that the Committee is making Horizon 2020 a priority and proposes to scrutinise the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure on her encouragement of the creative industry sector to access the funding framework.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the response from the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and welcome its priorities: CAP reform, CFP, the single farm payment and the rural development programme, which are at the very heart of Northern Ireland's priorities. Unfortunately, we see a Minister who is not prepared to take decisions on many of these issues, particularly CAP reform. Clearly, the uncertainty is causing farmers great difficulty in forward planning for their business. I am sure that we all know what farming families want: movement.

I welcome the response from the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the fact that it is moving towards scrutiny of the planned insolvency Bill, which will set up a minimum standard in pre-insolvency procedures and allow for a second chance for honest entrepreneurs.

I note the sizeable workload of the Committee for Justice. Many of its priorities are welcome. We have only to think about the work involved in fighting money laundering and cigarette smuggling.

Obviously, I have only touched the surface of some of the priorities to give the House a flavour of what is happening across some Departments. European priorities, as set out in the report, will aid the Executive in working to strengthen European engagement and to realise the opportunities and potential that exist at present. I believe that this provides a basis for us to prepare thoroughly for a new round of funding programmes and to stand ready to exploit any early calls for proposals in 2014.

The debate stood suspended.

(Mr Speaker in the Chair)

Oral Answers to Questions

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

1. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for an update on the review of the meals at home service in County Fermanagh. (AQO 5933/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The Western Health and Social Care Trust has advised that the review of the community meals service has not yet been completed. During March, the trust organised a number of engagement events to listen to service users’ views on the current community meals service and their thoughts on how it could be improved or changed. The aim of the service review, which is due to finish on 9 May, is to secure a future model that addresses the assessed needs of those who meet the criteria for access to community meals across all the trust’s localities. Any future models must deliver meals to the nutritional standard required over a seven-day week and provide value for money, in line with departmental guidance on charging for the community meals service.

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answer. I want to further elaborate on the review that the Minister is talking about. We are looking at a proposal to take hot dinners away from elderly people and replace them with a microwaved alternative, and I do not think that that could ever constitute value for money. It is a disgraceful proposal, and I would like the Minister to reflect on the fact that there would be uproar in here if it were brought forward for the canteen downstairs. Will the Minister assure me that he will not allow such a proposal to go any further and that he will guarantee the retention of fresh, hot and healthy dinners for people who choose to live at home longer, in line with his Transforming Your Care policy?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

All of that would be considerably easier for me to do if we had a financial settlement and I was not faced with large cuts next year as a result of welfare reform.

Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for that. Can he give us any detail on the number of individuals receiving the meals at home service in County Fermanagh?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Yes. It is over 1,100. I think that 1,160 people receive meals in the Western Trust area, so a considerable number of people benefit from the meals on wheels service. I recognise the benefits of community meals to elderly people in particular, but also for vulnerable adults. As things stand, it is being done at good value for money. We need to ensure that that continues to be the case. Some may argue that we should be charging a little more to ensure the continuity of the service. In all of this, we must remember that there has been considerable food price inflation in recent years, as well as considerable fuel cost inflation. Consequently, the providers' costs have been driven up.

David McIlveen (DUP, North Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his answers so far. To follow on from Mr Elliott's point and broaden it out a little bit: how many people in total in Northern Ireland are in receipt of domiciliary care in a general sense?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Health and social care trusts provide domiciliary care services for 25,330 people, which is 5% more than in the same survey week in 2012. The number of people receiving domiciliary care continues to increase. That fits with our policy of keeping people in their own home and ensuring that they get the appropriate support there.

Megan Fearon (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

2. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety how he intends to address the increasing levels of older people presenting at emergency departments. (AQO 5934/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

With its focus on home as the hub of care for older people, Transforming Your Care aims to help avoid unnecessary admissions of older people into hospital and to encourage independence. By providing home- or community-based alternatives to A&E for patients who do not have acute severe illness or injury, improving collaborative working between the hospital and primary care sectors and developing alternative routes into hospital for patients, we can help to reduce the number of older people who need to attend an emergency department.

An example of measures to improve the care and experience of older people is that the Belfast Trust has piloted a successful acute care at home service, headed by a consultant, which can provide care at home that would previously have needed hospital admission. The trust has established an acute medical assessment facility in the Royal Victoria Hospital acute medical unit (AMU), which will allow GP-direct assessment and will enhance the service already in existence at Belfast City Hospital.

Megan Fearon (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. In November 2013, the College of Emergency Medicine recommended the implementation of an ageing infrastructure, referred to as the 'Silver Book', throughout emergency departments. Has the Minister acted on this?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

We have worked closely with the College of Emergency Medicine and are holding a summit with it this week on the care and support that we provide for people in emergency departments and AMUs. As a consequence of that, the Belfast Trust has taken on four additional consultants and is taking on 40 additional nurses, some of whom are in place and many will be in place shortly. Of course, all these things will be made tougher if we have to face cuts next year as a result of welfare reform. If that is the case, it will have a potentially devastating impact on the health service.

Gordon Dunne (DUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his answers today. Does he see a greater role for residential homes in providing intermediate care to try to reduce the pressure on our hospitals?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The issue of residential care homes and how we make best use of them is something that we have been looking at over the past year. One thing that I have asked the Health and Social Care Board to consider is the ability to use residential care homes as step-down facilities to enable what I referred to earlier as the consultant at home care model to be used in those circumstances. I hope that that will be investigated over the next months.

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

Can the Minister explain why, two and a half years into the Transforming Your Care initiative, the Belfast Trust can point only to a pilot scheme relating to acute care at home?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Of course, there has not just been one pilot scheme across the trusts; a series of schemes have been taking place. The integrated care partnerships (ICPs) have now been established and will be key to delivering reform in the health service by bringing together all the key players across the 17 ICP areas to enable that to happen.

The pilot scheme of the acute care at home service by an elite consultant, which enables people to receive the kind of care in their home that they would otherwise receive at hospital, such as getting intravenous drips or being given blood or intravenous antibiotics, has been successful.

The Northern Trust provides a rapid-response, community nurse-led service through GP referral to address health and social care crises, offering home-based alternatives to hospital care and providing a consultant geriatrician for support for nursing homes, which has reduced the number of attendances from that patient group.

