Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
Debate contribution by Mrs Pam Cameron on .
- MLA
- Mrs Pam Cameron
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Committee Business
- Heading
- Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5582519
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Committee's 'Report on Engagement with Local Government on the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy'. I thank the Chair for outlining what is contained in the report, including the proposals. The Committee's report makes it clear that councils are already doing significant work on the ground to support people who face poverty. Councils are involved in emergency hardship support, social supermarkets, labour market partnerships and local interventions, which are often delivered closest to the people who are most in need. That local insight is, of course, incredibly valuable, and it should help to shape the final strategy. I welcome the work of the Communities Minister. The draft strategy is rightly focused on practical outcomes; on work and employment as the best route out of poverty; and on the need to make work pay. If we are serious about tackling poverty, we must also be honest about what works. Sustainable employment remains one of the most effective ways to lift people and families out of poverty, but that must mean decent, stable work that pays and provides dignity, purpose and a genuine route to a better standard of living.
We must also, of course, be clear that tackling poverty cannot simply be about handing out money. Support will always be necessary for those who need it most, but, as a society, we also need to focus on creating wealth, growing opportunity and building an economy where people can provide for themselves and for their families.
The Committee report rightly also highlights child poverty, including evidence that more than 110,000 children across Northern Ireland live in poverty. That should be a concern for every Member of the House. No child should have their life chances limited by the circumstances in which they are born. Of course, that cannot be achieved by the Department for Communities alone. It is not simply a DFC strategy; it must be an Executive strategy. The Department for the Economy has a role in jobs and skills; the Department of Education has a role in attainment and opportunity; the Department of Health has a role in addressing barriers to employment; and the Department for Infrastructure has a role in access to work, training and services. All of those things are reasons why it is important that all Departments are brought fully into the strategy. It also means that the Executive and the Finance Minister must ensure that the appropriate funding is made available to support the delivery of the anti-poverty strategy going forward. At present, no additional funding has been allocated to implement —.
I will.
I thank the Member for his contribution. That is another piece of work that needs to be investigated fully. Industry has made its concerns clear that time is needed to investigate that legislation fully before committing to it. At present, no additional funding has been allocated to implement the strategy, and that is a serious issue. A strategy without the necessary funding risks becoming a statement of intent rather than a plan for delivery. That is why I find the position taken by the Sinn Féin members of the Committee difficult to reconcile with the approach of their Executive ministerial colleagues. At times, they appeared to be completely at odds with those colleagues. People who are in poverty do not need mixed messages; they need delivery. One area of delivery that is particularly important is fuel poverty. It is especially prevalent in Northern Ireland because of our heavy reliance on home heating oil. That has a particular impact on older people, many of whom are on fixed incomes and are more vulnerable to cold homes. There is a clear link there with the active ageing strategy and ensuring that older people can live safely, warmly and with dignity. That is why the upcoming £100 oil heating intervention by Minister Lyons is important. It is practical help targeted at the real pressures that households in Northern Ireland face. That is being delivered while Sinn Féin Ministers have shirked their responsibilities for that. However, short-term support must sit alongside long-term investment. We all understand the importance of that. The warm healthy homes fund, which was agreed as part of the Executive's fuel poverty strategy, must be properly resourced if it is to improve homes, reduce bills and protect vulnerable households. It is therefore deeply disappointing that that fund did not receive an allocation in Sinn Féin's draft three-year Budget. The strategy must remain focused on making work pay; creating wealth; tackling child poverty; Executive-wide delivery; and properly addressing the issue of fuel poverty. If we are serious about that delivery, the Executive must ensure that the strategies are properly funded. On that basis, I support the motion.
788 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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