All of Dr Steve Aiken OBE’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
Members will be aware, first from the media last week and from the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) yesterday, that our Government have confirmed their decision not to proceed with the introduction of UK-wide "Not for EU" labelling from October 2024; today, indeed. Members may or may not be reassured by our Government's…
Thank you very much. I thank all the Members for the mostly good-natured tone of the debate. As the Minister said very clearly, the main issue that we have to deal with is the irony klaxon. The Minister and the Department of Health made these decisions only in the worst possible cases. The cut was made not by the…
The Minister will be aware of the morale problems in the Prison Service at the moment. One of the things that may be affecting the recruitment process is the fact that many prison officers feel as if they have not been listened to, particularly on issues to do with NICS HR. Will the Minister commit to an independent…
Minister, in a previous answer, you mentioned extreme weather events, which seem to happen with monotonous regularity now. Are there any plans to improve the modelling that we do with the Met Office for such extreme weather events, given their implications in overpowering our sewerage system and other areas of our…
I would like to put on record some remarks about the events in Lebanon last week: "Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli air strike is a measure of justice for his many victims,…
This is not definitely not a criticism of you, but we have picked up, particularly from across in England and from our friends in Wales and Scotland, similar sorts of concerns about things that have been promised but are not being seen. I think that that should be a general concern, and, if you have the opportunity,…
Consistent with the Ulster Unionist Party's approach so far, we will vote against the Final Stage of the Bill. As a party, we have consistently pointed out that the Budget provisions are insufficient to cover the critical requirements of our health service. It is only nine months since the all-party talks that many of…
The vile, endemic nature of anti-Semitism has been further demonstrated across the island in the past week. While the public support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah on bridges in Dublin is bad enough, two other incidents are perhaps equally troubling. First, on 20 September, 'The Irish Times' published a…
To ask the Minister of Justice (i) whether she has made a comparison of the rate of sickness in the Northern Ireland Prison Service compared to the rest of the Northern Ireland Civil Service; and (ii) whether she has made an assessment of the amount of occupational health support to prison staff.
To ask the Minister of Justice whether she will commission an independent investigation into the operation of the voluntary exit scheme and its provisions in respect to the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any proposals his Department has to support additional interconnection between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail his plans to ensure the security and continuity of electricity supply in light of recent legal judgements on Kilroot power station.
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to outline his plans in relation to the Hightown incinerator project, in light of opposition from local residents and Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party group on aerospace, defence, security and space. Minister, one of the big questions is about the Fleet Solid Support ship contract, which is the £1·6 billion contract that Harland and Wolff was part of, with £77 million allocated to Belfast. More importantly, the…
I thank the Member very much indeed for giving way. One of the issues that we had recently with, for example, dental amalgam was that a derogation made by the European Union did not have a legal basis. What is the Member's party's position on supporting wider derogation? His party members on the Windsor Framework…
I beg to move Before I start, I am a bit disappointed that neither the First Minister nor the deputy First Minister made themselves available for the debate. As we go through it, we will understand that the issues of trade diversion that we are already beginning to see are significant. Those of us who have the…
Minister, I would not normally have indicated to speak, but one of the issues that we have had recently is with DAERA, which was looking for an advance, particularly on the cash limit. Do you have any indication of whether any other Departments are approaching those limits? That might be germane to the debate, and,…
I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. Less than a week ago, I was at Oxford and listened to the Secretary of State, who talked very clearly about the great approach that we are taking and the expenditure that we are going to make. He actually talked about the approach to city deals. Then, less than a week…
Thank you, Minister, for your remarks so far. You will be aware that, particularly around Antrim and my constituency of South Antrim, there are concerns about the water supply that are linked to what is happening in Lough Neagh. There is a really significant issue of messaging here. How can we upgrade the messaging so…
Minister, obviously, with the Shared Prosperity Fund and the events of last week, there is a degree of, let us say, scepticism about the approach of the UK Government to the funding. Has the Minister had any opportunity to reach out to her Welsh or Scottish counterparts to have a combined approach to make sure there…