A series of things are going on, and I am somewhat alarmed that, given the length of time that the Member has been on the Health Committee, he is aware of only that one. Perhaps he should avail himself of more knowledge on these issues.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

There are considerable risks with elderly and vulnerable people having to wait for an excessive length of time at an accident and emergency unit. When will there be formal arrangements between every hospital and GP so that those excessive waits can be bypassed and those who have been assessed by a GP can go direct to a hospital bed?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Like many of us, I can remember a point in time when GPs admitted most people to hospitals directly. For whatever reason, over a number of years, that changed, so what I inherited was a system whereby, if a GP had a concern about someone, they were admitted to an emergency department and then to hospital. I want to fundamentally change that. We need to ensure that communication exists between general practice and hospitals that ensures that people are admitted appropriately and that as many elderly people as possible can be admitted to hospital when necessary without having to go through emergency departments.

I indicated the work of the ICPs. They will be fundamental in the background work that is done on this issue. We have arrangements in place at a number of hospital sites for direct access, including at Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Belfast City Hospital, Antrim Area Hospital, Lagan Valley Hospital and Downe Hospital, with plans to initiate it at the Royal Victoria Hospital and other sites over the coming year.

Mervyn Storey (DUP, North Antrim)

3. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation recommendations on the meningitis B vaccination. (AQO 5935/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The advice from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) gives us the opportunity to plan for the managed and orderly introduction of a new meningitis B vaccine into the current childhood vaccination programme, subject to the vaccine being procured at a cost-effective price. I have always welcomed the quest for an effective, safe and cost-effective vaccine to protect against meningitis B. The negotiations regarding the vaccine price will now be taken forward by the Department of Health in England on behalf of all the UK Health Departments, and I look forward to a positive outcome.

Mervyn Storey (DUP, North Antrim)

I have no doubt that many will welcome the Minister's news today, particularly those who are in particular need because they are suffering as a result of meningitis. Will the Minister further outline what support his Department provides to tackle meningitis?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I will answer the question with what we doing in Northern Ireland as regards the rest of the United Kingdom. The vaccination policy is set by the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, and we have a series of vaccinations in place for various forms of meningitis. There is obviously a gap in provision for meningitis B, and there was considerable lobbying about the issue. I welcome the JCVI recommendations. I hope that the negotiations on price are successful, and I hope that we in Northern Ireland are in a position to adopt the new treatments that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other bodies in the incoming year. Again, I will be unable to do that if I have money stripped away from me because of the welfare reform money being taken from the Health Department.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Question 7 has been withdrawn.

Seán Rogers (Social Democratic and Labour Party, South Down)

The Minister said that he hoped that the negotiations would have a positive outcome, and, hopefully, that will happen. When does he expect that the new system for meningitis B will be in operation here?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The JCVI finished its conclusions on 11 and 12 February, and its recommendations were published on 21 March. It recommended that there should be a carefully planned national meningitis B immunisation programme for infants, using a three-dose schedule at two, four and 12 months of age. The JCVI thinks we can do that in the incoming year, should negotiations with the suppliers of the vaccine be successful. Again, we in Northern Ireland are very keen to do this, but we are not sure whether we will be able to introduce new treatments if we do not have the finance available as a consequence of the cuts because of welfare reform.

David Hilditch (DUP, East Antrim)

4. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the current waiting times at Antrim Area Hospital. (AQO 5936/11-15)

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

6. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the current pressures on Antrim Area Hospital’s Emergency Department. (AQO 5938/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 4 and 6 together.

I have been advised by the Northern Trust that waiting time performance for inpatient and day-case treatment at Antrim Area Hospital is broadly in line with my Department’s targets. At the end of March 2014, fewer than five patients were waiting over 26 weeks for inpatient or day-case treatment at Antrim Area Hospital.

The emergency department in Antrim Area Hospital has seen an increase in attendances and admissions for emergency care in 2013-14 compared with the previous year, with attendances up by around 2% and non-elective admissions by 5·6%. Despite this, there has been a significant improvement in performance. In 2013-14, performance against the four-hour emergency department standard was 70·7% compared with 64·5% in 2012-13. In 2013-14, 884 people waited longer than 12 hours in Antrim Area Hospital’s emergency department, compared with 1,811 in 2012-13; a reduction of more than 50%. Although Antrim Area Hospital’s emergency department is not yet meeting the targets I have set for emergency care, there is clear evidence that considerable progress is being made.

David Hilditch (DUP, East Antrim)

I thank the Minister for the information. What other measures are planned to improve emergency care and patient flows in Antrim?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

It is important to recognise that, although progress is being made, we cannot rest on our laurels, and we need to keep moving things on. We have looked at further measures to improve emergency care and patient flows at the hospital, including the relocation of a mental health crisis response team from Holywell to the Antrim site to expedite referrals and assessments and to provide a more responsive service for people with mental health needs. We are also looking at the relocation of the older people's psychiatric team to the Antrim site from Holywell, the development of a paediatric ambulatory area on the Antrim site, expansion of the GP assessment unit to include surgical referrals, further expansion of seven-day working and the consolidation of additional evening and weekend ward rounds.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his answer. We all know that we have excellent and incredibly skilled and hard-working staff throughout the health service. However, will he accept that, in Antrim Area Hospital, staff morale is at an all-time low, and the introduction of car-parking charges there, where there are difficulties with local public transport, and none for shift workers, will put even more pressure on morale? Can he answer the question without referring to the welfare fund?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I very much welcome the question. The Member has not written to me about any of those issues. If he was aware of staff morale being low, I am surprised that he has kept it to himself until today.

Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast South)

Does the Minister agree that pressures at the Royal Victoria Hospital are having a knock-on effect, right into Antrim? Does he also agree that some investment in primary care would siphon off a considerable amount of that? Primary care gets less than 4% of the NHS budget, yet it handles 90% of contacts. Are there any plans to fund a project in that direction, perhaps a pilot, that might allow a realignment or a redirection of a lot of the demand that goes to A&E into primary care?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Transforming Your Care is all about how we best use and support primary care. Indeed, TYC identified that there should be a 5% shift in overall funding from hospital care to primary care. Primary care does not get 4%; I think that it gets at least double that, so we need to get our facts right. Primary care is a key element of ensuring that people's needs are met without attending hospitals. Hospitals should not be the first port of call for many people who need to receive medical care.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

5. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to outline the different routes to accessing acute services. (AQO 5937/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The main way of accessing acute hospital services is through a GP or a GP out-of-hours referral, an emergency department or by admission through an outpatient clinic. Dentists and opticians may refer patients to consultant-led dental services and ophthalmology services. Health and social care trusts have individual local arrangements for direct access to certain acute services by patients or through healthcare professional referral.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a fhreagra. I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he agree that the GP out-of-hours service should be located at hospitals?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

It is certainly an option. In many circumstances, it is preferable for a GP service to be available on a hospital site so that people who should not be in emergency departments can be referred elsewhere very quickly. People sometimes come to hospital because it is difficult to get a GP appointment, and that is used as an excuse. We need to ensure that we can eliminate those kinds of practices and ensure that people who need to see a GP have the opportunity to see one, as opposed to going through an emergency department.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

Can the Minister outline what progress has been made on self-referral for physiotherapy?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Self-referral physiotherapy is important, and I had the opportunity of speaking at events last week relating to allied health professionals who provide a wonderful service. I know that the Member attended a number of those events, one of which was in his constituency. Transforming Your Care promotes the local availability of services and is looking to provide the services closer to home. Directly arising out of that, the Public Health Agency is leading on self-referral physiotherapy on behalf of Health and Social Care. Self-referral is a system of access that allows the patient to refer themselves to a physiotherapist directly without having to see or be referred by another healthcare practitioner.

The South Eastern Trust has been piloting an exercise on direct referral. It is intended that all trusts will be in a position to offer patients the opportunity of self-referral for physiotherapy by the end of March 2015. Most self-referrals will relate to the musculoskeletal care pathway, but other care pathways may be included, subject to the evaluation of the pilot in the South Eastern Trust.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

With excessive waiting times to see a GP and little confidence in the out-of-hours GP service, patients frequently have no option but to turn up at A&E to seek help. How have the recent closures and restrictions of opening hours of accident and emergency departments at Lagan Valley Hospital and Downe Hospital further adversely affected the ability of patients to access acute services in hospitals such as the Ulster?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

On the basis of the most recent research carried out on the state of the health service, I have to disagree with the Member that there is little confidence in out-of-hours services. Over 90% were satisfied with the out-of-hours service, which is not bad and does not demonstrate huge dissatisfaction.

On the other element of the question, I think that it cannot help any facility that is under pressure, and we recognise that the Ulster, Royal and other hospitals are under pressure, to have more pressure applied to it. That is why I fundamentally disagreed with the further reduction in the hours at the Lagan Valley and at the Downe Hospital. I am keen that we ensure 24/7 access to both those facilities in the foreseeable future, that we make better use of GP direct admissions, that we make better use of specialist nurses to deal with a lot of the minor injuries, and that we ensure that the emergency departments at our major hospitals are exactly that: emergency departments to deal with emergency situations.

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

What is the Minister's assessment of walk-in centres and their viability in Northern Ireland?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Sometimes, when you make things available in the health service, people will use them to a greater extent than is required. That is something that we have to be careful about. Previously, pharmacists were carrying out work, and it just appeared to increase the workload, as opposed to dealing with things. That had to be changed because they ended up dealing with common colds and so forth, which was not what the whole thing was meant to be about. So we need to ensure that people are using all those facilities and centres appropriately and that we demonstrate real benefit from them. We recognise that reviews across the water have been mixed thus far and that they have not improved care. We need to take cognisance of that.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

8. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the potential for small business research initiatives to improve healthcare. (AQO 5940/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

One of the key elements in the implementation of our healthcare transformation programme is the promotion of innovation to improve services and to develop solutions that meet the needs of our patients and HSC, and, ultimately, help to improve health outcomes. However, it is recognised that the public sector procurement methods have made it difficult for the industry to engage in a meaningful way with the health and social care sector. That is where the small business research initiative (SBRI) could make a big impact, by lowering the barriers for business, seeking to access the health and social care market, providing opportunities for innovative companies to engage with the public sector at an early developmental stage, and delivering solutions that better address public sector needs at lower costs. For Health and Social Care, SBRI brings the potential for clinicians and managers to engage with the technology industry to develop and test innovative solutions to meet the needs of their patients.

On 3 March, together with my colleague the industry Minister Arlene Foster, I announced the launch of a small business research initiative competition to develop technology solutions to help improve medicines adherence. That is the first health-related SBRI competition in Northern Ireland. It represents a real opportunity to develop technology solutions that will improve medicines adherence by supporting people to take the right medicines at the right time, as prescribed.

I am confident that the opportunities for such competitions will be identified in the coming months, supported by the forthcoming appointment of an SBRI executive to HSC.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for his full and comprehensive response. What is the annual spend on medicines in Northern Ireland?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Expenditure on medicines in Northern Ireland accounts for £540 million of the annual budget of Health and Social Care. That equates to around 12% of the total budget. In 2012, over 37 million prescriptions were dispensed in primary care alone, at a cost of over £400 million. Expenditure on medicines is increasing at around 5% every year. An average of 19·9 prescription items are issued per person per year in Northern Ireland, compared with 17·7 in England and 17·6 in Scotland. The average annual cost per person is also higher in Northern Ireland at £19·90, compared with £17·70 in England and £17·60 in Scotland. In the United Kingdom as a whole, the cost of hospital admissions resulting from people not taking medicine as recommended was estimated at between £36 million and £196 million in 2006-07.

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

I thank the Minister for his answers. Will the Minister outline the extent of medical bioscience research in Northern Ireland? What public moneys are being used to fund it, particularly in relation to cancer treatments?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I think that is one of the good news stories, and it seldom gets much attention. For example, 1,000 people are based in research in the City Hospital, as an arm of Queen's University Belfast. Recently, we opened new facilities there that have allowed us to introduce even more expertise. Through Professor Paddy Johnston's work, we have brought some of the top scientists in cancer research to Northern Ireland. I was delighted when he was appointed vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, because I think that that is a relationship that can deliver much more.

There is a massive amount of work going on in cancer research. Consequently, somewhere in the region of 1,200 people are benefiting from the most advanced cancer drugs, many of which are not yet on the market, but are about to come on the market. They are benefiting from that because we are carrying out advanced research into cancer.

Chris Lyttle (Alliance, Belfast East)

9. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety when he anticipates the Public Health Agency’s cancer awareness campaign will commence. (AQO 5941/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will answer questions 9 and 12 together, as they are about the same subject.

