:00:28. > :00:30.Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up in the next 30 minutes:
:00:30. > :00:40.How a decision by the Agriculture Minister will help some sports
:00:40. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:52.manufacturers. Ash wood can only be imported under certain tech nickal
:00:52. > :00:58.conditions. -- technical conditions. Also: There is a perception that
:00:58. > :01:01.this Chamber is male and middle- aged.
:01:01. > :01:04.MLAs vote in favour of change and call for the reduction of the
:01:04. > :01:07.minimum voting age here to 16. And we'll hear from our Political
:01:07. > :01:10.Editor who's been walking the corridors of power to keep us up-
:01:10. > :01:12.to-date with all that's happening up here on the hill.
:01:12. > :01:15.First tonight, there was a somewhat muted atmosphere around Parliament
:01:15. > :01:20.Buildings today, as the thoughts of many elected representatives were
:01:20. > :01:23.focused elsewhere. A large number of MLAs were keen to attend the
:01:23. > :01:25.funeral of the murdered prison officer, David Black, in Cookstown
:01:25. > :01:29.and the Assembly's Business Committee decided to alter the
:01:29. > :01:37.agenda to accommodate them. Our Political Editor, Mark Devenport,
:01:37. > :01:41.is here to talk us through the day. It was a very unusual day at
:01:41. > :01:45.Stormont? It was. We had this unusual suspension in the middle of
:01:45. > :01:49.the day. Normally, they have a lunch break. Instead, they were
:01:49. > :01:53.stopping at noon and then not coming back until 4.00pm. That was
:01:53. > :01:56.all about the funeral of the murdered Prison Officer, David
:01:56. > :02:00.Black, in Cookstown. A lot of elected representatives wanted to
:02:00. > :02:04.make their way there, as we were reporting yesterday. It wasn't
:02:04. > :02:07.everyone from the Assembly because the family expressed their wishes
:02:07. > :02:09.there should be no Sinn Fein representatives so there was no
:02:09. > :02:12.presence from the Deputy First Minister, who otherwise you would
:02:12. > :02:19.have thought he would have been there, he was talking about the
:02:19. > :02:22.murder of David Black in the Chamber and calling those
:02:22. > :02:27.responsible "idiots". The suspension finished. We went on to
:02:27. > :02:31.questions. Some of the elected representatives were still having
:02:31. > :02:40.difficulties getting back because Danny Kennedy was late by nine
:02:40. > :02:48.minutes for his question time, which was due to happen at 4.30pm.
:02:48. > :02:52.The Sinn Fein Green Party motion later today on lowering the age of
:02:52. > :02:56.voting to 16 was debated and passed? Yes, passed by 51 votes to
:02:56. > :03:00.29. All the parties lining up on the side of changingst voting age
:03:00. > :03:04.with the exception of the DUP and the TUV. The interesting thing
:03:04. > :03:14.there is that the Ulster Unionists, who you might have thought would
:03:14. > :03:19.not have been keen on this, they came out for a change in the voting
:03:19. > :03:25.age. The DUP weren't convinced. They came under attack from critics
:03:25. > :03:31.who said some of your MPs have said they are in favour of this move and
:03:31. > :03:35.Sinn Fein produced a parliamentary motion which Peter Robinson had
:03:35. > :03:39.signed in 2005 supporting this move. The DUP say their assembly group
:03:39. > :03:44.policy is there shouldn't be a change. What happens next? This is
:03:44. > :03:47.a call for Westminster to change the law as far as the voting age is
:03:47. > :03:52.concerned. The Assembly doesn't have the power to do anything
:03:52. > :03:59.itself? Because Sinn Fein and the Greens were putting this forward,
:03:59. > :04:08.they came under attack, but electoral policy is the prominence
:04:08. > :04:11.of the Northern Ireland Office. Thank you.
