:00:25. > :00:29.Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up on the programme.
:00:30. > :00:38.The Education Minister comes under fire for remarks made about school
:00:39. > :00:42.funding at the weekend. Is it in your power to ask the education
:00:43. > :00:52.minister to come to this house and clarify what those changes are?
:00:53. > :00:53.The Finance Minister puts his faith in his Executive and party
:00:54. > :01:02.colleague. I will continue to support the
:01:03. > :01:05.Minister of health. And I'm joined by our Political
:01:06. > :01:06.Correspondent, Martina Purdy, who'll run her expert eye over today's
:01:07. > :01:26.proceedings. spotlight again. John O'Dowd insists
:01:27. > :01:28.he was never planning to cut any school's budget to support
:01:29. > :01:32.establishments where students are less well off. So why is the DUP
:01:33. > :01:34.chairman of the Education Committee not convinced? Our Political
:01:35. > :01:40.Correspondent, Martina Purdy, is here with more on the story.
:01:41. > :01:47.First of all, Martina, remind us of the background to this row?
:01:48. > :01:51.The schools ministers, John O'Dowd, thinks that the way the schools are
:01:52. > :02:03.funded is not fair. He wants to put more money into schools that are in
:02:04. > :02:07.disadvantaged areas. He says he wants to make sure the money goes to
:02:08. > :02:12.the most needy. It is very controversial. If you apply the
:02:13. > :02:23.formula, it could lead to quite a number of schools losing funding. A
:02:24. > :02:28.recent consultation found that most respondents said they were opposed
:02:29. > :02:31.to this formula being applied. The minister was on the Sunday politics
:02:32. > :02:36.show yesterday and he insisted that his intention is to help
:02:37. > :02:43.disadvantaged schools, not to cut the budget of others. You must
:02:44. > :02:48.trying to reassure people that cuts were never on his mind.
:02:49. > :02:50.Obviously the chairman of the Education Committee was watching
:02:51. > :03:01.because he was clearly exercised by that interview this morning. Yes,
:03:02. > :03:06.Mervyn Storey was not happy with the Minister's interview. He felt the
:03:07. > :03:09.Minister was being even a sieve and he was concerned that the minister
:03:10. > :03:14.was yet to make up his mind about how the education money would be
:03:15. > :03:18.distributed. He said he was in a position where he would confirm that
:03:19. > :03:21.no school would lose any funding as a result of the changes.
:03:22. > :03:28.However at the weekend, the education minister made reference to
:03:29. > :03:33.the fact that he was yet to make up his mind, which was also in
:03:34. > :03:46.agreement with what the education his mind, which was also in
:03:47. > :03:51.house and clarify and inform members what those changes are as they have
:03:52. > :03:57.not been copied to the education committee and are in contribution to
:03:58. > :04:12.what he has said in this house -- and are in contravention. There is a
:04:13. > :04:16.number of avenues that members can pursue ministers on if they feel
:04:17. > :04:25.strongly that they have not received a satisfactory answer.
:04:26. > :04:32.Is Mervyn Storey likely to get answers?
:04:33. > :04:37.We will have to see what the Minister says. The fact that there
:04:38. > :04:43.is uncertainty... Thank you.
:04:44. > :04:46.And continuing on the education theme, the UUP brought a motion
:04:47. > :04:49.promoting shared education to the floor today. However, two amendments
:04:50. > :04:52.were tabled - one from the DUP calling on the Education Minister to
:04:53. > :04:56.assist the OFMDFM develop shared campuses, and one from Sinn Fein to
:04:57. > :04:59.reflect the work already being done in shared education. Here's the
:05:00. > :05:05.motion's proposer, Danny Kinahan. We have all heard the quote, the
:05:06. > :05:10.hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. Education
:05:11. > :05:18.is the key to making our society the world's success it should be. After
:05:19. > :05:29.the Euro protest, the ongoing division over the house proposals,
:05:30. > :05:35.-- Haase, we need to show that Northern Ireland can put in place
:05:36. > :05:42.and all-encompassing education framework which will help resolve
:05:43. > :05:46.our differences. In supporting the amendment, let me pay tribute to
:05:47. > :05:50.those schools. We come into this house so often and talk in general
:05:51. > :05:58.terms and we somehow forget that for a year after year after year, there
:05:59. > :06:02.are teachers, there are schools, there are governors, there are
:06:03. > :06:07.parents, there are organisations that work tirelessly to ensure that
:06:08. > :06:17.their school is a school where it is inclusive, it is a shared facility.