The Public Health Agency expects to finalise the preparation of the awareness campaign by September or October, with the commencement of the campaign shortly thereafter. In addition, and to move things forward more swiftly, to improve awareness of ovarian cancer, the PHA plans to initiate an awareness-raising programme over the coming weeks. The programme will comprise the targeted distribution of leaflets and posters, possibly supplemented by a platform piece to be included in local newspaper publications.

When possible, I take the opportunity to raise the profile of the illness. On 3 March, I addressed the ovarian cancer awareness seminar that was held in Parliament Buildings. On 26 March, I visited the Angels of Hope drop-in centre where I had the opportunity to speak to doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff who care for patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer, as well as to the bereaved relatives of those who have lost their lives to the disease.

I take this opportunity to thank the ovarian cancer charities for the excellent work that they did during March to highlight the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

That concludes the listed questions to the Minister of Health. We move on to topical questions.

Ian Milne (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)

1. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety what he is doing to tackle the problem of alcohol misuse, which, as he will know, costs approximately £900 million per year, £250 million of which is borne by Health and Social Care. (AQT 981/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I have had regular conversations with fellow Ministers, including Minister Reilly in the Republic of Ireland and colleagues in Scotland and Wales. We have commissioned work to be carried out by Sheffield University on the impact of a minimum price for alcohol, and we look forward to moving on that qualitative research when we have it. We have been observing closely what Scotland has been doing because it has moved ahead with the proposal for a minimum price. That is being challenged by the courts, and we will observe that very closely. All the Ministers whom I mentioned strongly support going in that direction. Last year, we launched a new strategic direction for drugs and alcohol that provides considerable support to the trusts and others as they work in the community. We have supported organisations that provide education about the proper use of alcohol and about the abuse of alcohol and the damage that it can cause.

Ian Milne (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for his answer. Can he commit to developing an all-island strategy for tackling addiction and substance abuse?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I am always delighted to develop all-island strategies on the issue, and that is why I have been engaging with colleagues in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. I do not see the benefit of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland or Scotland going it alone. If we can do this across these British Isles, it will be transformational. I encourage other Ministers to move ahead on this, and we will not be found wanting.

Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

2. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety why, given that, in 2011, Westminster legislation was introduced to allow for blood donations from all sections of the community and individuals, including gay men — in fact, it was introduced to end discrimination against gay men — and bearing in mind that we in the North get blood donations from England, Scotland and Wales, he is pursuing in the courts a ruling to prevent gay men from donating blood. (AQT 982/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Nobody mentioned anything about gay men; the discussion is about people who engage in higher-risk behaviours. Therefore, they are regarded as MSM: men who have sex with men.

I am somewhat confused by Sinn Féin today. The Member who asked the previous question wanted to identify an all-Ireland approach; now, Mr Kelly wants to follow the British approach. The Republic of Ireland does not allow for blood donation from MSM. Mr Reilly has corresponded with me, indicating that he has no intention of introducing that. Mr Kelly wants to take the British route as opposed to Mr Milne, who wants to take the all-Ireland route. Which is it?

Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a fhreagraí go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for his answer or lack of one. He avoided the question. Sinn Féin will pursue the issue of equality throughout Ireland. In this case, I can throw the question back at the Minister. He said that he did not want the North to act on its own but wanted others to act with him. Now, he says that we should not follow the example of ending discrimination against gay men. Will the Minister answer this question: does he believe in equality for all, including gay men?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The Member knows very well that this matter is being looked at by the courts. I need to be very careful. I will leave it to the fairness and impartiality of the courts. They will come back with advice on this.

Trevor Clarke (DUP, South Antrim)

3. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety when he hopes to meet Dr Mayer to discuss paediatric cardiac surgery. (AQT 983/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I am delighted to indicate that Dr Mayer is in the country all week along with the other two experts. They have an extensive programme of work that they will engage in this week. There is a series of meetings; it will be a very busy programme. I greatly appreciate the fact that we have someone of his expertise giving us advice on the issue. Dr Mayer oversees over 1,000 surgical procedures each year. He does not carry them all out in the one hospital; there are other hospitals in Massachusetts and Boston where he provides those services and ensures that those services are provided under his guidance. If anybody can identify a way forward on this, I have a lot of confidence that he has the ability to do so. If his recommendation is something that is not to our liking, we have to give great cognisance to that as well.

Trevor Clarke (DUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for his answer. He will be aware that one of the concerns for parents about paediatric surgery is the current transport arrangements. What discussions are you having with your officials about the transport arrangements?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Of course, that is a matter of great importance, irrespective of whether we have a facility based in Dublin or a facility based in Belfast that uses Dublin and, indeed, other centres in the United Kingdom to support children who require complex congenital cardiac surgery. We have acquired an ambulance at the cost of £190,000: £120,000 for the ambulance and £70,000 for the intensive care cot that goes inside it. There are four seats in the back of the ambulance to facilitate intensive care services being provided in the ambulance. We can have key personnel from the nursing side and the clinical side as well as a family member in the ambulance to ensure that the child can receive the support and care that it needs while not in a hospital. Its care will be in no way diminished in the transportation. We are looking at acquiring a second ambulance to ensure that that service is available.

Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin, Belfast South)

4. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety whether he agrees with the Royal College of Nursing’s recent evidence to the Health Committee in which it stated that there is a systemic blockage in the system, which prevents front line staff from being heard, and, if so, is that an indictment of his Department. (AQT 984/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Certainly, in all these things, I have sought to encourage openness and transparency. That is why I wrote to every member of staff to encourage them to come forward if they had issues of concern. In fact, it was not just to encourage them: I indicated to them that, if they saw something that was not right, it was their responsibility to pursue that matter, follow it up and take it to a higher level if they did not get the response they should have from the first numbers of people. I will continue to drive that.

Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin, Belfast South)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for that response. It is bound to be very constructive. Hopefully, it will trickle through to all members of staff.

In the same evidence session, the royal college indicated that a number of nurses, in its words, are working beyond or above their capacity. Does the Minister care to comment on whether that means that there is a risk to patients?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

It is important that we have appropriate training for nurses to ensure that we have appropriate treatment. I have been in regular contact with the Chief Nursing Officer and have been encouraging her to develop more opportunities for specialist training for emergency nurse practitioners and advanced emergency nurse practitioners. We are going down those routes, which will ensure that nursing can carry out even further responsibilities and reduce pressures on the clinical side. We can deliver a much faster response time because we have a good availability of nursing staff. Obviously, the opportunity to further upskill is something that many nurses will want to avail themselves of.