:04:11. > :04:14.More now on Regional Development Questions, and, as we've been
:04:14. > :04:16.hearing, Danny Kennedy was one of the MLAs who attended the funeral
:04:16. > :04:19.of David Black this afternoon. The Roads Minister began by apologising
:04:19. > :04:26.to the House for delaying the start of Question Time after getting
:04:26. > :04:29.caught in traffic. Members will know that I'm travelling back with
:04:29. > :04:36.others to the very sad circumstances in Cookstown, the
:04:36. > :04:43.funeral of Mr David Black, which was a very solemn and dignified
:04:43. > :04:48.occasion. And I apologise to the House for my slight delay. As the
:04:48. > :04:55.member will be aware, the increase in the cost of penalty charge
:04:55. > :05:05.notices from �60 to �90 took effect from 4th July 2012. In the
:05:05. > :05:11.intervening period to 31st October 2012, 37,277 PCNs have been issued.
:05:11. > :05:16.This represents a decrease of just over one-tenth when compared to the
:05:16. > :05:20.41,052 that were issued in 2011. My department is monitoring the impact
:05:20. > :05:25.of this fee increase on illegal parking as well as the various
:05:25. > :05:30.types of contraventions. This monitoring exercise will run for 12
:05:30. > :05:34.months to allow for a comprehensive assessment to be completed. My
:05:34. > :05:44.department will carry out a statistical analysis of the results
:05:44. > :05:46.
:05:46. > :05:54.found in Northern Ireland compared to those in England and Wales.
:05:54. > :05:58.Given 28% of tickets are issued on one road in Belfast, and 86% of
:05:58. > :06:03.those issued between 4.30 and 6.30, does the Minister consider that the
:06:03. > :06:09.company carrying out the contract at present is doing so in a fair
:06:09. > :06:15.and equitable way across Belfast? The contract for this work was
:06:15. > :06:19.retendered and has been allocated. I'm satisfied that the successful
:06:19. > :06:23.tender does fulfil all of the requirements in terms of what is
:06:23. > :06:30.necessary including increased savings to the department and the
:06:30. > :06:36.cost of these services which of course is quite substantial. The
:06:36. > :06:40.member has raised the issue of a particular section of clear way.
:06:40. > :06:46.I'm still assessing that particular situation and will be happy to
:06:46. > :06:53.liaise with him as we give further consideration to the questions that
:06:53. > :07:01.have been raised. We don't seek to punish people and let me make clear
:07:01. > :07:05.again that the company involved, there are no increased benefits for
:07:05. > :07:11.additional tickets to be issued and it is not done on that basis and
:07:11. > :07:16.the individuals who served the tickets gain no benefit on a
:07:16. > :07:22.personal basis either. Can I ask him, how much money is being lost
:07:22. > :07:29.to his department as a result of this delay? The member will be
:07:29. > :07:35.aware that, as it's been previously indicated, the clock is now running
:07:35. > :07:41.on those delays and any delay will certainly result in increased costs
:07:41. > :07:44.in a number of areas. Assuming there is no change in the total
:07:44. > :07:49.construction period, there would be direct quantified inflationary
:07:49. > :07:54.increases arising from month on month delays to the start of
:07:54. > :07:58.construction. The project team will attempt to mitigate the impact of
:07:58. > :08:06.any delay, however the initial assessment of a delay to the
:08:06. > :08:14.starting date is in the order of �750,000 per month. Of course,
:08:14. > :08:20.there is also the postponement of the scheduled start date which will
:08:20. > :08:23.result in the department having to declare back to the Northern
:08:23. > :08:25.Ireland Bloc �10 million for every month of delay.
:08:25. > :08:27.The Regional Development Minister, Danny Kennedy.
