agendaNi issue 103

...informing Northern Ireland’s decision-makers

Tenacious delivery NI Water’s Sara Venning Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA discusses the budgetary outlook and Covid-19 response

Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA outlines a busy legislative mandate and describes her priorities

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton on policing in a pandemic and public confidence

Issue issue103 8 March/April Aug/Sep 11 2021

Policing and Justice • Technology Social• economy Carbon Tax • Special Reports: •Health ICT

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Contents

10

04

Matters arising

06

Issues

14

36

36

66 45

78

65

77

70

90

90

102

104

06

Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA discusses Budget 2021/22

10

Gabriel Scally on north/south cooperation

14

Cover story: NI Water’s Sara Venning on tenacious delivery

28

DfE Director of Skills Graeme Wilkinson on strategy delivery

Brexit 36

QUB’s Katy Hayward and David Phinnemore analyse Article 16

40

Brexit: The financial settlement

42

The future of Erasmus and Horizon in Northern Ireland

Policing and justice report 46

Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA on legislative priorities

50

Hate crime legislation progress

56

Digital justice

62

PSNI’s Mark Hamilton on policing in a pandemic

Social economy report 66

Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA: Social enterprise and recovery

70

Stewart Dickson MLA discusses a Social Value Act

72

Pivoting in pandemic: AEL in focus

75

Social value in procurement

Technology report 78

Tech trends of 2021

82

Transport 5.0

84

Séamus Davis explores quantum technology

Public Affairs 90

Interview: Agriculture Committee Chair Declan McAleer MLA

94

A fiscal council

96

Parliamentary constituencies: Future review obligations

102

Political platform: SDLP MLA Cara Hunter

104

Amnesty’s Patrick Corrigan on mother-and-baby-home progress

Housing Conference 2021 Thursday 15th April 2021 ONLINE CONFERENCE There have always been huge challenges around the provision of housing in Northern Ireland, and this is still the case, particularly as the legacy of Covid-19 becomes clearer. This year the Northern Ireland Housing Conference will be delivered online. Once again, it will bring together key stakeholders and look at how we can fulfil the need for safe, affordable housing both now and in the future.

Speakers confirmed include:

Key issues to be examined by an expert panel of speakers includes:

Grainia Long

Clare McCarty

Incoming Chief Executive

Group Chief Executive

Northern Ireland Housing

Clanmil Housing Association

Executive Caroline Mackechnie-Jarvis

4 Housing policy in Northern Ireland 4 The future of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive 4 Housing Associations: Planning for a post-Covid future

Saija Turunen

Whole Housing Programme

Research Manager

Manager, Standing Together and

Y Foundation, Finland

Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

4 The impact of Covid-19 on homelessness

Jim Dennison

Dr Martina McAuley, Research and

4 A whole housing approach for the survivors of domestic abuse

Chief Executive

Evaluation Co-ordinator

4 The impact of Covid-19 on private renters

Simon Community

Housing Rights

4 Community investment to transform lives

Stephanie McKillop

John McLean

4 Effective tenant engagement during the pandemic

Digital Inclusion Officer

Chief Executive

Supporting Communities

Radius Housing

Ben Collins

Professor Paddy Gray, Vice Chair,

Chief Executive

Glasgow Housing Association;

Northern Ireland

Chair, Connswater Homes and

Federation of Housing

Board Member, The Wheatley

Associations

Housing Group

4 Empowering communities with digital skills 4 The shape of the future social housing provider 4 Innovation in housing: Reimagining better ways to live 4 Collaboration for better results 4 Lessons from elsewhere: Eradicating homelessness in Finland

To register: By telephone +44 (0)28 9261 9933

By email registration@agendaNi.com

Online www.nihousing.agendaNi.com

agendaNi Issue 103 March/April 2021

Editorial Owen McQuade, Managing Editor owen.mcquade@agendani.com

A lack of clarity…

The rollout of the vaccine has brought cause for optimism of a return to normality in the near future but the lack of clarity in the Executive’s collective decision-making gives cause for concern about a recovery roadmap.

Over 600,000 people have now received at least a single dose of the vaccine in Northern Ireland, comparatively better than figures in the Republic of Ireland but still ranked at the bottom of the UK regions chart for over 60s.

Amidst this relative success are blatant divisions between Executive parties on the best way forward. Disagreements on the lifting of restrictions and implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol are immediate examples.

It is difficult to see how an Executive so divided over the Protocol will be able to align to deliver effective recovery plans or mitigate against a failing health service, growing crises in the areas of cancer treatment and mental health, rising unemployment levels or historical underspend in infrastructure.

Minimal support from the UK Government and a lack of engagement from the Irish Government is evident. That was exemplified by the UK’s recent Budget announcement where, immediate Covid-response aside, the day-to-day spending allocation projects a bleak outlook for public services in Northern Ireland and capital allocation does not signal the stimulus for recovery that might have been expected.

Budgetary pressures and an outlook on recovery dominate this issue’s reports. Alongside insight from Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA, we speak to Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA on her busy legislative mandate and the implications of squeezed finances. We also speak to Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI Mark Hamilton about the pandemic’s impact on his organisation.

Our social economy report explores how social value considerations can help build back better, while our technology report highlights emerging trends likely to feature heavily in any recovery.

David Whelan

www.agendaNi.com

David Whelan, Deputy Editor david.whelan@agendani.com Fiona McCarthy fiona.mccarthy@agendani.com Ciarán Galway ciaran.galway@agendani.com Odrán Waldron odran.waldron@agendani.com Circulation and Marketing Lynda Millar lynda.millar@agendani.com Events Olivia Carragher olivia.carragher@agendani.com Advertising Colin Hampsey advertising@agendani.com Design Gareth Duffy, Head of Design gareth.duffy@agendani.com Paul Rooney, Graphic Design paul.rooney@agendani.com Subscriptions Sharon Morrison Email: subscriptions@agendani.com Online: www.agendani.com agendaNi bmf Business Services 19a Maghaberry Road Maghaberry, Co Antrim, BT67 0JE Tel: +44 (0) 28 9261 9933 Twitter: @agendani Web: www.agendani.com Printed by: GPS Colour Graphics

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The FSC’s Chain of Custody certification provides a way in which the material can be tracked from the certified initial source through the manufacturing process to the end user.

matters arising

Mallon criticises Westminster Levelling Up Fund Northern Ireland is decided in London

by Ministers not elected by and not accountable to citizens in Northern Ireland.”

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon MLA has criticised the announcement of the British Government’s Levelling Up Fund and its “London imposed decision making”. The £4.8 billion fund was unveiled in late February, with a promise from Whitehall that “levelling up means every region and nation of the UK”.

Practically, this means that the

decisions taken under the fund will be taken in London, bypassing the devolved institutions and the input of local ministers and executives.

Mallon said: “I am sending a clear message that the British Government can’t just decide to have London imposed decision-making. It is unacceptable that any funding for

One of the more high-profile projects associated with the Government’s idea of all-UK infrastructure remains the proposed bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland, with transport expert Peter Hendy having been tasked with an official feasibility study into the idea. The London-ordered feasibility study has also been criticised by Mallon, who stated that the commissioning of the study was about “London being able to impose its decisions” on Northern Ireland and that Westminster was “obsessed with centralising spending powers in devolved matters”.

The bridge, which has been estimated to cost a minimum of £15 billion, has been criticised on both sides of the Irish Sea as a vanity project, especially with the Northern Ireland wastewater and road networks needing significant investment and upgrading.

Browne named as new education Permanent Secretary The Department of Education has unveiled Mark Browne as its new Permanent Secretary, with Browne taking up his post on 1 March. Browne takes up the post following the retirement of his predecessor, Derek Baker.

With 36 years of experience in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Browne has served as the Deputy Secretary for the Executive Office since 2013. Prior to this, he had been Deputy Secretary for the Department of Agriculture from 2009-2013. Having graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1980, Browne was awarded his doctorate from Queen’s in 1989. His civil service

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career started in 1985 as a statistician in the Department of Finance.

Speaking after Browne’s appointment, Education Minister Peter Weir MLA said: “I want to congratulate Mark on his success in the recent competition to appoint a new Permanent Secretary for my department. He brings with him an extensive range of skills and experience that are essential in such a key post.

Mark is joining the Department at a time when we continue to deal with the impact of Covid-19 on the education sector. I look forward to working with Mark in tackling the significant strategic challenges facing the education sector in the months and years ahead.”

matters arising

2020 renewable energy figures the 43.6 per cent total in 2019. The Executive’s 2010-20 Strategic Energy Framework had included a target to achieve 40 per cent of electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2020, but that had long since been surpassed.

The Department for the Economy has released its Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year ending December 2020 report, showing a 5.6 percentage point increase in the proportion of electricity generated to have come from renewable

sources in the year between December 2019 and 2020.

Some 7,416 gigawatt hours (GWh) of total electricity was consumed in Northern Ireland during 2020. 3,651 GWh of this overall was generated from renewable sources. Of said renewable electricity, 84.9 per cent was generated from wind. This compares to 84.5 per cent for the previous year. Emphasising the need for diversification of supply of renewable energy in Northern Ireland that will be a big consideration of the energy strategy due later this year, nonwind renewable electricity generation in Northern Ireland was 551.9 GWh for the year.

49.2 per cent of total electricity consumption in Northern Ireland was generated from renewable sources located in Northern Ireland throughout the 12 months of 2020, an increase on

The five lowest monthly consumption records for the year were recorded from April to August 2020, reflecting the effect of the initial Covid-19 lockdown on electricity demand.

Foster meets with Loyalist Communities Council The withdrawal of support was in protest against the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is believed to have been the subject of the meetings with both the First Minister and the NIO beforehand. “If the EU is not prepared to honour the entirety of the agreement then it will be responsible for the permanent destruction of the agreement,” the letter to Johnson says.

First Minister Arlene Foster has defended the decision of the DUP to meet with the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), an organisation that comprises the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando. After meeting with Foster and other senior party officials on

Thursday 25 February and a meeting with officials from the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) in January, the LCC wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce that it was withdrawing support for the Good Friday Agreement in early March.

Defending her decision to meet with a body comprised of active paramilitaries, Foster said: “Ignoring communities will take Northern Ireland in the wrong direction. As DUP leader and First Minister I have a duty to provide leadership and work to ensure no element of Northern Ireland feels left behind. I want to show that politics works and the best way to achieve change is through democratic means.”

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Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA: Budgeting in a pandemic Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA discusses the outlook for public spending in Northern Ireland, his department’s response to Covid-19 and progress on establishing a Fiscal Commission for Northern Ireland.

Over one year on, what is your assessment of the financial support the Executive has received to deliver on New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) commitments and to what degree has it delivered on expectation?

The NDNA commitments are additional and long-term in nature. Delivering on those commitments requires an uplift in the Executive’s annual block grant for everyday spending of at least £1.2 billion.

Instead we got one-off funding which is just £134 million next year and zero the year after that. The capital commitments of NDNA require approximately £7.5 billion over a number of years. Next year NDNA provides less than £28 million of extra capital. So that gives you a good indication of how inadequate the NDNA funding is.

The British Secretary of State’s view is 6

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money for NDNA commitments should be found from within the block grant. In other words, by cutting other public services.

That is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul and is not acceptable.

Nevertheless the Executive will do its best within the resources at its disposal to deliver NDNA commitments. We have already delivered a pay award to health workers and teachers, increased the number of nursing and midwifery undergraduate places as part of a three year plan, and published a Mental Health Action Plan.

What are some of the specific challenges faced by the Department of Finance since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and how has the Department sought to mitigate the pandemic?

Responding to Covid-19 has presented a massive challenge to the operation of

government and to the delivery of public services. Although the outlook for the Executive’s core block grant is not great, a significant amount of funding, totalling over £3 billion, to respond to Covid has been provided. This was a significant level of money which came at shortnotice at different points throughout the year. Financial planning was therefore difficult but I will ensure this money is fully allocated to departments. In making those allocations our priority has been to ensure public services and particularly our health service receive the funding they need, to protect vulnerable people, and to support businesses.

The speed at which this money had to be put on the ground has also been challenging. Schemes that usually would have been designed and consulted on over many months were being turned around in days or weeks. This has heightened the risk of mistakes being

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made but in the emergency situation we faced it was important to not make the perfect the enemy of the good. The Auditor General and Public Accounts Committee have recognised the exceptional circumstances we have faced.

In terms of mitigating the damage caused by the pandemic my department is responsible for rates relief. One of the most important economic interventions made was the rates holiday which amounted to almost £300 million. All businesses received a four-month rates holiday and a 12 month rates holiday was provided to over 25,000 retail, hospitality, tourism, leisure and manufacturing businesses. Next year will also be difficult as we move towards recovery, so I will freeze the regional rates in 2021/22 for businesses and households. I have also committed to providing further rates support to businesses in 2021-2022 and will announce the details of this shortly.

Usually, my department allocates funding to other departments but my officials have really stepped up to directly assist with the Covid response.

For example, Land and Property Services (LPS) was repurposed to also pay out business grants. It administered the £10,000 Small Business Support Grant, which very quickly paid out £245 million to businesses during the first lockdown.

When the Executive had to reintroduce restrictions to control the spread of the virus, LPS stepped up again to put in place the Localised Restrictions Support Scheme for businesses legally required to close or severely limit their operations.

To date, over £188 million of support has been issued to more than 14,000 businesses through this scheme. That is a phenomenal amount of grant support that LPS has provided, all the more so given that the organisation has no prior experience of this type of scheme.

My department also took on new emergency powers to deliver emergency funding for airports. This is important if we are to retain our connectivity as we move into the recovery phase. The rates and wider support provided to maintain airlines and the Belfast International, Belfast City and City of Derry airports totals some £20 million.

Kate Forbes MSP, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Finance; Northern Ireland Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA; and Rebecca Evans MS, Welsh Minister for Finance.

You described the recent draft budget as ‘difficult’. What were the implications of the Spending Review on public services? And what, if anything, would alleviate the pressure?

Essentially, we’ve received a flat-cash budget for everyday spending on public services. Considering departments identified pressures of £1.7 billion, we are a long way short of what we need. With increased demands on public services and taking account of inflation, this is effectively a cut to departmental budgets.

So, it will be a challenge merely to deliver existing services at their current levels. In this difficult context the Executive has prioritised welfare reform mitigations, Agenda for Change pay, pupils with Special Educational Needs, and holiday hunger payments.

Funding for the Covid response is around £1 billion next year compared to approximately £3 billion this year. That money will very quickly be used up dealing with and recovering from the huge impact of the pandemic on our health service, our economy, and our society.

It’s also not helpful that the Spending Review announced in November set the Executive’s budget envelope for the 2021-22 financial year only. The announcement so late into the financial year severely curtailed the time available to develop the Executive’s budget. Our

ability to plan has been further disrupted by the British Government not providing a multi-year budget, as promised in NDNA. I hope that we can move to a multi-year budget that moves decisively way from the years of austerity our public services are yet to fully recover from.

So, the implications of the budget are not good. Obviously the roll out of vaccines will ease some of the pressure but the Executive will have to use its resources as well as it can. We have the ability to carry over £300 million of Covid funding into the 2021/2022 financial year so that money will help with the recovery.

The capital situation is a little better, it has increased by approximately £100 million.

But this is not really the level of economic stimulus we need and it was disappointing that the Chancellor’s Budget did not provide any additional Capital for the Executive to allocate.

The Executive has access to a borrowing facility of up to £200 million per year under the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative. The draft budget proposes £140 million in borrowing for NI Water and social housing. This will help kickstart the construction sector as we recover from the pandemic and also as we continue to adjust to Brexit. The Executive will decide whether to draw on its borrowing facility as part of the final budget.

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the Justice Minister, and myself were trying to get a meeting with Brandon Lewis to discuss funding arrangements.

He eventually met with us in the middle of February 2021 so the discussion on funding is now finally underway.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA with Bogart’s Gary Keenan after announcing rate reliefs for over 25,000 businesses.

What does the British Chancellor’s latest budget announcement mean for Northern Ireland?

There are some welcome measures: the extension of furlough and support for newly self-employed, as well as an additional £400 million in funding for the Covid response. However, everyday public spending has only increased by £4 million on the Spending Review outcome and there is no additional capital funding.

So the public spending outlook remains difficult.

The direction of travel signalled by the Levelling Up Fund also concerns me. The British Government continues to bypass the Executive, taking control of funds from Westminster instead of enabling funding decisions to be taken by locally elected ministers. That is an ominous sign in terms of replacement EU funding and devolution generally.

The Executive opted not to raise revenue through regional rate rises and one of the key planks of the NDNA deal was an increased emphasis on the region beginning to raise more of its own revenues.

What is your outlook on the potential, and impact, of greater levels of devolution in fiscal policy?

The Executive decided to freeze the regional rate in light of the continued impact of Covid-19 on the finances of households and businesses. It would be counter-productive to raise this tax in the middle of a pandemic which has caused huge financial distress. I called on

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councils to consider taking the same approach when setting their district rate and I am glad that none of the 11 councils increased their rates significantly during this difficult time.

