Northern Ireland Assembly, 3 June 2014

330 contributions from 62 members. The official report.

Ministerial Statements

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, with your permission, in compliance with section 52 of the NI Act 1998, I wish to make a statement regarding the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) inland waterways meeting that was held in Enniskillen on 3 April 2014. The Executive were represented by me, as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, and by junior Minister Jonathan Bell from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Irish Government were represented by lead Minister Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs, and by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The statement has been agreed with junior Minister Bell, and I am making it on behalf of us both.

The meeting dealt with issues relating to inland waterways and their constituent agency, Waterways Ireland. Ministers had a discussion on various priorities within their remit and noted that those will be contained in a report that is to be considered at a future NSMC institutional meeting as part of the ongoing review into sectoral priorities. Waterways Ireland delivered a presentation to Ministers entitled 'Ireland’s Inland Waterways — Building a Tourism Destination'. The presentation provided an overview of the progress that Waterways Ireland is making in placing waterways and the waterway experience at the centre of the tourism offering in Ireland and internationally.

The Council received a progress report from Dawn Livingstone, the chief executive of Waterways Ireland, on the activities of Waterways Ireland. Those include the planned maintenance and repairs during the winter season; a public consultation that was undertaken on the proposed canal by-law amendments in the South; the completion of a built heritage study of the Lower Bann navigation and a geographical information systems-based navigation guide for the Lower Bann; the donation of two barges for recreational and community use; the development of a strategic development plan for the Grand canal dock, Spencer dock and plot 8; the winning by Waterways Ireland of the 2013 environmental award at the Docklands Business Forum awards for its continued work in restoring, protecting and promoting the heritage dockland assets; the continuation of towpath development and work on the cycleway from Ashtown to Castleknock; and work with others to utilise three unused navigation properties for community and recreational use.

Ministers noted the position with the 2013 business plan and budget. They also noted that Waterways Ireland has undertaken a public consultation on the draft corporate plan 2014-16; the preparation of the draft 2014 business plan by Waterways Ireland; and that the plans will be reviewed after the public consultation is analysed. They also noted that sponsor Departments will continue to work with Waterways Ireland to finalise the business plans and budgets for 2014 and the corporate plans for 2014-16 that will be presented for approval at a future NSMC meeting.

The Council received an update on plans to restore the Upper Lough Erne to Clones section of the Ulster canal and consented to a number of property disposals.

Ministers approved the Special EU Programmes Body business plan and budget 2014 and corporate plan 2014-16. The Council agreed to meet again in inland waterways sectoral format in October 2014.

William Irwin (DUP, Newry and Armagh)

I thank the Minister for her statement. I note that she referred to a presentation from Waterways Ireland, titled 'Ireland's Inland Waterways: Building a Tourism Destination'. I recall that the Minister's June 2013 statement talked of Waterways Ireland's new website and how it could be used to promote the waterways as a major tourist attraction and a valuable recreational and educational resource. Will the Minister tell us what progress has been made on realising that tourism attraction ambition?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I am happy to tell the Member that, even going by the presentation that we received at the sectoral format meeting, a lot of schools, community groups and local councils are involved. There is absolutely no doubt that the potential for tourism, particularly around waterways, is vast. We need to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to realise the potential to make connections. Also, the educational value of the website will, undoubtedly, be invaluable, particularly for children and young people involved in education. I am happy to provide an update on progress to the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee and to Members after future meetings. I am also happy to forward a link to the website, if the Member does not already have it, so that he can see it at first hand.

Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin, East Londonderry)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an ráiteas a thug sí dúinn ar maidin. What are the main priorities for Waterways Ireland in the 2014-16 period?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. Some of the main priorities are about making sure that the management and maintenance of the navigation are safe, and that it is open and accessible to people using the waterways and as a recreational space. As I said in a previous answer, it is also about making sure that more people have better knowledge of what is available to them around and on the waterways, particularly the rich environment and the heritage attractions.

There will also be a focus on unlocking the opportunities for growth in the economy; on social and recreational growth; and on reorganising and optimising the resources that should be there for public use, but certainly within the budget efficiencies. We will look at other funding opportunities for the Ulster canal in particular, but not exclusively, and how we can better maximise investment in our waterways to get a better return for everyone.

John Dallat (Social Democratic and Labour Party, East Londonderry)

I thank the Minister for her statement. May I take this opportunity to ask her to convey to Waterways Ireland my deepest appreciation for its endeavours to transform what was a drainage system into a first-class tourist amenity? I am talking about the River Bann, which will, I hope, one day emulate the River Shannon in its ability to draw tourism. In her statement, the Minister referred to:

"the completion of a Built Heritage Study of the ... Bann".

Is she aware that many of the artefacts that have been recovered from the bed of the River Bann at Kilrea have been stored for many years? Will she undertake to raise that with those who are conducting the study to see whether those artefacts can be recovered and become part of a very important study?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his comments, and I will happily forward them to Waterways Ireland. That is an example of it doing a job and doing it well.

I note the Member's concern about the potential preservation and maintenance of any artefacts that have been found. I will happily raise that and update him on progress, where those artefacts are and, more important, if they are of value, where they can be stored and displayed. That is also part of the narrative and a good story about what we have in our waterways and how they can link in with other public services such as the arts centre in Limavady and libraries and whatever else in Coleraine. If they are of value, they can be displayed in those local public services. That is where we need to seize the opportunities and make the best use of them.

Michael McGimpsey (UUP, Belfast South)

I suppose, to use a nautical term, we are looking at steady as she goes, and are managing the asset and taking what advantage we can out of it. That is progress in itself, because of the advantages of a canal system.

Minister, in your statement you referred to:

"an update on plans to restore the Upper Lough Erne to Clones section of the Ulster Canal."

That is another important piece of work. Given the financial constraints that the Department is working under, how realistic is it to be talking about updating and raising ambitions with that? Will the Minister give an indication of a notional plan or date for moving that forward?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. He is right to raise the issue of expectations. As he will be aware, the Irish Government originally said that they would fund the entire restoration project but have had to rescind that offer because of the financial situation that they are in. However, I was not content to leave it at that; I wanted to see what DCAL could do to enhance the opportunities for even a part restoration, perhaps through a phased approach. To that end, the economists in DCAL have looked at the business plan. We are looking at a final draft that could go to a final final draft, but the point is that an interagency body has been developed to look at other ways that council, European and heritage funds can be used to try to start the process of land acquisition and construction.

Every Member, from across the parties, has mentioned the value of restoring the Ulster Canal. We need to put our best efforts forward and try to look at other ways of starting that project. That is where my commitment is.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

Michael has stolen my line — again. We seem to be very interested in the same things and always want to ask the same questions. I will move on to something else, Minister, although I am very interested in canal development and restoration.

In your statement, you mentioned:

" working with others to utilise three unused navigation properties for community and recreational use."

Will you elaborate on that, please?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I will write to the Member with all the details, but, for example, Scouting Ireland is using one of the barges that was mentioned, and it is also being used by community groups, I think in Dublin. It is about working with local councils, schools and community groups on the local environment, the flora and fauna and our waterways.

I am happy to provide the Member with the details, but, suffice to say, although Waterways Ireland does not have the budget to maintain and bring some of those properties back to life, it is not letting them rot. They are trying to make them safe, and they are trying to make them into an asset that can be used by the community, albeit not maybe for what it was originally intended to be. I think that this is a good way where all local public bodies can come together around an area that is of interest to them all to see how they can make best use of assets, not just to preserve and maintain the asset but to make sure that it is used for good public service. I will happily write to the Member with all of the details.

William Humphrey (DUP, Belfast North)

I thank the Minister for her answers so far. I welcome the progress that the Minister has talked about in relation to the Ulster canal. Can the Minister provide some update to members of the Committee around that issue in a more expansive way than has been outlined here today in the Chamber? On the matter of going forward with super-councils coming on stream, can the Minister advise on whether she is having ongoing discussions with super-councils on the development of the canal in Northern Ireland, particularly in relation to the canal along the stretch at Stranmillis up to Lisburn?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. I will take the last part first. The Member will be aware through his connections with Belfast City Council that I have had very good working relationships with Belfast City Council in relation to the Lagan. Those discussions will be ongoing. We have had good discussions with Fermanagh District Council in relation to the Erne and Clones route. I will happily provide an update to members of the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee and, indeed, a current update on where the draft business plan is in relation to providing options around how we can commence work and land acquisition around the restoration of the Ulster canal.

The Member will know that, both here and in Clones and Monaghan, planning permission around the restoration has been granted. We need to make sure that, while planning permission has a shelf life, albeit of a couple of years, we put our best efforts together collectively to try to have this work commenced. I will happily provide a better and more detailed update to the members of the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a freagraí go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for her answers up to this point. An dtig liom iarraidh ar an Aire an dtig léi a rá cad atá déanta ag Uiscebhealaí Éireann maidir leis na fadhbanna ag baint le jet skis agus rudaí eile atá ina bhfadhbanna ar Loch Éirne? Can the Minister advise us on what action Waterways Ireland is taking to address the speeding issues relating to jet skis and other craft on Lough Erne?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for her question. Waterways Ireland's inspectorate is responsible for enforcing the Lough Erne by-laws, which include speeding. Jet skis and boats are asked to carry registration numbers, which are issued by Waterways Ireland. I know, because a report was given, that any complaints are very robustly followed up. I also acknowledge that, since the Lough Erne by-laws were introduced in 1978, the numbers of vessels and the popularity of Lough Erne have grown. I also know that Waterways Ireland is planning to amend the Lough Erne by-laws, and these changes include proposals to create no-wash areas and minimise the risk of high-speed collisions, particularly with some of the larger seagoing vessels.

I am happy to keep the Member and, indeed, other members of the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee updated on those. Certainly, Waterways Ireland is acutely aware of some of the complaints, as is Fermanagh District Council, that it has received from people enjoying sport and leisure on Lough Erne and who have been disrupted by speeding boats and jet skis.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

On the issue of the lower Bann built heritage study, the Minister will be aware that the Bann estuary, the north coast and the wider north-west is probably the jewel in the tourism crown of Northern Ireland. What productive use is the built heritage study going to be put to in order to develop that jewel in the crown to attract additional visitors and tourists to the region?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. Yes, it is indeed one of the most beautiful parts of this island, but I think that every Member, including the Member's colleague at the back, would have something to say about their own constituency.

The undertone of the Member's question is whether the study will sit on the shelf and not be of any use. The answer is no; it is not going to sit on the shelf. It is going to dictate what we already know, which is that the tourism potential in those areas needs to better utilised. The Waterways Ireland Riverfest took place in Coleraine, in the Member's constituency, in August, and there were over 100 participants and 7,000 visitors. We need to capitalise on that event and make sure that it grows each year. However, in relation to the study, we need to make sure that the schools, community groups, anglers and local councillors are involved and that they all can make use of the study. It is about making sure that we have better use, better knowledge and better investment in our waterways. I would not like any study to be brought forward, only for people to acknowledge it, note it and then do nothing about it. I do not think that anyone wants that.

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

I thank the Minister for her statement. Given the reprofiling of moneys through the Waterways Ireland budget, will the Minister give any reassurance that she will talk to ministerial colleagues in Northern Ireland to try to make sure that we get the Ulster canal opened up from Lough Erne to Lough Neagh, which would be the jewel in the tourism destination crown if it could be exploited?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. The part of the canal from Lough Erne to Lough Neagh is not on Waterways Ireland's schedule of work. I appreciate that it is of tourism value, particularly for local councils and the surrounding area. However, it is the Lough Erne to Clones section of the Ulster canal that is to be restored. As the Member may have heard when I responded to other questions today, we face huge challenges in having the finance to secure that end, despite the fact that the commitments were made to do it some time ago.

I am optimistic in all of this, and if we are successful in attracting European funding, and canals are seen as having extreme value in heritage and tourism, I think it will lift the bar for other Departments and other bodies to look at what else can be done. If I had the option to look at what else we could do, I would look at the Lough Neagh canal and make those connections so that we could go right from the Foyle — from one end of the island to the other — and enjoy our waterways, promote tourism and generate the economy, particularly for areas that do not enjoy the investment that they deserve.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

The statement says that Ministers noted the position on the 2013 business plan and budget. That is almost identical language to the communiqué of last June when they also noted the position of the 2013 business plan and budget. What is that position? Why is it that financial anarchy continues in that cross-border body and that, almost in the middle of 2014, we still have not had the 2013 budget approved? The Minister may not care much about it, but will she explain how expenditure, therefore, was even legal if the budget was never approved?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

First of all, the spending is legal, and I am the anarchist in this case because I am refusing to implement additional cuts. I have no qualms in saying it: I am totally reluctant — totally reluctant — to agree to additional cuts that are above and beyond what both Finance Departments have agreed. Until we can come to a resolution on this, the position will remain unchanged. I make no apologies for that whatsoever.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

Is it legal?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Absolutely; it is totally legal.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

How? How?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I have received legal advice —

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Order.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

— and, thankfully, you are not a person I would seek advice from on any subject. [Interruption.]

