Debate contribution: Budget Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Miss Deirdre Hargey on 19 February 2024.

MLA: Miss Deirdre Hargey
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 19 February 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Budget Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4223581

Text

Like everybody else, I welcome today's important business and the Second Stage of the Budget Bill, which has been introduced by the Finance Minister. We find ourselves in the current situation of having to introduce this Bill because of the approach that has been taken by the British Government and the Secretary of State over the past while. The Finance Minister has introduced this Bill, and it was essential that she did so, as it provides much-needed relief for our public-sector workers and eases the urgent cash-flow pressures on Departments that we have been hearing about today. I am glad to say that her announcement last week of £688 million was the first decision that the newly formed Executive have taken to prioritise public-sector pay. That is positive and to be welcomed. Many of us stood with those workers on the picket lines just a few weeks ago, and I am glad that we are now back here in the Assembly, making decisions and living up to our commitments to them to prioritise that issue. I know that a lot of people have spoken today about the timing of the Bill, and things are negative as well. However, the resounding optimism that I heard from people on the picket lines — notwithstanding that there were pressures around their pay — reflected that they wanted us back in this Chamber.
They did want locally elected Ministers back in position, taking decisions on their behalf. Notwithstanding all the issues and difficulties that we will move through in the coming weeks and in the coming period, there is hope and optimism out there because we are in this Chamber and we do have Ministers making decisions. The fact that we are here discussing this — the importance of what is in this Bill to public-sector pay — shows that having local Ministers in place actually does prioritise local workers. Therefore, again, I am delighted that we are here. The next step is important, and that is that Departments engage urgently with local trade unions to negotiate and, importantly, conclude as soon as possible those negotiations to ensure that we can get the fair pay into people's pockets.
From my role as Deputy Chair of the Justice Committee, I know that there has been a lot of discussion of justice issues. Joanne Bunting highlighted in depth the issues pertaining to the Justice Committee and the Department of Justice. Last week, the Committee met to discuss the current budget issue and to look at the forward programme. Indeed, we met the Minister today. A key discussion in those meetings was that on public-sector pay, including for policing, prisons, probation services and the Youth Justice Agency. That is key for the workers who run those vital services. A decade of austerity by Westminster was a political choice. It was a choice by the Tories to introduce a policy of cutting and running down public services, and that had a huge impact on services here and a knock-on effect on resourcing appropriate and safe staffing levels in the justice system and, indeed, across many of the Departments that we have been discussing today. We see high levels of vacancies as a result and a growing demand on our services, and that is placing unprecedented pressures on all aspects of our justice system to respond. That, of course, has a knock-on effect on access to justice and the speeding up of the justice system, leading to delays in completing cases within reasonable timescales, and, of course, longer bail and remand periods. Those are some of the big challenges that we will face over the next period. We must ensure that we are funded on the basis of need, with a sustainability plan to ensure that we have an effective and responsive resource plan for public services so that we can move from a demand-led service towards prevention, collaboration and, importantly, integrated planning and implementation. Again, I welcome the Minister's action in writing to the British Treasury and Government on urgent engagement between them and the Minister and, indeed, our First Minister and deputy First Minister to look at our finances and our fiscal levers to ensure that we have the necessary tools to plan. This rightly builds on the work of the previous Finance Minister, who established the Fiscal Commission and the Fiscal Council for this very reason, recognising that we have been underfunded, that we urgently need to move to a multi-annual situation and that we need to address the wider issues that were brought up here today around workers' rights and, importantly, around tackling inequality and poverty. Now is the time for action, and I hope that the Bill will pass its Second Stage today. Action is also needed from the British Government to sit with the Finance Minister and address these issues as urgently as possible.

811 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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