It is true that the Executive has a very limited suite of fiscal levers in comparison to the other devolved administrations. I am in favour of the Executive having more options and more flexibility in terms of revenue raising and tax policy. This needs careful consideration which is why I want to establish a Fiscal Commission, similar to those which have already reported in Wales and Scotland. The Commission could comprehensively consider what powers could help the Executive deliver on its Programme for Government. Also, greater flexibility to borrow, build up reserves, and carry over money from one year to the next would help the Executive to plan its finances on a more long-term strategic basis.

The draft budget allocated no money to paying victims and the Secretary of State insists that the current block grant is sufficient to make year one payments. How can the Victims’ Payment Scheme be sufficiently resourced to ensure payment to victims do not face further delay?

In terms of the Secretary of State’s focus on the first year, this is a scheme which could last over 30 years so trying to cobble the money together from one year to the next is not good enough. Victims need long-term certainty over funding.

From September 2020 the First Ministers,

We told the British Government that it designed and legislated the scheme and that under its own policy it should fund the scheme. The scheme delivered by the British Government goes well beyond what was agreed at Stormont House, and it could cost over £1 billion. Paying that from the Executive’s block grant would have a devastating impact on other public services. Nevertheless, we are totally committed to delivering the scheme and I am willing to recommend to the Executive that it meets some of the costs. I hope there is a long-term solution to this issue very soon.

What are your department’s priorities over the remaining lifetime of this mandate?

Although the pandemic has delayed a lot of other work my department has done a great job in progressing my mainstream policy agenda. The Dormant Accounts Fund has been launched. The heads of terms for the Derry City and Strabane City Deal has been signed. I intend to establish a Fiscal Council and Commission shortly. Peace Plus is about to go out for consultation. Legislation on Changing Places facilities is progressing.

And I recently announced a number of Connect2 hubs which will make it easier for civil servants to work close to home.

But I am conscious that there is only a year left of the mandate, so I’m keen to get as much delivered as possible. One of my priorities is procurement. We spend approximately £3 billion through procurement and I’m keen to ensure that this spending is harnessed for the maximum social good. The Procurement Board is currently developing a new policy on the inclusion of social value in all government contracts. For the first time, this will make scoring for social value mandatory in government contracts. That is a game-changer in terms of how we use our spending power and I hope to bring that policy to the Executive shortly.

issues agenda

Gabriel Scally: Get it down.

Keep it down. Keep it out.

Having been battered by the third wave of Covid-19, public health restrictions remain in place across the island of Ireland. Visiting Professor of Public Health, University of Bristol and President of Epidemiology and Public Health section, Royal Society of Medicine, Gabriel Scally talks with Ciarán Galway about zero Covid, north-south cooperation and vaccinations.

Currently, there is a complete absence of a discernible Covid strategy on the island of Ireland, epidemiologist and public health expert Gabriel Scally argues. In this vacuum, momentum has gathered behind proponents of a zero Covid strategy. Scally is one such advocate.

The zero Covid approach, as implemented by Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Vietnam, seeks to effectively eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus within a defined geographic entity. The absence of community transmission for a defined period of time enables the safe reopening of society and the economy. While there would still be a potential for imported cases, these can then be swiftly brought under control to keep transmission as close to zero as possible.

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Zero Covid The two missing components of any successful zero Covid strategy in Ireland are firstly, mandatory hotel quarantining for travellers arriving on the island and secondly, effective north-south cooperation.

“You cannot have this situation, which we know doesn’t work, of voluntary selfisolation combined with a lack of cooperation north and south…

Government ministers in Dublin insist that it is impossible to cooperate with the North because of the DUP and we can’t have an all-island strategy. In reality, it’s a failure of the body politic, both north and south.

“Meanwhile, we have now far exceeded

the number of deaths from ‘the Troubles’.

Don’t tell me it’s impossible for the administrations north and south to cooperate on this; that is stupid,” the prominent epidemiologist remarks.

However, as recently as February 2021, Fist Minister Arlene Foster MLA suggested that “a zero Covid approach would work only on a five-nations basis”.

Similarly, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD has asserted that zero Covid is “simply not a realistic option”. Scally disagrees.

“Zero Covid is only impossible if politicians want to make it impossible.

What is disproportionate? What on earth does that mean? People are dying, hospitals are overwhelmed, patients are not receiving the treatment that they need for their cancer or heart disease,

issues agenda

health service staff across the island are exhausted, children are being denied access to education, and businesses are going bankrupt,” he outlines, adding: “None of that is beyond solution.”

Rather, the public health expert suggests, the alternative was within touching distance in summer 2020. “The ground was perfectly laid for a zero Covid approach. Unfortunately, politicians chose not to go in that direction, and they led us into the position that we are in now, north and south, which is extremely difficult,” he says.

In late February, the Irish Government approved primary legislation determining that passengers arriving in Ireland from Austria, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, 13 additional central and south American countries, as well as 17 African countries will be required undertake mandatory State quarantine in hotels for two weeks.

Having completed all stages in the Oireachtas, the Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 will now be signed into law by the President.

Exemplars While New Zealand has been a prime exemplar of zero Covid, Scally recognises that, alongside democratic values, airline route connectivity, economic performance and population density of other island nations or states with one shared boundary, opposition to zero Covid is often grounded in arguments about geographic remoteness.

“Okay. Let’s leave New Zealand to one side and talk about Taiwan. Taiwan has a population of 24 million people, a population density many times greater than Britain or Ireland, some of the busiest airline routes in the world and is an economic powerhouse. It has done the job fantastically well.

“Consider Japan, with a population of over 126 million people and four primary islands, which has done similarly well. It is a democracy which has done it properly and successfully. Closer to home, the Isle of Man has implemented this without anyone noticing, as has Guernsey. Take the biggest island of them all, the continent of Australia, which has also done it,” he illustrates, adding: “[The Irish administrations] should look at the success of these other places,

understand what they did and how they did it, then copy it.”

Lockdowns While a zero Covid strategy has remained politically unobtainable in Ireland, hitherto, both jurisdictions have instead sought to suppress Covid-19 incidence rates to an ‘acceptable level’, enabling the economy to reopen between surges while awaiting vaccination rollout.

Recurring lockdowns have been utilised

demonstrated that “robust public health responses can control transmission, allowing life to return to near-normal”.

Noting that lockdowns have been both socially and economically disruptive, the letter asserts that “these effects have often been worse in countries that were not able to use the time during and after lockdown to establish effective pandemic control systems”.

In the absence of an adequate strategy

“My mantra is: Get it down. Keep it down.

Keep it out. You have to do those three things, as well as pursuing a vaccination programme.” as the primary tool to achieve this.

However, lockdown itself should be a tactic, not the entire strategy.

Indeed, in April 2020, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated: “So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but they cannot end it alone. Countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact.”

Months later, speaking with The Spectator’s Andrew Neil in October 2020, David Nabarro reiterated: “We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as a primary means of control of this virus. The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to re-organise, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.

“We really do appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary control method. Develop better systems for doing it. Work together and learn from each other.”

During the same month, The Lancet published a letter titled: Scientific consensus on the Covid-19 pandemic. In the letter, signed by 80 public health experts and doctors (and subsequently signed by over 4,000 more), the rationale for lockdowns is acknowledged as being about slowing the spread of the virus and ensuring that health systems are not overwhelmed. It identifies Japan, Vietnam and New Zealand as having

to mitigate this disruption, many countries, including Ireland, have faced ongoing restrictions, demoralisation and diminishing trust. This, Scally argues, is what creates a vacuum which is then filled by individualism and undermines social solidarity.

“If there is a growth or prospering in individualism, it’s because of the bankruptcy of leadership. When people lose trust, lose confidence, and don’t see where we are going in the absence of a discernible strategy, that’s what creates the space for individualism,” he adds.

Having consistently advised that the island of Ireland be treated as a one epidemiological unit, Scally initially welcomed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on public health cooperation on an all-Ireland basis cosigned by Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan and the North’s Chief Medical Officer Michael McBride.

Now, however, he is scathing of what he regards as “a meaningless document”.

“The language remains great and the sentiment is excellent, but I don’t think anyone could point to anything that it has influenced for the better... There is no use in having this wonderful tool if no one is prepared to pick it up and use it,” he asserts.

The public health expert elaborates on his assertion that Ireland is exhibiting a deficiency in political leadership. “I think [the governments] know what should be done but think it would be too difficult to do so and are afraid that they will fail.

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“Zero Covid is only impossible if politicians want to make it impossible.”

Whereas if they don’t bother trying, they can point to the people and say, ‘you’re the people that went to restaurants and had house parties’ or whatever. It’s called victim blaming.

“Each time things go wrong; they point at a few people who aren’t doing the right thing and choose them as scapegoats.

It’s a much easier place to be because you don’t have to take responsibility for anything. Nobody ever said it would be easy to do leadership, but if you don’t do leadership, you see the consequences.”

Leadership Referencing polling data which suggests that people would take strident public health measures, support, and observe them, Scally admits that he has limited sympathy for politicians, even in the context of intense industry lobbying.

“Who’s on the pro-health side here?

Who’s paying anyone to go lobbying the departments of health, north or south, to do the right thing on public health? No one is paying for that. It is only health professionals and citizens saying it,” he insists.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 in December 2020, Scally suggested that Minister of 12

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Health Robin Swann MLA should resign.

Reiterating the soccer analogy he used at the time, the epidemiologist stands by his rationale. “If Northern Ireland was a football team playing in a league and it had performed as badly as it has done in responding to Covid, the entire backroom team would be out the door. It’s all about performance.”

controls. We also need to vaccinate as

Scally is particularly perturbed by comments made by Minister Swann in the aftermath of the decision to relax public health restrictions over Christmas 2020 and the subsequent surge in transmission and deaths. Discussing that decision and conceding that it was wrong, the Minister qualified: “I think everything is fine in hindsight.”

brake, witness an acceleration of cases

“It can’t be hindsight. Hindsight is when you look back and discover something that you had no prior knowledge of.

That’s hindsight and you say, ‘gosh, how did I miss that?’ Well, no one missed this one.

of the population is a challenge. “This

“There were plenty of voices, me included, who said, ‘if you take your foot off the brake here and you loosen things up for Christmas, we will pay a terrible price.’ That is exactly what has happened. In foresight, [the Executive] decided to do something that it had been told was dangerous, destructive and likely to end up in a huge upsurge of the virus and that’s what happened,” Scally affirms.

programme.

NISRA figures indicate that from 18 March to 1 January 2021, there were 1,921 Covid-19 related deaths. From 2 January until 5 March 2021, there were 924 deaths.

Vaccination programme Now in the initial phases of the vaccination programmes, the administrations, north and south, are rolling out the vaccine to priority cohorts.

However, it is not necessarily a panacea.

Scally is cautiously optimistic though warns against an “overoptimism”. The epidemiologist’s most significant concern is that emerging variants of the SARSCoV-2 virus will be less amendable to prevention by the vaccine.

“We have to undertake additional measures. For instance, preferably stopping new variants coming in until we have a handle on it. That means border

many citizens as we can, while having the local public health teams staffed up and ready to jump on any outbreaks or flareups that occur.

“I am very worried about this period that there will be overoptimism about the vaccine; that we’ll take the foot off the and we won’t know what the consequences are until that happens. It’s not a nice scenario. My mantra is: Get it down. Keep it down. Keep it out. You have to do those three things, as well as pursuing a vaccination programme.”

Likewise, achieving sufficient vaccination virus is so infectious that you really need almost everyone to be vaccinated in order to avoid really serious outbreaks.

Sufficient supply of vaccines will take time and it is difficult to run a vaccination

“I know that, having done it, getting to 60 or 70 per cent is easy. Getting to 80 per cent is tough. Getting over 90 per cent is really tough, particularly if you have a lot of people who are making use of it for their own strange ideas, notions or publicity seeking vaccine scepticism. It is a perfect time for people who wish to disrupt,” he emphasises.

Looking ahead What policy choices are the decision makers now faced with? “Crunch time again. Lots of people, including many politicians, now admit that we should have gone for Zero Covid last summer.

There is another opportunity in the making right now. The circumstances are different, with vaccines and variants, posing opportunity and threat. But there is a groundswell of public support for getting rid of the virus, keeping it out, and getting back to something like normal.

“I have no doubt that the effort should be made, and we should do it thoroughly and determinedly. We can beat this virus, save lives and livelihoods, and show exactly what Ireland is capable of,” Scally concludes.

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Abortion access: Denial of rights The Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Health, and the UK Government are being wilfully ignorant of the denial of women’s rights in Northern Ireland in relation to abortion access, writes David Whelan.

In July 2019, in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, MPs in Westminster voted to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland and create new laws, essentially extending rights to Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK. The vote came at the same time as the move to extend same-sex marriage rights. While same-sex marriage has made it across the Irish Sea, abortion rights have not.

The primary reason is a refusal by the Minister for Health Robin Swann MLA to commission and fund abortion services.

Swann has used the “significance and sensitivity of the issue” as cover, pushing responsibility of a decision on to the Executive as a whole. However in midMarch, Sinn Féin signalled its intention to bring a proposal on commissioning services to the Executive.

Abortion regulations took effect in March 2020 and health trusts have provided an interim early medical abortion service, to allow the Department of Health to oversee the commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland. However, with the Department stating the need for Executive approval to commission and fund the service and the Executive declaring it a matter for the Department, little progress has been made.

The unsustainable nature of the interim service provided by trusts has been highlighted following a number of

closures and restarts due to limited resources, with Amnesty International describing a “postcode lottery” for healthcare by forcing women to travel in the midst of a pandemic.

The British Government continues to provide funding for women in Northern Ireland to travel to England for abortion provision during the coronavirus pandemic but have failed in their duties to women despite delivering the legal framework for abortion services.

The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 imposed a duty on the UK Government to reform Northern Ireland’s abortion law and required it to make regulations that provide lawful access to abortion services. That legal duty remained following the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive and while the framework is in place, the Act also stated a commitment by the Government to ensure “that the legal provisions for access to abortion services can also be accompanied by models of care, training, professional guidance and professional standards of practice to assist medical professionals.”

The dereliction of duty is such that Northern Ireland’s Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has launched legal action against the UK Government, the Executive and the Department of Health, accusing them of unlawfully denying the

rights of women in the country.

The 1967 Abortion Act made termination legal in Great Britain up to 24 weeks in most circumstances, but it was not extended to Northern Ireland, meaning that until recently abortions in Northern Ireland were only allowed if a woman’s life was at risk or if there was a risk of permanent and serious damage to a woman’s mental and physical health.

The result was that in many cases women were forced to leave Northern Ireland to access abortion services.

Despite the change in law, the delay in providing services by the Department means that little has changed and travel restrictions caused by the pandemic have served as a further barrier to women’s rights to access abortion services.

In June 2020, a majority of MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly backed a nonbinding motion which rejected the imposition of the laws by Westminster.

The Secretary of State Brandon Lewis indicated that the British Government would not amend the regulations in response, pointing to the necessity of regulations to comply with a UN convention. However, he did highlight the potential for legislation to be changed if Executive agreement can be reached, a feat which is highly unlikely.

In the meantime, women across Northern Ireland remain without access to legally entitled services.

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Tenacious delivery NI Water’s Chief Executive Sara Venning reveals how the organisation is working hard to facilitate Northern Ireland’s bold economic and environmental ambitions but requires urgent government funding to ensure it can continue to deliver.

“The last year has been truly unique in so many ways,” explains Venning.

The Chief Executive says that the Covid19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on people’s lives, changing the way we live and operate our businesses, throwing a spanner in the works of normality and making us doubt the reliability of many of the services which, in modern life, we had come to take for granted.

One constant throughout the various twists and turns of the last 12 months is water.

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“Despite a number of lockdowns of varying degrees, the homes and businesses of Northern Ireland have continued to enjoy a supply of clean drinking water and the efficient removal of wastewater. Each day of the last year has been challenging, but our interactions with water have been one constant which we have been able to rely on in a tumultuous world,” states Venning.

Behind that feat are the team at Northern Ireland Water (NI Water), who, throughout the last year, have been maintaining this region’s water

infrastructure so that when we turn on the taps we get the clean, safe drinking water we have come to expect. They have continued to deliver a vital service to Northern Ireland during the pandemic, most importantly in supporting frontline health services.

Some of NI Water’s team are based out in the field maintaining reservoirs, water pumps and wastewater treatment plants, fixing leaks and bursts, while others are based in laboratories carrying out vital water testing. All had to adjust to a new way of working as the pandemic took hold but with the right measures in place

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NI Water was able to ensure no interruption of service, even during the extremely dry weather experienced last spring and early summer.

“It may be hard to remember as you look out of your window now but there was a long spell of sunny weather in the early days of last year’s lockdown when everyone took to their gardens, sending usage soaring as the rain dried up,” Venning highlights.

“In June, demand for water came close to outstripping our ability to treat it and it looked as if a hose pipe ban might be needed but our water supply team kept the water flowing with a bit of help from some much needed rain.”

At the same time, NI Water’s capital works saw only minimal disruption in the early days of lockdown as new, socially distanced protocols were implemented on its sites around Northern Ireland. As a result, it invested more than £170 million on capital works last year on maintaining and enhancing pumps, pipes and treatment works, while also installing new storm tanks and other essential engineering.