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Thank you: Members should make their remarks through the Speaker's Chair.

Oliver McMullan (Sinn Féin, East Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her answers to date. Can the Minister provide some detail of the real benefits that sponsored events have on and around our waterways?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I thank the Member for his question. Some of the examples that I gave in answering questions from John Dallat and Gregory Campbell, particularly around the Coleraine Waterways Ireland festivals, show how we can use our waterways, in conjunction with investment from local government, to attract visitors. Not even that, these festivals have proven, time and time again, to grow, and that is good news for us all. We need to make sure that we take a collective approach of seeing the asset in and the potential of our waterways and invest in them wisely, because the return has proven, yearly, that such money is well spent and that tourist and local attractions continue to grow. People feel part of something that is local to them and that the opportunity for investment will certainly be better secured if people have better use of their good public services.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. With your permission, and in compliance with section 52 of the NI Act 1998, I wish to make a statement regarding the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) Language Body meeting that was held in Enniskillen on 3 April 2014. The Executive were represented by me, as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, and by junior Minister Jonathan Bell from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Irish Government were represented by lead Minister Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs, and Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This statement has been agreed with junior Minister Bell, and I am making it on behalf of us both.

The meeting dealt with issues relating to the language body and its two constituent agencies. Ministers had a discussion on various priorities within their departmental remits and noted that these will be contained in a report to be considered at a future NSMC institutional meeting as part of the ongoing review into sectoral priorities.

Ministers noted progress reports from the chairpersons and the chief executive officers of Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, which included the following achievements relating to the period from November 2013 to March 2014. Foras na Gaeilge has selected the six new lead organisations and has met them to agree the extent of the functions in their respective areas. Core funding for 10 of the existing 19 core-funded organisations will continue to 30 June 2014. The six lead organisations, An tÁisaonad and two community radio stations will continue to receive funding under the new funding arrangements after that date. Three advisers have been appointed by Foras na Gaeilge: a change management consultant to provide advice to all 19 organisations to facilitate the necessary changes in their organisations; a language planning adviser to lead the six lead organisations and the language development forum on language planning issues; and a strategic planning adviser to advise the six lead organisations on strategic planning issues.

Information from the survey on public attitudes to Irish has been put into the public domain, as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge, to illustrate the continued and growing goodwill towards the language. Funding has been awarded to 13 publishers under the Irish language books programme. A meeting of the working group on the strategy for reading has been held and a draft report is being discussed.

The Ulster-Scots Agency delivered a successful Burns Night concert on 25 January 2014 at the Waterfront Hall, in conjunction with the Ulster Orchestra. The concert featured Eddi Reader, with performances from the Ulster-Scots Agency juvenile pipe band and Markethill Ulster-Scots dancers.

The agency is developing an Ulster-Scots innovators' gallery, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Science Park. This will be installed in the Thompson dock, where the Titanic was built, and will be launched at the Belfast maritime festival in May.

The agency's 'Fair Faa Ye' touring drama project completed a run of 100 performances in schools throughout Ulster in March 2014. A full post-project evaluation will be completed by the end of April. Initial feedback from schools has been positive, especially regarding learning outcomes for the children.

The agency has developed two levels of accreditation for Lambeg drumming, which have been approved by the Open College Network (OCN). The agency is going through the process of being recognised as an OCN centre.

The 2014 music and dance funding round was completed in January, and 233 applications were received. Following eligibility checks, 170 applications were assessed, with total funding of just under £310,000 awarded. The agency awarded three community impact grants to local groups in Kilkeel, Newtownstewart and Belfast towards the cost of full-time community development workers who will support and develop Ulster Scots in their respective areas. Grants to a total value of £104,360 were awarded in February, with the groups expected to secure combined match funding of £26,250.

In January 2014, the agency relocated its Belfast headquarters from Great Victoria Street to the Corn Exchange Building on Gordon Street in the Cathedral Quarter area. This move will provide the agency with improved office accommodation at a lower cost.

There was revision of a joint equality scheme, including updating of the safeguarding policy on cyberbullying, and a joint project in the integrated schools sector. Both agencies held preliminary discussions with the NI Council for Integrated Education in January regarding the development of this project.

Ministers noted the position on the 2013 business plan and budget. They also noted the progress being made by both agencies on their key strategic direction and objectives in their respective draft business plans and budgets for 2014 and corporate plans for 2014-16. They noted that sponsor Departments will continue to work together with the agencies to finalise the business plans and budgets for 2014 and the corporate plans for 2014-16 that will be brought forward for approval at a future NSMC meeting.

Ministers noted that the 2011 consolidated language body annual report and accounts were laid in the Houses of the Oireachtas and in the Assembly on 6 February 2014. The Council noted that the 2012 accounts for both agencies are being finalised by the Comptrollers and Auditors General, and it is envisaged that the consolidated language body annual report and accounts for 2012 will be laid by the summer of this year, also noting that the fieldwork audits on the 2013 accounts will begin in summer 2014.

Ministers acknowledged the ongoing cooperation with the independent offices of the Comptrollers and Auditors General in both jurisdictions, as a result of which, 11 consolidated annual reports and accounts for the language body were published from 2005 to date.

Ministers approved the revised codes of conduct for staff and board members of Foras na Gaeilge and Tha Boord o Ulster-Scotch, which have been reviewed and updated, in particular to take into account issues relating to potential conflicts of interest.

The Council noted the continuing progress in regard to the publication of a new English/Irish dictionary, including an online version on www.focloir.ie in January 2013. Ministers approved, within the existing budget, a revised timetable enabling additional material to be developed, which will exceed previously agreed project targets, on an incremental basis by the end of December 2015, with publication of a printed version in 2016.

The Council agreed that its next language body meeting will take place in October 2014.

William Irwin (DUP, Newry and Armagh)

I thank the Minister for her statement. The statement refers to the appointment of a consultant and two advisers to advise the six lead Irish language organisations and the language development forum following the consolidation of core-funded organisations in the new funding model. Has the support provided by those advisers allowed progress to be made by the six lead organisations with regard to development activities in Northern Ireland, given that they are based primarily in the Irish Republic?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The groups that are recipients in the new funding arrangements are all-Ireland in their complexion. While they may have headquarters primarily in Dublin, their work covers the length and breadth of this island. I have been assured that 25% of their work will occur in the North. That is slightly more than was guaranteed previously.

Regarding the change management process and the consultants, I am waiting for an update on how people have engaged and on progress thus far. It saddens me that at least three of the groups in the North have not engaged with that process to secure the future of their work or amalgamate with the six lead funding organised bodies. I know that Foras na Gaeilge has attempted to meet with those groups as well as engaging with the change management process.

Before the recess, I hope to have another progress report, which I will happily share with the Member and the rest of the Committee.

Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin, East Londonderry)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an dara ráiteas a thug sí dúinn ar maidin. I thank the Minister for her statement. Will she outline the position on the annual reports and accounts?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

As I outlined in the previous statement, we have noted the business plans and the accounts. Although we have made great gains by catching up on previous accounts that had not been approved, there are difficulties with finding agreement and moving forward. The good thing is that we are trying to work our way through them. That is why they have been noted rather than approved. As I have said before and will say again, I am reluctant to go beyond the efficiencies agreed by both Finance Departments. Until we get agreement, the position will be to note them. The matter will be discussed fully at a future full NSMC meeting.

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

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an ráiteas chuimsitheach sin. Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur i dtaobh na gcomhairleoirí atá ceaptha ag Foras na Gaeilge agus an ról a bhéas acu i dtaobh an phróisis bainistíochta. I thank the Minister for her wide-ranging statement. My question is about the advisers who have been appointed by Foras na Gaeilge, particularly the change management consultant. Will the Minister outline in some detail the aim of the process and its said outcomes?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The primary reason behind the change management process was to have people who are highly skilled in and knowledgeable of change management. It was as basic as that. The aim was to help groups, businesses and companies to move from one process to another. Those people continue to emanate from the private sector.

The purpose is to get groups together to agree on a way to amalgamate, on what governance arrangements will look like, on what possible future alliances will look like, and on how government agencies and Departments can respond to that change management. As I said in answer to a previous question, not everyone has been involved in that, and some people have refused to take part, which is regrettable. The Member is not a member of the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure, but I will happily write to him with an update, because I know that he is genuinely committed to and concerned about the development and funding of the Irish language.

However, it remains the proposal to ensure that every group involved in the delivery and development of Irish language support and resources has the opportunity avail itself of that expertise. Whether it was a massive all-island group or a small group in receipt of core funding, there was equality in what support you could get. It is regrettable that not all availed themselves of that, but, as I said, I will happily provide the Member with further details.

Michael McGimpsey (UUP, Belfast South)

The Minister is aware of the disquiet among Irish language activists in Northern Ireland about the setting-up of six bodies as the core-funded organisations, all of which are based in Dublin. I note that the statement says that core funding for 10 of the 19 core-funded organisations — four in the North and six in the South — will continue until June 2014, which means that the money is about to run out.

What is going to happen to those organisations, particularly the four in the North, bearing in mind the old adage, "You shouldn't change a winner"? With those organisations in Northern Ireland, you have had a success story as far as promoting and developing the Irish language and widening the scope of participants is concerned. It would be a shame to see those organisations disappear. How is the Minister going to ensure that those organisations continue to thrive?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

It is not my responsibility to make sure that those organisations thrive. That is the organisations' responsibility. I provided those organisations with the opportunity to be involved. Three of them have refused to be involved in the change management process on lead funding. What concerns me most is that — the Member will be aware of this from his own time and it has continued — a lot of funding was going into salaries and administration and not much was going into the development of the Irish language or support for core work in the communities. That was always a rub across the length and breadth of this island. Those groups are aware of that, and, indeed, they attracted additional funding from other Departments. However, I find it disappointing and I am curious to know why they have not engaged in the process, considering that they claim to have, and do have, a duty of care to the staff they employ. What have they done to help those staff not just to secure and maintain what they have but to provide additional opportunities in the future? Not to engage, in my view, shows them to be lacking in their duty of care to their staff and the work that they do.

Anna Lo (Alliance, Belfast South)

I am very pleased to hear that there is cooperation between the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge. The Minister mentioned a joint project in the integrated schools sector. Will she give us a bit more detail on what that project intends to do, when it will start and how long it will last?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I am happy to write to the Member. She is obviously not aware of it, but that project had been ongoing for some time now. It talks about the different perspectives of Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency. As outlined in the statement, the Ulster-Scots Agency has brought its play and works to at least 100 schools this year, and that number has increased year-on-year. I think that the work that both agencies do in explaining who they are and what they are about, as well as the work that they do collectively to build good relations and on equality and inclusivity, has been one of the success stories and something that not everybody picks up on. You can even hear today that people have a particular interest in certain things, but this is one of the success stories, and I believe that Members need to lift it up a bit higher and shoulder it a bit better. Given the perspective and background that those agencies come from, I would like to see their work expanded across many schools. With help and support, and maybe additional funding, they will be in a better position to do that. Certainly, it is one of the good news stories from this.

William Humphrey (DUP, Belfast North)

I thank the Minister for her statement and her answers so far. Given that the Ulster-Scots Agency is already facing a funding disparity compared with Foras na Gaeilge, what are the budgetary implications from the outworkings of this meeting for the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge for the foreseeable future?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The funding was based on identified need going back to the establishment of the two agencies. That has been the situation ever since. The Member will be aware of what my position has been and will continue to be. I know that his party colleagues are also acutely aware of that, because they were at the meeting. I find regrettable the call to burden those two bodies, which are doing excellent work, with additional efficiencies. I think that there are other ways, and I do not believe that those other options have been explored fully and to their best potential. I will keenly consider that when it comes to thinking about what else we can do.

I will respond to Anna Lo and others who asked about the work that those bodies do. That work could attract funding, even from other Departments. The work that they do in building, developing and maintaining good relations could certainly attract support from other Departments. To satisfy the Member's concern, let me say that I am aware of the funding situation that the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge find themselves in. I am not happy about it and I will do everything that I can to ensure that the situation does not change. However, I do not have full control of the outcome of this, but I will certainly be arguing their corner. I know that the agency and Foras na Gaeilge have appreciated those efforts.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas arís leis an Aire as a ráiteas agus a freagraí ar maidin. An dtig liom iarraidh ar an Aire an bhfuil sí sásta go bhfuil an amlíne chéanna ann go fóill mar a bhí ráite ag an tús don sainmhaoiniú?

I thank the Minister for her statement and answers. Is she satisfied that the same timeline is in place for the new funding arrangements?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I am happy thus far that everybody who is engaged in the process has appreciated, respected and, indeed, accepted that some of the programmes have been developed and delivered within that timeline. I am concerned and, as I said to Michael McGimpsey, I hope that some groups, particularly the three that have not been involved in this process, will see this as the last opportunity to become involved with Foras na Gaeilge in discussing potential options.