:06:18. > :06:22.We had a launch of shared campuses in January. As outlined, it is not
:06:23. > :06:27.so much government that is leading the way on this but local schools,
:06:28. > :06:36.community 's and teachers and families. They have invested a huge
:06:37. > :06:50.amount of work. I do not believe the UUP motion pays sufficient tribute
:06:51. > :06:52.to this. For rural schools under threat of closure, shared education
:06:53. > :07:00.offers are viable and practical alternative. Those of us who think
:07:01. > :07:04.the best way to bring our children to gather is to educate them
:07:05. > :07:11.together in the same school, in the same class, those of us who think
:07:12. > :07:17.that way will take little comfort from what ever decision the house
:07:18. > :07:27.comes to. If it is to be viewed as a step on the road to an integrated
:07:28. > :07:37.system, that is to be welcomed. But I realise it is not going to happen.
:07:38. > :07:42.We must have the confidence to embrace sharing across the divide.
:07:43. > :07:51.My role is to support them in taking the steps they need. But I won't
:07:52. > :07:54.shared education to be livered in such a way as to deliver social
:07:55. > :08:00.inclusion and equality of opportunity.
:08:01. > :08:03.Following a vote, the DUP amendment was successful and the motion was
:08:04. > :08:06.then passed. That old perennial issue of welfare
:08:07. > :08:09.reform came up during Question Time to the Finance Minister today. Simon
:08:10. > :08:12.Hamilton was also asked about the Health Department's budget and how
:08:13. > :08:16.the local construction sector is faring.
:08:17. > :08:18.There is no doubt our economy is showing signs of recovery. We have
:08:19. > :08:24.had some encouraging indications that we are beginning to emerge from
:08:25. > :08:26.the recession. The latest construction bulletin
:08:27. > :08:41.the recession. The latest demonstrated great versatility and
:08:42. > :08:47.resilience. A number of larger local construction firms have indicated
:08:48. > :08:52.that over 50% of their turnover comes from projects outside Northern
:08:53. > :08:59.Ireland. Can he outlined what government has done to assist the
:09:00. > :09:06.recovery of the construction sector? We are now spending the same level
:09:07. > :09:15.as prior to the 2007 credit crunch and downturn. It was just below
:09:16. > :09:21.40%, total investment is now 54% of total spend. That is testament to
:09:22. > :09:26.the spend we as a government are putting in. There is still
:09:27. > :09:34.significant delays and many capital projects from government hitting the
:09:35. > :09:45.ground. What can be done to improve the situation? One of the biggest
:09:46. > :10:00.capital projects was the road project, the A5, which fell foul of
:10:01. > :10:04.the courts. I think there are lessons for all of us to learn from
:10:05. > :10:16.that. One of the lessons that I hope we learn other subgroup -- that I
:10:17. > :10:25.hope we learn is creating a pipeline... That there are
:10:26. > :10:33.sufficient volume of projects that have advanced to a stage to be of
:10:34. > :10:40.that funding. What discussions have there been regarding the pressures
:10:41. > :10:46.on the health service? I have regular discussions with the health
:10:47. > :11:00.Minister, with colleagues from the executive. I gave ?30 million and
:11:01. > :11:09.was under. I am not satisfied that it was just 30 million. I think the
:11:10. > :11:15.pressures deserved more money. But trying to balance competing
:11:16. > :11:20.pressures, I do not recall the Minister for regional development
:11:21. > :11:31.offering additional help. We have to balance a range of additional
:11:32. > :11:40.measures. And I will continue to support the Minister for health when
:11:41. > :11:47.he faces the inescapable pressures that he inherited when he became
