Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
I appreciate the Member giving way. It is slightly facetious, but the point that I made to his colleague was that, while you have repeated the mantra that there is no money, corporate profits are at a record high, and if you really wanted to fund universal free school meals, you could do it with measures. That is the…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I apologise to you for my phone going off. It was on silent, but my 13-year-old daughter has found a way to override that function. If any Member knows how to un-override it, I would really appreciate knowing that. You can see me afterwards. Thanks for that, Lucy. She will be watching…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. As others have done, I thank UUP colleagues for tabling the motion. It has given us an opportunity, so close to Christmas, to talk about an important issue. My colleague explained why we had tabled our amendment and why we will not support the DUP amendment. I echo the Minister's words…
I thank the Minister for giving way. I am enthralled by his speech, because he is fulfilling part of the purpose of the motion, which is to get an update. I am a bit perplexed by what he said about the conversation with the Minister for Communities. The issue is wrapped up in the sense of wider poverty, but we must…
I thank the Minister for giving way. He mentioned targeting social need funding. Does he agree that, given the very difficult financial position that schools find themselves in, that funding often lands in a deficit and does not reach the children who need it?
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank colleagues for the opportunity to respond to the motion and thank Mr Butler for moving it. Everyone who spoke demonstrated the real issues that are affecting our constituents. I will disagree with colleagues on very little of what they said, which they expressed with passion. It…
Has the Member's narrative for some time not been that there has been great austerity across the UK and that that has had an impact here? Now, he feels that there is plenty of money available in Northern Ireland. Which is it? Are the UK Government being stingy with their Budget and not giving us enough, or is there…
As has been said, at the start of the pandemic, the North introduced holiday hunger payments with a cash-first approach, which gave struggling families some dignity and control over their finances during school holidays. Despite some of the counterpoints, tackling poverty is not complicated. Over 100,000 children…
Funding for the school holiday food grant scheme, which provided payments to prevent holiday hunger for around 100,000 children and young people, was withdrawn in March 2023, at a time when we in Northern Ireland were told that we were overspending. At that time, however, it was not acknowledged that, in April 2022,…
Today's discussion goes beyond the perennial debate on rising school costs for parents. It is fundamentally about poverty and the extreme hardship that people face as a result of Executive inaction and, quite frankly, appalling Westminster welfare policies, which are hitting working families the hardest. We used to…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. As each school year approaches, families across the North face the heavy financial burden of school uniforms and PE gear. We need to ensure that going to school is as easy as possible for every child. That means removing unnecessary barriers, making school…
I thank the Members who tabled the motion, which is very important. It was debated in recent months, and, during that time, our community and voluntary sector has been doing the heavy lifting. Great work is being done by Monkstown Boxing Club and the Lagmore Youth Project, for example. During the summer, I volunteered…
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I will start with a number of harrowing statistics. Around 24% of children in Northern Ireland live in poverty, which is higher than in all other places across these islands. Over 100,000 children in the North qualify for free school meals. That is around 30%, which…
I am grateful for the opportunity to, once again, talk about holiday hunger and the exorbitant cost of school uniforms. Indeed, it is only a little over six months since my party colleagues and I brought a similar motion to the Chamber to highlight the serious pressures facing so many families here. It is…
Leaving aside the obvious moral benefits of universal access to free school meals, does the Member agree that an economic saving could be made because it would prevent children from having to go to dentists, A&E and so on and that, therefore, even in that limited context, it has benefits?
I thank the Member for giving way. He mentioned recently that the anti-poverty strategy was funded. The Alliance amendment: "calls on the Minister to develop a plan to widen access to free school meals". Is that funded?
Does the Member recognise that, had this place not been abruptly pulled down for a considerable number of years, we might already have seen action on these important issues?
I am proposing the Alliance amendment to the motion. I thank the Members who tabled the motion, which gives us the opportunity to highlight the severe burden of holiday hunger and the high cost of school uniforms, particularly PE kits and branded items, on families across Northern Ireland. We tabled our amendment…
The Member raises a really good point, and I do not disagree about being honest with the electorate on what can be achieved. However, the Member's party, before the last two elections, announced significant build projects that run into hundreds of millions of pounds. There was a debate on the radio this morning about…
I beg to move amendment No 1: Do I have 10 minutes? Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The issues before us today are issues that we would all like to see resolved. We all want the same outcomes: to reduce or remove the undue financial pressure placed on parents where uniform policies are unreasonable and to ensure that…