I will receive an update report before the North/South ministerial meeting on exactly where the groups are, despite the fact that the funding comes to an end this month. If there any signs that the timeline will be extended, I have not seen them. If that is the case, it will be extended for everyone, I assume. However, it is a hypothetical question, and I cannot give anything other than a hypothetical answer. Needless to say, the groups that have engaged in the process are acutely aware of the timeline, the deadline and the pressure and have responded to that appropriately.

Oliver McMullan (Sinn Féin, East Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat. The Minister hit on this earlier, but will she give us some more details of the business case?

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

I fear that I am repeating myself, but I will. The business cases have been noted and will continue to be noted because I am being asked to agree additional cuts to those agreed by both Finance Departments. I am really reluctant to go beyond that, so, until we get a resolution of this one way or the other, the business plan and the rest will continue to be noted.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I am glad to see that the Finance Minister is now in the House because I want to return to the question of the financial anarchy prevailing in these cross-border bodies. The Minister has just told the House that, deliberately and calculatedly, she is refusing to approve business plans and budgets, not just for this year but for last year. I repeat the question: how, therefore, is the expenditure even legal? She has not answered that question.

I want to ask her a further question. Her minder, Jonathan Bell, was present when she refused to give approval. Did he go along with refusing to approve the budgets and perpetuating the financial anarchy in these institutions?

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

I want to make it clear that that question is addressed to the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, and she can choose how she responds.

Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin, Belfast North)

The answer to the Member's first question is that I have received legal advice, and the expenditure is legal. I could not possibly answer his second question.

Executive Committee Business

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I beg to move

That the Land Registry (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2014 be affirmed.

The order, under section 84 of the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970, seeks to adjust fees charged by the Land Registry to ensure that they cover the costs of registration activity in line with the requirements of the Act. The fees set down in the order will replace those currently in force under the Land Registry (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011.

Members will wish to note that the statutory rule is brief. In accordance with statutory regulations, the changes have been endorsed by the Land Registry rules committee, which is chaired by a High Court judge and includes representatives of the Bar Council and the Law Society of Northern Ireland.

Under the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970, there is a legislative requirement for Land and Property Services (LPS) to recover the full cost of the registration services provided.

Recent indications are that, although there has been slow recovery of the property market, bringing with it a small increase in income, that will not be sufficient to cover the cost of providing the staff resource required to complete the increased number of registration applications and to carry out the two-year programme of work required to positionally improve the Land Registry map.

The positional improvement of the Land Registry map is required to ensure that the map and the positionally improved Ordnance Survey maps are coincident. Land Registry is required by statute to use the Ordnance Survey map as a base for the Land Registry map that is part of the register. The maps are required to be realigned to ensure that good, secure title can be provided to landowners and to lending institutions. The legal title to lands will not be affected by this exercise. An inaccurate Land Registry map would stifle the property market, which is in the early stages of recovery, and could lead to an increase in claims for compensation by customers unable to buy or sell land.

The draft order increases registration fees for transfers of whole, transfers of part, charges and first registration by £10. New fees of £20 are introduced for releases of charges, releases of parts of charges, releases of inhibitions and cautions. Those fees are introduced to ensure that there is no cross-subsidisation in respect of the work required to release certain interests in land.

There is an increase of £1 to the standard search fees and for copy maps and documents. For example, the cost to register a transfer of property in the current average price bracket will now be £220 if the application is made on paper and £160 if made electronically. The differential in paper and electronic applications is being maintained to encourage more electronic applications.

Members should also note that the proposed order will have the second-lowest scale fee of the four home registries for properties being transferred in the average price bracket and the lowest fee for properties transferred in the maximum price bracket.

The proposed fee increases are designed to cover the cost of the provision of registration services and to pay the fixed-price cost of the positional improvement project, which has been spread over a five-year period. Should the current fee increase generate sufficient income to satisfy the fixed price of the positional improvement work in a shorter time, a new fees order will be introduced to reduce fees.

While I consider that any fee increase should be avoided where possible, I am content that the order strikes a fair balance and will continue to encourage LPS to drive out inefficiencies and improve customer service with the provision of the positionally improved maps.

In line with the convention of giving the legal profession prior notice of the implementation of new fees, I propose that the new order come into effect on 8 September 2014.

My Executive colleagues and the Committee for Finance and Personnel were advised of my intention to make the statutory rule (SR). The Committee is content with the statutory rule. I therefore recommend that the Land Registry (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2014 be affirmed.

Daithí McKay (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle.

The policy proposals in this SR were considered by the Committee for Finance and Personnel at its meeting on 14 May 2014. As part of its scrutiny, the Committee was briefed by DFP officials, who set out the context and rationale for the proposals.

The Committee noted that, under the Land Registration Act 1970, Land Registry is obliged to raise fees to cover the cost of providing the registration service. In particular, DFP officials explained that the current cost of operating the registration service and completing the required positional improvement project to update the Land Registry map to make it coincident with the updated Ordnance Survey lease map cannot be met through fee income received under the Land Registry (Fees) Order 2011.

The Committee considered the statutory rule formally, together with a note from the Assembly's Examiner of Statutory Rules stating that he had no points to raise by way of technical scrutiny. While agreeing to recommend that the order be affirmed by the Assembly, the Committee sought further information about the methodology applied by DFP in determining the level of fee increases.

In its response, the Department advised that three options were considered by the Land Registry rules committee. The first was to raise all Land Registry fees by £4·16; the second was to raise fees for transfers of whole, transfers of part, charges and first registrations by £25 and introduce fees of £10 for release of charges, parts of charges, inhibitions and cautions.

The third option — the chosen option — was to raise fees for transfers of whole, transfers of part, charges and first registrations by £10; to raise land information fees for searches and copy documents by £1; and to introduce fees of £20 for releases of charges, parts of charges, inhibitions and cautions. I hope that you all understand that.

As the Minister said earlier, the Committee noted that there is cross-subsidisation on charges as a result of no fee being charged for the release of charges in full or part, inhibitions and cautions. The proposals in the order will see the introduction of a fee for such releases and ensure that such costs are equally shared.

The Committee notes that the proposed approach is considered by the Land Registry rules committee as the most equitable option and as one which implements very modest fee increases. Moreover, it was noted that the Land Registry fees compare favourably with those set by counterparts in the rest of Ireland and in Britain. Therefore, on behalf of the Committee, I support the motion.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

The Committee Chair really has spoken on behalf of the Committee, as he said, and covered all the points. On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I certainly support the review of the order.

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

I ask the Minister, if he finds anything there to respond to, to conclude the debate.

Simon Hamilton (DUP, Strangford)

I was a bit worried that Mr Cree was going to raise an objection or a very technical question about this. However, I am pleased with the consensus of support across the Assembly for the statutory rule. I thank the Finance and Personnel Committee, and the Chair in particular, for the constructive manner in which the Committee has dealt with the matter. I therefore commend the motion to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That the Land Registry (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2014 be affirmed.

Private Members' 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 of the motion will have 10 minutes in which to propose and 10 minutes in which to make a winding-up speech. One amendment has been selected and published on the Marshalled List. The proposer of the amendment will have 10 minutes in which to propose and five minutes in which to make a winding-up speech. All other Members who are called to speak will have five minutes.

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

I beg to move

That this Assembly recognises the considerable public concern at the pressures on emergency departments and GP waiting times, which have arisen during the period of the Transforming Your Care change agenda; notes with concern that the implementation of Transforming Your Care has not been fully assessed; and calls on the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to review and measure the implementation of Transforming Your Care to assess its effect on patient outcomes.

I welcome the opportunity to introduce this important debate today. The health service here looks after just shy of two million people in a service that costs up to £4 billion a year. In that sense, every pound that is spent has to be valued against its productivity. Every pound is important and has to be measured.

I note the amendment, and the SDLP is happy to support it. In our view, it neither adds substantially nor takes away from the original motion, but it does give its proposer extra time, which I hope he will use to express the genuine concerns of many of the extra 2,000 health service staff who have been employed since 2011, and the many others who share the concerns reflected here today. Indeed, I ask this question: did Transforming Your Care (TYC) envisage employing those 2,000 people when it was announced? We simply do not know. The ambition of the amendment is vague, but that actually serves to underscore the purpose of the original motion, which is about measurement, accountability and efficiency in the health service.

The health service here employs nearly 55,000 staff who are dedicated and professional and work to the highest standards in often difficult situations. Their commitment, energy and compassion must receive the highest praise, and I think that we should all acknowledge that today.

Let us remember why we are here today. It is because of severely stressed circumstances that have been rehearsed over and over in the public mind, among health professionals and, indeed, in the Assembly Chamber many times. I do not propose to dwell much further on them, but only to say that, in our view, those A&E difficulties with, at the worst end, patient deaths potentially caused by system stress and the frail and elderly often humiliated and neglected — all those stories — are, in fact, the symptom, not the cause.

The SDLP has been consistent on that point and it is why we have proposed the motion today.

The biggest single change agenda in the health service here is Transforming Your Care. Authors considered future demand and present stresses, and they consulted and came up with a plan. In simple terms, TYC aims to shift the provision of healthcare from centralised institutions and into the community to facilitate people better closer to their homes. For the moment, let us leave aside the financial arguments and people's views about hidden agendas such as privatisation. If TYC is about anything, it is about the strategic future of health provision here. This morning and this afternoon, we will hear lots of individual stories about treatments, cost, time taken and stress, but I would like the debate to stay focused on the strategic future.

The plan itself is a high-level strategic document that initially had 99 proposals, and, because we could find no evidence of it, we recently asked for a measurement of the TYC journey. We got this tabulated document. We can see little or no measurement in it either. A bit like the DUP amendment, there is plenty of woolly narrative and not a lot of substance. The response we got included a wonderful mechanism whereby the original 99 targets:

"will...be subsumed within the business commissioning and transformation processes highlighted...and reporting will be undertaken on this basis."

Basically, they will be swallowed up by wider health policy.

Let us look at some of the updates given on the 99 targets in the April 2014 report. Proposal 5 is about incentivising integrated care partnerships to support evidence-based health promotion. The update is:

"Work on this proposal has been deferred awaiting implementation and subsequent evaluation of the...Integrated Care Partnership model."

Proposal 10 is about a reduction in residential accommodation over the next five years. The current position is so circular that it is difficult to see how much progress has been made, and the Health Committee's current work on older people and accommodation only solidifies that argument. In fact, in pursuit of proposal 10, the Northern Trust closed its care homes independently, that led to a public outcry and the Minister reversed the decision.

Proposal 13 centres on more community-based respite care. Where does that lie?

"Local commissioning groups are currently developing plans for unscheduled care pathways".

There is no concrete measurement.

Proposal 18 is on personalised care. It points in the direction of direct payments, but there is little uptake and most initiatives are still at the pilot stage, and that is two and a half years later.

Proposal 21 aims to create better partnership working with patients with long-term conditions to enable greater self-care and prevention. The current position is:

"Pathways are currently being finalised."

Once again, that is two and a half years later.

Proposal 46 is a new head start programme for children aged nought-to-five. Where is it?

"Services, including parenting skills, are under development".

Proposal 59 is a typical TYC proposal. It aims for a shift in the balance of spend for mental health between hospital and the community. This proposal captures the very essence of TYC. What is the current position?

"This is an ongoing requirement over the course of the TYC implementation period. Work is progressing on developing a systematic monitoring process and monitoring will take place during 2014/15."

Note that work is not progressing on the issue itself. We have not even developed how we will monitor the shift of moneys to the community.

Finally, proposal 98 is about the overall reallocation of funds. It aims for a 4% shift into the community. Once again, we are told that this is an ongoing process but, importantly, we are told nothing about the process itself. What are they developing? A monitoring process. Plenty of process, little product and certainly not a plan.

It is for the above reasons and more that the SDLP wants Transforming Your Care properly measured and why we proposed the motion today.

My concerns are shared by the unions, professionals and the public. Let us look at what the three leading health unions say. NIPSA said:

"“Transforming Your Care”, despite its visionary rhetoric, is ... creating the space within which universal provision is undermined and the toxic presence of the private sector ... is encouraged."

Representatives from the highly respected Royal College of Nursing (RCN) presented to the Health Committee recently. They asked what it was because, despite studying the document, they still could not outline what it was or what it was doing. Once again, that is two and a half years into the process, and they are at the front line.

UNISON stated:

"TYC fails to control critical risks, and is cost rather than clinically driven. Therefore the TYC model as presented requires fundamental reconsideration."

That is the considered opinion of three leading health unions, two and a half years into the process. It all reinforces the fact that the public must be shown how TYC is working, if it is working at all.