Daithí McKay (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)

5. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety whether he is aware of a young couple from the North Antrim constituency who lost their baby daughter, Erin McAuley, after a serious adverse incident at Causeway Hospital in 2008; of the fact that the trust did its own report in 2009, showing that it was to blame for the incident; why, for the trust to finally accept liability, the family had to bring this case to court in 2013; and why he did not intervene to prevent the cover up in this case and in others under his watch. (AQT 985/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

I was not aware of the case until the current directors of the Northern Trust, whom I put in place — I inherited the issues in the Northern Trust — brought it to my attention that there were a number of cases, including the McAuley case. We need to be very clear that, where hospitals fail, they need to be open and transparent about those failures and work with families and tell them what has happened, to ensure that we can move forward. I intend to update the Assembly with a statement on these issues tomorrow. Members will see the level of commitment that we want to provide to ensure that we have the safest possible healthcare system anywhere in the world.

Daithí McKay (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)

The family have received the Weir report that the trust carried out on their daughter's case. However, the trust has not released all relevant reports on this case to the family. Today, they have still not received all the information that they are entitled to. Will the Minister now give a clear commitment that they will receive all the information in this file that they are entitled to?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The Member is asking me questions that I would not have been made aware of in terms of this family. They have not been in contact with me directly at this stage. Another family has requested a meeting with me, and I will be happy to fulfil that.

In all of this, what we always need to remember is that something went wrong. The consequence of that something going wrong was that somebody lost their life; in this instance, it was a little baby. In the first instance, we need to recognise the pain that that family is suffering. We need to help to reduce and mitigate that pain by ensuring that they do not have to go through long processes to identify what happened and to find the truth.

I look at what happened with hyponatraemia, which started around 17 years ago, and see the pain that those families have gone through. I do not want a health and social care service that delivers like that. I want a health and social care service that, if it has made a mistake, can be up front about it with families at an early point and ensure that they do not have to go through additional trauma. They have suffered enough.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

6. asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety whether, although it is early April, he has had an opportunity to review the winter performance of the Causeway Hospital’s emergency department. (AQT 986/11-15)

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

In the Causeway emergency department, 12-hour waits have been virtually eliminated over the past six months. Around three quarters of patients are seen within four hours. Causeway has not seen the same increase in emergency department pressures as Antrim, although it tends to experience more pressure over the spring and summer months as a result of the visitors who go to the north coast during that time. The Member always reminds me of that influx when people talk about the Causeway Hospital.

Members will be aware from my recent update on the implementation of the improvement plan at the Northern Trust that operational plans for both Antrim and Causeway hospitals identified new ways of working to improve performance, particularly in unscheduled care. That work was completed in June.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

Can the Minister give an assessment of the progress that has been made by the turnaround team in the Northern Trust overall?

Edwin Poots (DUP, Lagan Valley)

Overall, we have seen a tremendous improvement in the Northern Trust. We have seen an improvement in waiting times for elective care and procedures. We have seen massive improvement in the emergency departments. We are now seeing the culture changing from a culture of not telling people what is going on to a culture of openness and transparency. We need to recognise that it was the senior directors who came forward and said, "We have identified these cases of serious adverse incidents that were not previously made public". They have made them public, and, as a consequence, we have heard the very sad stories of individuals and of what has happened, what went wrong and what should not have happened. I have to say that we have seen a massive improvement in the Northern Trust area over the past year.

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

1. asked the Minister of Justice for an update on the legal aid forecasting management model. (AQO 5948/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Significant progress has been made on the development of the legal aid forecasting model. A new methodology has been developed that pays particular attention to identifying and incorporating the factors that have the potential to impact on legal aid expenditure. Arrangements are in place to obtain information from other organisations that could impact on the demand for legal aid. Measures are also being put in place to quality-assure and test assumptions on a regular basis. The new methodology will now be tested robustly to ensure that it is fit for purpose. It is planned to roll out the model in phases from this month, and it will continue to be refined to improve its accuracy and reliability.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Questions 2 and 8 have been withdrawn.

Barry McElduff (Sinn Féin, West Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister for his answer. Further to that, how will links with other parts of the justice system improve forecasting?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

The simple answer is that there are elements of legal aid forecasting that have been difficult in the past. For example, the assignment of an additional Crown Court judge has ensured that some criminal cases went through faster than others would have done. There are also points where we can look at work that is happening elsewhere in the system and seek to see what the impact, for example, of new legislation and other provisions is so that we ensure that we get better forecasting in the future. Of course, the key issue is the fact that spending is significantly still in excess of budget, and that has to be addressed.

Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Given that Criminal Justice Inspection described the Legal Services Commission as being not fit for purpose, is the Minister confident that this new agency will be?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I certainly believe that bringing the Legal Services Commission into the Department as a legal service agency, provided, of course, that the Assembly consents to the Bill's Second Stage tomorrow, gives us the potential to get a greater handle on the work being done and to ensure that we bring closer together the issues of criminal and civil legal aid in a way that ensures that departmental officials are fully aware of how progress is being made.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

What assessment has been made of the impact on family law if significant reductions are made to the legal aid budget?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Mr Kinahan raises a significant point. The reality is that we are not in the same place as what is currently happening in England and Wales, which has attracted so much comment in the press and has seen the Lord Chancellor remove some of his proposals for change. We are still in the position where we have not reduced the scope of legal aid in Northern Ireland in any respect. We have certainly cut the fees paid to lawyers, but we have ensured that people who received legal aid continue to do so. As we go forward and look at a further review of access to justice, we have to ensure that that remains the case and that, whether through conventional legal aid or other methods, the people who are in most need continue to receive that support.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Minister, surely it is time to consider a levy on all legal aid cases proportionate to income and assets. What consideration have you given to taking that step?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

We need to be careful about talking about a levy on any legal aid. The purpose of legal aid is to assist people who cannot afford legal representation. We have certainly looked at the issue where, on occasions, legal aid has been granted and it appears that individuals had assets greater than might have been declared in the first instance. There have been a few cases where that has been followed up recently, but I would be extraordinarily careful about suggesting that we should levy some sort of charge on all recipients of legal aid.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

