Browse content similar to 07/05/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
on the programme: Last week he wasn't happy with how the health | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
trust's handled the issue of closing care homes. Today the Health | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
Minister disagreed with recommendations for the future of | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
child heart services. Don't want to go down the road recommended by the | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
board. I want to go down the road that I've outlined to you today. I | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
need the cooperation of colleagues and Republic of Ireland to do that. | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
As clear as mud, if the politicians don't understand it, what hope have | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
we? I'm sure like many here I'm now completely confused on the heads of | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
agreement. Your state of confusion never ceases to amaze me. I don't | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
think you're as confused as you led on to be confused. The political | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
commentator and columnist Alex Kane gives us his thoughts on the day's | :01:16. | :01:23. | |
proceedings. Just a week into May and it's been a | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
tough month so far for the Health Minister, Edwin Poots. Today in the | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
Assembly he was questioned on care home closures and the proposal to | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
move child heart surgery to Dublin. First up for the minister, after | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
apologising to elderly people for the upset last week, he updated the | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Assembly on the issue of care home consultations. I met with senior | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
members of the trust and HSC board on Friday May 3. I said it was | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
unacceptable that any older person or their families should be left | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
upset by the process of consultation of closure of residential homes. I | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
indicated to the HSE that the policy has not and will not change. I now | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
want to state clearly to the Assmebly Members that I am fully in | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
support of transforming your care approach regarding the care of older | :02:08. | :02:15. | |
people. That is promoting independence, social inclusion, and | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
support in the community as long as is possible. The process of | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
engagement with older people, their families annal the public has got to | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
change. The pace of change needs to be planned in a coordinated way | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
across all of the trusts that. Was not clear. There foreon Friday, I | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
called a halt to individual trusts consulting on proposed closures | :02:34. | :02:40. | |
within the area. We will now make a fresh start. Consultation on change | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
will still be necessary, but the pace of change will be clearly | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
defined and is likely to be over a longer period of time. The statement | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
is very useful, but the reality is there's still a lot of confusion out | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
there among families but indeed among those who are currently in | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
residential homes. If you had indicated that you weren't informed | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
about this until I think you said last Wednesday, was there any senior | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
officials informed about this either within the HSC board or within your | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
department? The current process has been halted, end of. I believe that | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
the current process got out of kilter with transforming your care | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
and as a consequence of that, I made the decision that the process needed | :03:23. | :03:31. | |
to be halted. So, these facilities are under proposals for closure at | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
this time, but as we look to the future some of these facilities will | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
have considerably less numbers in them in due course. The consequence | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
of that will be that there will be a discussion with the remaining | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
residents in those circumstances to provide the best possible care for | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
them as individuals. In terms of the management of this, I think that we | :03:53. | :04:02. | |
will have to take a closer role in terms of how it is dealt with. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
Account minister advise us why were they not treated with sensitivity | :04:07. | :04:16. | |
and dignity and who is accountable for that? Well, I see that the silly | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
remark almost implying that I personally caused the distress in | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
these homes. Let me make it clear that I got a e-mail on Wednesday | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
informing us of the Nolan Trust's intention on Thursday. It was a | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
heads up. Let me further explain, because I think the Ulster Unionist | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
Party have suffered from a little amnesia, the current policy in | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
relation to Trusts, the establishment of the existing Trusts | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
and the authority of the existing Trusts were established by none | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
other than the minister before me of the Ulster Unionist Party. The steps | :04:53. | :05:00. | |
I took on Friday, Mr Speaker, were unprecedented. Because it was the | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
responsibility of the Trust to do what they were doing. I stepped in | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
and used ministerial authority to stop it, but it was very clearly the | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
responsibility of the Trusts and they were at liberty to do what they | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
were doing as a result of the way that they were established by their | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
own minister. Given his commitment to the document, account minister | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
therefore confirm that it is still his intention to close 50% of | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
residential care homes? I don't want any member of my family in a | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
residential care facility in a cramped room, sharing toilets and | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
bathrooms with quite a number of other elderly people. I want them to | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
be in the best possible facilities. That's what I want to provide. | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
That's what transforming care is about. It will inevitably lead to a | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
reduction in those kinds of facilities. We need to do it without | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
