13/01/2017 BBC Newsline

The BBC has learned that auditors have suspended payments to over half

the boiler owners they have inspected so far.

Ofgem said of the 63 they'd looked at, subsidy payments had

It's also emerged that the Department for the Economy

is declining to disclose information about participants of the scheme

despite previously saying it would be "freely available".

Our Agriculture and Environment Correspondent

From the start, extensive information on each RHI

installation was meant to be available for anyone.

It included the location, the time it was installed and how

It included the location, the type installed and how

Crucially, the information would also include the date

the business joined the scheme and how much subsidy had been paid.

All of this, they said, would be available to the general

We asked the Department for all that information a month ago

and despite repeated requests, it has still not provided it nor has

Boiler owners were told when they signed up to the scheme

that they consented to the publication

There's a huge amount of interest out there.

Some boiler owners have said naming would start a witchhunt.

If the information was to be published, it would lead

to the identification of those who got into the scheme giving

the spike in November 2015 before the subsidy changed.

It was that spike that effectively burst the budget.

Hundreds of those RHI recipients have now objected in writing to any

It may create a problem for the authorities.

Under the data protection act they might have to review

any decision to follow through on the economy minister's

intention to put their names out there and right back within 21 days

intention to put their names out there and write back within 21 days

to see if they are going ahead with it.

It pushes a list of names further down the pipe.

But new figures from inspectors may create an unstoppable

Ofgem said today out of 63 boilers they had inspected they had

suspended payments to 33 of them pending investigations.

Fifa have since been reinstated. They said none of them had been

permanently excluded. Reasons given by boiler owners

for non-publication are fears of adverse publicity,

loss of business and health grounds. Officials will have to decide

if that trumps the public interest. A plan to cut the costs associated

with the Renewable Heat scheme The Economy Minister Simon Hamilton

has tabled legislation which would cut subsidies paid

to around 1,800 people who got into the scheme

before November 2015. Here's our Political

Editor Mark Devenport. This is Simon Hamilton's plan to cut

the potential losses of the controversial renewable heating

scheme. The idea is to lower the tariffs so that 1800 users who are

getting higher payments instead get lower payments in the future. This

is the scheme that the finance minister Mairtin O'Muilleoir said he

would look at and scrutinise in a nonpolitical way, but he hasn't yet

passed it. As we understand it, the DUP has gone directly to the

Assembly's business committee. The Sinn Fein representatives on the

committee didn't object to it being added to Monday's business, the

reason being that apparently there weren't any Sinn Fein

representatives there, a sign that they are no longer participating in

Assembly committees. Apart from the heating regulations, the Bedroom Tax

will also be under discussion by MLAs on Monday and there is a plan

to mitigate that and it has also been added to the order paper. The

Speaker at Stormont in ??DELETE has written to MLA's to explain why he

allowed Arlen Foster to address the Assembly on the RHI last month. The

opposition staged a walk-out when she made a statement without the

approval of Martin McGuinness. Mr Newton faces a motion of no

confidence when the Assembly returns. In the later this evening,

he denies allegations of party political motivation and says he

takes the impartiality of his role extremely seriously.

The Health minister Michelle O'Neill had planned to make public

a strategy to tackle waiting lists this month but without an Executive,

it was thought the budget could not be approved.

Earlier this evening, she told BBC Newsline

she still intends to publish the plan and has had talks

with the Finance Minister to push ahead with it.

Because of the current crisis of confidence in the institutions

I said we're going to be in a difficult position

to overarching budgets for all other Government departments.

I'm still waiting to publish the plan.

As far as health is concerned, you're good to go with this plan

and you believe you have the money and agreement from

I absolutely can assure the public that I am doing absolutely

everything I can and I will publish an elective care plan but

I'm not waiting to publish the plan to take action.

A plan to charge families for school transport which is currently free

is part of a package of money-saving measures being considered

The authority needs to make substantial cuts to its budget.

Our Education Correspondent Robbie Meredith has this exclusive story.

Around 90,000 pupils - like these at Devenish College

in Enniskillen - get free bus passes to get

If they live more than three miles away from their post-primary school

or two miles from their primary school, the Education Authority

But meeting that bill costs the EA ?72 million a year.

And they've got to find around ?100 million in savings by next year.

The BBC understands that a yearly fee for school transport

of between ?50 and ?200 per pupil is one of the measures

A similar scheme operates in the Republic of Ireland.

There, families pay 100 euro for each primary child and 350 Euro

for each post-primary child, with a maximum yearly

Two thirds of Devenish College's 480 pupils currently

There will be clear evidence that many families are already struggling

so to add an additional burden on to those families,

especially if the charge was applied at the start of September,

I think parents would struggle to pay that additional fee.

Meanwhile, at St Patrick's High in Keady, 400 pupils

get free school transport, including the head

I live about seven miles away and I made use of the bus

for the past few years and I know that at my parents had to pay for me

for the past few years and I know that if my parents had to pay for me

to get the bus to school, it would seriously impact the family.

Us living in rural areas, it isn't easy to get

in and out of school, because this is

Don't know whether the education system can bear any more cuts. If we

can afford to spend ?490 million to fund financial incompetence in the

Government, people can find money somewhere else to stop this cutting

of education. There is still some distance to go before the charges

are introduced. The EA will have to consult and still pick up the bulk

of a pupil's yearly bus fare but this is another sign of just

squeezed the education budget is. It's lovely to look at,

but the snow caused some travel problems overnight

and throughout today. There were difficult driving

conditions, some disruption to train and bus networks,

and a number of school closures. It's a very chilly night and we are

expecting some icy conditions, there is a weather warning for eyes

through to lunchtime tomorrow and black ice could prove hazardous in

some spots but there is good news. As we make our way through tonight,

some slightly milder air will start coming from the and by the morning,

many hovering just above freezing but still cold with some frosty

conditions out there and as we mentioned, some ice. Tomorrow,

temperatures will continue to rise but there will be a scattering of

showers, beginning to move in from the north and west tomorrow morning

affecting largely northern and western areas, but a few could sink

further south and east. If you are travelling tomorrow, it will be a

very cold start across England and northerns -- Scotland and northern

England but sunshine as well, many areas of northern England enjoying

fine sunshine. Scattered showers the Wales and south-west England as the

weather front pushes eastwards. Across Ireland, the milder air will

move in, allowing temperatures declined to seven or 8 degrees but

there will be some scattered showers. It is not always going to

be raining, there will be sunny gaps. And for us by the middle of

the day, top temperatures of seven or eight, so well up on what we have

today. Into tomorrow, we see rain beginning to move in for a while. It

is going to be a mild night tomorrow, seven or 8 degrees, sets

us up for a milder they come Sunday, temperatures should reach double

figures for us all but it will be cloudy, there will be some rain as

well but we hold onto those double-digit figures right through

until Tuesday at least. We are back at 5:30pm tomorrow. From

everyone here, have a good night.