Motion or amendment: Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms - Amendment 2
Motion or amendment by Mr Nick Mathison on .
- MLA
- Mr Nick Mathison
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 6 November 2024
- Type
- Motion or amendment
- Business
- Motion Amendment · Private Members' Motion · to “Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms”
- Heading
- Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms - Amendment 2
- Assembly identifier
- Document 417131
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
Holiday Hunger and the High Cost of School Uniforms - Amendment 2
Leave out all after ‘issues’ and insert:
‘, including completing the review of the eligibility criteria for free school meals and uniform grants, despite the restoration of the Executive; recognises that the ongoing rise in the cost of living, including the high cost of school uniforms, is pushing many families beyond the brink; and calls on the Minister of Education to provide an urgent update on the steps his Department is taking to tackle holiday hunger; and further calls on the Minister to develop a plan to widen access to Free School Meals, to introduce a statutory cap on total school uniform costs, to remove branded items as a compulsory element of school PE kits, and to provide additional support for the extra uniform costs for children with special educational needs or disabilities.’
145 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Also tabled by
Each MLA who tabled or co-signed this item has their own record:
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.98 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 08:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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