Analysis in progress: 88,493 of 97,621 records assessed (90.6%). Totals and rankings will change until it finishes. Progress details
All of Mr Gordon Lyons’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
1,781 records match, page 9 of 72.
The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 That the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 be approved.
Assessment details for Motion or amendment: The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 Official Assembly record for Motion or amendment: The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2026
The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 That the Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 be approved.
Assessment details for Motion or amendment: The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 Official Assembly record for Motion or amendment: The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026
I appreciate the Member's generosity in giving way. The reason why those matters are important and pertinent to today’s debate is that, if we want to put the interventions in place through local government and the Department, we need the funding. Tackling fraud and moving people into work are the ways we can do that…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
I thank the Member for giving way. We are not complacent about poverty levels, but it is worth noting that there has been a statistically significant decrease in child poverty from 21% to 16%. It is still too high, but it shows some of the progress that has been made. It is a much better figure than that for other…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank the Committee for the work that it has done on taking forward and developing the report. I broadly agree with the core finding of the report that local government is essential to tackling the problem of poverty — not just local government but all our…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
I appreciate the Member's giving way. He frequently refers to the need for rent controls, yet all the evidence that we have from other cities such as Madrid and Berlin and from the rent control zones in the Republic of Ireland shows that they do not work. The Member previously committed to bringing forward evidence of…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
I thank the Member for his question. I agree with him. The figures are troubling, but they are not surprising. That is not a welfare safety net but a system that has lost its way entirely. I have said it before, and I will say it again, that we have a welfare system that is broken. It is not working for the people…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: 'The Benefits Budget' Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: 'The Benefits Budget'
Child poverty is one of the areas that we will look at. It is an area that can be impacted on by so many of the issues that we are already dealing with and progressing in the strategy. However, I recognise the need for a particular focus on child poverty, and that is implicit throughout the document. We may need to do…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Anti-poverty Strategy
We had a very effective public consultation. We heard that lots of things are good and right in the strategy, and there was overwhelming support from the public. Some of the interest and lobby groups had concerns. We take all that on board, and it was a genuine consultation process. As a result, I have tasked the…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Anti-poverty Strategy Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Anti-poverty Strategy
First, I would like to think that we will get clarity on the revitalisation of the Housing Executive and its ability to borrow. Of course, if that is the case, there may well need to be some examination of all those issues to make sure that the relationship is right. Overall, my vision for the next decade is to make…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Housing Executive: Social Landlord Status Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Housing Executive: Social Landlord Status
We always keep our structures, parts of the Department and the arm's-length bodies under review. However, the Housing Executive is a substantial social landlord, and there is still a significant and leading role for it to play in that. Of course, if that can be improved, we will look at it.
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Housing Executive: Social Landlord Status Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Housing Executive: Social Landlord Status
Absolutely. If there are gaps in the legislation on that most important of issues, I am more than happy to work with colleagues — I will work with anybody, quite frankly — to make sure that the legislation, guidance or provision is right, to fix it where necessary and to put in place any that is not there.
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Safeguarding in Sport Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Safeguarding in Sport
We have not had those conversations directly with the Health Minister, but I know that Sport NI is doing substantial work on the issue of safeguarding. I am happy to come back to the Member if other engagements have taken place between the Department for Communities and the Department of Health on the issue.
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Safeguarding in Sport Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Safeguarding in Sport
Yes, the Member is absolutely right. Too much money — hundreds of millions of pounds — is being lost through benefit fraud every year. That money should be going to schools, hospitals and waste water infrastructure, which we have talked about today. My Executive paper on welfare fraud, which is about properly…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Economic Inactivity Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Economic Inactivity
I thank the Member for his question. I speak directly to his constituents when I say that I understand the frustration that they feel and that I am on their side. The figures are stark. Northern Ireland has an economic inactivity rate of 26·5%, which is 5·5 percentage points higher than the UK average. Too many people…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Economic Inactivity Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Economic Inactivity
The Member would need to address those questions to Sinn Féin Ministers in the first instance. My job was to facilitate the work that came back from Departments, but Sinn Féin Ministers were dragging their feet. That is a question that they need to be asked. Why were they not prepared to engage or sign off on those…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Irish and Ulster-Scots Language Strategies Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Irish and Ulster-Scots Language Strategies
The Member is absolutely right to acknowledge the fact that it is an Executive strategy. That is why a cross-departmental working group was set up to examine the work of the Ulster-Scots and Irish language strategies. I am happy to inform the Member that Ministers were invited to respond to the draft action plans for…
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Irish and Ulster-Scots Language Strategies Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Irish and Ulster-Scots Language Strategies
I absolutely will. We often hear in the House about the importance of following the science and evidence. In the previous mandate, we were presented with evidence and advice that increasing our targets from those that were originally proposed to net zero by 2050 would cost us more. It was very clear how much that…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support
I have worked on this. When others failed to step up, I stepped forward, as I did last year and when I was in the Department for the Economy, to make sure that there was support and assistance for the people who need it most. Yes, I will continue to help in whatever way I can. However, this is not without complexity;…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support
My Department remains firmly committed to providing practical assistance to those who are most at risk of fuel poverty. On 16 April, I brought to the Executive proposals for a support package aimed at helping those most impacted on by home heating oil costs. The proposals were agreed, securing £36·4 million to deliver…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Home Heating Oil Support
I refer the Member to my response to the TUV Member for North Antrim, in which I answered the same question. I am happy to provide that information to him as well. It is completely accurate to say that waste water infrastructure is a constraining factor in the building of homes across Northern Ireland. That needs to…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone
The review of the grant support for new-build social housing will explore optimum approaches to the use of the grant to ensure a more sustainable funding environment for housing associations. This will aim to support their ability to plan across market cycles, attract private finance, drive output in starts and…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone
In the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency there are currently 109 social housing units under construction. A further 109 social housing units are programmed to start as part of the social housing development programme from 2026-27 to 2028-29. These will be subject to sufficient budget being available for the…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Housing: Fermanagh and South Tyrone
That work is continually done by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. If the Member has any particular issues, I am happy to hear them and pass them on to the Housing Executive as it plans the way forward for the coming years.
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Social Housing: New Builds Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Social Housing: New Builds
The Member is right to raise that issue. I do not have the specific figures in front of me or the date of the last meeting, although I met the Infrastructure Minister and her predecessor. However, I will provide that information, as well as the other dates on which officials met on this subject because, obviously,…
Awaiting analysis
Assessment details for Debate contribution: Social Housing: New Builds Official Assembly record for Debate contribution: Social Housing: New Builds
Download all records matching these filters (up to 100,000 rows): CSV · JSON