While that may sound like a lot, more is needed if NI Water is to reach its overriding aim of providing a modern efficient service to Northern Ireland, not just during the course of the pandemic but for this and future generations, according to Venning. “£170 million in one year is nowhere near the amount of capital investment which is needed to meet all our infrastructure needs. That need is apparent throughout NI Water’s stable, but is particularly vital for the treatment of wastewater.”

That urgency has arisen due to an historical lack of investment by the Executive which means Northern Ireland’s sewerage and wastewater works are struggling to cope with growing volumes from an increasing population and economy.

NI Water is a non-departmental public body which can only invest in line with allocations set out by the Northern Ireland Executive with funding which is scored against the block grant.

“Over the past 10 years our government hasn't made available the level of investment needed. The funding which

Alistair Jinks, Director of Business Services and Damien O’Mullan Head of Energy at NI Water with a small-scale electrolyser on site at Kinnegar Wastewater Treatment Works.

“The Covid-19 crisis has shone a light directly on how vital clean water and sanitation are to society; one would say they are priceless.” was made available has gone into ensuring that our public water supply is safe but we haven’t been able to invest in growing our wastewater treatment capacity, one which is vital to support economic growth,” explains Venning.

“As a result, the growth potential of Northern Ireland will be curbed in the future if NI Water isn’t able to allocate more funding to grow our wastewater treatment capacity. It really has been a case of cranes before drains and we need that to change.”

PC21 NI Water submitted its PC21 Business Plan to the Utility Regulator in January 2020, setting out that NI Water needs £2.2 billion capital investment over the next six years (2021-27), to maintain our essential water and sewerage services.

The need for increased funding has been backed by the Utility Regulator. In its PC21 Draft Determination, it has supported £2 billion capital investment.

“The Covid-19 crisis has shone a light directly on how vital clean water and sanitation are to society; one would say

they are priceless,” Venning says. “This plan is an important one for all of us in Northern Ireland.

“It lays out a blueprint of what NI Water needs to operate and to deliver our service to all our customers on a daily basis, and what is required to ensure we have a modern, efficient, water service today and in the future that one would expect in a strong, modern regional economy. In shaping our plan, we have worked with the Utility Regulator and our stakeholders to propose a way forward to start to tackle the crisis looming in Northern Ireland.

“We set out the step change in capital investment required to address the most critical needs while providing continued improvements in our efficiency and service for our customers.”

At a recent meeting with the infrastructure committee, Director of Networks at the Utility Regulator, Tanya Hedley reported: “It is important to us that NI Water has security of funding and it would also be very valuable in their delivery if they had confidence in a threeyear capital budget and that is

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“Investment in NI Water’s infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment plants and drinking water supply, are as important to me as investment in libraries, our hospitals and schools,” says Orr. “The 46,000 km of pipework throughout Northern Ireland is invisible and out of sight but it is the difference between living in a civilised and a non-civilised society.

“I would plead with government to recognise the importance of this type of infrastructure.”

Green growth from within

something that is common elsewhere in the UK, in fact it is Great Britain accepted practise.

dialog and engagement continues with all significant parties in the development process,” Venning says.

“Confidence in three-year capital funding adds significant value. This PC21 Draft Determination is what the company believes it can achieve and what we believe it can achieve if it is fully funded.”

NI Water is confident that, if granted the required funding from government, it will be able to roll out the programme of investment laid out in PC21 to support the growth ambitions of Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is unique within the UK as the only region where the regulated water utility is unable to fully implement the economic regulator’s final determination due to public expenditure constraints.

“We know each council’s growth ambitions, we know what needs done in each area and we have the plan and the skills to deliver it for you. We now need the funding.”

Progressing in close partnership Amidst the growing urgency around funding, NI Water has continued to work hard with councillors and developers to ensure it is able to provide water and wastewater services, where possible, and said it will continue to do so within the constraints of environmental protection and access to funding.

Its Development Constraints Project Team has been allocated additional resource and developed a solutions engineering team. It has put in place new processes and procedures, created new responses to planning requests and focused on direct and early engagement with developers, agents and designers.

The latter point is critical to ensure development continues apace.

“Our key focus is to ensure two-way

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Environmental focus While the economic aspect of investment in NI Water’s wastewater infrastructure is important, the environmental consequences of underinvestment – potential waterway pollution – bolster the call for investment in infrastructure.

That’s a sentiment backed by James Orr, Director of Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland.

Alongside wastewater infrastructure, NI Water has also developed a roadmap showing how it can play its part in helping Northern Ireland face a growing global climate emergency, utilising its significant land bank and other resources, Venning explains.

“We can play a strategically important role in helping society to decarbonise by planting one million trees and building more renewable energy generation systems on our land which will help double Northern Ireland’s renewable capacity, by opening a network of green fuel stations to kick-start our hydrogen economy. This has the potential to be used in decarbonising the gas network and by providing sources of warmth for district heating.

“Crucially, we make nearly all of this happen using third-party funding whilst at the same time lowering costs for water and electricity customers.”

Tree planting has already begun with the help of the Woodland Trust Northern Ireland, while NI Water has built and plans to extend its own solar farm on the shores of Lough Neagh and also has

“We can play a strategically important role in helping society to decarbonise by planting one million trees and building more renewable energy generation systems on our land which will help double Northern Ireland’s renewable capacity.”

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identified the potential for its land to host the largest wind farm in Northern Ireland with a generation capacity of one third of a conventional power station.

There is also potential to utilise its 3,000 grid connections by installing energy storage facilities to store electricity from wind and other renewable sources for use at times of peak demand.

Leading the hydrogen revolution Hydrogen is another proposition which could help Northern Ireland reduce its carbon footprint.

It can be produced from electrolysing water or the final effluent from wastewater treatment, producing oxygen as a byproduct. That oxygen can be used in the wastewater treatment process to encourage the growth of good bacteria and could, in theory, help increase the capacity of NI Water’s treatment works within the existing footprint.

“We're testing that theory at present and understand that although electrolysers are very energy-hungry pieces of equipment, if they run at night using the surplus energy from the wind farms, we might have created a virtuous circle,” says Venning. “Then we have a situation where green energy powers an electrical load which produces hydrogen, which in turn can be used for energy storage for release when the green energy is unavailable.

“Right across Northern Ireland we have wastewater treatment works situated close to all those major urban settings which could become a network of green fuelling stations either for hydrogen for larger vehicles or potentially acting as fast charging points for electric vehicles making use of high-capacity grid connections.

“The hydrogen that is produced in an electrolyser could be used for storage or for fuelling HGVs or indeed for decarbonizing the gas network.”

The process is currently being assessed

by NI Water at a Department for the Economy-funded pilot electrolyser project.

Similarly, NI Water is flagging up the potential that harnessing the heat produced by the wastewater treatment

NI Water’s sewage improvment / flood alleviation scheme on Main Street, Ballykelly.

process could be used to heat home and businesses in a district heating scheme project or even to heat greenhouses used in food production.

That inclusive growth sits at the heart of its operational model, one which places a priority on supporting the Northern Ireland economy’s growth ambitions.

“There is a world of opportunity which we’re exploring right now. These are bold steps, taking the lead not just on decarbonisation but also on green and economic growth,” Venning states.

But to reach that aim, NI Water needs to double its capital investment, one which has been set out in its PC21 Business Plan and, because of historic underinvestment, which will take at least two price controls to outwork.

“Here in Northern Ireland, we have a fantastic manufacturing base which is already building up knowledge in electrolyser engineering and could be a world leader in hydrogen technologies.”

Ambitious plans which need Executive support It is clear NI Water is well on the way to harnessing the potential of its assets to kick-start green growth, not just for the organisation but for Northern Ireland as a whole.

“The message is clear, NI Water is ready to provide engineering solutions to shortterm constraints where possible, however we must face the inescapable reality that the full funding identified by the Utility Regulator in its Draft Determination (PC21) is required to fulfil the vision of economic expansion for our towns and cities,” Venning says.

She concludes: “This is not a ‘wish list’ or a ‘nice to have’, this is the plan that will help us ensure NI Water can deliver in a strong, modern regional economy.

Sara Venning Sara Venning graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a Master of Electrical and Electronic Engineering after which she joined NIE as Customer Operations Manager. In 2010 she joined NI Water as Director of Customer Service Delivery and has been CEO since 2014. She has a passion for excellence, driving change that is transforming NI Water to becoming world class. Sara is also President of the Institute of Water, the UK water sector industry body and President of the NI WaterAid Committee, part of the national WaterAid charity working to transform lives by improving access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities.

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New decade, same approach An Executive split on many issues, delays in delivery of crucial reforms and a bleak economic outlook: one year on from the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) agreement it appears little has been done to bring forward the new way of progressive governance promised in the deal, writes David Whelan.

New Decade, New Approach was largely welcomed, with most people recognising that over three years of ‘direct rule-light’ by Westminster had only served to compound the lengthy list of historical challenges which have dogged Northern Ireland.

A period of “decay and stagnation” as described by the then Head of the Civil Service David Sterling was set to be addressed by the return of local decisionmakers. New Decade, New Approach was billed as not only brokering the return of 18

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Northern Ireland’s main political parties to the Executive table but also as a platform to transform public services and to restore public confidence in devolved government.

Over one year on, the deal has delivered little evident progress on many of its pledges and the strained Executive relationships bear a striking resemblance to those witnessed in previous mandates.

The emergence of Covid-19 can, quite rightly, be pointed to as cause for delay in many areas but the problems are more

deep-rooted than the diversion of resources, as evidenced by the fact that the restored Executive has yet to deliver a timeline for the delivery of a Programme for Government.

A number of other pre-Covid factors can be identified for why the agreement has, to date, failed to live up to expectations. The first being that while all parties in the Executive signed up to the ambitions of New Decade, New Approach, the deal was sculpted by the British and Irish Governments. While both governments will

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argue that the deal was informed by ninemonths of talks, the timing was such that the parties faced an ultimatum to agree or face a fresh round of Northern Ireland Assembly elections. There is an evident absence of ownership of much of the agreement’s promises by local ministers.

The second reason, highlighted at the time, was the absence of a concrete funding package aligning with the various commitments. New Decade, New Approach set out an ambitious agenda for investment but project-specific investment was lacking. The Department of Finance stressed that the £2 billion described by the British Government, comprised of very little ‘new money’ and instead was largely made up of Barnett consequential and the pre-existing confidence and supply agreement. Covid support measures have muddied the waters further in this regard, with resources from the UK Treasury largely being redirected to mitigate immediate health and economic pressures.

A third fundamental reason is the context in which the two largest and ideologically split parties were placed back into power sharing. Brexit was a looming shadow over the agreement in January 2020 and it was predictable that an agreed economic outlook would not be achievable while the UK’s direction of travel remained uncertain.

Constitutional allegiances also appear to be dominating the Executive’s Covid-19 response and as such, Executive relationships have tilted towards breaking point on several occasions. Ironically, the pandemic appears to be the binding reason that the Executive has not collapsed.

However, some progress has been made under New Decade, New Approach. In fact, the resumption of the Executive had an almost immediate impact as the Health Minister Robin Swann MLA had to settle pay disputes with nurses and teachers.

Other progress of note includes the launch of a discussion document on a Climate Change Act and a Clean Air Strategy, a new ministerial code and new rules around special advisors (although a Private Members’ Bill tabled by the TUV’s Jim Allister is seeking to overrule these and legislate for rules around SPADs) and planning permission being granted for the North South Interconnector.

It should also be noted that a great deal of work has gone into the reconfiguration of

“There is an evident absence of ownership of much of the agreement’s promises by local ministers.” services to adjust to Covid-19 including in health, education and through the Department for the Economy’s roll out of various support schemes.

appointments of Irish language and Ulster

However, many deadlines outlined in the original document have been missed and notably, little commitments have been given to renewed timeframes. No timeframe has been set for a new Programme for Government over a year on from the Executive’s resumption and with just slightly over a year left of the current mandate. Similarly, a new action plan on hospital waiting times promised in January 2020 is still absent, with figures actually worsening to the point where almost half of those in Northern Ireland waiting for a consultant-led outpatient appointment have been doing so for more than a year. A Mental Health Strategy was also promised

by December 2020 but has yet to emerge.

When assessing the progress under the

Financing NDNA’s aspirations has also proven problematic. Multi-year budgets to tackle long-standing challenges have yet to be achieved with the Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA bemoaning his latest draft Budget as a “standstill” of the previous year and blaming the Treasury for its oneyear nature. The latest budget included administrative costs for victims’ pensions payments but no concrete funding with both governments engaged in a stand off over who will pay the bill, not the outcome envisioned by those who read the NDNA promise of “the Executive will press on with implementation of a redress scheme for victims and survivors of historical abuse, making payments as early as possible”.

Brexit, Covid-19 restrictions and the

Many other issues remain outstanding, some appear yet to have been initiated.

The delivery of sustainable core budgets for every school will be a challenging ask before March 2022 and little progress appears to have been made on

Scots commissioners, despite being a key stumbling block in restoration negotiations pre-January 2020.

NDNA agreement it is worth reflecting on the deal’s ambitions. “The Executive will bring positive changes in areas that impact greatly on people’s lives such as the economy, overcrowded hospitals, struggling schools, housing stress, welfare concerns and mental health,” the deal outlined. None of the above have been achieved to a level which most would have hoped for when presented with the ambitions.

Furthermore, hopes of the emergence of a new way of working in the Executive have been undermined by clear splits over approach to marking 100 years of partition.

The failure of the First and deputy First Minister to agree on a new Head of the Civil Service at a time of crisis has been held up as evidence of failure to adopt the new ‘culture’ of power-sharing teased by NDNA. The pandemic and the long-term fall out of its economic and societal impacts are set to intensify the challenges the Executive faces on delivering on the agreement’s priorities. With less than 15 months left until the next Assembly election, the Executive would need to radically alter its mechanisms of delivery to achieve this. It is underwhelming and potentially telling that over a year on, we do not even have a Programme for Government from which we can assess which elements of the agreement the Executive view as priorities.

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Powering a sustainable future

In his role as Commercial Director at EPUK Investments (EPUKI), Ian Luney, is at the forefront of the energy transition to a lower carbon future, where the focus is on developing electricity generation infrastructure that helps maximise the use of renewable energy on the grid. In this article, he sets out EPUKI’s plans for the innovative Kilroot Energy Park in East Antrim and how the company is investing across the UK and Ireland to develop new electricity generation assets, which will play an integral part in the wider push to reduce carbon output and achieve new climate change targets.

At EPUKI, our main role is to generate the electricity which powers homes and businesses. We do this through efficiently operating the assets that we own across the UK and Ireland, which are primarily focused on generation from conventional and renewable sources.

EPUKI represents the UK and Ireland interests of the EPH Group, which is one of the largest power producers in Europe, employing over 25,000 people.

EPUKI has an extremely strong track record in the development, construction and operation of power generation projects in Great Britain. This includes the repowering of Lynemouth Power Station, which was converted from coal to biomass following a £300 million investment and is now the second largest biomass facility in the UK. In June 2019, EPUKI took the decision to acquire the Kilroot and Ballylumford

power stations in Northern Ireland. The Kilroot Power Station site is the primary focus for our investment and development teams at present, with ambitious plans which are set out in more detail below.

Ballylumford Power Station remains of long-term strategic importance to EPUKI and Northern Ireland, with its combination of fast, flexible and diverse thermal assets. It also has the potential

for battery storage and hydrogen production, making it ideally suited to address emerging and future needs for Northern Ireland as we move forward with long-term clean economic recovery.

The acquisition by EPUKI of a majority shareholding in Tynagh Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plant near Galway in Ireland, was also completed in October 2019, giving us a significant presence in the Republic of Ireland and the overall Single Electricity Market (SEM).

Decarbonisation and renewables targets The Kilroot, Ballylumford and Tynagh power stations are crucial in helping to deliver security of supply across the island and we recognise that each site has a strategic role to play as we aim to make the transition from reliance on fossil fuels to ever increasing reliance on renewable energy sources.

Historically, the energy trilemma describes the balance between security of supply, affordability and environmental sustainability. The new eagerly awaited Northern Ireland Energy Strategy, to be published by the Department for the Economy by the end of 2021, will consider the energy trilemma in the context of Northern Ireland’s existing energy mix and how it is to be restructured in the coming years.

This will be a crucial policy document in shaping the future of our electricity generation system.

As business and industry seeks to emerge from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we believe it is important to refocus all our efforts on a ‘green recovery’. Targets are in place at a UK level to reach net zero carbon by 2050 and there is also an aspiration to produce 70 per cent of our electricity by renewable sources on the island of Ireland by 2030.

Aligned with those objectives and aims, EPUKI launched the vision for the creation of a new energy park at the Kilroot site in July 2020.

Kilroot Energy Park The proposed Kilroot Energy Park represents the largest ever single investment in electricity generation in Northern Ireland and includes a range of renewable energy technologies and electricity generation solutions.

If taken forward in its entirety, the EPUKI vision has the potential to generate at least 600MW of lower carbon and renewable energy, which is enough to power over 500,000 homes. The investment in the site would also safeguard hundreds of jobs and mark an historic milestone in the decarbonisation of electricity generation in Northern Ireland.