causing the distress that was caused to elderly people last week. Is it | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
not clear from his statement today that ultimately he wants to maximise | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
the closure of care homes through Stealth, Stealth of stopping new | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
admissions and stealth of continuing not to invest in these homes. Where | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
does the buck stop in the Health Service? Well, not for the first | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
time the member gets it wrong, sometimes I think he knows when he's | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
getting it wrong but does it nonetheless to score a political | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
point. Political point scoring was one thing the minister said was off | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
the agenda when it came to a debate on child heart services. Emotion | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
calling for services to be retained in Belfast was put forward by the | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
Ulster Unionists. It is with regret that I have to move this motion. | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
It's regrettable that the recommendation to remove paediatric | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
cardiac surgery has even been considered never mind recommended. I | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
do hope the minister makes it down before I finish. As previously in | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
this House I will declare an interest in the subject. As the | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
father of a three-month-old son currently awaiting cardiac surgery. | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
The safety of children and adults in Northern Ireland relies on continued | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
congenital heart surgery at the royal Victoria Hospital. I place -- | :07:10. | :07:17. | |
I hope to ensure that this World Service will continue. I will vote | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
against any move to remove this surgery from Belfast. These aren't | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
just my words. These are the words of the children's heart beat trust | :07:25. | :07:31. | |
pledge, which has been signed by 87 MLAs including ministers to date. | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
This pledge is entwined and is sub-Stantive to the motion before us | :07:35. | :07:42. | |
today. It's not up to me to remind other MLAs of their own conscience | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
or individual pledges when they speak and vote on this motion. | :07:45. | :07:54. | |
you outline to us where the thinking of the hate minister in -- Health | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
Minister is around this? It seems a reasonable solution. As I say, | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
vulnerable voices were heard last week. You've listened to them. | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
You've took it on the chin. You've had a bloody nose all week. Let's | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
ensure that the vulnerable voices of our future, of the next generation, | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
that they're heard and their parents are heard. It's very unpleasant | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
situation, we simply do not have enough procedures in Northern | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Ireland to warrant the continuation of the service we have had for so | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
long. In Ireland as a whole, there's just about enough specialist | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
procedures to warrant the provision of that service. The committee has | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
looked at this issue and no later than last Wednesday and we all | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
wanted to have some hope that there was a way of retaining the present | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
service, but I have to say, under quite stiff questioning from all | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
members of the committee, many of whom had a huge degree of sympathy | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
for the parents groups who are concerned about this, I have to say, | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
in my own mind, that really, we have a terribly difficult position we're | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
in. The opportunity for us is crystal clear. It is to develop | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
Belfast, to continue to develop Belfast as a training centre. To | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
retain Belfast as a surgical centre for children from Northern Ireland | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
and most likely from the border counties of the Republic of Ireland. | :09:17. | :09:23. | |
It is to integrate our clinical teams so as others have suggested | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
clinicians move, not children. service was sustainable in Belfast, | :09:29. | :09:37. | |
I would need to have more procedures. If I am to have more | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
procedures, in true north/south cooperation, will the south give us | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
procedures? For example, children in the border counties, if we provide | :09:48. | :09:55. | |
an enhanced cardiology service with facilities avail available in the | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
south-west, I don't want to go down the route that is recommended by the | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
board. I want to go down the route that I have outlined to you today. | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
But I need the cooperation of colleagues in the Republic of | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
Ireland to do that. So there is a range of options for parents, but | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
the one option that many parents want to see is an option of surgical | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
care being provided in Belfast. I -- surgical care being provided in | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
Belfast. I can't stand here and say that I can deliver that, but I will | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
honestly stand before the House and say I will give it my best shot. | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
joined now bit political commentator Alex Kane. Let's talk about Edwin | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
Poots' performance today. Two big issues- care homes and paediatric | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
heart surgery. Did he help his cause today do you think? He's had a tough | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
week? I think he's had an enormously tough week. He's been saying that | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
none of this amounts to a U-turn, but the number of times he's had to | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
say this is not a U-turn I've been misunderstood or other people have | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
gone behind his back and done something without his permission, | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
it's a moment when a minister fears most that everything conspires to go | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
against him. I think he's in a sense lost control of his own agenda. | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
gives the impression of sometimes not knowing what was coming next. | :11:19. | :11:25. | |
Get a sense that what's we've seen in the past 48, 72 hours are two | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