:08:27. > :08:29.The Agriculture Minister, Michelle O'Neill, briefed Members on what
:08:29. > :08:33.she's doing to protect ash trees here from the potentially
:08:33. > :08:36.devastating Ash Dieback disease. It's been found in four counties in
:08:36. > :08:40.England and the Minister has signed emergency legislation to try to
:08:40. > :08:42.prevent its spread here. And during Question Time, she also dealt with
:08:42. > :08:49.questions about the planned relocation of her department to
:08:49. > :08:52.Ballykelly. I recognise that the location could cause problems for
:08:52. > :08:57.some existing staff and I have therefore outlined my commitment to
:08:57. > :09:02.use the time that we have available to ensure that the transition from
:09:02. > :09:05.Belfast-based headquarters to the rural setting of Ballykelly is made
:09:06. > :09:10.as easy as possible for all the staff. I'm aware the railway line
:09:10. > :09:15.crosses the lower end of the site and I have written to the Minister
:09:15. > :09:21.for Regional Development inviting him to give serious consideration
:09:21. > :09:24.to a rail hub. Would she agree she showed a complete disregard to the
:09:24. > :09:29.pressure on local infrastructure in the area? Would it not have been
:09:29. > :09:33.bet tore have these conversations before you announced your decision?
:09:33. > :09:38.The member might be surprised to know I don't agree that I brought
:09:38. > :09:43.my decision on the 3rd September to the Executive. I announced to my
:09:44. > :09:48.colleagues, the objective criteria, I informed them of my move and I
:09:48. > :09:53.decided on the Ballykelly site. I did what I needed to do in terms of
:09:53. > :09:57.informing Executive colleagues. Given Fermanagh has a significant
:09:58. > :10:01.number of ash trees, can the Minister give an update on the
:10:01. > :10:05.situation with the ash dieback disease? I am pleased to report
:10:05. > :10:10.following a meeting with the Minister last Friday, we agreed the
:10:10. > :10:16.need for additional safeguards on imports of ash wood and bark. We
:10:16. > :10:20.found there are regular imports of ash logs from manufacturing
:10:20. > :10:25.purposes. That is a potential pathway for disease. Today, I
:10:25. > :10:28.authorise the making of a statutory rule, the plant health wood and
:10:28. > :10:33.bark amendment order as emergency legislation. From today, ash wood
:10:33. > :10:38.can only be imported under certain conditions as set out in the order.
:10:38. > :10:44.I believe this is a proportionate response to the risk of introducing
:10:44. > :10:47.disease in wood. From today, these can only be imported if they are
:10:47. > :10:53.accompanied by an official statement that the wood originates
:10:53. > :11:01.in an area known to be free from Chalara fraxinea. However, the risk
:11:01. > :11:06.reduces substantially if the wood receives suitable treatment. It is
:11:06. > :11:10.in light of what happened when ever foot-and-mouth came on the scene
:11:10. > :11:14.where the carcasses of the beasts were burnt. In relation to the ash,
:11:14. > :11:21.I can appreciate that certain people might say the right approach
:11:21. > :11:28.would be to burn the ash and therefore probably deal with the
:11:28. > :11:34.hurly stick business in a different way. Is the eradication on site - I
:11:34. > :11:38.have been told by moving those spores of trees that are damaged,
:11:38. > :11:43.it spreads it around the country, and that could happen. We have had
:11:43. > :11:47.no outbreaks in the North. We don't have any at this stage. Hopefully,
:11:47. > :11:55.we won't have to deal with it. In the South they did burn and it was
:11:55. > :12:03.on site. I can confirm that with the member. For me, it is about
:12:03. > :12:10.protecting our native species and the hurly makers. We have found a
:12:10. > :12:13.way forward that will allow them to make hurls way into the future.