The transition from coal to gas The central element of our plan for the Kilroot site is the replacement of the existing coal fired generation plant with flexible, lower carbon gas fired Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) technology.

For many years, the coal fired generating plant at Kilroot has provided a hugely strategic and important source of electricity for homes and businesses.

The transition from coal to gas will ensure that the site continues to provide that essential security of electricity supply for Northern Ireland.

Importantly, because of the flexible nature of the of the OCGT technology, it will also help to enable greater utilisation of renewable energy generation on the grid and reduce curtailment. This new flexible gas generation at Kilroot will be highly responsive and efficient, meaning that more wind generation and other intermittent renewables can be used on the grid with greater ease and more often than is currently possible.

The delivery of infrastructure to allow for the continuation of indigenous, dispatchable and flexible generation at the Kilroot site is therefore a major focus for EPUKI over the coming years.

Other sustainable and renewable generation at Kilroot A key proposed use within the Kilroot Energy Park is a multi-fuel Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility. This process would use fuel, such as biomass and pre-treated non-recyclable waste, to produce renewable electricity.

The planning application for this electricity generation plant will be processed by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and we look forward to working with them to deliver it.

The Department for the Economy has also identified hydrogen as a key

component of a green recovery. As one of the most plentiful elements in the world, hydrogen is ‘clean burning’ and releases no carbon emissions. The production of hydrogen can require high pressure steam which the CHP process provides. The hydrogen can then be stored and used for zero-carbon power, heat or transport. The potential therefore exists for the Kilroot Energy Park to play a key role in helping Northern Ireland to become a global leader in hydrogen energy production.

Heat from the CHP process can also be used to support a variety of local industrial/commercial uses on adjacent employment lands thereby furthering sustainable development and encouraging economic investment into the Mid and East Antrim Borough.

We are also looking at the possibility for heat offtake from the CHP Facility to provide a cooling function for a large scale, state-of-the-art, purpose-built data centre on the site. This facility would support innovation and the digital economy throughout the Mid and East Antrim Borough by allowing data to be stored and processed locally.

In addition to these proposals, EPUKI is also developing plans for a variety of other forms of renewable energy on the 230-acre Kilroot site, including large scale solar, battery storage and EV charging facilities.

All of these initiatives combined, will contribute towards helping protect the environment and supporting the local economy in Northern Ireland.

A sustainable energy future EPUKI has an exciting pipeline of projects planned for the coming years.

We are looking forward to realising our vision for the Kilroot Energy Park and to helping power a sustainable future across all our sites in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

For more information: T: +44 (0) 28 9335 6206 E: Ian.luney@epuki.co.uk W: www.kilrootenergypark.com, www.epuki.co.uk

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“An investment-led approach is absolutely critical given we have never fully emerged from years of austerity measures,” he had argued.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak says that he delivered a budget that “meets the moment” but his further claims that investment will fuel economic growth and “ensure we bounce back from this pandemic together” has been met with scepticism.

The budget also confirmed the now wellknown move by the UK Government not to apply the Barnett formula to replacement EU funding and enable the devolved nations to administer funds.

Instead, the Government will retain control of the Levelling Up Fund in Westminster.

The budget did provide some financial relief, particularly for businesses and the worst-hit public services in the form of furlough extension, additional supports for the newly self-employed and Covidrelated funding.

Budget: Public spending outlook bleak Despite headline figures of Covid support emerging from the UK budget, the long-term outlook for public spending in Northern Ireland remains bleak, writes David Whelan.

22

While the £412 million extra for Northern Ireland as part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s March budget was welcomed in Northern Ireland, the Covid-related nature of the money will have little impact on the Executive’s dayto-day spending capability.

revealed that core spending for Stormont

Northern Ireland’s Finance Minister described a ‘flat-cash budget’ for mainstream public services after it was

Northern Ireland economy as it seeks to

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departments will rise by only £4.2 million, with no additional capital funding, as a result of the UK budget.

Murphy had lobbied for extra capital money to act as a stimulus to the recover from the impact of Covid-19 but none was forthcoming.

The furlough extension will serve as a relief for many businesses in Northern Ireland. With heavy restrictions still in place, over 100,000 people remain on the scheme and there were fears that the proposed end date for the scheme would have proved a cliff-edge scenario for employers.

However, concerns have been raised that changes to the scheme which will require employers to pay 10 per cent towards employee hours not worked in July and increasing to 20 per cent in August and September.

Many have read changes to the scheme as a government assumption that the economy, particularly the private sector, will be fully operational again by June.

However, with the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government operating different restriction lifting roadmaps and with expected differing levels of economic recovery, the threat of higher levels of redundancies in Northern Ireland in coming months is evident.

The Chancellor also announced that the Northern Ireland Housing Executive

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Northern Ireland Core DEL: Draft budget 2021–22 2020–21 £m

2021–22 £m

% change

11,555.1

11,596.0

0.35%

1,480.6

1,578.0

6.58%

Main features of the UK Budget • Furlough extension

Resource DEL Conventional Capital DEL Financial Transactions Capital (FTC)

194.6

73.6

-62.18%

13,230.3

13,247.6

0.13%

• Widening of selfemployment grant • Corporation tax rise from 19 per cent to 25 per cent in April 2023

Source: Department of Finance

Departmental Programme and Administration Budgets Core funding £billion

Resource DEL excluding depreciation Cabinet Office Scotland Wales Northern Ireland

Covid-19 funding £billion

Outurn

Plans

Plans

Plans

Plans

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

2020–21

2021–22

0.9

0.9

0.7

0.7

0

28.6

30.5

31.6

9.6

2.5

12

13.1

13.6

5.8

1.5

11.4

11.9

12

3.3

0.9

Source: HM Treasury

(NIHE) is to be exempted from Corporation Tax from 2021–22, an estimated £10 million annual saving to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Concern about the long-term outlook for public spending in Northern Ireland had already been raised after Finance Minister Conor Murphy brought the draft budget for 2021–2022 to the Northern Ireland Assembly in January 2020.

The budget outlined a decline in day-today expenditure in cash terms and once adjusted for inflation represents a cut to current expenditure on public services. It is important to recognise that figures for this budget are not being compared against a Covid-inflated budget last year.

The nature of the 2020-21 budget was such that it only included £120 million for Covid response as its publication coincided with the beginning of the pandemic. Northern Ireland received more than £3 billion in Covid-funding in

total but this was managed on an ad-hoc basis.

“I recognise for most departments the draft budget outcome represents flat cash settlement which will mean effective reductions once increased costs and demands on services are taken into account. Choices will have to be made, public services will have to be prioritised,” said Murphy.

The Finance Minister described the budget as “difficult” and set out a “standstill” position from the previous 2020–2021 budget.

In terms of Covid response, the Department of Finance allocated £380 million of the £538 million Covid response funding to the Department of Health, £30.6 million to the Department of Education, £700,000 towards higher education and £126.9 million remains to be allocated.

• Income tax, national insurance and VAT rate freeze • Stamp duty holiday extension on house purchases in England and Northern Ireland extended to 30 June • Minimum wage to increase to £8.91 an hour from April • £20 weekly uplift in Universal Credit extension • £500 one-off payment for working tax credits claimants • £1.2 billion in funding for the Scottish government, £740 million for the Welsh government and £410 million for the Northern Ireland Executive

The Minister opted not to increase revenue through the increase of regional rates. However, following the UK budget announcement, Murphy has announced his intention to follow through on a New Decade, New Approach agreement to establish a fiscal commission to examine the Executive’s tax-varying powers.

One of the main examinations by the commission will likely be the corporation tax rate. Northern Ireland secured powers to devolve the corporation tax rate through the Fresh Start Agreement in 2015. At the time, the Executive pledged to lower the rate in line with the Republic of Ireland to 12.5 per cent but has never diverged from the UK rate. With the UK planning to raise its rate to 25 per cent in 2023, Northern Ireland may now seek to gain a competitive advantage.

agenda issues

23

Controlling risk together office, retail, food and leisure activities.

Despite the scale of its remit, HSENI is not a large organisation. However, with around 115 staff, 40 of whom are inspectors, it does house a diverse range of skillsets. As Kidd explains, its work requires collaboration, something which has been ramped up during the Covid pandemic as it sought to ensure safe working environments and habits in a time of unprecedented change. This collaboration stretched from company management, trade unions and trade bodies through to the district councils and other government departments.

Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) Chief Executive, Robert Kidd, discusses the pandemic’s impact on the promotion and enforcement of health and safety at work standards in Northern Ireland.

Describing the “huge challenges” faced by the organisation over the past 12 months, Kidd says that one of the several positive outcomes of adopting an agile approach to an intense workload has been the raising of HSENI’s profile to an unprecedented level.

HSENI is an executive nondepartmental public body sponsored by the Department for the Economy (DfE) and operates under the mission to collaborate with others to reduce work-related serious injury

and ill-health in Northern Ireland.

This partnership working has been built up with industry bodies and key stakeholders over many years.

Kidd explains that their extensive remit, covering mainly industrial sectors, ranging from agriculture and food production through to manufacturing and construction, has been expanded further as a result of the pandemic, especially in its role as educator, advisor and as a support to employers and employees. Local authority colleagues cover high street

Outlining the “dramatic changes” needed within his own organisation at the onset of the pandemic, Kidd points to an overnight pivot to remote working for staff and a recognition of the immediate shut down for many sectors. For those sectors that remained operational, the Chief Executive says that HSENI faced the mammoth challenge of applying public health guidance in the workplace and working to identify the most appropriate mitigations to ensure these industries could continue to function while also keeping people safe.

HSENI’s Deputy Chief Executive in the Field Operations Division, Bryan Monson, recognised an immediate spike in demand of HSENI service relating to advice and complaints around workplace conditions.

“We had to very quickly develop a new operating model to meet that demand,” he explains, adding: “As an organisation we have become even more agile and introduced alternative ways of working to ensure proper standards are in place.

“Much of the early work moved to remote delivery due to the huge spike in demand. Concerns from business and employees could be

“All of this new technology brings challenges to the HSENI as we look to assess the risk for public consumers, the requirement for regulation and the training needed in relation to installation and maintenance to work in those industries.”

Kevin Neeson, Acting Deputy Chief Executive, Services Division.

addressed swiftly in this way, providing essential advice and support.”

Monson outlines that initial work focused on pre-identification of highrisk businesses and sectors and identifying how best to intervene, for example in food production the organisation embarked on biweekly meetings with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), trade representatives and individual businesses to gather evidence, develop best practices and improve controls. Work that he says has been essential to managing a community transmissible virus’ impact on the workplace.

“In focusing on the mitigation of risk, we started to talk to people about things that were essentially not in HSENI’s initial remit. For example, sick pay and how that can impact on a staff members decision to come into the workplace, even if symptomatic. We also got involved in assisting the Public Health Agency with messaging around issues such as car sharing.”

The organisation shifted its mindset from a focus purely on health and safety regulations to one of ensuring compliance with public health guidance in the workplace. Monson says that while enforcement

sanctions were necessary in some instances, most businesses HSENI interacted with appreciated the benefits of improving procedures and workplaces and welcomed the support.

“I must pay tribute to all of the staff in the organisation who have worked long hours but also been hugely flexible in assisting colleagues in other teams as the spikes in demand emerged,” he states.

Resources

Wellbeing

Another change introduced by HSENI to conduct its operations was the repurposing of some staff.

HSENI’s Covid inspections now required teams of two on site.

Typically, non-Covid inspections would be conducted by one inspector, however, recognising the increased risks, a lead inspector was supported by an additional member of staff, newly appointed trainee inspectors or compliance officers which allowed our capacity to be maintained.

While a lot of the focus of HSENI has been on the pandemic, this work remains an extension of the organisation’s workstreams, a core element of which is workplace wellbeing.

While the switch brought about many advantages, especially in relation to trainee experience, it highlighted the existing resource challenge facing HSENI. Kidd explains that trainee inspectors require some two-and-ahalf years of training prior to qualification.

Kidd says that the issue of resource is something that they have had and continue to have discussions on to ensure that the organisation is future proofed for the years ahead.

Establishing that a worker’s health should not suffer, or their life be shortened because of the type of job they do, Deputy Chief Executive of HSENI’s Specialist Sectors Division, Nikki Monson, points to three key priorities for HSENI in relation to occupational health. These are occupational lung disease; occupational cancers; and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and stress.

HSENI estimates that some 355 deaths per year are linked to past exposure to harmful substances in the workplace. Additionally, official figures show that in the region of 16,000 employees in Northern Ireland suffer from stress, anxiety or depression caused or made worse by work, resulting in an estimated loss of 373,000 days to the Northern

“As the Chair of HSENI, I am immensely proud of how the organisation has addressed the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year. While Covid has presented many unforeseen problems to be overcome, the strategic direction of HSENI continues to focus on the principles of keeping people safe and healthy in the workplace.”

Derek Martin, Chairman.

4

“It made sense to continue to use the technical base within HSE (GB) as opposed to standing up the very considerable staffing structures in Northern Ireland.”

Louis Burns, Deputy Chief Executive, EU Exit and Legislation Division.

Ireland economy per annum. The economic cost is estimated at some £238 million per annum and the human cost on family, friends and co-workers is immeasurable.

Monson highlights a concern that these figures may intensify as a result of Covid and points to a preventative approach adopted by HSENI. “The aim is being able to identify those factors that cause work-related stress and make sure they are effectively managed,” she says, explaining that its Mental Wellbeing at Work Advisory Service (MWAWAS) has continued to deliver a series of programmes digitally throughout the past year. Indicating its commitment to ensuring workplace wellbeing is a consideration of all sectors, the HSENI recently expanded the service into the extractive industry, not a traditional sector for looking at work-related mental health.

Speaking positively about how the sector has embraced the programme, Monson reveals that the organisation will soon roll out a new work programme on burnout and fatigue to help prevent mental illhealth from developing within industry.

“It is in everyone’s interest to manage employee health and given the amount of time we spend in the workplace to look for opportunities to improve health also,” says Monson.

Future-scanning HSENI is cognisant of life beyond Covid-19 and while Kidd admits that demand has tended to move to particular areas as a result of Covid, he stresses that inspectors retain a focus on wider health and safety aspects while on the ground.

Bryan Monson takes up the point emphasising that HSENI is continuously future-scanning, meaning that it is designing future work programmes that are flexible to falling or rising levels of Covid threat.

In this regard, HSENI is also interacting with businesses to ensure that they have consideration of the sustainability of their Covid measures and developing scaled responses, allowing them to operate more flexibly at times of low risk but also move quickly if that scenario changes.

Acting Deputy Chief Executive of HSENI’s Services Division, Kevin Neeson, stresses that the risks being dealt with by HSENI pre-Covid still remain and the organisation

continues to deal with those, albeit in a changed manner. Future-scanning, he states, also means that HSENI is focused in proactively addressing the challenges of the future, not least the emergence of new technology.

Homing in on ambitions from governments across the globe for decarbonisation, Neeson points to developments in renewable energy generation ranging from wind turbines to hydrogen injection of the natural gas grid through to anaerobic digestion.

“All of this new technology brings challenges to HSENI as we look to the requirement for regulation and the training needed in relation to installation and maintenance to work in those industries. Integrating effective health and safety management into the development and deployment of new and novel technologies is imperative to underpin Northern Ireland’s decarbonisation activities.”

Brexit Amidst efforts to tailor its existing work to the effects of the pandemic, HSENI retained a focus on the Brexit impact on its operations. As a relatively small organisation, HSENI has always relied heavily on its sister

“As an organisation we have become even more agile and introduced alternative ways of working to ensure proper standards are in place.”

Bryan Monson, Deputy Chief Executive, Field Operations Division.

“I must pay tribute to all of the staff in the organisation who have worked long hours but also been hugely flexible in assisting colleagues in other teams as the spikes in demand emerged.”

Robert Kidd, Chief Executive.

organisation in Great Britain, which has well established policy and technical functions.

given by UK Government departments has been both excellent and generous.

Louis Burns, the HSENI’s Deputy Chief Executive responsible for the EU Exit and Legislation Division explained that the preparation for EU Exit was delivered with the assistance of HSE (GB). The present and future delivery of the EU Exit obligations in HSENI will also require significant ongoing support from HSE (GB). HSENI has a key role in areas such as chemicals, product safety and legislation.

Burns adds that HSENI has had to develop two new teams in the areas of chemicals and product safety in HSENI. Their role will primarily be to help Northern Ireland businesses achieve compliance with the relevant regulations and standards. While this has increased the workload of HSENI, the benefits of the work will be the opportunities to protect workers safety and health and assist local businesses.

Under the Northern Ireland Protocol some EU rules still apply in Northern Ireland and not in Great Britain.

Where divergence would emerge in any of these areas it will pose a significant challenge in both tracking the divergence and in terms of enforcement.

It made sense to continue to use the technical base within HSE (GB) as opposed to standing up the very considerable staffing structures in Northern Ireland. To this end, HSENI is involved with DfE, DAERA and Department of Justice in establishing agreements that would see HSE (GB) continue to provide technical support to allow the Northern Ireland teams to discharge their functions.