:11:48. > :11:51.health Minister. The Finance Minister, Simon
:11:52. > :11:54.Hamilton. ?26 million allocated to six
:11:55. > :11:58.projects aimed to help those most in need. It might sound like a perfect
:11:59. > :12:01.example of good government, but today the OFMDFM committee brought a
:12:02. > :12:04.motion to the Assembly calling on the six Signature Programmes to be
:12:05. > :12:08.more efficiently run. In a moment, we'll hear from the chair of that
:12:09. > :12:11.committee, Mike Nesbitt, but first of all, here's some of what was said
:12:12. > :12:13.during the debate. In its report, the committee
:12:14. > :12:25.recommends that OFMDFM should stick to ensure that effective and timely
:12:26. > :12:30.consultation is taken. In shaving discussions with regard to
:12:31. > :12:34.education, it was picked to me by all stakeholders that while the
:12:35. > :12:38.initiative would yield positive results, it would have been possible
:12:39. > :12:44.to yield even better and more lasting positive results have there
:12:45. > :12:52.been a different and more engaged form of pre-consultation on behalf
:12:53. > :12:57.of the devolved government. Good projects should get funding, bad
:12:58. > :13:01.projects should not get funding. When projects get funded, they
:13:02. > :13:07.should be funded on the basis of the very best of practice and processed.
:13:08. > :13:12.The report is clear in stating that the programmes may not be the answer
:13:13. > :13:15.to all the problems but a collection of cross
:13:16. > :13:23.to all the problems but a collection are indicative of this approach. The
:13:24. > :13:26.to all the problems but a collection society problems. We welcome the
:13:27. > :13:30.committee's engagement with the key stakeholders and have read with
:13:31. > :13:33.interest the report itself and the recommendations coming from the
:13:34. > :13:41.event which was held last November. The executive is fully committed to
:13:42. > :13:44.delivering social change framework which represents a new level of
:13:45. > :13:50.joined up working right across government to achieve real and
:13:51. > :13:53.long-lasting social benefits for those in our society who need it
:13:54. > :13:56.most. The Junior Minister, Jonathan Bell,
:13:57. > :14:04.and that motion was passed. Joining me now is the chairman of the OFMDFM
:14:05. > :14:09.Committee, Mike Nesbitt. Your report is pretty damning. It talks about a
:14:10. > :14:13.lack of consultation, a lack of long-term working, a need for joined
:14:14. > :14:19.up planning. How far short of the bar does it fall? It depends what
:14:20. > :14:22.measure you are looking at but in terms of consultation, what was
:14:23. > :14:29.clear to me in the stakeholder event that we ran, I was chairing the
:14:30. > :14:34.meeting and making the point that while this will work, it is not
:14:35. > :14:37.going to be a waste of money, there will be positive outcomes, but they
:14:38. > :14:44.could have been much more positive outcomes if OFMDFM had consulted in
:14:45. > :14:50.advance. But that is not to say that the principle is not right. Any
:14:51. > :14:53.government in the world tends to operate vertically. You say
:14:54. > :14:57.education is a matter for the education department but we know it
:14:58. > :15:03.is not. For a child to do well, it is not just need a good school, they
:15:04. > :15:08.need a good house, good transport. It is about turning from the
:15:09. > :15:13.vertical into horizontal cross cutting exercise. The signature
:15:14. > :15:17.projects are all led by OFMDFM but they involve no fewer than five
:15:18. > :15:21.other government departments who lead on these specific programmes
:15:22. > :15:26.and the challenges, how do you scrutinise that? Is part of the
:15:27. > :15:29.problem that nobody takes overall responsibility?