Last week, the Health Committee was faced with the prospect of health service bids in the June monitoring round. I have to say that, as a public representative, I have serious concerns about a Department that puts its hands out for more money when we are not sufficiently measuring what it is doing with the funding already. We are simply not being told how much the change agenda is costing or saving. All we are being told is, "If we do not get more, the system is under threat". Last week, it was even down to the basic visit to a doctor.

Officials were asked about how the lack of funding is affecting TYC, and they were not able to tell us. We are left in the position, as public representatives, of facing a demand for money and a threat that, if we do not pay up, the service will collapse. That is another reason why we need good, solid, prudent measurement of this massive change agenda. That is the pressure that we all feel as public representatives, and it is what spurred the SDLP to ask those prudent, rational questions over how this vast amount of money is being spent on a change agenda. How is the money being measured, and, importantly, how is the product being measured?

Everybody has an answer, but it is their answer from their perspective, largely from their bit of the wheel. That is why there is a greater onus on the system to provide a measured and balanced view on the outcomes. The public cannot see Transforming Your Care change, but they feel it. It is the public who sit in line in a stressed A&E service. It is the public who cannot get an appointment. It is the public who pay for the system that is not delivering what they are asking for. It is all the more reason why we must have it explained in detail how the change is being measured.

There is no doubt that the issue of welfare reform will appear in today's debate from the opposite Benches, but that issue exists outside of today's debate.

The TYC plan was established in 2011. It is a failing when a health service puts out its hand for more and we do not know what it is for and whether it is consistent or not with a plan that is real or not.

This morning, we heard about a human rights assessment of what is going on. That may not be the only future inquiry into these plans. We need a health service that delivers cost effectively and for patients, and we need to see full transparency and accountability in the plan that underpins that.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

I beg to move the following amendment:

At end insert

";welcomes the progress made on patient waiting times, including the significant reduction in those waiting longer than 12 hours in emergency departments to be assessed, treated and admitted or discharged; pays tribute to the dedication of hard-working health and social care staff, including the 2,000 additional staff employed since 2011; and further calls on the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to reinforce across the health and social care system the necessity for transformational change to respond to the challenges of an ageing population, and to encourage and maximise involvement and leadership from health care professionals on the ground in delivering change from the bottom up at an accelerated pace."

I need to remind Mr McKinney and Members from his party of why we are here and how we have got to this position. Normally, I would say that it would be unreasonable to expect the honourable Member for South Belfast to know about this because he was not a Member of the House when this was all being discussed but, of course, he was a leading journalist working for a major television company, and he was very much across what was going on in health during his time in that elevated position. Therefore, he should have known that this document, 'Transforming Your Care', has to be one of the most consulted upon pieces of paper in the history of health service provision in Northern Ireland. There were public meetings, private meetings, briefings to the Committee and several statements by the Minister to the House. Everyone had a full opportunity to know exactly what was going on and what it was going to lead to.

I have to say, Mr McKinney, that members of your party on the Health Committee sat through that entire process and agreed with what was being suggested and supported it, and only now are coming forward with concerns. I do not want to embarrass the honourable Members by naming them, but one is a very prominent lady from Upper Bann, and one is a very prominent Member from Londonderry. Those folk sat throughout those meetings perfectly happy with what was being proposed. What they realised is that we could not go on the way that we were going in health.

There is a phrase often used in health service provision called the ladder of healthcare. The problem is, in Northern Ireland, that there are far too many people too far up that ladder commensurate with the needs of their health.

Every time you step up another rung of that ladder, the cost more or less doubles. If we had continued the way we were going, the health service system in Northern Ireland would have collapsed under its own weight by 2025. We could not continue. Indeed, Mr McGimpsey, the previous Health Minister, recognised that as well, because he was proposing a similar review.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

He did not do it.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

He did not get a chance to implement it — I accept that — because, obviously, the election came, and Mr Poots was appointed. The point is that he recognised that there were severe structural problems in health.

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

Will the Member give way?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

I certainly will.

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

Thanks, Principal Deputy Speaker. I agree that Mr McGimpsey recognised that and legislated to create a Public Health Agency (PHA). Why are the Member and his party so against the Public Health Agency?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

We certainly are not against the Public Health Agency. The Public Health Agency is an important and integral part of healthcare provision in Northern Ireland. We all accept that unless we get very early intervention, and stop people adopting lifestyle choices that lead to poor health, more problems will be created in the future. I have always been a very enthusiastic supporter of the PHA. We certainly did not oppose the establishment of that body. I am one who would like to see a further enhancement of its powers, so you will not get me on that one, Mr McCallister, I can assure you.

The fact is that we all accepted that we could not go on the way we were going; we all accepted that it required radical reform; and we all accepted that the basic premise of what John Compton was saying in the original 'Transforming Your Care' document was the best way forward. Not only did we accept that, but so too did the unions, tacitly, and the royal colleges, enthusiastically, and many of the NGOs and the charitable sector were extremely keen on Transforming Your Care. Behind the scenes, everyone is still telling me at all the various —

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

I thank the Member for giving way. Does the Member accept that his point that we all agreed that something had to be done is entirely reasonable? We all agreed with the original proposals, of course, but that is not what is under debate today. What is under debate today is how we have gone about it and whether it is being measured. How do we measure it? Is it succeeding? Is it failing? Can we address those points, and not have a smokescreen about what we all agreed? We all agreed that we would build the car, but what have we got and where is it going?

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

Will the Member give way?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

Finally, for one last point, yes.

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

Has the Member read this document? Does the Member recognise any measurements in it of a substantial nature?

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Can I intervene? You should not be debating across the Chamber, putting questions to each other. For the benefit of the House, address your commentary through the Speaker.

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

Apologies, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, but this is the document, and I am merely asking the Member whether he has read it. If he has read it, can he point out the substantial measures within it that can convince us that this is the right way to travel?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

If the honourable Member wishes the Minister to come before the Committee to explain the document in detail, I am sure that he will, once again, make himself available. But it is inevitable that there is going to be a period of transition between the old system that we have and the full implementation of TYC. There will be pain, confusion and difficulties. There is no way that you could carry out such a major transformation of a health service anywhere in the UK without that confusion, difficulty and pain, but there is complete transparency amongst the Department about how it will be implemented.

Some of what Mr McKinney is alleging has been caused by TYC has not. It is simply that the demand for health service provision in Northern Ireland continues to grow, and we would have had many of the problems that he has outlined regardless of whether there was TYC. The problem was that there was not going to be a long-term solution to dealing with them. We have to face the reality: we have a 1·9% real term growth in finance for health. Depending on how you read it, demand is growing at between 5% and 6%. That is the inevitability of the problems that have been stoked up in Northern Ireland's healthcare system over the past 20 or 30 years. Therefore, there are pressures.

The Member mentioned last week's hearing on the monitoring round. I accept that the Department has put in a very large bid, but that reflects the increase in demand. The fundamental difference between the present Minister and the previous Minister, Mr McGimpsey, is that the present Minister has been able to find £600 million of savings within the Health Department's budget to balance the books in the first three years.

The fundamental difficulty is that the amount of low-hanging fruit now left from which to make savings is, unfortunately, a very low figure. As demand continues to increase, a bid has, quite rightly, been made for, I think, £160 million in the monitoring round, as the Minister is perfectly entitled to do. While all of this has been going on, we tend to have a lot of gloom and doom from members of the party opposite, the public and the Stephen Nolans of this world about health. Let us look at some of the figures. The 12-hour waiting list, which, when the Minister came to power, stood at 4,489, has been cut by 80% in three years. MRSA and clostridium difficile infections are down by 43% and 14% respectively since the Minister came to power. Standardised death rates from heart attacks have been reduced from 79 per 1,000 of the population to 61 over the past four years.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

Will the Member give way?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

Yes.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

The Member is reading out a lot of statistics. Why are you not telling us about the waiting time for a first appointment or treatment? It is easy to pick out one or two individual statistics from areas in which things are going well. What is the global picture? Does he accept that there are major difficulties?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

If I had the time, it would not be one or two, because a litany of successes has occurred over the past three years.

The Member is simply indicating that demand, as we all accept, is rising dramatically. However, in answer to his question, I say that, although demand is rising, on many of the outcomes by which you measure the success of a health service in any Western democracy, Northern Ireland is doing very well. We have the highest survival rate for breast cancer, at 81%. There are 25,330 clients who receive domiciliary care, a figure that is up by 1,800 since 2011. In December 2013, 12,400 individuals were receiving residential care. That is up significantly from 2011.

I could go on and on. In a situation in which the budget is constrained, the number of consultants that we have is up by 160 since the Minister came to power. That is a 12% increase. The number of middle-grade doctors is up by 69. That is an increase of 20%. The number of nurses and midwives is up by 531. That is a 4% rise. Those are excellent statistics, given the —

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

What about the complaints?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

— difficult financial situation we are in. The Minister has been able to take a greatly restricted budget and make it go much further. I am not saying that there are not complaints.

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

Will the Member give way?

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

Yes. One last chance.

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

On a fundamental point, the Member talks about the employment of doctors. If there was not stress in A&E, there would not be the need to employ those doctors, and there would not be that stress around the demand for them. We still do not know what has caused the problem. Those are symptoms, not the cause. We need to rehearse further —

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

The Member's time is up.

Maeve McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, Foyle)

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I speak in favour of the motion. I acknowledge that the amendment does not detract in any way from the motion. It is our collective responsibility to pay tribute to the dedication of the front line staff. That goes without saying.

It is worth noting that we are debating the motion at the same time as the Human Rights Commission has announced an inquiry into emergency care. It is very serious when a human rights commission feels that it must investigate the people seeking emergency care in our hospitals. We need to stop and think about what that means. It means that patients, many of whom are in desperate need of medical intervention, are being so mistreated in A&E that what happens to them there may be a breach of their human rights. Such a scenario would be totally unacceptable in any state institution, but in hospitals, which should be dedicated centres of care, it is an utter disgrace. However, it is nothing new. As some Members said, the College of Emergency Medicine, trade unions, the College of Nursing, the College of GPs, front line staff, patients, families, politicians and the local media have been flagging the issue for over two years. I suggest that what we see in our emergency departments is only the front window of a system that is failing.

Let us look at the facts across the system, which the Minister will point out, and let us look at the public opinion of Transforming Your Care. The system has simply staggered from one crisis to another. We have seen a crisis with children in care and child sexual exploitation; a ban on blood donations from the gay community; court cases on adoption and on banning trade unions from appointments; a crisis in residential care; 15-minute care packages; crises in our emergency departments; concern about children's heart services; concerns about a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner; and serious adverse incidents resulting in deaths in the Royal hospital. We now have the mess that is the payroll system for our front line staff.

Whilst the shift left of the £83 million for Transforming Your Care is laudable — let us be very clear about that — it is clearly lacking any measurable outcome framework. There needs to be a particular focus on health inequalities. In short, what will be the impact of this shift left on, for example, residential care, domiciliary care, our emergency departments, access to GPs, access to connected health and health services staff? It is unacceptable that that work was not developed alongside the proposals to move towards Transforming Your Care so that wider communities could have confidence in this system. In its absence, as I stated, we have simply staggered from one crisis to the next.

I want to make particular reference to the Put Patients First campaign. The recent Patient and Client Council report on access to GPs found that 26·5% of people were dissatisfied with the access that they had. The Royal College of General Practitioners has clearly warned that that situation is not going to get better and that it will, in fact, get worse. On average, and I say this in the context of the wider TYC situation, GPs in the North of Ireland carries out around 12·4 million consultations a year. According to the Health and Social Care Board, there has been a 7% rise in that activity over the past 12 months.

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Will the Member draw her remarks to a close?

Maeve McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, Foyle)

Again, the College of GPs said that the situation will get worse. My request to the Minister today is simple: act now, because patient suffering and neglect are simply not an option.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

I thank Mr McKinney for tabling the motion, and I indicate the Ulster Unionist Party's support for it. As regards the amendment, I think that it is right that we should pay tribute to our hard-working staff in the health service. However, regrettably, not enough is being done.

Whilst there is some progress with 12-hour waiting times, I do not know why there should be any such waiting times. They rarely exist anywhere else in the UK, and we should not find them acceptable here. There are other measures on which we are significantly behind what the public would expect.

Jim Wells (DUP, South Down)

Will the Member give way?

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

I am just starting, if I may.

The vision of Transforming Your Care was wonderful. There was to be more preventative care; earlier intervention; patients would get the right care at the right time; treatment would happen sooner; and conditions would be less costly to treat, because they would be addressed earlier, but that is not what patients are seeing.

We have seen a series of crises — I will use the word "crises" — in our emergency care, where emergency procedures have had to be enacted to bring in additional staff to deal with the excessive waiting times. As we know, when there are excessive waiting times in our A&Es, there are huge risks. There are huge pressures on staff, and there is a danger that a change in a patient's condition might not be spotted. So it is essential that we have appropriate waiting times.