Burns says the support and help

Future Re-emphasising the prospect of greater challenges around workplace wellbeing in relation to Covid-19, Kidd says that preventing future work related stress will require a particular focus as society assesses the impact of isolation and changed interactions.

Bryan Monson is confident that that lessons around sustainability of measures in relation to Covid can be harnessed and integrated into the broader health and safety approach, with businesses recognising the benefits the approaches adopted in the last 12 months have generated.

to focus on our own staff development and wellbeing, ensuring that we have a workplace that benefits the wider work that we do.”

Looking to the future and the year ahead for HSENI, Kidd says that the organisation will in addition to retaining its focus on delivery of its statutory functions, “concentrate on building our capacity to enable us to meet the emerging demands of an evolving work environment and what we may see in a post-Covid world for everyone”.

“We look forward to working with new board members, acknowledging the contribution of the existing board, and bringing forward a strategy which supports businesses into the future. As an organisation, we hugely value the support and working relationship built with the Department for the Economy and the Committee.”

Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland 83 Ladas Drive, Belfast, BT6 9FR T: 0800 0320 121 E: mail@hseni.gov.uk W: www.hseni.gov.uk

Nikki Monson added: “We also aim

“It is in everyone’s interest to manage employee health and given the amount of time we spend in the workplace to look for opportunities to improve health also.”

Nikki Monson, Deputy Chief Executive, Specialist Sectors Division.

issues agenda

Developing a new Skills Strategy for the next decade Director of Skills in the Department for the Economy, Graeme Wilkinson, discusses the key elements of a new 10-year Skills Strategy set to be published this summer, and the pandemic’s impact on its delivery outcomes. the Economy commissioned a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to assess the key skills issues impacting the local economy and to develop a range of recommendations. The report was published in June 2020 and Wilkinson highlights how feedback to the report consistently made the point that investment in skills is key to economic recovery and ensuring the economy is resilient to future shocks.

28

Graeme Wilkinson describes a “renewed focus and enthusiasm” around the skills agenda from all sectors of the economy even prior to the pandemic, which has placed fresh emphasis on the need for economic recovery.

Setting out the “difficult policy context” in which the Department is operating to deliver a Skills Strategy, Wilkinson points to not only the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market, but also changes brought about by Brexit and the uncertain public expenditure outlook.

In particular, the Director of Skills points to the influences of automation, the digitisation of processes and the significant growth of Northern Ireland’s IT sector as driving factors behind that renewal of interest.

However, he maintains that even in the face of these challenges, the Minister and the Department are committed to delivering on their vision for “a more competitive, inclusive and greener economy”.

In September 2019, the Department for

Ultimately, the challenges centre on the

agenda issues

emerging labour market trends, which are of a reducing employment rate, rising unemployment and higher levels of economic inactivity. It’s also noted that these figures will be impacted further if the furlough scheme comes to an end as planned in April 2021, with the potential for Northern Ireland’s unemployment to rise from current estimations of 60,000 to over 100,000.

Wilkinson says that while the economic context for development of the Skills Strategy has changed, historical issues that have “bedevilled” Northern Ireland’s economy in recent decades must be kept in focus and efforts be made to address them. They include: •

a relatively low productivity rate, when compared with the rest of the UK;

•

a greater number of workers with no qualifications, when compared with the UK average;

•

a mid-level skills gap; and

•

the highest economic inactivity rate of any region of the UK.

issues agenda

Underpinning Northern Ireland’s labour market challenges, suggests Wilkinson, is a legacy of under investment in skills in both private and public sectors.

However, Wilkinson admits that while the benefits of increased skills investment are obvious, the “difficult public expenditure” outlook means that hard decisions will have to be made around how the Northern Ireland Executive deploys its resources, in order to achieve a maximum return for its investment.

Principles Northern Ireland’s last Skills Strategy was published in 2011 and covered the decade up to 2020. The new strategy will adopt a similar timeframe and look forward to 2030, however, Wilkinson suggests changes in how the strategy is adopted. Where the last strategy was very much viewed as a Department for Employment and Learning (DEL)-owned strategy, Wilkinson says that an emphasis is being placed on a whole-of-government approach, moving away from a siloed mentality.

To this end, he says that the establishment of a new project board, representative of all government departments, has been a positive experience and one that the Department is seeking to build upon.

Outlining the core design principles of the new strategy, Wilkinson says that a focus on inclusivity should serve as an indication that the Department is focused on ensuring that the strategy is relevant to wider society and that interventions will be designed and developed to support all to achieve their full potential. The importance of inclusivity, he believes, has been heightened by the pandemic’s impact on the labour market, recognising that individuals at the lower end of the skills spectrum are being hit hardest.

A second principle is that of responsiveness. Wilkinson explains: “What we don’t want is a document that sits on the shelf. It’s important that we have the systems in place that will allow us to respond and react to the needs of businesses, particularly at this critical time.”

Progression is another key principle.

Wilkinson points to achievements from the previous strategy as a solid

“The Minister has always been clear that we’re too small to be brilliant at everything and so we need to identify the areas where we have a competitive advantage. Having a focus on those key areas of growth is essential for us moving forward.” foundation on which to build upon.

Additionally, he states that the agility demonstrated recently by the further and higher education sectors in response to the pandemic, as well as ongoing collaboration with the Department to deliver a range of Covid-19 driven services, is evidence of the existing relationships that will enable the more rapid response to business needs.

Finally, Wilkinson highlights the final design principle of outcomes, pointing to the existing Programme for Government commitment of getting more people working in better jobs. “Our commitment to achieve that objective remains and I want to make sure that the strategy sets a pathway to help us achieve that ambition,” he explains.

Outcomes Outlining some of the driving objectives of the strategy, Wilkinson points to a desire to develop a “digital spine” through from primary school age to PhD level.

Additionally, he describes recognition from the Minister and in the Department of an increase in demand for those technical skills (levels three, four and five), where Northern Ireland has clear gaps.

Addressing the skills imbalances in the labour market is a priority and Wilkinson notes an increased appetite from employers to use apprenticeship programmes to address their needs and a shift in the approach from employers in relation to how they recruit and develop their workforce, which he says the Minister is committed to assisting with.

He adds: “Careers advice is also critically important. A theme of the OECD research and the engagement we have had with stakeholders is the need to ensure that individuals are equipped with the necessary information to make informed choices about their future.

“However, I also think that employers have

an important role to play in that communication, by being very clear about the skills that they require, not just now but into the future.”

A final core outcome, and one addressed in the OECD recommendations, is the need to develop a culture of lifelong learning in Northern Ireland. “Historically, we haven’t valued continued learning and development and that’s borne out in the statistics,” states Wilkinson. “Northern Ireland could improve when it comes to adult learning and I think that’s partly cultural. In the past, success was viewed as attaining a qualification and then entering a job for life, however, our changing economy means that few of us can be afforded that luxury. We need to ensure that skill sets are keeping up to date with the very changing needs of our economy.”

Turning to levers for achievement, the Director of Skills highlights the ambition to establish a National Skills Council, to support policy cohesion and help inform future interventions to support economic ambitions. On investment, he hopes to see a “turning of the curve” in relation to skills investment, including dedicated, ring-fenced finance to help support business and their ambitions. This, he believes, should be mainly targeted towards the growth sectors already identified, such as the ICT sector, advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences and around green growth.

“The Minister has always been clear that we’re too small to be brilliant at everything and so we need to identify the areas where we have a competitive advantage.

Having a focus on those key areas of growth is essential for us moving forward,” Wilkinson concludes.

The Department aims to launch a consultation of the Skills Strategy in early 2021, with the formal launch of the strategy expected in the summer of 2021.

agenda issues

29

An extraordinary year: Chief Commissioner’s year in review out of the pandemic is the public discussion it has created about the inequalities affecting our society. I will continue to push for more engagement, research and better data to get to grips with inequalities accentuated during this pandemic.

Covid-19 is having an impact on everyone’s life, but for many who were already suffering real inequalities, in health, education, employment and social inclusion, it is making things worse. Our everyday conversations are now peppered with how much has changed in such a short time and on the inequalities in our society so clearly exposed by the pandemic.

Covid-19 highlighted inequalities on grounds of disability, age, gender and race, in a number of areas including education.

Geraldine McGahey, Chief Commissioner, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland discusses the impact of an unprecedented year and the potential learnings in promoting equality and challenging discrimination.

How was your first year as Chief Commissioner?

To say that it was different to what I planned would be a gross understatement. I became Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission on 1 March 2020 and after only three weeks in post, the pandemic hit and we moved to working from home. We were very quick to adapt and continue to provide all our advice and information services as well as employer training online.

I have been meeting online with stakeholders, with government and of

course chairing the monthly Commission meetings. I am very keen to understand different perspectives on equality and to meet people who experience inequalities in their daily lives, as well as listening to a wide range of stakeholders, from politicians to representatives of business, trade unions and voluntary and community sectors.

What difference has the pandemic made to your work?

One of the very few positives I can take

We all know that education is fundamental to children’s wellbeing and their life chances. I have been really impressed by the efforts of parents doing their best to care for and educate their children on top of the day job.

Recent research published by the Education Endowment Foundation has found that children entitled to free school meals have been disproportionately affected by last year’s school closures. Children with disabilities and children from minority ethnic groups are over-represented within free school meal entitlement. The study of around 6,000 six- and sevenyear-olds in England found that the gap between free school meal and non-free school meal children has widened further than expected. It also suggests that it will be made worse by school closures early in 2021.

We are aware of ongoing work within the Department of Education and the

“I believe we need to hear from people with information, real life experience or views on inequality for us as a society to reach a common understanding of what equality means.”

Education Authority and this needs to be closely monitored to ensure it is tackling the inequalities experienced by groups of children.

The Office for National Statistics reports that disabled people are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Unfortunately, NISRA does not collect similar data but we can assume that this is mirrored here.

Behind this data there are people who have lost their lives and families who have lost loved ones. The pandemic should be a catalyst for change in how we as a society treat people with disabilities.

Another area of real disadvantage that has become clear is the lack of protection against age discrimination in accessing goods, facilities and services.

This is an area where there is a gap between equality legislation in Great Britain and here. I am really concerned about this, especially in the delivery of health services, and will continue to press for changes in the law.

While challenging racism has been part of the Commission’s work since the very start, it has become much more prominent with the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd last May. Northern Ireland does have its Racial Equality Strategy, but progress by the Executive has been extremely slow and that needs to change. I’ve been meeting ethnic minority groups, working to keep the issues on the political agenda and pressing for more political engagement and urgent delivery on the RES. We like to think of Northern Ireland as a welcoming society, but for many people of different races, that’s not their experience. There were 881 racist

incidents and 583 racist crimes recorded by the police in the 12 months to the end of September 2020, that’s 17 every week. We responded to last year’s review of hate crime legislation, and look forward to our recommendations being translated into legislative reform.

the scope of the commitment that have an island of Ireland dimension. It is challenging and interesting work.

We need to see leadership on this if we want to see change. All leaders in society must be careful of the language they use and must be seen to challenge discrimination in whatever form it is. A series of hate crime incidents over some months culminated just a few weeks ago in an arson attack at the MultiCultural Association’s premises near our office in Belfast. This is where unchallenged racism leads us.

A general over-arching point as we start to see light at the end of the Covid tunnel is the need for policy makers not to lose sight of their duties, under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act, to mainstream equality considerations in developing and implementing policies. I appreciate that for the Executive to respond quickly to the Covid-19 situation, some policies had to be made very fast. Even so, policy should be based on data and an understanding of societal needs. Equality matters in these difficult times and evidence of the differential impact on people from different equality groups needs to be understood and acted upon.

Policymakers are in a position where they can really help by not making existing inequalities worse or creating new ones.

There are hopeful signs: debate on the Racial Equality Strategy and the extension of the Minority Ethnic Development Fund to September, for example. I’m looking forward to the Executive delivering on its commitments and demonstrating clear leadership in addressing racism and promoting race equality.

Has Brexit had any effect on the Commission’s work?

It would be impossible to look at the last year and not refer to Brexit. The UK Government has given us new powers and duties, and additional resources, to enable us and the NI Human Rights Commission to oversee the implementation of its important commitment to no reduction in certain equality and human rights as a result of Brexit. We have new functions to monitor, advise on, report on and enforce the UK’s adherence to this commitment. This includes raising awareness, research and legal work and, alongside a strong partnership with the NI Human Rights Commission, work with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission on oversight of rights and equalities issues falling within

What will stay with you after this unprecedented year?

I’d like to think the pandemic has given all of us more insight into the lives of people who live every day with isolation and inequality. I believe we need to hear from people with information, real life experience or views on inequality for us as a society to reach a common understanding of what equality means.

We need to take forward the determination and flexibility that has got us this far. I am determined to push forward into my second year with the Commission with renewed focus on continuing engagement and applying the lessons of this extraordinary year to promoting equality and challenging discrimination.

T: 028 90 500 600 E: information@equalityni.org W: www.equalityni.org

issues agenda

Northern Ireland’s vaccine rollout slowest in UK Swann added that the expected supply of the vaccine is to increase “significantly” in the month of March and that the programme was “moving very well through the priority groups”. However, comparisons with English data released on 7 March and Welsh and Scottish data released on 10 March show Northern Ireland to have had the slowest vaccine rollout rate for over 60s of any UK region.

Vaccination figures released in March by the Department of Health show Northern Ireland to be “significantly ahead” of the original schedule for rollout, but the region has still been the slowest in the UK in terms of first dose rollout for over 60s.

Vaccination figures released on 14 March revealed the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland on vaccine rollout. 70,445 people over 80 years of age had all received their first doses, along with 57,152 of the 75-79 age group, 71,147 of 70-74s and 67,258 of the 65-69 age group.

46,411 of those deemed clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) had also received their first doses as of early March. Many CEV people will be over the age of 65 and as such are being covered in their age groups rather than the CEV grouping.

Overall, 677,602 vaccines had been

32

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administered by 14 March, 625,195 of those being first doses and 52,407 being second doses. These numbers divide “almost exactly evenly” between GP practices and Trust-run vaccination centres. Speaking in early March, Health Minister Robin Swann MLA said that the “figures mark the tremendous achievement of our health professionals and volunteers in rolling out the vaccination programme with greater efficiency”. “I know it will provide very welcome reassurance and a sense of hope for many families as we see hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable citizens gaining the protection of the vaccine.”

Northern Ireland has a 67 per cent rate of those over 60 who have received their first dose, behind Wales’ 81 per cent rate, Scotland’s 85 per cent rate and England’s 89 per cent rate. When England is further broken down into its regions, Northern Ireland is still at the bottom of the table, with Wales and London (82 per cent) closest; every other region of England has achieved a vaccination rate of over 85 per cent.

The UK Government has so far ordered over 450 million doses of vaccines across eight manufacturers. Three of these have been approved for use thus far: OxfordAstraZeneca; Pfizer-BioNTech; and Moderna. Use of AstraZeneca vaccines has been suspended in eight countries due to fears around blood clotting that originated in Norway but the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has thus far advised against its withdrawal in the UK. With a possible surplus of vaccines in the UK and with the Republic of Ireland delivering less than half of its expected vaccines in the first quarter of the year, First Minister Arlene Foster has suggested that any surplus could be given to the Republic in order to speed up the process of an Ireland-wide reopening.

“It is my desire, of course, as a neighbour to see everyone vaccinated on the island of Ireland and I very much hope that the vaccine programme in the Republic does pick p pace because it’s important that if people are coming and travelling across the border that they are vaccinated, but also for the population of the Republic as well,” Foster said.

CITB NI: Training within construction is more important now than ever The Northern Ireland Construction Industry activity has been greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, as we emerge from the pandemic both economic and industry growth is expected to return over the next number of years, writes CITB NI’s CEO Barry Neilson.

CITB NI’s support for training will continue to remain paramount over the upcoming years to serve our industry while it recovers and grows again.

Throughout the pandemic crisis, CITB NI committed to continuing to provide additional support, advice and guidance to local construction employers in relation to levy and grant as well as ensuring training initiatives were accessible by moving them online.

During this time we continued to deliver to the industry, in 2020 we paid out £1.75 million in grant funding to local employers, held our very first Women in Construction Summit, expanded the

help overcome challenges, learn more and be altogether better and stronger.

Partnership Work; Commercial Opportunities; and Embracing Innovation.

Our grant scheme and training programmes are widely recognised within the industry and we continue to provide both training and financial support for employers. We also support the Government Apprenticeship Recovery Package which gives employers the chance to retain and recruit apprentices and help to protect and improve this talent pipeline to sustain the future of construction.

We, along with the rest of the industry, are looking at the measures we have had to put in place as a result of Covid-19.

Some of these measures suggest that we consider new ways of developing our workforce and imagine these will enhance rather than replace what has gone before. Through a mix of grant funding and direct training interventions CITB NI will help develop the workforce to meet client needs and grow their business.