I welcome the Minister's efforts to improve forecasting in legal aid expenditure. Obviously, improving the system will not, in itself, bring in additional money. Also, budgets, obviously, will increase year by year. Will the Minister continue to develop measures to further reduce public expenditure on legal aid while protecting access to justice for the most vulnerable?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Yes, I can confirm that. I referred briefly to a further review of access to justice. It is certainly my intention that we should build on the reforms that are already under way with a further, more targeted review of the aspects of access to justice that were not fully covered in the review that took place shortly after the devolution of justice. What is important is that we continue to make those reforms, continuing to provide the full opportunities for legal aid to be accessed where necessary. However, we have a considerable issue that resulted in having to grant £31 million in the financial year just ended to ensure that we could meet the costs of legal aid. Clearly, that position is unsustainable at present. We need to ensure that we do things better.

Bronwyn McGahan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

3. asked the Minister of Justice to outline the projected savings over the next 12 months as a result of the removal of very high cost cases from the Crown court. (AQO 5950/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

The projected saving over the next 12 months as a result of the removal of the provisions in relation to very high cost cases from relevant legal aid rules is £13·6 million.

Bronwyn McGahan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat. Can the Minister give an assurance that there will be no reduction in access to justice as a result of the cuts?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Perhaps, Mr Speaker, we should have grouped the first question and this one. I can give an assurance that, as we seek to review, we are ensuring that we maintain access to justice, unless it is alternative ways in which we provide it, for example, in money damages cases. Otherwise, we will continue to ensure that access to justice is available across the spectrum of issues. However, it remains the case, particularly in criminal legal aid, that conventional legal aid remains extremely expensive. Members will have seen recent changes that were proposed and dropped in England and Wales. The reality is that we are still more expensive than England and Wales, even though they claim that they are the most expensive system in the world.

Michael Copeland (UUP, Belfast East)

Can the Minister detail why, for so many years, there was such a significant number of very high cost cases?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I am fond of standing in the Chamber and saying, "Don't blame me for what went on pre-devolution", but, on this occasion, don't blame me for what went on pre-devolution. What I have done since devolution is to get a handle on things. I understand that in England and Wales something like 5% of cases went through as very high cost cases. Prior to devolution, it was something like 55% in Northern Ireland. That was because of decisions to grant VHCC status far in excess of what would have been reasonable in other jurisdictions. I am pleased to see that the first batch of reforms we have put through have brought an end to that.

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

I thank the Minister for his answers. The Minister talks about savings of £13·6 million in relation to very high cost cases. Are additional savings in relation to criminal legal aid and other aspects of civil legal aid included in that —

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Can the Member pull the mic closer to him?

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

Sorry, Mr Speaker. Maybe I will repeat that. The Minister gave a figure of £13·6 million as a saving. Will he indicate whether there are other savings in addition to that in relation to ordinary criminal legal aid and civil legal aid?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I thank Mr Maginness for repeating the question to make sure that I got it exactly right. I have announced that savings have already been delivered of £20 million in criminal legal aid, of which £13·6 million came from very high cost cases. The remainder was a general reduction in costs. There are current further proposals for changes to civil legal aid that are estimated to produce annual savings of around £18 million and further changes to Crown Court fees for criminal work that are estimated to produce £5·5 million savings. In some cases, those issues are with the Justice Committee.

Gordon Dunne (DUP, North Down)

4. asked the Minister of Justice to outline any work his Department has undertaken with local councils to tackle the problem of legal highs. (AQO 5951/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

In August 2013, my Department engaged with environmental health officers from Belfast City Council to explore how the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 could be effectively used to tackle the issue of new psychoactive substances.

Those discussions led to a joint operation in November 2013 between the PSNI and the EHOs, which resulted in raids on five commercial premises that were selling the substances. The resulting court case concluded with the forfeiture order being applied and the removal of the harmful substances from sale to the general public.

The Belfast EHOs have kept their colleagues in other councils advised of their approach, and I welcome that sharing of information and joined-up working. My Department remains committed to working in partnership to respond effectively to the issue.

Gordon Dunne (DUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his answer. We should all congratulate Belfast City Council on its recent actions to tackle the problem. Does the Minister recognise that such drugs are often not properly labelled and have inadequate safety information? Those who use them are very much put at risk, which includes young people and others who are the most vulnerable in our society.

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I certainly understand. The whole point is that the substances are not properly tested or labelled, which is why, under the existing law, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 were the appropriate way to take action. Given that the Home Office carries out the review of the matter, which is not devolved, we will see what implications there are for us.

Raymond McCartney (Sinn Féin, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an fhreagra sin. I thank the Minister for his answer to date. I commend him for the approach he has taken, with the Department assisting Belfast City Council and the work of the PSNI.

Is the Minister considering, on behalf of the Department, coordination across council areas so that the councils can go at this collectively and use the same regulations to ensure that all types of head shops are confronted in the way that they should be?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I appreciate Mr McCartney's point, although, to some extent, that has already been done. It has been more a matter of coordination among the EHOs from the 26 councils than the Department being directly involved with each of them. A joint workshop was held, which involved staff from my Department alongside others. Subsequent meetings have been held among council staff, and I understand that a further prosecution is pending in another council area. It seems that councils are joining up, but the Department is willing to help if it can.

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

The Minister will be aware of the legislative approach in the South to legal highs and head shops. He has written to colleagues saying that he is waiting for advice from London. Does he agree that, in the absence of a comprehensive legislative approach here, the good work done on the rest of this island will be undermined?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I need to be careful because, as I said, this is not a devolved matter. We have shown that we have been able to act under the existing law, as it applies, for product safety. I understand that the Home Office review is also considering what has happened in the Republic to see what lessons there are in placing the burden of proof on the provider that something is safe as opposed to the prosecuting authorities being required to prove that it is unsafe. We need to await the outcome of that. In the meantime, it is very pleasant that we are able to see prosecutions by an environmental health department.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

5. asked the Minister of Justice how many custody prison officers have been recruited as a result of the most recent recruitment competition. (AQO 5952/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

No individuals have been appointed to the role of custody prison officer from the most recent recruitment competition. The Prison Service's priority has been to appoint to the grade of prisoner custody officer from that competition.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

I thank the Minister for his response. How many posts are likely to be needed to fill the quota, and when will the next recruitment exercise be?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I cannot say exactly how many posts may be required in the immediate future. A list has been compiled, which, in keeping with normal public sector practice, is applicable for a year, so that will potentially apply for a full year. The number of custody officers we may need depends, to a certain extent, on resignation rates. Of the 309 who were appointed in the 2012 competition, I believe that 34 have left the Prison Service to date. There is an issue with replacing them, but other staff have been regraded. It is not possible to give a specific figure at this stage.