U-turns on two separate health issues in that time? I think they | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
are. Whatever he is saying now, the fact this he has to say it's not a | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
U-turn, which suggests it is. Unless I got him completely wrong my | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
understanding was, particularly on the cardiac thing, yes, it's going | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
to be transferred to Dublin. Seemed to suggest he was relaxed with that | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
all Ireland dimension and today it seems he's anything but. He's | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
determined to retain some kind of surgery, paediatric heart surgery in | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
Belfast. That was clear. It's like he's been forced into. It this was a | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
man who twice under pressure on two cases, this isn't small stuff, it's | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
huge, emotional stuff. He comes under pressure, he buckled. Call it | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
a U-turn, the minister on both occasions clearly buckled and | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
yielded. He didn't make any economic defence or moral defence. Simply | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
said, no, I wasn't planning that. The interesting thing is that the | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
leader of the Ulster Unionists broke cover and demanded that Poots should | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
go. That can have the opposite effect sometimes in politics. What | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
happens is the party circles the wagons. Yes but not only that, the | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
DUP have turned their fire on Danny Kennedy over the A 5 thing. When you | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
don't have an opposition no-one can formally put down a motion of no | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
confidence. In the DUP were in the opposition the leader of that party | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
asking for someone to resign makes more sense than being in the | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
executive and saying, oh, well you should be out of it. It doesn't make | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
any sense. OK. For now, Alex, thank you very much. The deputy First | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
Minister was fielding questions this afternoon. Martin McGuinness stood | :13:05. | :13:12. | |
aside for his junior colleague when the issue of equal pay was raised. | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
In 1997 for example average weekly earnings for women were 74% of the | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
corresponding figure for men. By 2012 the female average had | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
increased to 90% of the male average. While this is now, | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
obviously not good enough. We remain committed to eliminating the gender | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
pay gap. This is a key action area for gender equality strategy. The | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
equality commission's revised code of practice on equal pay will be | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
published shortly, having been approved bit First Minister and | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
deputy First Minister and led in the Assembly. This will provide updated | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
practical guidance to employers and employees on how to facilitate | :13:55. | :14:05. | |
:14:05. | :14:07. | ||
gender equality on pay structures. It will also bring equal treatment. | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
Can the junior minister outline what initiatives are planned to introduce | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
or to introduce to plan to be introduced to eradicate this impact? | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
Well, I think again, you know when we look at the strategy we look on | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
it as in the round. Obviously part of that, while the child will be | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
child centred and it's the child's development we'll be looking at, we | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
will lock at how to encourage particularly women back into | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
training or into the workforce. A key area there is to make that child | :14:38. | :14:47. | |
care affordable. As OFMDDFM tasked with equality issues, does the | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
junior minister agree that welfare reform will have a disproportionate | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
impact on women and what measures are they considering to alleviate | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
this threat? I would agree with the member that it will have an adverse | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
impact, more serious impact on women and as a result of having that | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
impact, it will have an impact on children as well, because it will | :15:10. | :15:20. | |
impact the family. I think one of the issues that will have | :15:20. | :15:27. | |
particularly adverse impact is around the split payments. And we | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
would be advocating that the payment would go to the person who would | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
have the general care careers role in the family. I think that the | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
child care, going back to it again, you know, again that's why we need | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
this strategy in place. That's going to have an impact on women who will | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
have to look for work. They're going to need that affordable, accessible | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
and flexible child care in order to do that. The DUP never misses an | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
opportunity to have a go at the Education Minister over academic | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
selection. Something that unites the House is the issue of educational | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
under achievement. Today John O'Dowd announced an investment to help | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
improve standards. I have earmarked two million to be spent in each of | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
the next two years on a community education issue to address the high | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
levels of under achievement in working class communities. The | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
programme will join up community based and school activity in a | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
coherent way, promote partnership between community organisations for | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
schools with particularly concentrations of educational | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
disadvantage. The projects delivered will include high quality education | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
after school programmes, parent programmes, GCSE Easter schools and | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
summer schools to support the transition of pupils from primary to | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
post primary school. We want an effective evidence based | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
intervention that breaks the cycle of deprivation on educational under | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
achievement in some communities. four of my children came from a | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