:15:30. > :15:43.problem that nobody takes overall where it is incumbent is on the
:15:44. > :15:46.committee, that is what frustrates me in the chamber, you will ask a
:15:47. > :15:52.question of a minister who will say, that is not enter me. I don't think
:15:53. > :15:55.that is good enough. If we are genuinely committed to this
:15:56. > :15:59.horizontal crosscutting work, ministers are going to have to take
:16:00. > :16:03.on responsibility. I am not saying we take on the minutiae of
:16:04. > :16:06.everything that is going on in every department, but just saying it is
:16:07. > :16:13.nothing to do with me is not good enough. We need to look at things in
:16:14. > :16:16.a more holistic way. We need to agree the programme for government
:16:17. > :16:21.before we divide in the ministries. Then you have a clear commitment
:16:22. > :16:23.before you say, I am only concerned about the Minister for regional
:16:24. > :16:31.development or roads or health already dictation. How do you fix
:16:32. > :16:34.it? We have got this system, this artificial forced coalition, and
:16:35. > :16:38.ministers can always point to someone else. Never mind what we
:16:39. > :16:43.might do in future, what do we do now? I think we continue to support
:16:44. > :16:52.initiatives like delivering social change. Scrutinise, which is not to
:16:53. > :16:55.say we are going to criticise, you can scrutinise and praise,
:16:56. > :17:00.scrutinise and recommend improvements, and scrutinise and say
:17:01. > :17:07.this is just wrong. We will see whether anyone takes that on board.
:17:08. > :17:10.Thank you very much. Has the Agriculture Minister failed
:17:11. > :17:13.the farming community? That was the question posed by one DUP MLA during
:17:14. > :17:16.a debate criticising the department for failing to effectively notify
:17:17. > :17:18.more than a thousand farmers that their single farm payments could be
:17:19. > :17:23.delayed. It should quicken up the process for
:17:24. > :17:28.inspections, it should mean that more farm businesses will be paid
:17:29. > :17:34.their single farm payment is quicker so, in a general sense, remote
:17:35. > :17:39.sensing is a good thing. The issue here is that it seems to be that the
:17:40. > :17:47.Department of agriculture and rural development was not fit for purpose
:17:48. > :17:48.in order to advance remote inspection, remote sensing
:17:49. > :18:03.inspections, to the level of inspection, remote sensing
:18:04. > :18:08.farm payment is, some ranging in the thousands, the tens of thousands. It
:18:09. > :18:13.makes no sense to focus on speedy payment if it is to be followed by
:18:14. > :18:19.penalties from Europe. Farmers have at their game in how claims are
:18:20. > :18:22.submitted through to when they are paid out and we have seen steady
:18:23. > :18:27.improvements over these past two years. We have heard the number. One
:18:28. > :18:36.thousand one hundred and thirty nine. Stakeholders will trot that
:18:37. > :18:42.statistic out. Those are one thousand one hundred and thirty nine
:18:43. > :18:47.farmers. I have heard it referred to tonight as one thousand one hundred
:18:48. > :18:53.and thirty nine businesses. It is not. It is families who are sitting
:18:54. > :18:58.at this moment in time with major cash flow problems. In twenty
:18:59. > :19:05.twelve, my department used remote-sensing technology for the
:19:06. > :19:08.first time. In twenty thirteen, as we recognise the benefits of this
:19:09. > :19:17.approach, we significantly increase the number of benefits managed in
:19:18. > :19:25.this way. This meant that we ended up checks using control with
:19:26. > :19:30.remote-sensing techniques. Remote-sensing is a tried and tested
:19:31. > :19:40.methodology in the member states and I think members have picked up on
:19:41. > :19:46.that. It involves careful examination of a satellite image or
:19:47. > :19:50.photography. Members can't have it both ways. On one hand you are
:19:51. > :19:53.asking for things to be speeded up and get payments out and on the
:19:54. > :19:58.other house you are quick to come to the chamber and criticise. I