:12:13. > :12:15.The Agriculture Minister, Michelle O'Neill, with a sporting offer to
:12:15. > :12:17.the DUP's Paul Girvan. The Education Minister has rejected
:12:17. > :12:22.DUP criticisms of his handling of computer glitches in primary
:12:23. > :12:25.schools. In a statement about his aims for education, John O'Dowd
:12:25. > :12:32.also told the Assembly that while most teachers are excellent, there
:12:32. > :12:37.are some who need retraining or are not effective any more. On 17th
:12:37. > :12:40.October the Chief Inspector of the department's education training
:12:40. > :12:47.inspectorate launched the annual report on the state of the
:12:47. > :12:53.education system. The inspectorate makes a key contribution to raising
:12:53. > :12:57.standard. It acts as a catalyst for improvement. In the last year, 81%
:12:57. > :13:01.of schools with follow-up inspections had improved one
:13:01. > :13:06.performance level. The report paints an improving picture in our
:13:06. > :13:16.primary schools. A picture that shows that the revised curriculum
:13:16. > :13:16.
:13:16. > :13:20.has bedded in well. At Key Stage 2, overall quality was good or better
:13:20. > :13:22.in four-fifths of primary schools inspected. I would like to
:13:22. > :13:28.acknowledge the dedication of our primary schools and the improvement
:13:28. > :13:33.that has been delivered. Too many children are not well served. It is
:13:34. > :13:38.very clear from the Chief Inspector's report and from wider
:13:38. > :13:45.evidence that effective leadership and high quality teaching are
:13:45. > :13:55.central to delivering improvement. Now it has been held accountable
:13:55. > :13:56.
:13:56. > :14:00.for the outcomes. We need to do more. More to acknowledge the great
:14:00. > :14:04.teachers and develop more of them. And more to challenge and support
:14:04. > :14:08.those who are not as effective as they should be. For that reason, I
:14:08. > :14:14.have already announced action to enhance the professional standing
:14:14. > :14:17.of teachers this year. I propose to bring legislation to strengthen the
:14:17. > :14:21.role of the General Teaching Council as the professional body in
:14:21. > :14:26.supporting teachers and upholding the highest professional standards.
:14:26. > :14:29.We will also support the continuing price of the development of
:14:29. > :14:39.teachers through a new strategy for teacher education that will focus
:14:39. > :14:44.on attracting the right people into teaching. I also want to announce
:14:44. > :14:49.that as part of our work to learn from the best, the North will be
:14:49. > :14:52.participating in a major review by the Organisation for Economic Co-
:14:52. > :14:56.operation and Development, OECD, looking at how assessment and
:14:56. > :14:59.evaluation systems deliver improvement force pupils. Our
:14:59. > :15:05.experience will help others learn from our experience. Importantly,
:15:05. > :15:15.it will also help us to learn from others, too. It will involve an in-
:15:15. > :15:21.depth review of our education system carried out by independent
:15:21. > :15:24.experts from other OECD countries. It seems right after all that if
:15:24. > :15:30.you expect our schools to be inspected and evaluated and to
:15:30. > :15:36.respond with action to build on strength, we should expect to
:15:36. > :15:40.subject our system as a whole to similar scrutiny. You used
:15:40. > :15:44."exciting development". There will hard I'll be few teachers who will
:15:44. > :15:53.be sitting on the edge of their seat as a result of the content of
:15:53. > :15:58.what is in the Minister's speech. He has tried to expand on the
:15:58. > :16:03.statement that he made last year. I do have a concern, Minister,
:16:03. > :16:09.however, that teachers listening to this today will be of the opinion
:16:09. > :16:14.that they are being asked to pick up the tab for the failures of the
:16:15. > :16:20.department rather than addressing the issues which are currently in
:16:20. > :16:23.our educational system. It always amazes me how the member manages to
:16:23. > :16:28.evaluate what the outside world is thinking. There will be different
:16:28. > :16:33.views on what I have said today both in the teaching profession and
:16:33. > :16:36.parents and also on boards of governors. I'm not pointing the
:16:36. > :16:40.finger at teachers here. We have a collective responsibility to
:16:40. > :16:43.improve the educational outcomes of our young people and within the
:16:43. > :16:47.collective responsibility there is a role for teachers. And I have
:16:47. > :16:52.said in my statement the vast majority of our teachers are
:16:52. > :16:56.excellent. However, we have to accept that there's teachers out
:16:56. > :16:59.there who require retraining and there's teachers who are no longer
:16:59. > :17:03.effective. I don't believe we have the mechanisms in place to deal
:17:03. > :17:11.with that quickly enough to make an impact. I want those discussions to
:17:11. > :17:16.continue. I also set out a challenge for myself as Minister. I
:17:16. > :17:22.have called in OECD to inspect our education system. The education
:17:22. > :17:26.system I am in charge of. The buck stops with me. OECD are coming to
:17:26. > :17:34.inspect my role as Minister and the policies I have delivered. I don't
:17:34. > :17:44.think I can be any more open and transparent than that. At the close
:17:44. > :17:47.of play, around 100 schools were facing difficulty. Their computer
:17:47. > :17:51.experts tell me they have identified a problem in the system
:17:51. > :17:57.and they have identified a way to resolve that problem. And they are
:17:57. > :18:02.running further tests before they put that into the system. We don't
:18:02. > :18:05.have wide scale problems. We do not have a crisis. We have a difficulty
:18:05. > :18:08.and a problem. The Education Minister, John O'Dowd.