Look at the type 1 waiting times provided by emergency care departments. I notice that, in recent months — January, February and March of this year — in Altnagelvin, Antrim, the Royal, the Mater, and the Ulster hospitals, the proportion of patients treated within four hours did not move out of the 60% bracket, yet the target is 95%. In fact, all of our hospitals are a long way from that target. As I said earlier, excessive delays mean risks to patients.

A&E departments do not exist in isolation. They operate within the rest of the hospital system. It is also interesting to look at what is happening with other waiting times. The waiting times for first appointment are also growing. In March 2014, over 127,000 people were waiting for their first appointment. That is a significant increase of 27% on the figure for March 2013. For patients waiting more than 15 weeks, there is also a trend that gives rise to concern. As of March 2014, some 19,000 patients had been waiting more than 15 weeks. That is a 5·6% increase on the figure for March 2013 and another worrying sign.

Waiting times for inpatient treatment/admissions are also increasing. There is a growing trend of patients waiting more than13 weeks, and that must be of concern to each of us who relies on the National Health Service. Look at the patients waiting more than 26 weeks: at the end of March 2014, there were 4,312 patients who had been waiting more than 26 weeks. That is a 30% increase on the previous year. All these trends are going in the wrong direction. Where is Transforming Your Care? Where is the transformation?

In the last financial year, over £100 million was given to the Department of Health in in-year monitoring — rightly, as far as I am concerned — to try to address some of the difficulties that it had been experiencing. Recently, the Health Committee learned that the Department has bid for £160 million in the June monitoring, when the total given out last year was £80 million. That also shows that there is a huge pressure on our health service.

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Will the Member please bring his remarks to a close?

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

It is important that we provide additional funds earlier and support GPs appropriately. I notice that, on occasions, there have been reductions in funding to GPs in Northern Ireland. Elsewhere, funding has been increasing, and patients have been treated at an earlier point of their condition and at a more appropriate time.

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

On behalf of the Alliance Party, I support the motion. On a stand-alone basis, the sentiments of the amendment would be worthy, particularly its tribute to the dedicated and hard-working staff. It is a pity that the staff cannot all be paid the proper salary for which they have worked excellently for the health service. However, the effect of the amendment, relative to the motion, is to deflect from serious concerns about the implementation of Transforming Your Care. That said, Alliance continues to recognise that the status quo in certain sectors of the health service is not sustainable. As such, we continue to support the broad thrust of Transforming Your Care while sharing the growing concerns about to how it is being delivered.

Transforming Your Care offers the potential for a much more strategic and integrated approach to the changing health needs of our population. People are living longer, which is good, and the balance of types of conditions that will dominate is changing. New diagnostics, better technologies, drugs and better procedures are becoming available. As such, we need to be prepared to rationalise some existing services in order to create new opportunities to do things more efficiently, effectively and timely.

It is right that we try to make greater investment in public health to address health inequalities; focus more on prevention and early intervention; and try to shift towards supporting people in the community, as our community wishes. We also need to shift more resources into mental health. One in four people will experience a mental health condition at some stage in their life. Despite that, Northern Ireland continues to make smaller investments per head in this area than other parts of the UK do. Bamford must also be kept at the top of our mental health and learning disability agenda.

We all acknowledge and appreciate that there are huge financial pressures on the health service. There is more demand for new drugs, new medicines etc and patients are absolutely entitled to avail themselves of those if and when required. It often seems that these pressures are getting worse. So, in many respects, change cannot come quickly enough if we are to make the most of what is essentially a fixed budget.

Concerns regarding the implementation of Transforming Your Care tend to focus on a number of particular angles. One is scepticism over the extent to which resources will follow the shift in emphasis towards the provision of services in the community — I think of the reduction in community time and the community meals offered to our population. Unless that happens and is transparent, the perception will be of cuts to existing acute services.

The implementation of proposals around the future of residential homes has already been subject to huge public anger, rage and debate, so much so that a rethink has been forced on the Minister. Let us hope that the right decisions will now follow.

Another concern is the extent to which staff have been engaged in and have bought into the reforms. One group of health professionals with whom more work needs to be done is our GPs. There are concerns over the capacity of our GPs to absorb further work on what is already a limited budget and a lower share of the overall health budget than in other parts of the UK. GPs are expected to become the hub of the new integrated care partnerships. However, that is not realistic without increased investment in GPs themselves and alternative channels to address existing and future caseloads.

GP practices are reporting significant increases in demand, as are out-of-hours GP services. In turn, increased concern is being expressed about the ability to access GP services and secure appointments. Nevertheless, a properly funded GP service can be the lynchpin of a transformed health system; that is recognised by GP themselves.

The capacity to deliver a transformed system is hampered by ongoing —

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Will the Member begin to wind up his remarks?

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

— struggles in A&E and wider problems. We need much more regular and detailed stocktakes of the reform process. If what has been planned in any aspect of Transforming Your Care is not working, let the Department pause and re-examine better ways before blindly following a wrong course.

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

Will the Member give way?

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

Thank you. Is the Member aware of the views of the new NHS English hospitals' Simon Stevens, who believes that community hospitals should now take the burden in the health service? Does she have any view on how that impacts on TYC?

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

The Member has an extra minute.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

I too rise to support the motion and the amendment. First of all, like other Members, I commend health service staff for the tremendous work they do in very difficult circumstances. I also commend carers, because the contribution that carers make to our health service is often forgotten. They save the health service approximately £4 billion per year, and without them I think the health service would have collapsed a long time ago.

Transforming Your Care was first mooted and came out in December 2011. I suppose there are two ways of looking at the 99 proposals. One is that they were a way of reforming and improving the health service. The other way of looking at it was as the privatisation of the health service. The more cynical amongst us — which, of course, does not include me — might consider that privatisation was very much on the agenda.

TYC's key commitments state that it presented us with:

"an unprecedented opportunity to transform our health and social care service. With transformation of such scale there will be difficult times ahead and challenging decisions to be made — it is important to remind ourselves this transformation is about people and services, rather than buildings."

I think people would have agreed with the shift left and the transfer of approximately £80 million from acute care to domiciliary care. Mr Wells, who is no longer in his place, stated that the Minister had been before the Health Committee more than any other Minister has been before other Committees. With respect, I think that is because he has had to. So many issues have arisen that the Minister has had to come before the Committee and try to explain the situation. Ultimately, the health service needs to be protected at all costs. We need to continue a free service at the point of need. That has to be protected above all.

Transforming Your Care, in terms of the residentials, fell at the first hurdle. The trusts were queuing up to see who could close a residential first. When I contacted the Southern Trust at the time to ask why it had issued a statement, I was told that it was in response to a request from 'The Nolan Show'.

It seems that 'The Nolan Show' now has an influence on health service policy, which seems to be a strange way, not to mention a bizarre one, of conducting that policy.

On 19 May, the Minister stated in the 'Belfast Telegraph':

"Since 2011, there are 130 more doctors, 640 more nurses and 320 more allied health professionals."

If that is the case, are they being used in the right way? Obviously, waiting items are a problem, and accessing GPs is becoming an increasing problem. With all the extra staff, we have to consider whether they are being used in the way that they should be.

Ultimately, the health service affects everybody from the young to the very old, and our ageing society — I think it is accepted that our elderly population will have doubled by 2020 — surely highlights the need for services to be improved and continued.

The Human Rights Commission's view of emergency care has been mentioned. The latest crisis is with the payroll system, and staff are not being paid properly. This has been going on for months and does not seem to have been addressed. I really do not understand that. We are being told that it is to do with national insurance contributions, but those are dictated by mainframe computers in Britain.

The Minister really needs to look at the whole issue of Transforming Your Care. He must either bring it back to the drawing board or look at ways of ensuring that it is carried out. Representatives from the Royal College of Nursing were before the Committee very recently and what they said about Transforming Your Care sums it up. They spoke of "a vision without action". There are no measurable outcomes, and that needs to be addressed. As I said, I will leave it to the Minister to answer those questions.

Gordon Dunne (DUP, North Down)

I too welcome the debate on Transforming Your Care. It has set out proposals for change across the health and social care system in Northern Ireland and a road map to reshape services to ensure that systems deliver in a more sustainable way in the future.

We need to reinforce across the health and social care system the necessity for transformational change to respond to challenges for our increasing ageing population and encourage and maximise involvement and leadership from healthcare professionals on the ground, so that they can deliver change from the bottom up at an accelerated pace. The Health Committee has had extensive involvement with the whole process of Transforming Your Care and has worked extensively with John Compton, who, along with his team, came on a number of occasions and spent time with the Committee.

We have always been reminded that full implementation of the report will take from three to five years, depending, of course, on the financial resources being available. It is important to keep it in mind that delivering change in health does not happen overnight. It is also important that funding for the resources to manage change is put in place to implement such change and bring about what is needed.

Delivery of Transforming Your Care involves setting up integrated care partnerships, which includes our local GPs, our health and social care providers, hospital specialists and representatives of the voluntary and community sector. Progress has been made in setting up the ICPs, and they are starting to deliver services more effectively and efficiently in local areas.

There is a need for real change, especially to the role of the GPs. On a recent visit to a GP surgery in Bangor with our Minister Edwin Poots, we saw the pressure that GPs are under and listened with interest to their real concerns. They are working in outdated facilities, and I urge the Minister to look at providing a new health and well-being centre in Bangor. It is long overdue. Our GPs work in cramped conditions, and our patients wait in small areas for long times because of the lack of facilities. We need better buildings, and we need better resources to deliver. This is all part of Transforming Your Care. If we are going to deliver in the community, we need to make sure that the proper buildings are in place.

The expectations of patients today are so high, and meeting these expectations is a real challenge. To do that, you need the necessary resources, the necessary people and the necessary buildings. It is difficult to manage large surgeries, with GP funding equating to 7·9% of the budget in 2012-13 while the rest of the UK receives 8·39% of the health service spending. However, people in our constituencies all regularly talk of the problems of getting an appointment with their local GP. These are real issues that need to be addressed and addressed effectively and efficiently through TYC.

Our emergency departments have been mentioned already, and we need to keep the focus on that. They continue to be overloaded with patients, with 96,879 new patients going through the Royal Victoria last year and 88,500 going through the Ulster Hospital, which serves my constituency of North Down and is now almost as busy as the Royal. This equates to 264 patients a day coming through the doors of the Royal Victoria. That is a tremendous demand on resources. This highlights dramatically the real challenges and pressures that exist in the health service. It must be said clearly that the vast majority of these people get good care in the health service. The vast majority get a good service and go home content. The vast majority recognise that.

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

The Member's time is almost up.

Gordon Dunne (DUP, North Down)

I believe that, when all is said and done, there are issues to be addressed, but it is important that the balance is put in place and that we recognise that the health service provides a good service to the vast majority of patients.

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

I welcome the opportunity to participate in today's health debate. Indeed, the people of mid-Ulster have been very vocal in their concerns regarding health service provision, not least the Cookstown 040 group, which presented a petition here in this place against the closure of Westlands care home.

The Ulster Unionist Party recognises that our health system is in need of reform. Our population is ageing, demand on the health service is increasing and finances are diminishing. It is clear that the current service delivery model is most likely unsustainable. Indeed, the original Compton report said something similar. However, it is light on specific details, and, in the absence of an implementation plan, even though it was created at the very heart of the health service, it is difficult to fully assess the evidence on which this overall review has been based and what it has set itself as achievable targets.

The proposer of the motion raised this issue, and I certainly agree: without targets or an implementation plan, how will the success or failure of Transforming Your Care really be measured? Nevertheless, what should have started as the opening of a root-and-branch review of the health service has now been mired in controversy and has resulted in the plummeting of morale across health staff and, hugely worryingly, has started to impact on the confidence that ordinary members of the public have in the National Health Service.

There are a issues that now need to be addressed before Transforming Your Care can progress. First is the money. Again, the original Compton report suggested that service improvements through reorganisation of the delivery of services could have been delivered within the constraints of the current level of funding, supplemented by only £70 million of extra transitional funding. The concept was diverting money from acute care to primary, community and social care services to treat patients sooner so that they would not need to go into hospital, but that has not happened. In fact, it seems that the finances are up the left altogether, with the Minister bidding consistently at monitoring rounds.

Transforming Your Care was dealt another fatal blow when it was revealed that health trusts were seeking to close all their statutory residential care homes, rather than half, as was initially indicated in the original plan. It was very unfortunate that the outworking of Transforming Your Care saw the untimely and badly managed announcement to each resident in Westlands care home that they would have to look for alternative accommodation in the short space of a few months. That caused terrible anxiety to those residents, and the general health of many suffered as a result. The play on the phrase "at least" was a manipulation by the trusts. We expressed concerns at the original Transforming Your Care proposals to close half the statutory residential homes, and we continued to be concerned at the lack of alternatives that exist or are being developed for the growing elderly population, were the homes to close.