Looking towards the future, CITB NI will continue to focus on providing the support and services needed to ensure local businesses are equipped with all the right skills. We will continue to work with contractors, professional and trade bodies to support training and skills

“We have encouraged our industry to continue to train during the difficult times to develop the skills of their workforce to help overcome challenges, learn more and be altogether better and stronger.” mental health training for local employers

development for the overall benefit of the

and continued to promote construction

industry.

as a career option for the youth market.

CITB NI will also continue to follow the

We have encouraged our industry to

strategic road map developed in recent

continue to train during the difficult times

years, under our themes to benefit the

to develop the skills of their workforce to

Industry: Training Hub; Quality Standards;

For further information on what we can do to help you and your construction training, log on to www.citbni.org.uk, like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CITBNorthe rnIreland or follow the discussion on Twitter @CITBNI , Instagram @CITB1 and LinkedIn http://linkd.in/1GBeyLf

CITB NI 17 Dundrod Road Crumlin BT29 4SR

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Judith Gillespie, Chairwoman of the inter-departmental working group on mother and baby homes, with deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster following the publication of the research report on Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene laundries.

Mother and baby homes public inquiry ‘not off the table’ The Northern Ireland Executive has fallen short of calling a full public inquiry into historic institutions in Northern Ireland, including mother and baby homes.

The Executive has not ruled out holding a public inquiry in the future but has for now opted for an independent investigation, which it says will be “codesigned and victims centred”.

Some victims and survivors have expressed their disappointment in the failure to call a full public inquiry, with powers to deliver truth and justice, and raised concerns about the length of time an investigation will take.

Amnesty International first submitted a paper to the Northern Ireland Executive making a case for a public inquiry into abuses in homes in 2013.

The decision comes after the conclusion of a Commission of Investigation in the Republic, established in 2015, into Ireland’s mother and baby homes. Amidst 34

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some of the shocking findings was an “appalling level of infant mortality”.

However, following such a long wait, many survivors were left disappointed and rejected some of the findings, not least that no evidence was found that women were forced into the homes by Church or state authorities and “very little evidence” of forced adoptions.

The decision in Northern Ireland was taken after the publication of research undertaken by Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster in January 2021 into eight mother and baby homes, a number of former workhouses and four Magdalene laundries run by the Catholic and Protestant churches between 1922 and 1990.

The research was commissioned by the

Department of Health in 2018 and was initially expected to take 12 months.

In July 2020, the Department of Health and the Executive Office announced the appointment of Judith Gillespie, the PSNI’s former Deputy Chief Constable, as the Independent Chair on an interDepartmental working group. Gillespie, who will lead on the investigation, has said that a public inquiry is “not off the table” but insisted the importance that survivors have agency in the process.

The academic research found that over 10,500 women went through mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland and 3,000 were admitted into Magdalene laundries. The research’s figures were conservative when considering that some records were incomplete.

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Mother and baby homes were used to house women and girls who became pregnant outside of marriage and in Northern Ireland the number of women in these institutions peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s but continued to be active up until 1990.

Included in the women housed in mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland were girls as young as 12. The oldest person admitted to a home in Northern Ireland was 44 but most were aged between 2029. Close to a third of women were under the age of 19.

While the majority of women who entered the homes were from Northern Ireland (86 per cent), some were also from the Republic of Ireland (11.5 per cent) and Great Britain (2 per cent). Records show that home addresses were listed for some of the women from as far away as the USA, South Africa and the Netherlands.

Some of the women placed in homes were victims of sexual crime, including rape and incest. However, most were admitted because of the stigma attached to pregnancy outside of marriage and were placed there by families, doctors, priests, and state agencies.

The report found that women were required to carry out tough chores late into their pregnancy and were given little preparation for childbirth. In the majority of testimony gathered for the research, most identified trauma and, often, mental health issues as outcomes of birth mothers’ experiences around their pregnancy. This finding was more acute in cases where adoption was the outcome.

Most of the homes did not have their own maternity ward and so many women gave birth in local hospitals or private nursing homes. Not all mothers returned with their child to the mother and baby home following birth and it is noted that of those that did, unlike the Republic of Ireland, most did not remain for a very long time after they had given birth. For this reason, Northern Ireland’s mortality rates for mother and baby homes are much lower than compared to homes in the Republic of Ireland. Data suggests a 4 per cent rate of babies stillborn or who died shortly after birth across the entire period.

However, the report notes the need for a more detailed overview of the mortality rates for babies born in mother and baby

homes through scrutiny of records for those baby homes to which an estimated 32 per cent of infants were sent following separation from their birth mothers, which were not on the list of institutions under assessment. Records for only one such home were assessed, and information suggests that at one point during the 1920s, death rates may have been as high as 50 per cent for those admitted.

Of the mother and baby homes assessed

Republic of Ireland where they were then adopted in the State or in the USA or Britain and calls for further investigation into adoption from mother and baby homes.

Speaking in the Assembly in late January, First Minister Arlene Foster said that voices of survivors of mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland will be heard “loudly and clearly” through the independent investigation.

“In the majority of testimony gathered for the research, most identified trauma and, often, mental health issues as outcomes of birth mothers’ experiences around their pregnancy.

This finding was more acute in cases where adoption was the outcome.” for the research, only two recorded detailed information of where birth mothers went after they left the institution. Only 26 per cent of babies left the homes with their mother, some of which may have been placed for adoption or into care. The available records on immediate destination indicate 32 per cent of babies were placed in institutional homes. A further 23 per cent were recorded as adopted, with another 15 per cent listed as going to foster parents.

Foster set out a six-month timeframe for the work, which she said would begin immediately and outlined that a statutory public inquiry “may well be the outcome of that process” but that it was important that victims and survivors were given the opportunity to influence that.

Following publication of the research, Archbishop Eamon Martin, the leader of the Irish Catholic Church, expressed his embarrassment and guilt over the church’s contribution and bolstering of a

The report investigated the matter of consent of women in the homes and found that given the options available to birth mothers, signing adoption papers “was not a heartfelt indicator of their consent” and outlined evidence that “there have been long-term mental health implications in the wake of these lifechanging decisions”.

Additionally, the report provides evidence of cross-border movement of women and children into and out of the institutions, with some babies moving to homes in the

“culture of concealment, condemnation and self-righteousness”.

“For that I am truly sorry and ask the forgiveness of survivors,” he said.

Acknowledging that the establishment of an investigation in six months may appear an unnecessary delay, Chair of the Executive’s independent interdepartmental working group, Judith Gillespie, added that it was “better to get it right than rush and get it wrong”.

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Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol: Article 16 Article 16 should not be regarded as a mechanism which offers an immediate reversion to the pre-Brexit status quo in response to largely predictable friction in goods movement from Britain to Northern Ireland, write Queen’s University Belfast’s Katy Hayward and David Phinnemore.

Transition is over and the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol is now in operation. The first months have not been without their difficulties. There have been significant disruptions to the movement of goods from the rest of the United Kingdom (UK) into Northern Ireland, ongoing domestic political tensions around the Protocol as well as a near crisis in its implementation as the European Commission came perilously close to adopting unnecessary safeguard measures on the potential movement of Covid vaccines from Ireland into Northern Ireland.

The difficulties have arisen because since 1 January 2021, Northern Ireland is effectively inside the customs territory of the European Union and its internal market for goods while the rest of the UK is now outside. This means new and additional formalities, checks and

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controls for the movement of goods across the Irish Sea. And what this means in practice is now being observed. From pets to British Army vehicles, goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK now require new paperwork. In some instances, like vegetable seeds or glass eels, such movement cannot take place at all.

In many ways, this is quite predictable.

Just as Brexit means there is no longer the free movement of goods, services, capital and people between the UK and the EU, so the Protocol, in avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, entails new frictions on the movement of goods into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. The Protocol is a unique arrangement the implementation of which, it was

anticipated, would be based on agreed processes and involve ongoing consultation and deliberation. Any difficulties would be dealt with, in the first instance, by officials from both sides, and any necessary action beyond what has already been agreed in the Protocol taken by joint agreement. The Protocol is after all, an international agreement. As such, it constrains the scope for unilateral action.

Nonetheless, unilateral action is allowed for in Article 16, which concerns safeguard measures and the mechanisms for putting them in place.

Such provisions are common in trade agreements. But, they are rarely used.

The purpose of safeguards is not to see the collapse of the trade agreement, but rather to help resolve unanticipated problems in a way that avoids worsening

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difficulties, and thus allows the agreement to endure. They should be used only in exceptional circumstances and thought of very much as a last resort. This explains some of the furore in late January that led to the European Commission’s decision not to proceed after all with triggering Article 16.

The provisions contained in Article 16 permit the UK and the EU to act unilaterally if application of the Protocol is leading to ‘economic, societal or environmental difficulties’. They do not specify what constitutes a ‘serious’ difficulty. Nor do they define what constitutes a ‘diversion of trade’; the second justification for safeguard measures. The provisions are explicit, however, that difficulties must be both ‘serious’ and ‘liable to persist’. Normally, consultation is required before any measures can be taken. However, ‘protective measures strictly necessary to remedy the situation’ can be taken where ‘exceptional circumstances requiring action exclude prior consultation’. Presumably, whoever proposed that the European Commission trigger Article 16, thought this to be the case.

Safeguard measures should not, therefore, as a matter of principle, be triggered lightly. As a mechanism for addressing ‘serious’ difficulties, Article 16 should not be regarded as a means of instantly turning things back to the way they were. Moreover, due process should be followed. This is set out in Annex 7 to the Protocol.

So, if either the UK or the EU is so much as ‘considering’ adopting safeguard measures, it must normally notify the other party ‘without delay’ through the UK-EU Joint Committee. When doing so, it must provide ‘all relevant information’ (i.e. details of the ‘serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties’), explain why unilateral action is needed, what the proposed action and the justification for it.

The UK and EU then consult with a view to finding a ‘commonly acceptable solution’. During the first month, no safeguard measure may be adopted unless ‘exceptional circumstances require immediate action’. Common

“The purpose of safeguards is not to see the collapse of the trade agreement, but rather to help resolve unanticipated problems in a way that avoids worsening difficulties, and thus allows the agreement to endure.” sense would tell us that ‘exceptional circumstances’ are ones that could not have been readily predictable as a consequence of the Protocol’s provisions. Worth noting here is that the UK has plentiful experience of applying the Union Customs Code and EU laws on the free movements of goods having done so throughout is membership on the EU. If, at the end of that initial process, unilateral safeguards are adopted, priority ‘shall’ be given to those that ‘will least disturb the functioning’ of the Protocol. Such measures are to be ‘restricted with regard to their scope and duration’ and to what is ‘strictly necessary’ to address the difficulty or difficulties being faced. Measures should have minimal impact on the overall operation of the Protocol, which continues to apply. Both parties can still be held to their obligations.

Measures must be notified to the UK-EU Joint Committee ‘without delay’ and discussed every three months, with a view to limiting their scope and abolishing them as soon as possible. At any point, either the UK or the EU can request that the measures are reviewed.

This also applies to any ‘rebalancing’ measures taken by the other party. Such measures are permitted because the Protocol is a jointly agreed set of arrangements that create a balance of rights and obligations. Any rebalancing measure must, however, be ‘proportionate’, with minimal disruption to the overall functioning of the Protocol.

In sum, Article 16 is not a route to the

unilateral disapplication of the whole Protocol. Safeguards are present as temporary and limited measures.

Moreover, actually adopting unilateral measures normally assumes a joint approach to addressing the ‘serious’ difficulties has proven impossible.

There are also wider political considerations. A hasty and unnecessary recourse to unilateral safeguard measures does little to enhance levels of trust within a relationship. As is clear from events in January, unilateral measures under Article 16 should only be taken after proper consultation and consideration of the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland.

Implementation of the Protocol is going to be complicated and difficult. It entails considerable adjustment, just as the whole Brexit process does. After a long process of negotiation to get to the Protocol, the UK and EU now have to adjust to a new relationship and make it work in practice. This will entail consultation and deliberation, and it will be hard work and complex, particularly in this first year. There is no quick fix for that.

Katy Hayward is Professor of Political Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast and a Senior Fellow of the ESRC-funded UK in a Changing Europe initiative.

David Phinnemore is a Professor of European Politics at Queen’s University Belfast.

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A frosty reception Under the terms of the Protocol, Northern Ireland must follow EU customs rules for goods, and this created a sea border for goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. Political unionism in Northern Ireland is opposed to the Protocol and business has called for flexibilities in implementation to minimise disruption, with the first of the grace periods initially set to end in March.

In early March, Frost announced the extension of grace periods until October 2021, but did not consult the EU’s Šefčovič on the move. The UK attempted to play down the significance of their steps pointing to “operational reasons” and outlining their belief that the move was consistent in intentions to honour the Protocol. Frost followed up his decision with a newspaper article in which he warned the EU to “stop sulking”.

The elevation of David Frost MP as Minister for EU relations in Boris Johnson’s cabinet has led to increased tensions between the UK and the EU, including the likelihood of damaging legal action.

Frost’s hard-line approach as a Brexit negotiator was not well received by the EU, with the former Chair of the Scotch Whisky Association adopting a confrontational approach to negotiations and offering little flexibility in an attempt to extract a good deal for the UK. His appointment, to replace Michael Gove, who had established a working relationship with European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič, was greeted cautiously by the EU who are sceptical over Frost’s commitment to honour the agreement signed by the trading partners.

This scepticism is a significant factor in the EU’s announcement that it is to launch legal proceedings against the

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UK’s decision to unilaterally extend grace periods for the Irish Sea border, which the EU argues will be in breach of international law.

The stand-off is seen by some as an unnecessary deterioration in the relationship between the two blocs as they seek to secure a future trade deal.

The tension emanates from the approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The EU has accepted the need for working solutions to the implementation of the Protocol, the partial implementation of which has already proven disruptive. However, the UK argues that the EU has shown little by way of action to match its rhetoric.

In response, Šefčovič said the move amounted to “a violation of the relevant substantive provisions” of the Protocol.

EU member states have not only backed Šefčovič but influential members, including France, have been applying pressure for him to be firmer.

At the base of this all is an absence of trust. The UK’s latest manoeuvre is seen in Europe as a signal of things to come as it expects the UK to move away from its commitment to implement to Protocol. The UK’s argument that alignment with the EU rules on goods represents zero risk is not being accepted because of the recognition of the gap that would be created when and if the UK does decide to diverge.

Legal action will prove a potential test for post-Brexit relations but as the first test of the Protocol, only agreed at the end of 2020, relationships between Frost and Šefčovič will have to build from a very low base. The strength of the EU’s legal move and the UK’s approach to implementing new border checks on food imports from the European Union, will be decisive on relationships for the future.

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Brexit: The financial settlement The UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates a divorce bill of around £33 billion for the UK as a result of Brexit, with payments being made into the 2060s.

The finances relating to Brexit have been much speculated. From Boris Johnson’s bus slogan claiming the UK was sending the EU £350 million a week that could have been redirected to the NHS to claims that the divorce bill would see the UK paying for EU services for which it could not avail, the ‘cost of Brexit’ remains an elusive figure.

The withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK acknowledged that the UK retained financial obligations that arise out of the UK’s participation in the EU budget and the broader aspects of its EU membership.

The financial settlement set out which financial commitments will be covered, the methodology for calculating the UK’s share and the payment schedule. While there is no definitive cost to the settlement, given that the final cost to the

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UK will depend on future events, including exchange rates and EU budgets, the UK estimates a net cost of around £33 billion.

passed but remains relevant because of

Three principles guided the financial settlement between the EU and the UK, these were:

into the EU budget as though it were a

the longer-term implications was that the transition period would see the UK pay member state. This meant that the UK also had the same access to structural funds as other member states, the

• that no EU Member State should pay more or receive less because of the UK's withdrawal from the EU; • that the UK should pay its share of the commitments taken during its membership; and

outworkings of which stretched to the end of 2020.

The second was an acknowledgement that EU annual budgets commit to future spending, the cost of which is not met in a single annual contribution. Given that

• that the UK should neither pay more nor earlier than if it had remained a member state, meaning that the UK will make payments based on the outturns of EU budgets.

the UK was a full member state, it will

There are three main elements of the settlement. The first, which has now

funding for outstanding commitments

continue to make contributions to the EU’s outstanding commitment which were live on 31 December 2020. In the same vein, UK recipients will continue to receive made to them up until the same date.

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Estimated path of settlement payments, £ billion

Estimated cost of the settlement and its components, £ billion Payment period

Thirdly, financial liabilities of the EU, such as staff pensions, will continue to be shared by the UK. The OBR estimate that the UK will have contributed around £12 billion to EU pensions through the financial settlement once the final payment is made. These largely relate to liabilities at the end of 2020 but also include “any materialising contingent liabilities”. However, the UK is entitled to a share back of some assets, including capital paid into the European Investment Bank (EIB).

A briefing from the House of Commons Library outlines the details and stipulates that not all elements of the settlement fit

(£) billion

UK participation in EU Budget 2020 (net)

2020

Reste à liquider

2021–2028

19.8

Other net liabilities

2020–2064

5.1

Total

2020–2064

33.4

within these elements. For example, the UK will continue to contribute to the EU’s main overseas aid programme, the European Development Fund, a programme funded directly by member states rather than through the EU budget.