:18:08. > :18:11.As we heard from Mark Devenport earlier in the programme, the
:18:11. > :18:13.Assembly voted in favour of reducing the voting age to 16.
:18:13. > :18:17.Changing the law remains the responsibility of the Government in
:18:17. > :18:24.Westminster but today at Stormont, the DUP was the only main party not
:18:24. > :18:29.calling for a change. I have been extremely politically active and
:18:29. > :18:33.aware since my early teens but was only entitled to a vote three years
:18:33. > :18:38.ago. I want to ensure young people are given a greater say. The
:18:38. > :18:42.argument that older people know what is best for younger people was
:18:42. > :18:45.used to deny women the vote in the 1900s. This motion should be a
:18:45. > :18:51.motion of confidence in the younger generation. I urge everyone to
:18:51. > :18:57.support it. To those who don't, it shows the fear of becoming
:18:57. > :19:01.irrelevant. I can't help but notice a huge reason for political
:19:01. > :19:05.detachment is the very make-up of this Chamber. There is a real
:19:05. > :19:09.perception that this Chamber is male and middle-aged and too much
:19:09. > :19:15.so. It is time for change. Can I say that whilst the people who are
:19:15. > :19:19.involved in the vote at 16 movement are clearly well educated, clearly
:19:19. > :19:24.well motivated and take an interest in the political process - there is
:19:25. > :19:28.no doubt of that - I don't think that that can be said for the vast
:19:28. > :19:31.majority of 16-year-olds across the country. I don't think that every
:19:31. > :19:37.16-year-old will be watching proceedings today with a huge
:19:37. > :19:41.degree of interest. The party is opposed to voting at 16. Could he
:19:41. > :19:47.explain is his party united in this? We are given to understand
:19:47. > :19:50.that one of your MPs does support voting at 16 so is that a united
:19:50. > :19:54.position, or...? I think that members are able to hold their own
:19:54. > :19:58.individual views on this. I don't think that would be unique. The
:19:58. > :20:05.Assembly party here is united on this vote. We don't believe in
:20:05. > :20:13.voting at 16. I could list the number of things you cannot do at
:20:13. > :20:17.16. You cannot drive, you can't rent out films such as Robocop. So
:20:17. > :20:20.the reason that society has said you can't do that is because of
:20:20. > :20:25.protection. It is somewhat ironic that some of the individuals here
:20:25. > :20:29.today who will argue to give 16- year-olds more responsibility are
:20:29. > :20:38.the very people who also argue and supported raising the smoking age
:20:38. > :20:42.up to 18 and want to have further restrictions on young drivers.