Another contradictory target is the fact that the Health and Social Care Board believes that it can reduce the number of newly referred older people who need long-term domiciliary care by up to 45%. Where is the care in the community? The 'Transforming Your Care' document also specifically mentioned domiciliary care as a potential area for income generation. Therefore, not only was the Health and Social Care Board eager to shut homes but it was keen to reduce the number of domiciliary packages being offered. However, there is also a high chance that recipients will now begin to be charged for those services. I would like to hear from the Minister on that issue and to hear a commitment that domiciliary packages will remain free.

The current failures in the health service affect not only the elderly in care homes, those attending A&E, those on waiting lists and all our constituents but the morale of the staff and their mental health and well-being. In this period of Transforming Your Care, I urge the Minister to take more care with his health transformations.

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

There seems to be general agreement from most sections in the House that it was necessary to debate this and necessary for the Assembly to be seen to be getting some form of accountability from the Minister. I would be surprised if we did not need to visit this subject again and again.

Listening to some of the debate, particularly the Minister's DUP colleagues, you would think that all was well in our health service and that, with a few tweaks needed at the edges, all was going according to plan. I remind some of them that the original time frame that was talked about in TYC was about three years. We are now two and a half years in to that, and it is being stretched up to five years. While that is going on, all that anyone has been told and all that the people on the ground — Mrs Overend talked about all our constituents and all the users of the health service — feel is that the health service is at breaking point. The staff who work there feel that there is a health service that is in crisis and a health service that is stretched to the limit. That is what is going on on the ground, and that is the perception out there.

Other Members mentioned a crisis in various parts of the health service, from our children's care system right through to our A&Es. That is all against the backdrop of trying to change its make-up. We have experienced that in my constituency and, indeed, in the Minister's constituency, with changes to the Downe Hospital and the Lagan Valley Hospital. All that is set against the backdrop of rising demand. When Mr McGimpsey was Minister of Health, we were warned about the difficulties in funding and the relentless rise in demand for our health service needs. What was the DUP's reply? It said, "There is no crisis. There is enough money in the budget, and you just need to manage it better". The coalition's decision at Westminster about ring-fencing at least health spending and the Barnett consequentials of that have helped the Minister and prevented complete meltdown in our health service.

Mr Dunne talked about the road map that Transforming Your Care set out. I have to say that the Minister seems to have pretty well got lost on wherever that road happens to be going, because people are not finding that things are improving. They talk about needing more time and money. They have had two and a half years of implementing it. The Minister has been in office for three years, and his party colleague holds the purse strings. According to the First Minister, if they needed more money, it was to be made available. Why has that not come through? Why are we looking at those crises in various parts of the system, even before full implementation? This is moving — I have consistently warned about this — £83 million from acute to domiciliary care. Most people agree with the idea, but I have consistently warned about the sheer management difficulties of moving that size of budget when the one that you are taking it from is in crisis — a deepening crisis.

For the Minister even to go through with TYC, he is still looking at whether to close Daisy Hill Hospital or the Causeway Hospital. Where is he making the changes at A&E units, where there is already a crisis? I have asked the Minister this before: does this not mean that his flagship policy of Transforming Your Care is in crisis itself? Is it not unlikely that he can deliver any of the outcomes with the current policy framework?

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Will the Member bring his remarks to a close?

John McCallister (UUP, South Down)

Thank you, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

The shine has certainly come off the glossy rhetoric of Transforming Your Care. The public disillusionment and disappointment are accentuated by the fact that those now in charge were those who, when not in charge, made it sound so easy. In the years that were spent vilifying Michael McGimpsey as Health Minister, the constant refrain was that there was not a money problem in the health service, just a management problem, and that, if he had been a better Minister and had had the skills that they thought they had, there would have been no problem whatsoever in the health service. Of course, how different it has turned out to be. There has not been even a by-the-way apology to Mr McGimpsey for their vilification of him over the years; rather, there has been an arrogant pretence: "Well, everything has changed. It was totally unforeseeable". They have, of course, just discovered that running the health service is not as easy a project as they seemed to think it was for so long.

Transforming Your Care has been a great disappointment to many. I am not totally surprised, because it seemed to me from the outset that it was over-optimistic in its view that you could simply devolve to the community so much that was being done in the health service and that you could have care packages that would remove the need for doctors, hospitals, emergency units, visits and everything else.

At the same time, we know that the care packages in the community are essentially meagre. We all hear stories of the carers who have seven minutes in which to do an hour's work. No wonder, then, that, when you build Transforming Your Care on such sand, it begins to sink in the manner in which it has.

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

I thank the Member for giving way. Does he accept that the SDLP position on this has been to get transparency and accountability? Does he therefore share my concern at learning that the board has been putting pressure on media organisations to ignore the negative stories that he is talking about and instead focus on positive stories in TYC and the health service?

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

I am not surprised to hear that, and I share that concern.

Another issue in Transforming Your Care is that we were going to solve the problems in A&E departments without having any regard to the fact that we had guaranteed logjams in those departments by, over the past five years, reducing the number of beds in our hospitals by 16% — in some boards by 20%. It does not take a lot of brain to work out that, if you reduce the number of beds in hospitals on that scale, you will inevitably produce a logjam at the access point of A&Es, and so it has turned out.

It is supposed to be some sort of creditable, laudable thing that fewer people now have to wait 12 hours: it is scandalous that anyone has to wait 12 hours in an A&E department. Yet, that is turned into some sort of virtue. There is nothing virtuous about the fact that our A&E departments regularly see waits of that length, with the serious adverse incidents that have been connected to it.

Then we take the situation relating to statutory residential homes. The Minister has ducked and dived on this issue so many times, but the fundamental remains that it is his policy to destroy statutory residential homes. He goes through the motions of consultation but refuses to take the elementary step of making the homes have a viable future by removing the moratorium on new admissions. You cannot viably test the future of a home while denying access. It is a means of bleeding the homes to death, and that is the Minister's policy.

The Minister was content to see 100% closure in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust until there was a public outcry. He had advance knowledge that that was the plan. I have it in Assembly answers: he had advance knowledge of the plan of the Northern Trust to shut 100% of its homes, and he had nothing to say until a 90-year-old lady, Mrs Faulkner, blew the whistle and set off a public outcry. Then, he sought to pretend that that was not his policy and it was those unmanageable mandarins doing things that really were against his will. Where does the buck stop in the health service? It never seems to stop with the Minister. Has there been a single issue in his tenure of office for which the Minister has taken responsibility?

Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin, South Antrim)

Could the Member bring his remarks to a close, please?

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

It seems not once. It is always someone else's fault. It was the Minister's fault when it was Michael McGimpsey, but it is never the Minister's fault now. Strange that, isn't it?

The debate stood suspended.

The sitting was suspended at 12.32 pm.

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

Oral Answers to Questions

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

1. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what percentage of the 11,000 new jobs promoted by Invest NI in 2013-14 were promoted in West Tyrone. (AQO 6245/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Invest Northern Ireland is working on the presentation of jobs promoted at subregional level in 2013-14, including those in West Tyrone. It intends to publish the information once the figures have been fully validated. However, during 2012-13, 678 jobs were promoted by Invest Northern Ireland in West Tyrone. Those jobs were promoted in projects undertaken by companies such as Allstate, Telestack, Terex and Terramac Fabrication.

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

I thank the Minister for her answer and for the number of jobs promoted. When does the Department hope the Terex jobs will be realised? Given the constraints in relation to land available for industrial development in Omagh, can she give any reassurance about what might happen in that regard?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his supplementary. In relation to the Terex jobs, I am hoping that Invest Northern Ireland will be able to give you those figures. I know for sure that some of those jobs have already been created and are in post; I just do not have the precise figures for job creation.

In relation to Terex's desire to do more in the Omagh area, we are working alongside the company to try to identify an appropriate site. I am acutely aware that there is a shortage of land in Invest NI's site in Omagh. The Member will know that we have been attempting to resolve the issue. We have had a number of attempts to acquire land, and unfortunately none of them have been successful to date. However, we will continue to keep looking for appropriate land, and I am sure that the Member will want to work with us to assist us in that regard.

Ian McCrea (DUP, Mid Ulster)

As someone who represents a neighbouring constituency — Mid Ulster — I know only too well the benefit that the manufacturing industry brings. Will the Minister outline what the manufacturing industry as a whole brings to the economy in Northern Ireland?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his question. The whole of Tyrone has been very significant in what it has achieved for the manufacturing sector and, in particular, the engineering sector over the past number of years. There are around 50 Invest NI client companies of significant size that are classified as being engineering based in Tyrone alone, and the majority of those are in the materials handling sector. There are another 25 outside Tyrone, which proves that you can have a material handling company outside of Tyrone, although most seem to be placed in Tyrone.

Those companies have proven to be very successful. They had a very tough time at the beginning of the recession. However, they have regrouped, they have come back again and they are working in a number of export markets right across the world. We will continue to work with them to explore new export markets, and that is something that I am very pleased to be able to do when I accompany them on trade missions.

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

2. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for an estimate of the number of visitors from outside Northern Ireland who attended the Giro d'Italia. (AQO 6246/11-15)

Robin Newton (DUP, Belfast East)

10. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline the benefits to the economy of hosting large-scale events such as the Giro d'Italia. (AQO 6254/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 2 and 10 together.

The Giro d’Italia has delivered a wide range of economic benefits. In particular, it has attracted out-of-state visitors — both tourists and those travelling with the competition — who spend money in local businesses. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is undertaking the post-event evaluation. However, when final figures are complete, we anticipate overall visitor numbers to exceed the 140,000 target.

Hosting those successful international events also gives us significant positive global media exposure. That helps to change perceptions of Northern Ireland as a holiday destination and provides a unique marketing opportunity to grow overseas tourism. Indeed the key objective for staging the Giro d’Italia was to showcase Northern Ireland on a world stage. Many hundreds of international journalists and photographers joined the cheering visitors and local people, providing a welcome to Northern Ireland that was beyond the organisers' expectations. I am told that Northern Ireland has very much set the bar for all future "Big Starts".

Sandra Overend (UUP, Mid Ulster)

I thank the Minister for her response. I very much welcome the success of the Giro d'Italia. The Minister is aware of the latest tourism figures, which show that numbers of visitors from GB are up but that those from the Republic of Ireland are down by around 15%. Has the Minister any plans to try to increase that figure and change tack to improve the number of visitors coming from the Republic of Ireland and further afield into Northern Ireland? Also, will she tell the House whether those for the Giro d'Italia possibly qualify so that she can set her sights on the Tour de France coming to Northern Ireland?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

On the tourism figures that have been recently released, I have to say that, overall, the picture is very healthy. We are up 2% overall in 2013, and we have to recall that 2012 was a very significant year for us and was very much a year when we brought a lot of visitors to Northern Ireland. However, I am pleased that we still managed to increase our numbers last year. In some markets, as the Member said, we have had significant growth. The GB figures have increased by 13%. Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland (ROI) figures dropped by, I think, 7%. Overall, the trend is moving upwards, but clearly there are issues that we need to identify to deal with the drop in ROI figures. The ROI figures had increased significantly in 2012, so we were at a high level. Now they have dropped back, and we need to try to understand why that is.

As you would imagine, I am very pleased to see the GB figures rise, and indeed the overall number of visitors from outside Northern Ireland has increased by 6%. So, it is a good story; there are some bits to improve upon, but I believe that we can tackle that issue in the future.

With respect to the Tour de France; as the Member knows, we have identified a number of large-scale events that we would like to come to Northern Ireland, because we believe that we have the correct infrastructure now in place. We want to attract more large events like the Giro d'Italia, which, can I say, was a tremendous success for so many reasons, not least the fact that the people of Northern Ireland came out on to the streets, dressed in pink and had a joyous weekend. What a tremendous thing it was to be a part of; I was very pleased to be a part of it.

We will be looking for other large-scale events, and this is something that we hope to make some announcements about in the near future.

John Dallat (Social Democratic and Labour Party, East Londonderry)

I encourage Members to be brief in asking their supplementary questions.

Robin Newton (DUP, Belfast East)

As the Minister said, the Giro d'Italia was a huge success, and so was the UK City of Culture. The ability of Northern Ireland to attract those two events indicates that we are punching well above our weight. However, I ask the Minister to comment on the terrorist attack on the Everglades Hotel and what the implications of that might be.

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his supplementary question because it gives me the opportunity to condemn outright what was going on in Londonderry. At the very same time that I was sitting at the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards, watching as the UK City of Culture received the award for the outstanding contribution to tourism, individuals decided to put a bomb into the Everglades Hotel. I think that the difference between those two stories about Londonderry should not be lost on anyone.

I commend the staff of the Everglades Hotel for their excellent work in making sure that everyone was out of the hotel at that particular time. I think that their actions were nothing less than heroic. Of course, it is not the first time that the Hastings family has suffered at the hands of terrorism. We commend them for the fact that they had the hotel open again on Sunday to welcome the marathon, which I understand was a huge success, and I commend them for their determination not to be pushed aside by those who would seek to push us backwards.