:19:59. > :20:01.absolutely accept and I have always said is that if you are in that
:20:02. > :20:05.small percentage of people waiting to have that claim, I understand the
:20:06. > :20:10.stress that has. I am doing everything I can and I have a proven
:20:11. > :20:12.track record that we have improved things year-on-year and will
:20:13. > :20:24.continue to do things in the future. Michelle O'Neill, and that
:20:25. > :20:26.continue to do things in the future. of other options, but some MLAs
:20:27. > :20:29.seemed keen to stick with more traditional fossil fuels. First,
:20:30. > :20:33.though, the Minister faced a question concerning her own
:20:34. > :20:36.constituency. In terms of rebalancing the economy,
:20:37. > :20:47.will be Minister accept that this term, and she explained how she's
:20:48. > :20:53.going to rectify that situation? Obviously, we are dealing with that
:20:54. > :20:58.issue. In particular the way the band had to do with area of islands
:20:59. > :21:03.in the past and the fact that a lot of our infrastructure was damaged in
:21:04. > :21:08.that particular way. I am delighted that the licence competition for gas
:21:09. > :21:17.to the West has been announced. We look forward to natural gas being
:21:18. > :21:22.available to the citizens and the businesses in the west of the
:21:23. > :21:25.problems for the very first time. Does the Minister agree that in
:21:26. > :21:30.order to bring down prices we need to increase our investment in wind
:21:31. > :21:35.and reduce our overall reliance on expensive fossil fuel such as gas? I
:21:36. > :21:41.have always said to the member it is not just about wind energy, it is
:21:42. > :21:46.about renewable energy from all different types of technologies and
:21:47. > :21:50.at present, we are probably overreliant on wind in terms of our
:21:51. > :21:54.renewable energy source. I do hope that other sources of renewable
:21:55. > :22:01.energy will come forward in the future, whether that is tidal, or
:22:02. > :22:05.indeed Marine. Would the Minister agree with me that if we follow the
:22:06. > :22:09.policy of the Green Party, we would be back to the dark ages,
:22:10. > :22:13.blackouts, no competitive agency and increased fuel poverty and really we
:22:14. > :22:19.should be going for greater adversity from fossil fuels which
:22:20. > :22:22.must let -- much less expensive? I do agree with the member that we
:22:23. > :22:27.need to be very much aware of our security of supply issue and as
:22:28. > :22:33.members of this house will know, in twenty sixteen, there will only be,
:22:34. > :22:37.I think it is two hundred megawatts above the balance and therefore we
:22:38. > :22:39.should be concerned about that. We will be taking action in relation to
:22:40. > :22:54.that issue over the coming will be taking action in relation to
:22:55. > :22:57.but particularly for industry. How could we possibly say to people that
:22:58. > :23:04.they should come and invest in Northern Ireland if we did not have
:23:05. > :23:08.a secure energy platform? Does the Minister still believe that the
:23:09. > :23:14.forty % target for renewable energy is still realistic and achievable? I
:23:15. > :23:18.think the biggest challenge for us in terms of renewable energy is in
:23:19. > :23:24.terms of the grid and we have had a stronger uptake in terms of small
:23:25. > :23:31.renewable projects and that has therefore put a strain on the grid.
:23:32. > :23:35.More so than the larger energy renewable projects. We do have a
:23:36. > :23:41.challenge in terms of our grid, we are looking at that proactively at
:23:42. > :23:49.present, the regulator has allowed invest in the grid but we are also
:23:50. > :23:53.looking at some European funding which would need to be match fund by
:23:54. > :23:57.the industry yet to see if that is available to us as well,
:23:58. > :24:04.particularly in the west of the province. Was the Minister surprised
:24:05. > :24:08.when the former Minister for the environment and the former finance
:24:09. > :24:12.minister called the seemed impossible and economic the
:24:13. > :24:18.destructive? I was not surprised that all!