:20:42. > :20:48.Another aspect is the issue of citizenship training. Our young
:20:48. > :20:52.people are being taught in our schools about the importance of
:20:52. > :20:56.voting. What happens at present, they are given this information,
:20:56. > :21:00.many come 16, they leave school, and it is a minimum of two years
:21:00. > :21:03.before they have an opportunity to exercise their vote. They forget
:21:03. > :21:08.what they have learnt at school and they haven't had a chance to
:21:08. > :21:11.exercise it. How much better would it not be having gone through your
:21:12. > :21:16.citizenship training that you were presented at the first chance of an
:21:16. > :21:20.election to exercise that vote and participate? The habits learnt in
:21:20. > :21:25.our younger years tend to be what follows on in our latter years. It
:21:25. > :21:31.is vital we encourage more people to vote. If young people are able
:21:31. > :21:36.to go and fight wars, they should be entitled to vote for the
:21:36. > :21:40.Government that would send them. I do think that I am fed up hearing
:21:40. > :21:44.politicians say young people are apathetic. They aren't interested
:21:44. > :21:48.in politics. I often speak to young people as do many people in this
:21:49. > :21:54.House. They are far from apathetic. They are very, very interested in
:21:54. > :21:59.many issues in society. One thing they are not interested in is how
:21:59. > :22:03.this political process and these bodies engage with them and attempt
:22:03. > :22:07.to try to encourage them to become involved in politics. None of us
:22:07. > :22:11.know for certain whether such an extension would lead to a
:22:11. > :22:19.significant increase in young people voting. We need to qur and
:22:19. > :22:28.implement measures that deal with - - everyone in this chamber should
:22:28. > :22:31.agree with me that that is a good thing. It certainly is not a reason
:22:31. > :22:32.to deny politically active 16-year- olds their democratic rights.
:22:32. > :22:36.The Alliance Party's Stewart Dickson.
:22:36. > :22:40.Joining me now is one of the proposers of that motion, the Green
:22:40. > :22:44.Party's Steven Agnew. Why does lowering the age of voting to 16
:22:44. > :22:48.make sense in your view? I think more and more young people are
:22:48. > :22:54.engaged in politics. We are doing citizenship courses in schools. We
:22:54. > :23:03.do have a problem of 18 to 25-year- olds voting and research suggests
:23:03. > :23:08.that 16s is a much better age to get younger people engaged. At 16,
:23:08. > :23:17.you are in school, you can be in school getting registered to vote,
:23:17. > :23:21.it is time - you are talking - so make it real. When we look at
:23:21. > :23:26.things, we had a debate about the age of criminal responsibility. We
:23:26. > :23:31.say young people are responsible at the age of ten for their actions.
:23:31. > :23:36.At 16, we are arguing you are not responsible enough to vote. At 16,
:23:36. > :23:41.you are well enough informed. they interested? Critics of the
:23:41. > :23:44.idea say there is a huge amount of apathy as far as 18 to 25-year-olds
:23:44. > :23:47.are concerned. Where is the evidence that 16 and 17-year-olds
:23:47. > :23:51.will take the opportunity to vote? I remember being 16. I remember all
:23:51. > :24:01.the young people I went to school with and went on to university with.
:24:01. > :24:02.
:24:02. > :24:07.Young people are the most energetic, passionate opinionated group. This
:24:07. > :24:15.is a time when you are exploring all these thing. You have the time
:24:15. > :24:21.to. You can research them. So they are interested. There has been a
:24:21. > :24:31.failure of politicians to engage young people and to reflect their
:24:31. > :24:31.
:24:31. > :24:37.views. OK. You have to address the issues that matter to young people.
:24:37. > :24:40.OK. You won the motion today, the vote 51 to 29. What happens now?
:24:40. > :24:45.You hand this over to Westminster and there is no guarantee that
:24:46. > :24:50.Westminster will do anything about it? There is a Private Members'
:24:50. > :24:55.Bill in the House of Lords looking at lowering the voting age. We are
:24:55. > :24:57.sending a clear message that in the Northern Ireland Assembly, they
:24:57. > :24:59.support the reduction. Steven Agnew, thank you.