Training programme, the International

Not included in the financial settlement is the cost of the UK’s decision to continue to participate in some EU programmes following the conclusion of the transition period. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement stipulated the UK’s continued participation in a range of programmes including Horizon Europe, the Euratom Research and

The financial settlement, the OBR

Timeline: Negotiations and ratifications

8.5

Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor and Copernicus. The contributions for taking part in EU programmes are part of the future relationship and not the financial settlement.

estimates, will be made over a 46-year period ending in the 2060s, however, much of the cost will come in the early years. It’s estimated that just over 70 per cent of the net payments will have been made by 2023, with payments after 2031 averaging around £200 million per year.

Source: Brexit: the financial settlement — in detail House of Commons Library

JUN 2017

JUN–NOV 2017

DEC 2017

NOV 2018

OCT 2019

JAN 2020

The European Commission

The settlement is negotiated

A political agreement is

A Withdrawal Agreement is

Boris Johnson's Government

The European Union

sets out what it expects

in the first phase of Brexit

reached on the financial

agreed between Theresa

negotiates and publishes a

(Withdrawal Agreement) Act

from the settlement in a

negotiations, along with

settlement. It is published in

May’s Government and the

revised Withdrawal

2020 becomes UK law. The

position paper.

other separation issues such

a joint report along with the

EU. The Withdrawal

Agreement. There are no

European Parliament gives

as citizen’s rights and the

agreement reached on other

Agreement sets out, in legal

changes to the financial

its consent to the

Ireland/Northern Ireland

separation issues.

terms, how the financial

settlement.

Withdrawal Agreement.

border. Broadly speaking

settlement will be calculated

This means that the

financial settlement

and administered. It also

financial settlement

negotiations focus on the

sets out the practicalities for

becomes legally binding.

Commission’s position

payments between the UK

The UK leaves the EU.

paper.

and EU after 2020.

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Horizon involvement not signed off The future of almost €100 million of Brexit-threatened EU funding drawn down by researchers and businesses in Northern Ireland for ground-breaking work in areas such as cancer research and climate change, has not yet been secured.

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While much attention was given to the

Horizon 2020 was the biggest EU

Participation in the programme is not

UK’s decision not to continue to

research and innovation programme

participate in the EU’s Erasmus

ever and provided almost €80 billion of

limited to EU member states but all previous non-member states to

programme, estimated to deliver €2.1

funding over seven years from 2014 to

associate with the programme have all

million for Northern Ireland annually, less

2020. Almost 300 Northern Ireland

had a wider trade deal with the bloc.

focus has been placed on access on the

participants have been successful, with

The programme has been refreshed as

Horizon programme worth €95.7 million

an average grant award of €323,460 for

Horizon Europe for the years 2021 to

to Northern Ireland by October 2020.

each successful application.

2027 and the first work programmes are

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expected to be published by April 2021.

In December 2020, political agreement was reached between the European Parliament and the European Council for the programme with a budget of almost €100 billion to 2027.

The programme has incorporated research and innovation ‘missions’ to increase the effectiveness of funding by pursuing clearly defined targets in the areas of: adaptation to climate change including societal transformation; cancer research; climate-neutral and smart cities; healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters; and soil health and food.

The prospect of a no deal Brexit raised concerns about the UK’s ability to participate in Horizon Europe, the bloc’s research programme. However, there were also concerns that even in the event of a deal, the UK might opt out of paying into the programme as a share of EU GDP contribution calculations could have resulted in the UK as a whole being a net contributor. Northern Ireland, however, is a benefiter.

The UK has agreed in principle to participate in the programme under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with a “fair and appropriate financial contribution”. However, association is subject to ratification of the overall deal and finalisation of the Horizon Europe Programme regulations.

Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy (DfE) confirmed that association is subject to ratification of the overall deal. In late February 2021, the UK Government agreed to the European Commission’s request for a “technical” two-month extension to the period allowed for the ratification of the agreement. The EU Parliament has the ability to veto the entire accord and the parliamentary vote cannot be viewed as a formality because of concerns around how the UK might move to tackle issues with trade into Northern Ireland.

Cumulative performance data for Northern Ireland in Horizon 2020 show that up until October 2020, 296 proposals/applications had been successful in Northern Ireland with a drawdown of €95.7 million.

Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 cumulative performance data 2018–2020 Period

NI drawdown €m

Successful proposals/applications

October 2020

95.7

296

October 2019

86.8

272

October 2018

75.9

235 Data extracted in line with data releases from the European Commission Common Research Data Warehouse (eCORDA

The Department for the Economy says that it “strongly encourages” UK researchers and businesses to form collaborative partnerships with international counterparts and prepare to bid into Horizon Europe. It also outlined its assumption that association “will give UK scientists, researchers and businesses access to funding under the programme on equivalent terms as organisations in EU countries”.

have highlighted that it will not fund inward studies.

The long-established EU programme funds students’ study in other countries and in 2019 almost 650 students and staff from Northern Ireland took part.

Although not formally launched, the UK says that it plans to provide for around 35,000 students to go on placements and exchanges overseas starting

“Additional detail on Horizon Europe will be included in a protocol to the main agreement once the regulations establishing the programmes are settled.

DfE and the other devolved administrations will continue to liaise closely with BEIS over the coming weeks whilst the UK association status is ratified and formalised,” a department spokesperson added.

September 2021.

However, changes to immigration processes between the UK and EU will now have an impact on students. UK nationals will only be able to stay in an EU country for 90 of every 180 days without a visa (Ireland is excluded) and EU nationals coming to the UK will now require a student visa if staying for longer than six months.

Erasmus+

Following the announcement of

On announcing that the UK will not participate in the EU’s Erasmus programme, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the “tough decision” had been made with an eye to a new UK scheme named after the mathematician Alan Turing.

withdrawal from the scheme by the UK

The UK announced in December 2020 plans for a new £100 million scheme for students to study and work abroad to replace participation in Erasmus. It will seek to be more expansive in its opportunities for students by including universities beyond Europe, but critics

attending third level institutions and will

Government, the Irish Government stepped in to fund the continued involvement of students from Northern Ireland in the programme, at a cost of around £2.1 million. Funding will be available to all full-time students not be limited to Irish passport holders.

The Irish Government have insisted that the arrangement is a permanent one and will be available as long as students wish to avail of it.

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Executive collaboration under scrutiny “This is a five-party Executive facing two significant crises, a global pandemic and the impact of Brexit. We should be taking decisions together in the substantial common interests of the people we represent, not using political office for divisive stunts.

“This decision is controversial, crosscutting and cannot be put into effect without Executive agreement,” she said.

However, the DUP continues to support its Minister’s bypassing the Executive, with party leader Arlene Foster MLA insisting that her colleague’s move can only be overturned by a court.

Collective decision-making in Northern Ireland’s Executive is to once again become a source of tension after the interim Agriculture’s Minister’s decision to go on a solo run and exclude Executive colleagues in a decision to halt work on permanent border control posts necessitated by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Temporary Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons MLA ordered officials in his department to stop work on new permanent border control posts, which will be used to check food products coming from Great Britain and to stop recruiting staff in late February.

The decision by Lyons, whose party is opposed to the Protocol, did not disrupt ongoing Irish Sea trade checks, which are taking place in temporary facilities but could be significant for the future implementation of the Protocol.

Significantly, Lyons did not seek preapproval from Executive colleagues on the move, who argue that the crosscutting nature of the decision across various departments required it to be brought before the Executive.

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agreement signed by the Executive parties at the beginning of 2020 envisaged a more harmonious decisionmaking process within the Executive, something which had been lacking in previous mandates.

However, Lyons’s move is the latest example of ministers wielding their autonomy and side-stepping the need for collective Executive agreement, which smaller Executive parties have been so critical of in the past.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party have all stated their belief that such a decision needs to be taken by the Executive as a whole.

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon MLA described the move as a “divisive stunt” and summed up the mood of the Executive’s non-unionist parties, stating:

That court process, if pursued, will place a microscope on the cross-Executive decision-making that has been taking place since the institutions have been back operational and could place further pressure on the process of future decisions to be taken by ministers.

Lyons argued that he was responding to “practical difficulties” caused by the Protocol and has since warned the Northern Ireland Assembly that the need for Executive approval on issues relating to the Protocol will see “a lot of other things that, before my department carries them out, will have to go to the Executive and that will require the support of the Executive, before they can proceed”.

It is not the first time that the DUP’s opposition to the protocol has led to decisions taken without cross-Executive approval. Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots MLA previously moved to suspend Brexit checks at Larne and Belfast Ports, over concerns around threats to staff safety. Poots took the decision just hours before temporarily standing down from his position on health grounds and it was later revealed that the PSNI had gathered no evidence of credible threats against port workers.

Poots also sought legal guidance on whether he had the authority to instruct officials not to operate the border control posts but was advised that such a move would be unlawful.

Policing and justice report

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policing and justice report

Minister Long: Legislating for change Minister for Justice Naomi Long MLA talks to David Whelan about the Department’s busy legislative programme, the wider justice family’s response to the pandemic and the challenges of budgetary constraints.

Sitting roughly at the halfway point of the shortened Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive mandate, the Department of Justice is engaged in one of the most, if not the most, busy legislative programmes of any department in recent years.

Progress has been driven not only by the ambitions set out in the New Decade, New Approach agreement but also by Minister Long’s personal priority of a victims-focused approach.

However, as Long admits, progress has not been without challenge, particularly the pandemic, the impact of which has stretched to all aspects of the justice system.

Few could have known that at the beginning of 2020, when issuing a commitment to deliver committal reform “to help speed up the criminal justice system”, that a global pandemic would see the temporary closure of courts, a reconfiguration of the prison system

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and new ways of working for the Northern Ireland Executive, its departments, the Assembly and its associated committees.

Despite these unique challenges, Long assesses “significant progress” in ambitions to speed up justice. Pointing to the courts as an example of progress delivery, the Minister highlights that following an initial period of closure, not only have Crown courts resumed operations but more Magistrates courts are now operating in Northern Ireland than was the case pre-Covid.

“We’ve been able to put in the physical measures to ensure that this can continue and we’re now starting to make inroads into the backlog that was created, something we will continue to work on,” the Minister says.

Showcasing an agile approach, Long points to the securing of additional space for the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS), the most

recent example of which was the move by the Executive to amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020, to enable the NICTS to use external conference facilities in Northern Ireland as ‘Nightingale’ venues, including Belfast’s International Convention Centre (ICC).

The Minister says that a move forward on tribunals, additional space for jury empanelment and an ambition to take forward inquest work, are all positive steps.

A legislative Assembly Another major step towards committal reform is the Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Bill, introduced to the Assembly by the Minister in November 2020 and entering committee stage. Long explains that she hopes the Bill will make a significant difference to how cases progressing through the Crown court

are handled and explains that the Bill also goes some way to addressing some of the recommendations which emerged from the Gillen Review Report into the law and procedures in serious sexual offences in Northern Ireland in relation to the speed of justice.

“The legislative programme is only one part of the work we have been doing but it’s a demanding programme, especially for a shortened mandate. We had a three-year lag and that’s something I’m very conscious of because we had things that needed to be done as a matter of urgency. We also had changed laws in other parts of these islands which we had to keep pace with,” says Long.

“I think it’s important that as a legislative assembly we put down a marker and follow through on our primary purpose for existing.”

Questioned on whether enough time was left of the mandate for all five bills, the Minister says that the “right attitude and right commitment” can see this achieved. One Bill which has not made it on to the Department’s legislative programme, however, is that in relation to the recommendations from the independent hate crime legislation review, the final report of which was published in December 2020.

Hate crime If adopted, the recommendations would see Northern Ireland move from a laggard in terms of hate crime legislation to holding the most progressive laws across the UK. Asked if the absence of hate crime legislation was due to capacity constraints, the Minister says that time is also a critical factor.

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The Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Bill is one of five pieces of primary legislation which the Minister hopes to legislate for through the Assembly by the end of the current mandate in March 2020. The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Bill has already passed all the necessary Assembly hurdles and was given royal assent on 1 March and the Protection from Stalking Bill was introduced on 18 January 2021. As well as those already introduced, Long has brought forward a Damages (Return on Investment) Bill, and is aiming for a Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in spring 2021, which the Minister outlines will largely relate to victims and witnesses of serious sexual offences.

Justice Minister Naomi Long was joined by Interim Mental Health Champion Siobhán O’Neill on a visit to Hydebank Wood Secure College.

“I think it’s important that as a legislative assembly that we put down a marker and follow through on our primary purpose for existing.”

“In order to bring legislation to the Assembly there is a series of stages, such as policy development and consultation with other parts of the justice system, which need to be reached even before public consultation and the drafting of a Bill. The policy development period will take us in to the end of the year and that would mean little chance of that legislation making it on to the books in this mandate. I don’t believe there is any point in us making poor law in order to tick a box,” she states.

Long sets out an unwillingness to place such a “hefty” piece of legislation through under the (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, preferring instead to give the Assembly’s Justice Committee proper opportunity for scrutiny.

Setting out that this does not mean that progress on hate crime legislation will stop, she adds. “I think there are issues within the review of the legislation that can be taken forward in short order rather than by full-blown primary legislation, including recommendations around how we work across the justice sector and improving our response to hate crime in the here and now.”

Long’s vision is for those existing legislative improvements to be brought forward as part of a Bill which can be

prepared and ready to go early in the next mandate. “In the department, we’re not viewing this as a last opportunity to legislate. Mandate continuity is key, and I think we need to try and build confidence in the structures to say that ‘we (the Executive and the Assembly) will be here postelection, doing legislation and that we don’t envisage being back in the situation we found ourselves in in 2017’. If we can get that message through and work as an Executive to communicate that then we are much more likely to get a manageable legislative programme for the next mandate.”

Budget Undoubtedly, one of the greatest challenges facing the Department, and all public services across Northern Ireland is budgetary allocation. The New Decade, New Approach pledge to deliver a multi-year budget has not been fulfilled and Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA recently described Northern Ireland’s latest one-year draft budget as a “standstill”. Undoubtedly, this will have implications for another New Decade, New Approach pledge to increase police numbers to 7,500. PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne recently said that rather than enabling the

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increase of numbers, the real time £23 million shortfall in the policing budget allocation could see a reduction of officers and staff.

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“The budget is a challenge and all of us recognise that we are constantly being asked to do more with less,” says the Minister, adding: “My department is working hard to ensure that we are living within our means but we’re conscious that we’re a largely people-

then we would want to be able to fund that. We didn’t say we would be able to fund that all in one year or all in one mandate. However, in the last year we already have seen additional officers added to the cohort the police have.”

Long accepts that much of the additional funding for more officers came from Brexit contingency funding, a pot which is unlikely to be available again going forward.

Progress The Minister believes that despite the challenges posed by Covid-19, agile responses to the virus’ impact from across the justice system has also presented opportunities to drive forward transformation. Greater digital collaboration across the justice system, for example, has been achieved and will continue into the future. Long believes that the right conversations are being

“The budget is a challenge and all of us recognise that we are constantly being asked to do more with less.” focused department and therefore it’s difficult for us to make cuts that don’t hit frontline services.”

“I’ve been working with the Chief

Policing makes up 70 per cent of the Department’s annual budget and Long maintains that how that money is spent is determined by the Chief Constable.

In turn, she suggests that additional police officers are a budgetary decision for Byrne. Questioned on whether the New Decade, New Approach agreement was misleading in this regard, she says: “No, I think the intention is that if the money is there,

police and how we might work through

Constable and my own officials looking at police numbers and funding for the those issues. The difficulty of course is that it is recurrent funding and so it needs to be embedded in the Department’s finances. Given that the PSNI is about 70 per cent of our budget, the chances are that if we’re at a standstill, so are the police and there is not likely to be any scope for realignment.”

had around greater uses of digital technology, while also constantly assessing the impacts of this on the public’s access to justice and access to victim support and other services.

Outlining recent innovations such as remote court hearings and improved administrative processes, Long says that these serve as an indication that partners in the justice sector, while operating their own independent remit, share an increasing recognition of their inter-dependence and the benefits of enhanced collaboration.

“In the Department, we’re not viewing this as a last opportunity to legislate.

Mandate continuity is key, and I think we need to try and build confidence in the structures...”

Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA

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“As a society we all have responsibility in terms of the regulations and a responsibility for our own behaviours and moderate them for the benefit of the community. The police can’t be expected to take all the strain. They also need to be able to rely on our support.”

The Minister points to the prison system as another example whereby pandemic mitigation measures have been successful and will likely be maintained into the future. Northern Ireland’s prisons have avoided the 23hour lockdown of prisoners, utilised in some other countries to prevent the virus’ spread. Access to education has been facilitated digitally and over 35,000 virtual visits have now been overseen.

Long acknowledges that physical visits will still be the preference of some prisoners, with the department aiming to have these reinstated as soon as circumstances allow it but says that the benefits and positive feedback from digital visits means that it is something she would like to see retained.

Enforcement The post-Christmas period saw Northern Ireland experience its worst spike in Covid cases and at the end of January, NISRA recorded the worst single day for Covid-related deaths. In December, police were granted “additional” powers by the Executive to legally enforce its stay at home message, however, some have questioned whether greater levels of enforcement are needed while restrictions remain in place.