working-class home in a terraced house and went to a grammar school. | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
Account minister ensure that the two million that he's alluded to each | :17:12. | :17:20. | |
year will widen, narrow the gap, and widen the availability of grammar | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
school places so that other working class children can get access to | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
grammar school schools? Well, I learned a long time ago that hatred | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
is a wasted energy. That might be something the member might want to | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
contemplate as well. It crepts your mind. I'd suggest that the member | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
goes away and looks up what is happening in education now. This | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
talk about grammar schools and non-grammar schools, actually the | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
lines are becoming so blurred now that it is almost unrecognisable. | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
Academic selection is the wrong way forward. Because it benefitted your | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
children, I'm glad it did, it is not benefitting all children. That's the | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
problem. I'm now completely confused on the heads of agreements. Does the | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
minister feel that the heads of agreement are workable or are they | :18:16. | :18:22. | |
being rewritten or have they been rewritten? Your state of confusion | :18:22. | :18:29. | |
never ceases to amaze me. I don't think there's you're as confused as | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
you lead on to be confused. As a political manoeuvre your party has | :18:34. | :18:42. | |
decided they will oppose EASA. They believe it as a battering ram | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
against the DUP. Your decision is political. The education arguments | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
I'm putting forward aren't going to make sense because I'm not answering | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
your question. The Education Minister John O'Dowd. Staying with | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
education the minister has said he wants to see action over the | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
construction of a new primary school in south Belfast. With me now the | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
south Belfast MLA Jimmy Spratt of the DUP. This is a plan to build a | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
new school on the City Hospital site in place of three existing schools. | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
Just talk us through how the plan would work. In terms of the three | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
existing schools, both of these schools are under review for amall | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
gu Maciol. Since 2008, the Belfast City Hospital site is the preferable | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
site for a new, sustainable school in the area, which would be | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
sustainable in terms of the major regeneration, the more than �100 | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
million regeneration that's going into the village area at present, | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
which will bring in hopefully more children. So some of the schools now | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
are run down. All three are reasonably old buildings. Really | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
they aren't fit for modern day education. The sticking point is | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
that the City Hospital and the Department of Health haven't | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
actually said at this point that the site is available. Now where do we | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
go, you raise today under private members business. The Education | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
Minister is supportive. Does the Health Minister have to give the | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
green light? The Health Minister indeed has not ruled out the site as | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
a possibility for the school. That's a matter for the Trust. What has | :20:24. | :20:31. | |
happened at present is the Belfast education and library board have | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
plan planning application for that site. That would be a matter then | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
for the Department of Education and DFP in terms of economic appraisal | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
if planning permission is given for the site. Then a decision has to be | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
made. Hopeful that it is achievable? I think we achieved quite a bit | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
today. O'Dowd indicated that he was going off to talk to Edwin Poots in | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
terms of that particular site. I think we made progress today. I hope | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
that progress continues. We'll see. No doubt you'll keep us abreast of | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
developments. Thank you very much. Glentoran's weekend win was a | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
talking point for questions to the culture minister. First questions to | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
the agriculture minister. Michelle O'Neill is responding to a question | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
about rural Broadband services. pleased to announce to the House | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
today that the �5 million that I'm committing to Broadband delivery | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
project will be used exclusively to target rural areas of high | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
deprivation that have no fixed wire infrastructure to access Broadband. | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
I hope this will stimulate companies supplying Broadband to get it into | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
rural areas and to use the infrastructure to provide access to | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
rural dwellers and businesses to use Broadband. I want the investment to | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
stimulate rural businesses and give rural dwellers wider access to | :21:47. | :21:56. | |
services. There are 4,000 premises listed in Fermanagh as being rural. | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
While initially areas of high deprivation will be funded as a | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
priority, funding will be rolled out across as many spots as possible. | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
will thank the minister for her answer and the announce demand this | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
is going to be finally investmented. I thought the minister was going to | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
say it was exclusively for Fer man ya. Can the minister provide an | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
update as to when the initiative will begin and when we can expect to | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
see an improvement on the ground? thank the member for his question. | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
I'm sure he's glad to hear this is a project that's going to benefit all | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
the rural dwellers of the north and not just those in Fermanagh. | :22:36. | :22:44. | |
questions for culture arts and leisure. I wonder has the minister | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
any plans to invite Glentoran football club up to the Assembly for | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