:24:59. > :25:02.Legislation which will reform the welfare system has been the source
:25:02. > :25:04.of significant controversy here at Stormont in recent weeks. Well,
:25:04. > :25:08.last week, the Social Development Committee took evidence on whether
:25:08. > :25:15.or not the bill is compliant with human rights legislation, as we can
:25:15. > :25:20.hear now in our weekly look at committee business. I must record
:25:20. > :25:24.that the Commission is disappointed that there is a lack of evidence
:25:24. > :25:30.that the department has undertaken the required human rights scrutiny
:25:30. > :25:33.of the bill. We noted that last Monday that the Minister for social
:25:33. > :25:37.development advised the Assembly that the department had conducted a
:25:37. > :25:41.full analysis of the bill against the European Convention on Human
:25:41. > :25:45.Rights. The Commission would point out to you that the department is
:25:45. > :25:48.obliged to analyse the bill against all relevant human rights standards
:25:48. > :25:51.in the Treaty obligations in the Council of Europe and United
:25:52. > :25:55.Nations systems, not just on the European Convention. This
:25:55. > :25:58.commission's focus is testing the bill against human rights standards
:25:58. > :26:02.and not the politics of welfare reform. The Commission can support
:26:02. > :26:08.the stated aim of the bill to assist people into work. The right
:26:08. > :26:13.of people to work is recognised in the European social charter. The
:26:13. > :26:18.measures included within the bill intended to assist and encourage
:26:18. > :26:22.individuals in exercising the work however must take into account the
:26:22. > :26:32.particular circumstances of the individual. On the issue of
:26:32. > :26:33.
:26:33. > :26:37.sanctions, paragraphs 28 to 38, we have raised concerns on the
:26:37. > :26:44.potential for the sanctions regime relating to the various work-
:26:44. > :26:49.related requirements, our concerns are about these being imposed
:26:49. > :26:53.unduly harshly with the result that an individual may become destitute.
:26:53. > :26:57.The bill does contain numerous safeguards that the sanctions
:26:57. > :27:02.should not be imposed without good reason. And that those who have had
:27:02. > :27:06.a sanction imposed upon them may apply for a hardship payment. But
:27:06. > :27:10.our concerns about this still remain. It says here as part of the
:27:10. > :27:19.process for bringing the bill to the Executive, my department's
:27:19. > :27:25.already conducted a full analysis of the proposals contained. Then it
:27:25. > :27:29.goes on to detail the various articles. But I finish - the
:27:29. > :27:37.department's view and mine is that the bill is compatible with the
:27:37. > :27:43.Convention rights as defined in Section 1. That view has been
:27:43. > :27:46.confirmed by the department's solicitors office. Yet you are
:27:46. > :27:50.concerned about the absence of detailed human rights analysis of
:27:50. > :27:54.the bill and its potential implications. Now, either you are
:27:54. > :27:58.right, or he is right? We are not disputing the Minister has
:27:58. > :28:02.undertaken a human rights analysis. In fact, we have noted he has made
:28:02. > :28:05.that remark to the Assembly. The only thing we are drawing to the
:28:05. > :28:12.committee's attention is has the committee seen sight of that impact
:28:12. > :28:18.analysis? Also, with regard... we seen sight? No, we haven't.
:28:18. > :28:21.you requested that? No, we haven't. The Commission did meet with the
:28:21. > :28:24.Minister when ever the Welfare Reform Bill was passing through
:28:24. > :28:28.Westminster and it was made clear at that stage to both the Minister
:28:28. > :28:31.and his officials that the Commission was willing to engage at
:28:31. > :28:36.whatever level it saw fit but in the interim period there has been
:28:36. > :28:40.no approach made by the department. Have you approached the department
:28:40. > :28:41.yourselves? No, we have not. Sammy Douglas and David Russell
:28:41. > :28:45.ending that look at committee business.
:28:45. > :28:47.That's it from Stormont Today for this week, but do make a point of