All of Ms Claire Sugden’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) any assessment his Department has made of the accessibility of the Home Heating Oil Support Scheme for older people, who do not have access to, or are not confident using, digital services; (ii) whether the needs of digitally excluded older people were considered as…
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) any assessment his Department has made of the impact of fluctuations in home heating oil prices when determining the expiry period for Home Heating Oil Support Scheme vouchers; and (ii) whether he will consider extending the validity period, to provide recipients with…
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any arrangements for when a Home Heating Oil Support Scheme voucher expires before it is used, including (i) whether the £100 entitlement is retained; (ii) whether a replacement voucher can be issued; and (iii) any action the recipient is required to take to obtain a…
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any arrangements in place for applicants to the Home Heating Oil Support Scheme who (i) are unable to apply online; and (ii) are unable to access assistance through the telephone helpline.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) any assessment that has made of (a) waiting times; and (b) unanswered calls, to the Home Heating Oil Support Scheme helpline; and (ii) any action he is taking to ensure the helpline has sufficient capacity to meet demand.
I think that you made the same point as me, so I will let that stand. I do not want to go on past the lunch break. I commend the Member for what she is trying to do. I charge the Executive, and any incoming one, to address the issue in the right way. We are all sitting here as potential Members of the next Assembly.…
I slightly disagree. Yes, there is legislation in place, but it is not being implemented. Again, I maintain that the Bill is not the right vehicle, but it is important that we strengthen existing legislation in order to give statutory agencies the confidence to take down such flags. Alternatively, we need to direct…
No. I will try to finish my contribution. I disagree slightly with Mr Gaston. This is not just about paramilitary flags. I take great exception to seeing the Union flag flying tattered from a lamp post. I would like to see such flags being removed much more swiftly, and even other flags. I will not say that I take…
Mr Gaston articulates a lack of confidence in public services and in institutions generally. If we were to create any new commission, we would need to make sure that that would not happen.
Thanks very much for the intervention. I appreciate that both Members want me to vote with them. The difficulty for me is that, yes, I support the principles of the Bill, but the context is the Bill that has been drafted. We will not be able to change it in any substantive way that will make me content with it, so I…
I think so. The House has been criticised in the past for not writing good legislation. I have done that myself. I absolutely support the principle, but I do not support the vehicle. With reference to some of Mr Dickson's points, I fully expect, given that he has colleagues in the Executive, that he will use that…
Through the Chair, I appreciate that. Equally, however, I receive an awful lot more correspondence about people wanting their roads to be fixed and their street lights to be lit. That is the balance that we will have to decide on: what is the priority? To be fair, I also receive correspondence expressing concern about…
As with all these things, there is context, and that is important. I am pleased that that is featured in the Bill, but, again, is it the Department for Infrastructure that should be considering that context? I am not entirely sure that it is. If anything, you would nearly need to build a new unit into the Department…
I thank the Member for the contribution. That is kind of what I was setting out when talking about which Department is the appropriate one to address the issue. Again, we could take offence at anything that is hung off a lamp post. On what basis do we bring it down? Do we bring it down because we disagree with it, or…
I thank the sponsor for making that point. That is fair, but, given the limited scope of what the Bill can achieve, it has to be put into a much wider context. I do not necessarily agree that the Department for Infrastructure should do that. It should be done at a much more senior, overarching level, given the nature…
I begin by acknowledging the work that the Member has put into bringing the Bill before the House. That is important, because I do not want my concerns about the Bill to be interpreted as suggesting that there is not a problem here; there absolutely is. Flags should not be used to intimidate people, to mark territory…
Teacher Workload Dispute To ask the Minister of Education to outline any urgent action he is taking to resolve the teacher workload dispute and prevent industrial action commencing on 28 September 2026.
To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) the current mileage reimbursement arrangements for district nurses and Health and Social Care Trust-employed domiciliary care workers who use their own vehicles for work-related travel; (ii) when these arrangements were last reviewed; and (iii) any steps being taken in…
To ask the Minister of Health whether any assessment has been made of the potential impact of rising fuel costs on the ability of district nursing and domiciliary care services to provide timely care in the community, including any resulting impact on (i) Emergency Department attendances; and (ii) hospital admissions.
To ask the Minister of Health whether any assessment has been made of the impact of rising fuel costs on the capacity of (i) district nursing; and (ii) domiciliary care services to meet demand for care in the community, including in rural areas.
To ask the Minister of Health whether any assessment has been made of the impact of rising fuel costs on the ability of (i) district nurses; and (ii) domiciliary care workers, to use their own vehicles to travel between patients.