Debate contribution: The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Registration of Deaths and Still-Births) (Extension) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 6 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

6 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Registration of Deaths and Still-Births) (Extension) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4929555

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am a Member who has been desperately frustrated at the continuing extension of this power, because I believe that the Assembly should reflect on everything that it did around the Coronavirus Act 2020, the harm that it caused our people and the role that the Executive and the Assembly played in that harm. Notwithstanding all that, I recognise that this provision — Part 3 of schedule 13 to the Coronavirus Act 2020 — was all about ensuring the effective and efficient registration of deaths and stillbirths and to assist in taking away some of the rigmarole that families have to go through when they suffer bereavement on the loss of a family member or a baby. I believe that such legislation should have been brought in before the pandemic. It really is, if you like, the Executive and the law catching up with technology, so I welcome the provisions. It is probably the only aspect of the Coronavirus Act that I wholeheartedly support, so, of course, I want to see it placed on a permanent statutory footing. The Chairperson of the Committee highlighted the Committee's frustration at how we have been told one thing and then told another about how this can be put on a statutory footing. First, we were told that it could be secondary legislation, and then we were told that, no, it had to be primary legislation.

No matter what format has to be used, we need to ensure that the people who suffer loss and bereavement do not fall back into the way things were done before.

Now that we have the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill before us, having gone through Second Stage, the pressure is off for extensions, because we can now read the text of the provisions in the blue pages of a Bill. Whilst the extension takes us to 24 September, there really is no issue with pressure in having a further extension in September, and that is coming from someone who has been deeply frustrated by the extensions going on and on. The reason I say that to the Minister and the Department is that, if the Bill were purely about the registration of deaths and stillbirths, I do not think that the Committee would have any issues with going through our procedures as fast as possible, coming out the other side and giving the Department the concise nature of the scrutiny of the Bill, getting us moved on. A clause in the Bill repeals a section of the Coronavirus Act once the Bill receives Royal Assent. Whether that happens in September, December or March does not really make a difference, because people will not see a change to the provision. We should be concerned about the time that the Committee takes to scrutinise the Bill, which will make the provision permanent, because the Bill includes other elements that the Committee Chair rightly highlighted, such as the baby loss certificate and the registration of births by same-sex couples. The Committee has a duty to scrutinise all those measures thoroughly, as it does and has done with other Bills. The pressure is off with regard to extensions and worrying about September deadlines. The sooner the Committee can get on with its work of scrutinising the Bill, come to conclusions on it and make any amendments that we see fit and the sooner parties in the Assembly can make amendments that they see fit and we have good legislation coming out the other side, the better. An extension of six months is neither here nor there. I welcome the extension and welcome the fact that the Bill is in the hands of Committee members so that they can scrutinise it and so that the Assembly can scrutinise it. We have already had a touch at Second Reading. We are going to Committee Stage now, and Consideration Stage is after that. I commend the extension.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:26 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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