Paul Givan (DUP, Lagan Valley)

The Minister will know that some 50% of all staff at Magheraberry are new recruits. Will he give an undertaking to the House that he will assess whether custody officers are being appropriately moved up the pay scale, as some representations suggest that that is not the case? Related to that, will the Minister confirm how many of the officers who applied for the voluntary exit scheme remain to be released?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I will answer the second question first. Through the good management of departmental funds towards the end of the year, I believe that it was possible to release 16 of the 28 remaining officers who had sought the voluntary early retirement scheme, leaving a further 12. Unfortunately, despite some hope that we might have received additional funding from DFP towards the end of the year, it was not received.

As far as opportunities for custody officers to be promoted are concerned, it is certainly the case that progress to move people up the scale was not made as swiftly as we had hoped. In part, that was because the voluntary early retirement scheme was not implemented fully. However, I believe that we now have arrangements in place to ensure that we properly accredit the work being done by custody officers, which will make it easier to get the promotions coming through.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a fhreagraí go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for his answers up to now. Will he outline the impact of new staff and how they have contributed to the creation of a much needed new culture among prison staff?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

As I go round prisons, I see a significant change in culture. There is a recognition that a minority of prisoners, especially in Magheraberry, require to be held in top-security conditions, but the great majority do not.

There has been a significant change in how prisoners are managed, in the responsibilities that are devolved to staff and in the opportunities, for example, for freer movement around prisons. I do not know how much of that is attributable to new recruits and how much to good lessons being applied by management and existing staff. However, when I visited the Family Matters wing in Quoile House in Magheraberry, I spoke to three officers who were involved in running it, none of whom was new. One of them told me that he had 30 years' service in the Prison Service and felt that the opportunity that he was getting to reform prisoners through better family engagement was the first time that he had had the opportunity to do the work that he wanted to do.

Let us welcome the culture, but let us also recognise the work being done by long-serving staff as well as by new recruits.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

6. asked the Minister of Justice what impact the proposals to decriminalise the non-payment of the TV licence will have on the number of people convicted of this offence admitted to prison. (AQO 5953/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Proposals to consider the introduction of a civil penalty for the non-payment of the TV licence would have a modest but welcome impact on the number of people committed to prison. In 2012, there were 155 committals to prison for the non-payment of fines imposed because of the non-payment of TV licences. Each committal was for a few days.

I welcome the proposal to decriminalise the non-payment of TV licences. I have advocated that for two years and have written to the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport in Westminster on a number of occasions to press it. It is good that the UK Government are finally catching up with a proposal that we in Northern Ireland made two years ago.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

I assume that the legislation that covers England, Scotland and Wales would be extended to Northern Ireland without the need for a legislative consent motion. That being the case, how much does the Minister believe the change would save the Northern Ireland Prison Service?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

It is non-devolved legislation, which is why I had to write to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about it. The cost of maintaining 155 prisoners for a few days is not significant. However, the administrative burden of admitting and discharging 155 individuals is rather more than is needed.

The Department's work on fines and enforcement to find a better way of ensuring that those who are sentenced to fines either pay them or carry out some form of community service is how we will resolve the issue of non-payment of fines in general, not just for TV licences. However, it is very welcome that we are now addressing TV licences to ensure that they can be better managed as a civil issue.

Seán Rogers (Social Democratic and Labour Party, South Down)

Thanks to the Minister for his answers thus far. What progress has been made in dealing with current fine defaulters?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

The answer to Mr Rogers's question could go on for a considerable time. There has certainly been a significant improvement recently in dealing with remedying the backlog, although the vast majority of cases now have to go to court for a determination on what further penalty may be appropriate. In the longer term, the fines and enforcement Bill, which I hope to introduce to the Assembly in the autumn of this year, will provide for a better way of dealing with it by the provision of a civilianised collections and fine enforcement service, with a range of options such as deductions from pay, deductions from benefit, or potentially even the forfeit of motor vehicles. Those are all opportunities that will take away from the difficulty of enforcing fines and having prison only as the last resort.

Judith Cochrane (Alliance, Belfast East)

7. asked the Minister of Justice, in light of the provisions of the Public Service Pension Act (Northern Ireland) 2014, what steps can be taken to ensure that every RUC widow, whether they remarry or not, shall retain their pension rights for life. (AQO 5954/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

The amendment in the Public Service Pension Act provides only for those RUC widows within the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions Regulations 1988. I believe that all RUC widows should be treated equally. I have asked my officials to take forward steps to explore how that provision might be extended to RUC widows within pre-1988 police pension schemes. I have written to the Minister of Finance and Personnel and the Justice Committee about the practicalities of delivering that change.

Judith Cochrane (Alliance, Belfast East)

I thank the Minister for his commitment to ensure that the continuation of pension provision extends to all RUC widows, not just those in the 1988 scheme. Although I know that it is not possible to backdate the payments, is it the Minister's intention now to properly fix what the amendment did not quite do and ensure that payments for pre-1988 schemes will also take effect from July 2014?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Yes, that is certainly my intention. As Mrs Cochrane highlights, it is not possible to backdate, but it is certainly my intention that the effective date of all the police pension schemes — there are actually two pre-1988 schemes that may have relevance — is in line with the measure passed by the Assembly for 1 July this year. It may not be possible to get all the necessary regulations through by 1 July, but they will be backdated to an effective date of 1 July.