Phil Flanagan (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a freagraí. I thank the Minister for her answers. Will she outline to the House what plans are in place to make sure that, in the future, we benefit to the maximum from the large number of high-profile international events that we host, so that there is not just a one-off, short-term economic benefit from them but long-term gain?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Absolutely. We are engaged in making sure that we gain a legacy from the events that come to Northern Ireland. I think that we have achieved that, to date, and will achieve it with the Giro d'Italia. With its support and help, we are planning to host the Gran Fondo, a legacy event from the Giro d'Italia that would see a more family-orientated race come to different areas of Northern Ireland for the next few years. We are working with the Giro to make sure that that happens. Of course, the legacy in and around the Giro has been that a lot of people who never thought about engaging in cycling have engaged in cycling. I am sure that my colleague the Regional Development Minister will want to look at what legacy he can put in place from that as well.

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

Would the Minister care to reflect on the damage that the First Minister's recent comments may be causing to her otherwise good work in attracting inward investment, overseas sales and tourism?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his question. The First Minister has reflected on the comments that have been made and has made his position very clear. Therefore, I will move on. I have no intelligence to show that it has had any damage to Northern Ireland's tourism interests, international investment or, in particular, our work to look to markets outside Europe for international exports. That is what I continue to do on a day and daily basis.

Kieran McCarthy (Alliance, Strangford)

On the same train, I welcome the Minister's endorsement of the Giro d'Italia. However, would she advise people who are in the public domain that, whilst we all agree entirely with free speech, they should be very mindful of what they say, where that travels and how it can affect Northern Ireland's tourism potential?

John Dallat (Social Democratic and Labour Party, East Londonderry)

Order. I honestly believe that that supplementary question is well off the mark. However, I will leave it to the Minister to decide.

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I hope that everybody in the House will do their best to promote Northern Ireland, regardless of where they go in the world. That is certainly something that the First Minister engages in and certainly something that I engage in as well.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

3. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for an update on her Department's efforts to reduce electricity prices for industrial and commercial customers. (AQO 6247/11-15)

Stephen Moutray (DUP, Upper Bann)

9. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what steps her Department and the Utility Regulator are taking to reduce the cost of energy for manufacturing companies. (AQO 6253/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 3 and 9 together.

Electricity prices are determined by the market, subject to regulation. The principal requirement is that prices should be cost-reflective and apportioned fairly according to consumption. Measures to reduce prices for one customer group will mean that others pay higher prices. That said, my aim is that prices for all consumers should be no higher than necessary to secure our future electricity supplies. Achieving that aim includes east-west and North/South engagement to redesign the single electricity market to meet European market integration requirements; working with the Utility Regulator to examine how network and related charges are currently allocated across customer groups and the impact of reshaping cost allocations; and reviewing the costs and benefits of Northern Ireland's 40% renewables target. That is in addition to the measures I have taken to promote competition, support innovation, implement a framework for energy efficiency and develop our infrastructure through gas extension and electricity interconnection.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister for her answer. Will she give her assessment of the process of netting, which some energy companies are using to give price-beating quotes?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I am not sure that that applies in Northern Ireland, because of course the Northern Ireland market is regulated in a way that the Great Britain market is not regulated. However, if the Member wants to give me the specifics, I am quite happy to follow up with him.

Stephen Moutray (DUP, Upper Bann)

The Minister referred in her answer to work that will be undertaken by the Utility Regulator. Will she outline what the timescale is for the completion of that work and, subsequently, how long it will take for the Department to make the required changes?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I had asked the Utility Regulator's office to carry out a piece of work on the high costs that are associated with our industrial companies and the fact that they are paying high energy prices. I am told that the consultancy work that the regulator has engaged will be completed shortly. I hope that it will be very shortly, because, to be honest, I had hoped that it would be completed by now. I am told that the regulator's office aims to publish by the end of June or the start of July, and then a report will come to me that will include the results of the analysis undertaken. I, of course, will consider the report to see whether I need to make any policy interventions, but again, we are talking about who in the energy framework is going to bear the cost. I hope that the House is ready to have that discussion because it will be a difficult one. We are talking about the high cost of energy for industry, but, as I said in my substantive answer, someone has to pay for the changes, and we need to discuss who that is going to be.

Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Has the Minister's Department done any work on the impact of increased production from renewable sources on energy prices?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Yes. As I said in my substantive answer, it is one of the areas that I am looking at in considering the cost moving forward. The Member knows that we have set a 40% renewable energy target, and I think that we need to understand the costs that are associated with that. That will form part of the work that I will carry forward. Of course, the Committee will very much want to be involved with that as well. I am not pre-empting what that work will bring forward, but I think that it is only right that we should look at it as well.

Steven Agnew (Green, North Down)

What work is the Minister's Department doing to support businesses in improving their energy efficiency?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

We do a lot of work in this area, not least in conjunction with the Carbon Trust, which has in the past provided 0% loans to businesses that want to install energy efficient mechanisms. Indeed, we continue to intervene with the companies to try to identify for them where they can make savings not only on costs but on other efficiencies, not least environmental. So, yes, we work very closely with firms on that because we realise the difference that it can make to their bottom line on occasions.

Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Following on from Mr Eastwood's question, can the Minister advise whether there has been any impact so far, either positive or negative, on electricity prices from renewable energy sources?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Of course, there could be a number of answers to that question. He, like me and everyone else in the House, will have had representations from individuals who have, perhaps, received planning permissions for anaerobic digesters or whatever and then have great difficulties in getting them connected to the grid. So, that could be seen as a cost. When it comes to prices, the Member will know that we have renewables obligation certificates, which, of course, are spread not just against the cost to consumers in Northern Ireland but right across the United Kingdom. That is the advantage of being part of the United Kingdom, because we are able to spread those costs across consumers. I want to see what the precise costs are. As I said, we will have that work carried out for us, and I am sure that we will be able to share it with Members.

Pat Ramsey (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

4. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline the resources that have been allocated to the Foyle constituency since the end of the City of Culture year to create sustainable employment. (AQO 6248/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I am sure that the UK City of Culture will have created a new confidence that will be reflected in future economic success in increased investment and in a larger number of tourists. Invest Northern Ireland has a regional office in Londonderry, and businesses in the Foyle constituency can call on the same levels of financial and other assistance as any other part of Northern Ireland. Through the jobs fund, for example, as of December 2013, the most recent figures available show that Invest Northern Ireland has promoted a total of 562 jobs in Foyle, of which 454 have been created. Invest NI has also recently offered support of over £2,600,000 to nine companies in Foyle through the loan fund.

I assure the Member that Invest NI is committed to bringing jobs to all of Northern Ireland, including the Foyle constituency and surrounding areas. I was pleased to announce on 17 April this year Convergys’s decision to undertake a £10,100,000 million investment in Londonderry, promoting 333 jobs, which Invest NI has supported with £1,400,000 million of funding.

Pat Ramsey (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Minister for her response and her continued efforts to create a good environment for employment in my constituency. Clearly, today's announcement about the City of Culture's legacy, with MTV coming to the city in September, is good. There is absolutely no doubt that it has created a magnificent environment around the city. Unfortunately, however, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) figures for November 2013 indicate that unemployment levels in the city have gone up. Will the Minister outline to the House who will now have the key role in the legacy of the City of Culture, particularly when there has to be a true legacy of employment opportunities?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

For me, it will be a shared responsibility across the Executive. As the Member knows, Minister Farry and I are looking at economic inactivity, and he has engaged with me on that. I will continue to work with Invest Northern Ireland to bring more jobs to Londonderry and to encourage companies that are already there to expand. The culture and arts part of the legacy will be taken forward by the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure. Therefore, it is a responsibility that we share across the Executive. I suppose that, from the Member's perspective, the One Plan sits very much with the Executive and not just with one Department.

Gregory Campbell (DUP, East Londonderry)

I was delighted to hear the Minister criticise those who bombed Londonderry at the weekend. It is always good and appropriate to remind people that they failed in the past and are failing again, however reprehensible their activities.

Following the success of the UK City of Culture, can the Minister, as a Fermanagh-based MLA, outline the importance of jobs being created right across Northern Ireland and particularly in the north-west?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Again, I take the opportunity to say that those who engaged in terrorism in the past, and those who engage in it now or in the future, will not succeed because there is a determination, not only in the business community but in the wider community, that they will not do so.

On the creation of jobs for the north-west, we continue, as I said, to work with foreign direct investors, some of whom choose to come to the city. The Member will know that Fujitsu announced 177 new jobs earlier this year, and Convergys has brought over 330 new jobs. As well as that, some companies that are already here have announced new jobs. Allstate, for example, a significant employer in the north-west, not only in Londonderry but in Strabane, has announced 200 new jobs. Some local companies, such as Fleming Agri-Products and Allpipe Engineering, are creating tens and twenties of jobs, which are very important to the local economy. We will continue to work with those companies to try to create jobs in the north-west, the south-west and right across Northern Ireland.

Leslie Cree (UUP, North Down)

The Minister referred to the great investment in the City of Culture in Londonderry and the jobs created. Can she also share with us the number of business start-ups that can be attributed directly to that investment?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I cannot give him a figure for those directly related to the UK City of Culture because you cannot make the direct link. However, 262 individuals resident in neighbourhood renewal areas in Foyle have set up their own business. That is, I think, probably one of the highest figures for a neighbourhood renewal area. They have been able to avail themselves of the business start grant. Thirty-eight young people aged between 16 and 24 who were not in education, employment or training have set up their own business under the NEET business start grant. Those elements were added in, as the Member may recall, by Invest Northern Ireland and me at the time of the recession. We tried to encourage people to start their own business. I am very pleased with those figures as well.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

5. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for her assessment of the progress in implementing the recommendations contained in the agrifood strategy report: Going for Growth. (AQO 6249/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Going for Growth set ambitious targets and challenges for both Government and industry. We face the equally challenging task of balancing financing all of the actions with competing demands on budgets. My Department has, however, taken forward all of the recommendations that fall under its remit. Invest Northern Ireland continues to support companies in the agrifood sector, with a record number of agrifood projects in the pipeline. I look forward to making some important announcements in the near future.

I launched the agrifood loan scheme, which is now open for business. It is anticipated that work to provide new gas networks to the west will begin in 2015. Significant progress is also being made on finding solutions for the sustainable use of poultry litter. My Department is also carrying out a comprehensive assessment of marketing and promotion in the agrifood industry and a major review of red tape.

Roy Beggs (UUP, East Antrim)

I thank the Minister for her answer. Going for Growth is vital to local producers and processors to increase their exports. In the Minister's previous answer, she said that she linked it to welfare reform. Is she now saying that it is not actually linked to welfare reform, thereby going back on what she said previously?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

What I said was, and I will quote the answer that I just gave to the Member:

"We face the equally challenging task of balancing financing all of the actions with the competing demands on budgets."

I rest my case.

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim)

Farmers across Northern Ireland are increasingly angry at the appalling way in which CAP reform has been handled by the Agriculture Minister. Will the Minister outline what she believes to be the impact of the preference expressed so far for single farm payments to be based on land held rather than production? What impact is that likely to have on her Going for Growth strategy? What discussions has she had with the Agriculture Minister to outline those concerns?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his question. Anyone who was on the doors at election time knows that that is a massive issue. There is not much point in talking about Going for Growth if we cannot get CAP reform sorted. I am disappointed that we have not had a paper from the Agriculture Minister on the issue, as we need to see an early resolution to CAP reform.

In particular, I am very concerned — I have had a number of phone calls about this over the weekend — about the future of our red meat sector. Beef prices have fallen week on week, and the suckler industry is in real danger of disappearing rather than growing. Of course, Going for Growth looked at growing the industry, and we need to have that link between production and payment. All this will have a long-term impact on our farming industry. However, I am particularly worried about the red meat sector at present, because people in that sector are in distress, and we need to look at how we can assist them.

Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice, North Antrim)

Just to follow on from that, I am glad to hear the Minister express concern at the negative impact on the productive sector if we resort to, for example, the default position on single farm payment. Is it, in fact, so serious that it would not only grossly undermine the productive sector in agriculture but emphatically and strategically undermine the very ethos and ideas that lie behind Going for Growth?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I would like to shock the House by agreeing with everything that Mr Allister said. This is a fundamental issue. If we got into the default position, we would go to a flat rate immediately, and farmers would end up going out of business. All the banks have indicated that that would be absolutely the wrong thing to do for the industry in Northern Ireland. So, I do not see why we are having any further delay on the issue. I think that we should deal with this very quickly; indeed, we should do so as a matter of urgency. We will look at trying to have the slowest transition rate possible.

