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

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 29 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

29 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill: Further Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5138869

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I have been called to speak a lot earlier than I had expected, so I will gather myself. We welcome the Bill's progress. We all understand the absolute need for it in our community and for our constituents. They face crippling school uniform costs, and we need to do all that we can to address that issue and make life easier for people. We are a little concerned, however, that the Bill that we are considering today, compared with the Bill as it was at the start of its journey, is weaker and a little hollowed out. A stronger, more modern framework could have been put in place. The first group of amendments relates to oversight and transparency. Those are not just woolly words; they are essential if the Bill is to make the difference in the real world that we want to see. Too often, parents are left in the dark, not knowing how uniform costs in their schools are made up or how they compare with those of other schools. They do not know whether the Department has even looked at affordability in any serious way. When schools set out policies that burden families, there is little confidence that the Department will intervene. As we have rehearsed in previous debates, that lack of oversight leads to blazers costing over £100, jumpers costing £40 and PE kits running to over £70. Those are the prices per child. For families with a number of children at school, the costs are massive. That is why the reporting duties, with independent oversight and published directions, really matter. They shine a light on practices that would otherwise remain hidden. They put pressure on schools and the Department to act fairly and give parents confidence that their concerns are not just filed away in a drawer. Amendment No 1 would remove subsection (6) of clause 1, which requires the Department to consider the affordability of uniform and PE clothing when drafting guidelines. We feel that taking that subsection out would narrow the Bill from the start. In its place, the Minister has proposed amendment No 11, which alters the way in which the Department's report would be laid before the Assembly. While that change seems small, it softens, in effect, the accountability mechanisms in the Bill, so we have difficulty with it. Affordability, transparency and accountability are not optional extras.

Amendment No 8 is a helpful amendment, providing a degree of flexibility where it is needed. It will ensure that the Department's enforcement powers applied only where pupils are subjected to undue disciplinary disadvantage. Again, we are concerned that that narrows the scope. It protects pupils from unfair or disproportionate sanctions because of uniform costs, while recognising that schools must retain the right to enforce reasonable uniform rules. We would like to see that balance. Amendment No 9 adds an additional trigger for departmental intervention, allowing the Department to act if the ombudsman reports on a school policy under section 43 of the Public Services Ombudsman Act 2016. That is a valuable safeguard, ensuring that independent scrutiny feeds directly into uniform policy enforcement. While some may think that it is not much use, it is there; it is another avenue; and it provides an additional opportunity. Therefore, we welcome it. Amendment No 10 strengthens transparency. If the Department issues directions to a school, it must publish the text of those directions within three months. That is a clear, unambiguous obligation, and we will therefore support it. The real concern in the group is what will be removed. Amendment No 5 from the Minister deletes clause 5 entirely. Clause 5 was on the hard reporting duty that required the Department to publish detailed information on uniform costs every three years and to explain whether expense caps were being used and why or why not. That was one of the strongest accountability tools inserted in the Bill. We feel that, by removing clause 5, the Minister is, again, hollowing out that duty. In its place, we are offered amendment No 12, which creates new clause 14B. That amendment weakens the obligation. Yes, it stills require a report every three years, but it waters down the detail. The mandatory detailed reporting in clause 5 is gone. Families deserve transparency that they can rely on, not vague summaries that depend on ministerial discretion. While we support amendment Nos 7, 8, 9 and 10, we have concerns with amendment Nos 1, 5, 11 and 12. Parents need genuine transparency, not the watered-down version that is being offered. We must remember the purpose of the Bill. It is supposed to make school uniforms more affordable, to bring transparency into school policies and to ensure that no child's education is compromised because their family cannot meet unfair costs. Every amendment should be judged against that purpose. The amendments that we support move us closer to the goal, and the ones that we have difficulty with move us away from it. Families across the North expect the Assembly to ease the burden, not to entrench it. That must remain our guiding principle with this and other legislation that we bring to the Floor of the House. As we step back, we feel that that is a problem with the Bill as a whole. The safeguards are not strong enough, and too much has been left to ministerial discretion. Whilst this Minister may be forthright and offer his views on it, that is not to say that, in the future, with different Ministers, the priorities might not change, and that might mean that that discretion will change. We feel that the principle is right but the product is weak. It is disappointing that much that could have been put in place to strengthen the Bill never even made it to the Floor of the Assembly. The SDLP will do what it can to strengthen the Bill, but parents and pupils deserved a stronger, bolder piece of legislation than the one that is progressing today.

1,001 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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