Member's statement: School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill

Member's statement by Mr Nick Mathison on 9 June 2025.

MLA

Mr Nick Mathison

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

9 June 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4996976

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am concerned about the current capacity of the Education Minister's School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill to deliver for parents. Statutory guidance, which will dictate what schools must comply with when the Bill passes, has still not been published by the Department or shared with the Committee. Departmental officials were not available to appear at last week's Committee meeting to answer any questions as the Bill progresses through its Committee Stage. All of us in the Chamber are clear that the Bill needs to deliver lower costs for parents and carers and fairness and equality for children and young people. The Bill will place guidance for schools on a statutory footing. That will be fundamental to what schools are required to do on branded items, affordability and reasonable adjustments. To not have those guidelines available, even in draft form, means that scrutiny has been very limited. We, as a party, did not support reducing the scrutiny period, as the DUP, Sinn Féin and other parties did, as we believed that we needed sufficient time to work through the guidelines and to reflect on how the Bill would deliver. In the context that we are in, we need the Department to come forward with that guidance urgently. Having taken evidence from young people, families, trade unions and other organisations, we remain concerned, as a party, that the Bill as introduced may not deliver. The major interventions that are required on limiting branded items or potentially capping costs remain enabling powers only. With none of the consultation work delivered by the Department leading up to the introduction of the Bill to help us understand how the measures could operate, the Committee has been left in a very difficult position as it tries to amend the Bill effectively.

The fact that officials were not made available to answer questions on the legislation at last week's Committee meeting is concerning. The Minister assured us that officials would be made available throughout our deliberations, but, at a key stage of the process, they were absent. In the continued absence of the guidance, the Minister really needs to be clear about the fundamental aspects of the Bill. Will the guidelines limit branded items? Will they specifically address the rising cost of PE kits? Will they address equality considerations, such as permitting girls to wear trousers? Alliance will do all that it can to amend the Bill to ensure that it delivers as far as possible, but, ultimately, the responsibility for its content and how it has been introduced lies with the Minister. I am concerned because we seem to be in a scenario in which we are tinkering with change but stopping short of anything more substantive. The sooner that we get sight of the guidelines — we have been promised that they will really clarify the intended scope of change — the sooner that we will understand what difference the legislation will make for parents and what the Committee and we, as Members, can do to improve it.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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