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

Minister, bearing in mind the potential of Going for Growth — I realise that we need to develop local as well as global markets. I am also mindful that the Irish Republic is a competitor — what discussions have you had with the Irish Government about the implementation of our agrifood strategy?

John Dallat (Social Democratic and Labour Party, East Londonderry)

Minister, you will have to be brief in your answer.

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

We need to get agreement at our Executive table on Going for Growth before we reach out to other parts of the island to see what they are involved in. For my part, I have implemented all that I can in Going for Growth, and I ask others to do the same.

John Dallat (Social Democratic and Labour Party, East Londonderry)

Order. Time is up. We must move on to questions to the Minister of the Environment. Sorry, apologies. It is not so simple. I will correct myself: we must move on to topical questions, and I am sure that the Minister will be delighted that the first one is from Mr Danny Kinahan.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

1. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment how matters are proceeding with direct flights to Turkey and what markets could such a service open up for us in the future, given that we all noted last week the visit of the Turkish Ambassador and the appointment of a Turkish Consul. (AQT 1201/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his question. I, too, was delighted to meet the Turkish ambassador and, indeed, our newly appointed Consul General. I take the opportunity to congratulate the newly appointed Consul General, Mr David Campbell, and wish him well in all that he does for Turkish citizens who are here, but also in helping us to achieve an air route to Istanbul. We had discussions about that when the Turkish ambassador was here, and we will continue to have those discussions because I think that it is a real probability. Not only would it open up Turkey for us, it would, of course, open up routes into the rest of the Middle East as well, because Istanbul is very much a hub airport. Indeed, I have used it on a number of occasions when I have been to the Middle East on trade missions.

Danny Kinahan (UUP, South Antrim)

I thank the Minister for her answer. What actions has her Department been taking to help get more flights and more work going through our airports here in the North so that we compete with Dublin and can expand here, but without the two airports competing against each other?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member. We have been conducting an air connectivity study in conjunction with the Department of Finance and Personnel. The first phase of that has been completed and we are now completing the second phase, which includes engaging with potential airlines and, of course, our airports to see what we can achieve. It really is about showing them that there is a market to tap into, not just in Northern Ireland but, as I have argued, into the border counties of the Republic of Ireland, from where people can travel from Northern Ireland to further afield. I will put up that argument not only with Turkish Airlines but, indeed, with a number of other airlines that I will be meeting in the near future.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

2. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment whether she, her Department or Invest NI have had any discussions about the Glen 10 development master plan in west Belfast. (AQT 1202/11-15)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a freagraí go dtí seo. I thank the Minister for her answers.

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Yes. As I understand it, Invest NI has been involved in discussions on that issue. I do not have the details here but, of course, we are always pleased to see local communities bringing forward positive plans for their communities, and we will always interact where we can to make a difference to those plans, as we have done right across Northern Ireland.

Rosaleen McCorley (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)

Go raibh maith agat. I appreciate that the Minister does not have the detail, but does she agree that it is important that jobs arise out of this development, given the high levels of unemployment and youth unemployment in west Belfast?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Indeed. I hope that that is very much the case. It is about forming a proposition that will attract jobs to that area and encourage those local employers to look for more jobs and to expand. In that regard, I was very pleased to be in west Belfast back in March with Delta Print and Packaging to announce 100 new very good jobs for the area. Of course, Caterpillar also put 200 new jobs in there last year. We will continue to work with the representatives of west Belfast as we do with those in all the other constituencies.

Alex Attwood (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast West)

4. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment whether, this afternoon, she can confirm that she will or will not follow the example this morning of her ministerial colleague in the Department of the Environment who announced that he had identified 50 jobs that would be moving to the Coleraine Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) accommodation in an attempt to mitigate the bad decision that was made by London in closing that facility. (AQT 1204/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I join him in saying that it was a bad decision, which I, and he, lobbied on to try and stop not only in this job but in my previous role as Minister of the Environment back in 2007. I congratulate the Minister of the Environment for what he announced this morning. I think it will make a difference in Coleraine. As I understand it, Londonderry will also benefit from his announcement.

My Department will look to the opportunities that RPA provides us, bearing in mind the plea that has been made by the Coleraine area in particular. We will look to see whether there is anything that we can do in terms of Invest NI and the Tourist Board. I think that the Member will recognise that I and my Department are not a huge employer, unlike other Ministers who are, but we will look at it in that context.

Alex Attwood (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Belfast West)

I commend the Minister for chiding her ministerial colleagues who, thus far, have not measured up to the standard and leadership shown by Minister Durkan this morning. It so happens that there are over 1,000 jobs in DETI and in Invest Northern Ireland. Can the Minister confirm whether she is going to identify 50 of those jobs to relocate to the Coleraine accommodation? That request was made by members of trade unions in front of this Building only two hours ago.

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I recognise that the Minister wants to make a political point and grab the headlines; so be it. [Interruption.] I am sorry — the former Minister. I have a duty to my employees, and I have a duty to look at this in a strategic way, and that is how I will do it in the context of RPA. That is why I gave the answer that I did in the first instance.

Sean Lynch (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

5. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment whether her Department acknowledges that in-work poverty is continuing to rise and, if so, how it proposes to deal with the income crisis. (AQT 1205/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

In respect of low wages, and I presume that this is what the Member is referring to, I am very pleased to tell him that 40% of the jobs that we have brought into Northern Ireland have been above the private sector median. With higher wages, that drives the economy forward and tries to close that productivity gap. That is what we were determined to do before the recession took hold. When it did take hold, we had to recalibrate and look at creating jobs of any nature, but now we are very determinedly moving forward to make sure that we create higher value jobs and, therefore, drive the economy forward.

Sean Lynch (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I thank the Minister for her answer. In Question Time, she covered energy costs. However, what is required is a strategy to address living and energy costs. Will the Minister assure us that she can have a strategy to deal with both?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

At the risk of trying to take over some of the departmental responsibilities of others, I will work with the Department for Social Development, the Department for Employment and Learning and the Department of Health and its remit to try to deal with the issues that the Member has raised.

Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin, Belfast South)

6. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for her assessment of the recent labour market statistics. (AQT 1206/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I was pleased that, for the fifteenth month in a row, we continued to move in the right direction. Some 800 people came off the unemployment register, which is good news, but that does not mean that we still do not have a challenge in front of us: we do. The statistics are around 7·2% of the working population at present, and I believe that we are moving in the right direction.

Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin, Belfast South)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for that response. I welcome all the positive aspects of the statistics in the report. Does the Minister agree that many will see that our local economy is dominated by low-paid jobs, underemployment levels and also the spectre, unfortunately, which is not just peculiar to here, of emigration?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

That is why, when I answered your colleague's question, I said that we need to drive more higher level jobs into Northern Ireland so that people who are underemployed are able to find jobs to fit their qualifications.

That is very much our strategy at present. I believe that we are moving in the right direction in that regard, and, with the help of colleagues, we will continue to do so.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

7. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for the emphasis she places on, and her assessment of, the value of the creation of enterprise zones in Northern Ireland. (AQT 1207/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

As the Member will know, Coleraine was recently awarded the designation of an enterprise zone in a very specific area close to the University of Ulster. It was achieved after a request went forward from the Executive to the Chancellor. The Chancellor has designated that area as an enterprise zone. It is a very particular and peculiar zone, because it means that we will be able to apply capital allowances to that specific area alone. That is the benefit, particularly for capitally intensive organisations such as data centres, which have to put in a lot of equipment.

Maurice (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive answer, and I welcome it. Will the Minister consider an enterprise zone for the Dungannon/south Tyrone area, particularly in the Ballygawley area, due to its critical strategic location?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I thank the Member for his question. Indeed, with its road links, Ballygawley is in a very good location for investment. I certainly will look at the area to see if there are opportunities, initially, for Invest Northern Ireland to purchase land. I understand that the park at Dungannon is going very well and that there may well be a shortage of land in the near future in the Dungannon and south Tyrone area.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

8. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for an update on the roll-out of additional rural broadband provision in Newry and Armagh. (AQT 1208/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I can give an update on not only Newry and Armagh but right across Northern Ireland. BT has been awarded the NI broadband improvement project. They signed the contract for that on 4 February and have commenced an extensive survey and design process that will take a number of months to complete, because it may be that, instead of putting new infrastructure into an area, they may just need to redesign the infrastructure that is available. Until that process is complete, it will not be possible to be precise as to which premises are likely to benefit. Safe to say, however, the project will bring increased and better broadband speeds to over 45,000 premises by the end of 2015.

Mickey Brady (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

I thank the Minister for her answer. Is it still the Executive's intention to ensure that every household has access to 2 megabits broadband by 2015, in line with the Programme for Government commitment?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Of course, it is our intention to move towards the Programme for Government commitment. It would not be there if we did not want to make sure that we delivered on it. He will know that, as we get closer to getting to that 100% coverage, it gets more and more difficult. However, we hope that we can do that with the new contract that has been awarded to BT.

Sydney Anderson (DUP, Upper Bann)

9. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to comment on the Invest NI end-of-year performance. (AQT 1209/11-15)

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I am surprised that more Members did not recognise the end-of-year performance today, but there you go. Good news does not always get to the Floor. There have been almost 11,000 new promoted jobs against a target of 7,780, 6,040 of which are in locally owned companies; supported wages and salaries of £190 million, with 45% generated by local businesses; and £239 million of R&D business investment secured. Those are tremendous statistics. I commend the chief executive and all of Invest Northern Ireland for the hard work that they do.

Sydney Anderson (DUP, Upper Bann)

I thank the Minister for that response and for that tremendous report. Does the Minister believe that that performance can continue and be repeated in the current financial year?

Arlene Foster (DUP, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

I very much hope so, and we will set targets in that regard. The offers of support that Invest NI has made to businesses across Northern Ireland are at record levels. There has been the highest number ever made in one year. That is a tremendous thing to be able to stand here and say, but we will, of course, continue to work with businesses to make sure that we continue on an upward trajectory.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

1. asked the Minister of the Environment for his assessment of the capacity-building programmes for new shadow councillors. (AQO 6258/11-15)

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

Ensuring that all members of the new shadow councils are trained to deliver existing and, importantly, new responsibilities is critical to the success of the local government reform programme. I have put in place a range of capacity-building measures and have granted generous funding at a local and regional level to enable councillors and, indeed, council officers and other staff to embrace and meet the complex and demanding challenges of reform. Capacity building and training for councillors is a priority. Over the past year, my Department has been working closely with key stakeholders representing the interests of councillors, such as the local government training group, the National Association of Councillors and the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, to help to identify need and draw up practical delivery programmes.

One of the organisations that we have tasked to deliver some of the training — the local government training group — has presented my Department with a comprehensive capacity-delivery plan, with the first strands of training and induction to begin as soon as possible following the recent elections. It will include training in the new code of conduct for councillors. Future plans to be delivered via the training group include training in corporate responsibilities and governance, equality, finance and audit accountability, decision-making and council representation. The training will be rolled out comprehensively during the shadow period, with a flexible and modular approach designed to fit with the many demands that councillors are likely to face.

With planning responsibilities moving to councils, DOE planning has developed a comprehensive training programme that it will deliver on a subregional basis from September onwards. Capacity building and training will be undertaken through role-play scenarios and formal training sessions. It will make use of the experience of colleagues across the water and down South to make the training as realistic as possible. Full details of the training programme will issue to councils shortly.

Cathal Boylan (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. In the light of the capacity-building assistance, will the Minister consider extending the time frames for assistance from his Department, if needed? We have only 10 months for planning training.

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Member for the supplementary question. The new councils kick in on 1 April next year. I certainly do not intend the training to stop there. There will be continuous professional development, if you like, and members must be supported throughout the council term as they come to terms with their new responsibilities and as areas where training might be needed are identified.

Michael Copeland (UUP, Belfast East)

I thank the Minister for his answers thus far. He may be aware and, indeed, might suspect that I have recently spent some time in the close company of a recently elected councillor. Of fundamental interest to her is how she will equip herself by training for the role that she will undertake. Will the Minister detail how the £3 million secured from the Executive will be spent to ensure that new councillors are provided with adequate training to allow them to make the right decisions and in the right time frame?

Mark Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party, Foyle)

I thank the Member for the question. As well as an allocation of over £500,000 to the local government training group to deliver regionally based capacity-building programmes, new councils have an allocation of £100,000 each, or £200,000 in the case of Belfast. That is for the current financial year. They can use that to develop additional programmes and activities for councillors and staff that are relevant to each area. What is relevant to one area might not be so relevant to another.

I am fully satisfied that the funding will be sufficient, that it will be targeted in the right areas and that its use will be open and transparent. My officials have put in place an accountability mechanism to ensure that any capacity-building proposals my Department is asked to support will require prior approval. To date, however, the number of requests from councils for funding for local capacity building has been relatively poor. Officials are working with the new councils to help them to prepare plans that will, hopefully, allow them to access the funding and identify what it should be used for.