Debate contribution: School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on 15 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Peter Martin

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

15 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5099638

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Principal Deputy Speaker. An hour and a half ago, I pointed out that I was slightly disappointed in the tenor of the debate. Yes, this is a political debating Chamber and, yes, political points are scored at times. However, the Bill is designed to reduce, and will deliver on reducing, the cost of school uniforms for parents across Northern Ireland, which is to be welcomed. I would have been surprised had the other parties stood up and said, "This is a great Bill. This is what it is going to do", because it was introduced by my colleague the Minister. It is a manifesto commitment by our party, and we are delivering on it. I would have liked there to be a little more warmth in the Chamber towards the Bill. The Bill is not political. It will not help just one small subsection of the community, one religious background or one political affiliation; it will help every single parent in Northern Ireland.

Yes.

I have no gift of prophecy. I certainly have not seen the guidance, but I have confidence in our Minister. He said that he would bring the Bill forward, and he has done so. I am confident because he has got it to the fourth stage and through the Committee. My thoughts were not always in line with everyone else's, but I welcomed the debate at Committee Stage and our chance to scrutinise the Bill. I say to the Member for Lagan Valley that I have confidence that the Bill will deliver what it is supposed to. Its scope is about bringing down the costs of school uniform for all parents across Northern Ireland. The Bill will do that, and I look forward to seeing it, hopefully, become legislation as quickly as possible. That is the best way to deliver for every parent in Northern Ireland when it comes to buying school uniforms.

I have finished my remarks. Madam Deputy Speaker?

Oh, sorry.

I am more than happy to take an intervention from the Committee Chair.

I thank the Chair of the Education Committee. There is a range of clauses in the Bill, and we have looked at some of them about reporting procedures and what the scope of the legislation will be. If you actually were to ask someone what the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill is designed to do, or if you had watched media on it or had spoken to anyone who is interested and has followed the progress of it, I believe that they would say, "Is that the one that is supposed to do something about sports kits?" I have spoken to lots of parents about it. People who have, perhaps, been watching the Assembly debates have even come up to me and said, "I hope that that Bill is going to reduce the cost of our sports kits". Whilst there are clearly other clauses, and there should be, in my view, the core is about bringing down costs, and I hope that that is exactly what it will do.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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