:24:19. > :24:21.Short and to the point. The response from the Enterprise Minister, Arlene
:24:22. > :24:26.Foster, to that question from Robin Swann. Now, it feels like it's all
:24:27. > :24:28.we've been talking about for weeks - the situation in our Accident and
:24:29. > :24:31.Emergency departments. Last week, the Health Committee heard from the
:24:32. > :24:34.Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency about how those
:24:35. > :24:40.departments are staffed and just how much of the workload falls to junior
:24:41. > :24:44.doctors. I put the consultant in that amber
:24:45. > :24:48.colour so they are mainly around during the day. And then you get
:24:49. > :24:54.senior and junior trainees in the blue and green. A game, because of
:24:55. > :24:58.the dependence of the health service on junior doctors and trainees to
:24:59. > :25:05.provide out of hours cover, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
:25:06. > :25:19.the trainees disproportionately do more work out of
:25:20. > :25:21.the trainees disproportionately do undergone, they have and -- --
:25:22. > :25:25.attractive to recruit so it would be an advantage to an anaesthetist to
:25:26. > :25:29.have them coming or general care or general medicine or general
:25:30. > :25:32.practice. Even though they have gone through and emergency medicine
:25:33. > :25:36.training Corps programme, they will go off in another of directions,
:25:37. > :25:41.they will not stay in emergency medicine, and it is their choice to
:25:42. > :25:46.do so. Some will go overseas. We lose quite a few every year to go to
:25:47. > :25:48.Australia. That can be very attractive for the Australian
:25:49. > :25:53.government to have them come and work in Australia. If you look at
:25:54. > :25:55.emergency medicine staffing in Northern Ireland, I would put the
:25:56. > :25:59.staffing of all the training grades on this and you see that the
:26:00. > :26:07.greatest number of trainees actually working in emergency medicine come
:26:08. > :26:10.from the most junior group, the F2 groups. They are only going to be a
:26:11. > :26:15.full two months in emergency medicine. They are coming in raw out
:26:16. > :26:19.of foundation year one, they don't have any experience, they need to be
:26:20. > :26:21.very heavily supervised. They are not the type of people you want
:26:22. > :26:25.looking after you during the middle of the night as a sole
:26:26. > :26:31.practitioner. They are junior, they need to be supervised. You also have
:26:32. > :26:36.GB trainees will be working there. They need this experience to help
:26:37. > :26:39.them become general practitioners but again, whenever they are
:26:40. > :26:43.starting, they have never done emergency medicine before and they
:26:44. > :26:49.need to be supervised. The crisis in emergency medicine staffing is a
:26:50. > :26:52.problem across the UK, it is not unique to Northern Ireland. As a
:26:53. > :26:58.result, there has been an emergency medicine task force set up
:26:59. > :27:01.nationally within England, led by health education England, working
:27:02. > :27:05.with the College of emergency medicine and the Department of
:27:06. > :27:09.Health in England. They have looked at this to see how they can improve
:27:10. > :27:12.the recruitment and retention within emergency medicine, so that is
:27:13. > :27:19.partly about promoting emergency medicine as a career, trying to make
:27:20. > :27:21.it more attractive and trying to reduce any barriers or blockages
:27:22. > :27:25.that would prevent people from either entering or from staying in
:27:26. > :27:28.this specialty. Dr Keith Gardiner appearing before
:27:29. > :27:31.the Health Committee last week. And Martina Purdy is with me again.
:27:32. > :27:44.Health matters there Martina, and for
:27:45. > :27:47.Health matters there Martina, and week. Is he lying low? I think now
:27:48. > :27:52.he is enjoying the calm after the storm. His party seems to be fairly
:27:53. > :27:57.relaxed about his performance. He was giving interviews last Thursday
:27:58. > :28:00.and basically, the party is saying he has taken difficult decisions,
:28:01. > :28:05.some of these things are beyond his control, and when they hear the
:28:06. > :28:10.Unionist leader call for his resignation, they are accusing them
:28:11. > :28:13.of taking cheap political shots. The Health Minister will be appearing in
:28:14. > :28:19.the chamber tomorrow. The assembly is debating the final changes of the
:28:20. > :28:23.tobacco retailers built. That legislation is aimed at cracking
:28:24. > :28:27.down on retailers who still sell cigarettes to children under the age
:28:28. > :28:31.of eighteen and this continues to be a problem. More than two thousand