Ian McCrea (DUP, Mid Ulster)

I welcome the Minister's response. Having already raised this issue with the Finance Minister, I want to assure the Minister that this party will support it. Will the Minister advise when he intends to discuss it with the Finance Minister?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I do not have a specific date to discuss it with the Finance Minister. For the benefit of Mr McCrea and others, it is an issue that is already under discussion by my officials in significant detail to see exactly how the measure can be implemented. The reality is that it is has been looked at almost since the point of devolution because of the discriminatory nature of the regulations. What we established by the legislative change was that we could deal with the matter in a different way that would not have repercussions elsewhere. I am now pleased to have the opportunity to carry it forward to ensure that all RUC widows are treated fairly.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I note what the Minister says. I must say that the advice proffered to me by the Bill Office and others was that, since the 1988 regulations subsumed all earlier regulations, rescinding the offending portion of the 1988 regulations had the effect of bringing the same benefit to all police widows. I understand that that is also the DFP view. Where has the Minister obtained the view that he is expounding today? It certainly does not seem to be in accordance with the advice tendered by those who drafted the Bill and by the Department of Finance.

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I can only answer that the advice I have been given within the Department of Justice is that the issue is not fully addressed by the legislation that the House has passed. On that basis, it is important that we should ensure that there is no gap or misunderstanding. We should ensure that we close any gaps as soon as possible after 1 July.

Trevor Clarke (DUP, South Antrim)

9. asked the Minister of Justice to outline the geographical locations of filling stations known to have been selling laundered fuel. (AQO 5956/11-15)

Tom Buchanan (DUP, West Tyrone)

13. asked the Minister of Justice what action his Department has taken, or proposes to take, to raise awareness of filling stations that have been found selling laundered fuel. (AQO 5960/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 9 and 13 together. The figures provided by HMRC, which have been widely covered in the media and elsewhere, relate to tax affairs in a civil recovery investigation. I am advised by HMRC that section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 has a taxpayer confidentiality clause, which makes it an offence to divulge details of anyone in relation to such an investigation. HMRC cannot, therefore, identify those believed to be evading tax in fuel cases or give information that might lead to their identification. Although it is principally a revenue matter, I have written to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, asking her to consider whether the legislation needs to be reviewed and whether appropriate steps are being taken by HMRC against offending stations. I have asked for the issue to be considered at the next meeting of the Organised Crime Task Force subgroup on fuel.

Finally, I note that the widely quoted figure of 467 stations in Northern Ireland selling illicit fuel across a four-year period is an error. That figure applied across the United Kingdom as a whole. The Northern Ireland figure is 249 offences detected across the four years ending 2012-13 and applies only to registered retail sites. The figure may include stations found to be in breach more than once. Although the figures are not held in an easily analysed format, I asked HMRC to provide the actual number of retail sites where it found illicit fuel. HMRC confirmed that, in 2013-14, illicit — that is, laundered, mixed or smuggled — fuel was identified at 33 individual filling stations in Northern Ireland.

Trevor Clarke (DUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for that answer. I accept the clarification on the number of stations. However, that does not diminish the fact that many of us, and members of the public, daily go to filling stations that are evading the taxes due. In the Minister's response, he said that there are 200-odd registered filling stations. However, we, as elected representatives, are all very familiar with those filling stations that are not registered and, we can only assume, are selling illicit fuel. What will your Department, along with the Planning Service, do to bring that to an end in Northern Ireland?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I repeat the point that we are not talking about 249 filling stations, although that is the way it was announced, but 249 offences. We do not know how many multiple cases there were. Mr Clarke correctly highlights the issue of whether they were registered or non-registered stations. However, I repeat the point that it is a non-devolved issue for HMRC. That is why I have written to the Treasury to ask for action to be taken at that level.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

Thomas Buchanan is not in his place. I call Lord Morrow.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

10. asked the Minister of Justice for his assessment of the efficiency of the processing of criminal cases through the courts over the past three years. (AQO 5957/11-15)

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

Processing times for adult charge cases in the Magistrates' Court have improved, year on year, over the past three years and take, on average, 80 days to complete. Youth court charge cases have remained stable over the same period, with the average processing time now 118 days. Summons cases in the adult, Magistrates' and youth courts have improved by around 15% over the past three years. However, I am clear that summons cases still take too long. Processing times for the Crown Court have also improved.

The improvements are the result of changes delivered by the criminal justice agencies, including the introduction of streamlined files for low-level criminal cases, police gatekeepers to provide pre-charge advice to investigating officers, and shortened pre-sentence reports for appropriate cases. More recently, reforms such as the youth engagement clinics, aimed at freeing up capacity in the youth court for more serious offences, as well as measures to improve processing times for forensic tests, have been implemented. However, it is clear that legislative reform is required to deliver the faster, fairer justice system that we require, and we all have a role in delivering that.

I will write to Executive colleagues shortly to secure approval to introduce a draft justice Bill, which will contain a number of fundamental, long-term reforms to improve the system. The Bill represents an ambitious blueprint for transforming our justice system to deliver faster, fairer justice for all.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for his reply, in which he said that some cases take too long. I think that that is a mild and kind way to put it. There are many who feel that it takes a bit more than too long and that the time taken to get these cases through is excessive. Can the Minister do anything, in the meantime, to ensure that the image of the whole court system is not one of logjam or of it taking too long to get cases heard? What can he or his Department do to change all that?

David Ford (Alliance, South Antrim)

I said that there has been significant improvement in a number of areas. The key area where more work is required is the youth court. That is why there has been a particular focus on that, why we have instituted the pilot of the youth engagement clinic in Belfast and why we are looking at how the lessons from that pilot can be carried forward to ensure that we speed up the process generally. There is no doubt that the pilot has succeeded in removing some of the less serious cases from the full work of the justice system, which has enabled greater concentration on those cases that do require court appearances. I have no doubt that those clinics are making a difference. I also have no doubt that, as we look, for example, at the fixed penalty notices that were introduced for a number of minor offences under the first justice Act of the Assembly, we will see that they have also helped to remove a number of cases from the adult court. However, there is no silver bullet that will deal with those issues. It requires a lot of work across a number of agencies. We are seeing some delivery from that work but clearly there is rather more still to be done.

William Hay (Speaker, Foyle)

That concludes questions for oral answer to the Minister. We now move to topical questions.

David Hilditch (DUP, East Antrim)

1. asked the Minister of Justice to join with him in condemning the largely unreported, dastardly, despicable and evil attack on the PSNI in Carrickfergus last night, when a police officer was injured and taken to accident and emergency, a police vehicle was damaged and another officer was stranded, with an armoured car needed to retrieve him from the site, and to tell the House whether he has spoken to the Chief Constable about the situation. (AQT 991/11-15)