a reception and honour them in their great achievement? I thank the | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
member for his question, indeed an invitation has been issued this | :22:58. | :23:08. | |
:23:08. | :23:08. | ||
morning to Glentoran. I'd like to put on the record congratulates -- | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
Greeks -- congratulations. I'm sure the member will perhaps, you know, | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
accept an invitation to receive Cliftonville football club tonight | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
in Parliament buildings, as ever other member is open to. I think | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
particularly the achievements in soccer of recent times is a good | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
reflection on the level of sport. Now how are women progressing in the | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
judiciary here? In the upper echelons not great. It's an issue on | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
which the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan briefed the Justice | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
Committee last week. First up, members of the education committee | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
were given feedback on a consultation on the future of | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
A-levels here. First, very little support to moving to linear | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
assessment at the end of two-year course. Some school Prince pals were | :23:58. | :24:05. | |
in favour of maintaining exams being taken at the end of each year. There | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
was some support for retention over January assessment, mainly from the | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
non-selective sector and FE sector. Secondly in relation to AS level | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
courses, high level support for maining the status quo where the AS | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
can be taken as part of a full A-level course or a stand-alone | :24:27. | :24:37. | |
:24:37. | :24:52. | ||
Cornwallification. Thirdly -- serve a number of purposes and not | :24:52. | :24:59. | |
just for Russell group University. We do not want our system to end up | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
becoming the Ulster Bank five pound note. You go into a shop and in the | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
United Kingdom and somebody says, that's not legal tender, even though | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
it's stamped that it is the case. We don't want that situation. We want | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
to maintain the high quality and outcome that I think our A-level | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
results and benefits for our pupils has had. We certainly don't want to | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
be in a position of blindly following changes being made | :25:29. | :25:39. | |
:25:39. | :25:41. | ||
elsewhere. If those changes actually don't have a solid rational that we | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
would recognise as use villi. last time I was here I reflected on | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
the steps I would take to encourage women to apply for Judicial Office. | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
The president of the law society, with my support, has had a very | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
successful conference on women in the law. The liaison group between | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
the legal profession and judicial appointments commission is well | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
established. It's at the High Court level where there's a very clear | :26:11. | :26:17. | |
problem. There is no female judges in the High Court at all. That | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
symbolically is something that needs to be addressed. I have made, I | :26:22. | :26:31. | |
think, a very determined attempt to change the culture and the views | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
about whether the back corridor is welcoming of women. The fact that I | :26:34. | :26:40. | |
made the position of women within the law as the centrepiece really of | :26:40. | :26:46. | |
my speech at the start of the year was highly unusual. Nobody has done | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
that before. At the end of the day, you'll have to judge me on whether | :26:49. | :26:55. | |
or not we manage to achieve that. The Lord Chief Justice. Just time | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
for a final work from my guest Alex Kane. We heard today about the | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
Finance Minister's plans to fly the Union flag on designated days from | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
buildings controlled by his department. That has met an | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
avalanche of criticism from certain quarters. Were you surprised at the | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
decision to go down this route? No, I wasn't. It's one of those moments | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
in Northern Ireland politics just when you think it can't become more | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
bizarre, it exceeds all expectations. It's point scoring. | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
It's trying to appeal to a section of the DUP which is very | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
disappointing with Peter Robinson's approach to loyalism and | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
working-class unionism. It's a matter of Sammy trying to say look, | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
I can do this, so I'm going to do it. I think it's unhelpful. There is | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
an interesting cost point here. We gather it's five buildings, up to | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
�2,000 per flag to erect the flag pole and so forth, depending on | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
what's necessary. There's a potential cost of �10,000 here, | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
which is quite a lot of money in these lean times. I'm shocked that | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
it costs �2,000 for a pole. Particularly at a time when they're | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
saying they can't afford, I mean �10,000 in the great scheme of | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
things in politics doesn't sound a huge amount, but it could have been | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
used for something more useful. Again people will say what's the | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
point of the flag and spending money on the flag. Some of the politicians | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
pointed out today that there was a suggestion there should be a review | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
of public pension provision, public sector pensions, the department said | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
no because it would cost �10,000 to do that. The budget is controlled | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
bit Finance Minister so it comes full circle. The flag will fly on | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
one building controlled by the department of finance, but onning | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
piled by the SDLP environment minister. I'm sure again he will see | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
that as a bit of point scoring for no good reason zpl. We will hear | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
more about it in the days to come. That's all for tonight. We're back | :28:53. | :28:59. | |
at the usual time next Monday night. Make a point of joining me for the | :28:59. | :29:02. |