The Minister says that anyone who believes that you can “police away” the consequences of a global pandemic “is grasping at straws”. “The reality is that we only get through this if we are all working and making our contribution and doing that consistently.”

Acknowledging the feeling of exhaustion and frustration felt by many

in relation to regulations and restrictions felt by the public over the last year, Long says that the PSNI’s use of the four Es (engage, explain, encourage and enforce), with enforcement being the last resort, is the right response.

fit for my department but with its

“I think the police have generally done a good job. We know there has been a lot of debate around some of their enforcement activities and whether they were proportionate or not, and there will be ongoing discussion about it, but I think we all recognise that they’re working in a very challenging environment.”

2022,” she says.

The Minister says that it is unrealistic to expect the PSNI to police “every back garden, living room and interaction” but outlines her belief that police engagement and support is much more likely to see the public sustain changes to their lifestyle. However, she adds that enforcement does have a role where people are disregarding other people’s health and says that additional powers have been given to the PSNI when requested.

“As a society we all have responsibility in terms of the regulations and a responsibility for our own behaviours and moderate them for the benefit of the community. The police can’t be expected to take all the strain. They also need to be able to rely on our support,” she adds.

support, I volunteered to take it on. It’s a very challenging timeframe that we’ve

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“I think that’s a positive step and it’s one of the reasons we have been able to manage caseloads within the courts during this period in a way that doesn’t place any of the different parts of the system under undue stress but at the same time offers us the opportunity to make inroads into backlogs,” states Long.

set in terms of wanting to get the scheme up and running and ready for accepting applications in early March

Given the volume of work required between now and then, Long is well aware that even a slight deviation on timelines could be multiplied greatly in the form of delay but expresses her confidence in reaching the deadline set.

“For me, doing this is crucial. These are victims that have long-standing injustices and real issues around being able to access the supports they need for a decent quality of life. Where I have opportunity to drive forward acknowledgement and support for victims of ‘the Troubles’, I will. The other major element of the scheme is finance and we’re working hard with the Executive, and hopefully the Secretary of State, to find an agreed way forward because I think it would be a shame if the scheme was there and ready to go but we’re not able to deliver,” she adds.

Finally, Long points to a focus over the next number of months on the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme. Describing the deployment of a three-year outlook,

Priorities Concluding, the Minister says that she plans to maintain her focus on victims of crime, which she outlined upon taking up the post. In August 2020, it was revealed that Long had volunteered her department to take on the administration of a compensation for injured ‘Troubles’ victims, following a court ruling that The Executive Office had acted unlawfully in delaying the introduction of the scheme. It is this scheme that Long points to when asked to identify her greatest ambition for the remaining mandate.

“The scheme wasn’t necessarily a good

managed with an annual budget as “a genuine challenge”, Long welcomes a commitment by the Executive to expenditure on a matched fundingbasis for the next three years with the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).

“For me, those areas of trying to improve lives for victims but also trying to impact on the quality of life right across our communities in terms or paramilitarism are those that when I came into the job, I said I wanted to tackle. We’re making good progress and will look to develop those going forward.”

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Hate Crime and Public Order (Northern Ireland) Bill not expected until 2022

Northern Ireland could jump from being a laggard to having the most progressive hate crime laws in the UK, if recommendations from an independent review are accepted in the form of a proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Northern Ireland) Bill.

However, moves to bring forward the recommendations will likely not take place until late 2022 because of the volume of legislation already being progressed by the Department.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice confirmed that, following receipt of the recommendations in December 2020, officials in the Department are working to develop a departmental response and set out an implementation plan, expected to be considered by the Justice Minister in early 2021.

The Department has highlighted that a majority of the recommendations relate to legislative changes and will need further consideration. Asked about a proposed timeline for potentially bringing legislation forward to the Assembly, a spokesperson added: “Any legislative changes will need to be scheduled into the Department’s

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legislation programme in due course.

Given that the legislative programme for this mandate is already full and, given the need to further develop and scope any legislative changes, this is likely to happen early in the next mandate of the Assembly.”

The final report into hate crime legislation in Northern Independent Review was published by the Department of Justice in December 2020 and includes a recommendation that age and gender (rather than misogyny) be covered as protected characteristics.

Adoption of the recommendation would see Northern Ireland align closely with the Scottish model of hate crime law but also become the first of any of the UK jurisdictions to include gender under hate crime legislation.

Justice Minister Naomi Long has asked for time to give the “complex and wide-

ranging” recommendations “careful consideration”.

The report includes 34 recommendations, including a suggested definition of a hate crime for Northern Ireland, in the absence of a clear and universally accepted definition in law.

Distinguishing between hate speech (criminal expressions of bigotry) and hate crime (the commission of criminal offences with a bias motive (hate crime), Judge Desmond Marrinan, the man tasked with the review by the Department of Justice in June 2019, recommends that: “A hate crime may be defined as a criminal act perpetrated against individuals or communities with protected characteristics based on the perpetrator’s hostility, bias, prejudice, bigotry or contempt against the actual or perceived status of the victim or victims.”

The backdrop for the review was a commitment from then Justice Minister Claire Sugden MLA to initiate the process in 2017, following calls from numerous corners for hate crime legislation in Northern Ireland to be reviewed on recognition that Northern Ireland reports a hate crime ratio in excess of England and Wales.

In 2018/19, racist hate abuse in Northern Ireland accounted for almost half of all reported occurrences with hate motivation, while sectarian abuse accounted for just over one-third.

However, the extent of the problem is emphasised when considering the smaller proportion of the population from a black or multi-ethnic background in Northern Ireland. The review found that there is roughly a one in 31 chance of being a victim of a reported racial hate incident in Northern Ireland compared to an approximately one in 1,777 chance of being a victim of a reported sectarian hate incident.

Currently no specific offence of ‘hate crime’ exists in Northern Ireland law.

Instead, provision for hate crime in Northern Ireland centres exclusively on the enhanced sentencing provisions of the 2004 Order. In 2019, not one single defendant brought before the crown court on allegations of hate crimes received an enhanced sentence above the expected penalty for their crime.

Sixteen years on from the introduction of enhanced sentencing provision for hate crime incidents, Judge Marrinan says: “Nothing I have read or reviewed since the launch of the consultation paper in January 2020 has given me any assurance that this enhanced sentencing law is working any better now or is capable of being reformed.”

His recommendation, therefore, is for the Department of Justice to legislate to copy the Scottish model and add statutory aggravations to all existing offences, meaning that any criminal offence could be charged in its aggravated form.

The proposed expansion of categories

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An average of eight hate incidents are reported in Northern Ireland every day and in recent years racist hate incidents have outnumbered sectarian hate incidents. Between 2016 and 2018/19, 1,124 racist hate-motivated incidents were recorded compared to 865 sectarian hate motivated incidents for the same period.

“A hate crime may be defined as a criminal act perpetrated against individuals or communities with protected characteristics based on the perpetrator’s hostility, bias, prejudice, bigotry or contempt against the actual or perceived status of the victim or victims.”

Hate crime definition recommendation of protected characteristics by the review would see Northern Ireland join England, Scotland and Wales in including transgender as a protected characteristic and go further to include all crimes with a gender-based motive.

Additionally, the review recommends adding age as a protected characteristic, however, it opts not to suggest an elder specific protection.

Interestingly, Marrinan suggests leaving the door open in legislation for other protected characteristics to be added to the list if evidence emerges that this is necessary.

On sectarianism, the report suggests the requirement for a more precise legal meaning for the term and believes that sectarianism “should be specifically defined as an issue that exists between Christian communities in Northern Ireland” at this time, adding the belief that not enough is understood about sectarianism in relation to other communities in Northern Ireland to make the application of sectarianism to those communities meaningful in a legal or social sense. In essence, the report recommends the application of the findings of the report of the working group on defining sectarianism in Scots law in 2018 to Northern Ireland.

In a series of other wide-ranging recommendations, the report also suggests changes to that would have bearing on freedom of expression and the regulation of hate expression in public spaces, where a clear and unambiguous statutory duty on relevant public authorities is recommended to take all reasonable steps to remove hate expression from their own property and, where it engages their functions, broader public space.

Additionally, the review had included in its remit the role of restorative justice in dealing with hate-motivated offending

and has established the need for a new statutory scheme for restorative justice for over-18s, similar to the existing Youth Justice Agency in Northern Ireland. This, the report recommends, should be supported by the established of a funded framework and that the scheme remain independent of the Department of Justice.

Addressing online hate crime was also a focus for recommendations. As well as calls for the UK’s Online Harms White Paper (2019) to be implemented in full, and for stricter rules on jurisdiction, enhanced access to prosecution guidelines, and an alteration of Northern Ireland’s Malicious Communications (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 to change the use of publication to refer to posting or uploaded material.

Article 3 of the Malicious Communications (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 should be amended to explicitly bring within its ambit electronic communications, the report says. The word ‘publication’ should be amended to refer to ‘posting’ or ‘uploading material online’.

Concluding with a recommendation that all hate crime and hate speech law should be consolidated into a new Hate Crime and Public Order (Northern Ireland) Bill, Judge Marrinan’s recommendations also assesses the potential oversight of change. Outlining his belief that the issues “fully justify” a dedicated post, Marrinan recommends an office of a Hate Crime Commissioner for Northern Ireland should be established and suggests the potential for a joint shared post of Hate Crime and Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

“I believe this would work well because the remit for this post relates to specific criminal contexts which are not dissimilar,” he adds.

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Bearing witness A new report published by Victim Support NI highlights that court culture is still causing unnecessary suffering to victims of sexual violence. Victim Support NI Policy Manager Louise Kennedy explains why that is bad for justice.

In 40 years supporting victims of crime, Victim Support NI has witnessed firsthand the impact of the criminal justice process on victims. That impact is most stark for rape victims, who endure an especially lengthy wait to reach trial, then face often gruelling crossexamination about the traumatic detail of their attack in open court. These issues have taken centre stage in our Bearing Witness report, which tracks 27 sexual offences trials in Northern Irish Crown Courts between October 2018 and October 2019.

Many of the issues are not new. The Gillen Review has already laid bare the deficiencies of our criminal justice system in trying rape and sexual offences cases. This report adds an additional perspective to that analysis: that of ordinary members of the public.

The Bearing Witness report documents the observations of 10 men and women with no criminal justice background as they watched sexual offences trials across Northern Ireland. The decision to use ordinary members of the public was two-fold: one, they were unbiased

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by familiarity with the system’s culture and practice, and could provide a fresh perspective on the system’s problems (and potential solutions). And two, as it is the public who sit on juries, it stood to reason that they should be best placed to critique the machinations of justice.

What observers found largely reflected the findings of the Gillen Review, but also highlighted new areas of concern.

This piece will focus on four core findings, relating to the prevalence of rape myths, ill-treatment of complainants, deficiencies in court technology, and the role of juries.

Rape myths Observers found that defence counsel relied frequently on rape myths, especially during complainant crossexamination. These myths were identified in all but one trial which reached complainant cross-examination stage, and were interwoven throughout defence narratives. The most commonly observed rape myths were that complainants would have fought,

screamed or run away if they’d been raped, and that delay in reporting proved that no rape took place.

However, myths of all kinds were identified. These included that if a person is flirtatious or wearing certain clothing they are responsible for what happens to them; that someone who is in a relationship with the accused couldn’t be raped by them; that someone from a ‘good’ background could not be a rapist, or that someone who is unemployed, a single mother, an addict, or had social services involvement as a child must be lying. As a complainant seeking justice for rape in a Northern Irish court, one might endure victim blaming, character assassination, accusations of ‘crying rape’, or having one’s natural bodily response to trauma used as evidence that the allegations were fabricated.

Even more significant was the fact that myths were rarely challenged by prosecutors or judges at the time they were uttered. In some cases, prosecutors made general attempts to counter myths at other stages of the trial, and judges used summing up to

state that there is no typical rapist or victim. Observers felt, however, that this was too little too late, as by then the myths had gone unchallenged for so long that they were possibly accepted as fact by juries.

Dignity and respect

Technology Technology plays a key role in rape cases. A victim’s vulnerability means that they are often granted ‘special measures’ to help them give evidence.

This can include using their prerecorded ABE interview as evidence-inchief, or allowing them to give evidence from another room via video link. Yet, in spite of the importance of this evidence, observers reported that the majority of ABE videos played in court had poor sound, bad visuals, or both.

Some had sound so incomprehensible that the jury had to be given transcripts, which they read instead of looking at the visual evidence from the complainant’s facial expressions. Only one ABE video observed throughout the entire project was described as of good quality. Observers also reported technical issues when complainants gave evidence via video link.

Juries One entirely unexpected thread that emerged was about the role of juries.

This was not something observers were asked about in detail. Nonetheless, they commented that jury members were sometimes inattentive or asleep, and that some didn’t seem to grasp their role and the legal principles they were

So, what now?

These observations should give pause to any believer in a fair and noble justice system. Whilst the Gillen Review provided a comprehensive blueprint for change in May 2019, and we are starting to see the green shoots of improvement off the back of subsequent reforms, our staff and volunteers continue to report that many of the problems identified by observers still persist today.

The dominance of rape myths and illtreatment of complainants, and the ineffectiveness of efforts to curtail such behaviours, suggests their normalisation within court culture and practice. The acceptance of such behaviour, and the cultural antipathy to challenging it, must change. Stricter guidance on usage of rape myths and a review of standards of conduct, with real consequences for failing to follow those rules, is surely the logical starting point. But there is also a wider cultural issue at play, these tactics are used because they have been proven to work. Educating jurors and the public about rape myths will be key.

Ultimately, however, the courts must forge a new cultural paradigm whereby the perceived value of such defence narratives is negated.

In terms of technology, it is unfathomable that such problems are arising in 21st century courts, given the democratisation of audio-visual content creation, heralded by the ubiquitous smartphone. Yet every day poor video recordings are inhibiting juries from effectively assessing evidence. There is no excuse for this remaining unaddressed. Standardising police and court equipment, training anyone

recording interviews, and putting in place quality assurance testing of audio-visual evidence are achievable solutions.

The juries question is perhaps more complex. Trial by jury forms the bedrock of our justice system.

Technological improvements, and a rethinking of the primarily auditory style of evidence delivery, may go some way to address the issue. What cannot easily be overcome are juror failings to understand judicial directions or legal standards, or distinguish rape myths from valid evidence. Taking more time to educate juries about their role, the unconscious biases they may hold, and what is expected of them may work.

But should those efforts prove unsuccessful, what is our plan B?

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Perhaps some of the most disheartening observations related to how complainants were treated by defence barristers during crossexamination. In every case except one, defence counsel were reported to have fallen short of their obligation to treat complainants with dignity and respect.

Observers reported aggression, harassment, mockery, victim-blaming, cruelty and unreasonable attacks on complainants’ character, and consistently expressed their opposition to what they felt was unfair treatment of complainants. The observers also painted a mixed picture when it came to interventions to curtail such illtreatment, with recorded interventions comparatively low in number.

tasked with applying. It was, of course, not possible to ask jurors what they felt or thought, as their deliberations are legally privileged. The observations therefore paint an unfinished picture of jury involvement. That does not mean, however, that they can simply be disregarded. Many aspects of jury inattention seemed to be linked to bad quality evidence, poor technology, long and unedited ABE footage, or long monotonous monologues from barristers and witnesses. But this was not exclusively the case, and one must ask if it makes for good justice if a juror doesn’t understand what is going on, or simply doesn’t want to be there.

We are now at a critical juncture in Northern Ireland, where we have an opportunity to make profound cultural change to our criminal justice system and how it impacts victims. This will require nothing short of radical action, including implementation of the Gillen and Bearing Witness recommendations.

It will take time before we can say if the reforms have improved the system for the victims of tomorrow. In the meantime, this court observer panel has captured the experiences of the victims of today. We hope those who work within the system, and those responsible for reforming it, embrace this fresh perspective and use it to see not only the criminal justice system’s problems, but also solutions, with fresh eyes.

The Bearing Witness Report is available at: https://tinyurl.com/victimsupportni If you have been a victim of crime and need emotional support, assistance at court, or help to make a Criminal Injuries Compensation application, contact us at: Belfast Hub: belfast@victimsupportni.org.uk 028 9024 3133 Foyle Hub: foyle@victimsupportni.org.uk 028 7137 0086 Or you can get in touch via Live Chat on our website: www.victimsupportni.com

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Justice: A legislative programme With less than a year left of the current Assembly mandate, the progression of legislation by the Department of Justice has required prioritisation. agendaNi outlines the justice legislation already brought forward to the Assembly by the Minister and the bills that could potentially come forward before the rising of the house in April 2022.

While many of the bills passing through the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2020 and 2021 were in direct response to or heavily influenced by the pandemic, Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA has been successful in progressing a number of significant non-pandemic pieces of legislation to date.

However, with the next Northern Ireland Assembly election set for 5 May 2022, the progress of any legislation not already introduced to the Assembly looks highly unlikely. Any outstanding potential legislation will not only have to wait until the next mandate but also need to be considered by the next Justice Minister.

At the end of January 2020, the Department of Justice stated that its legislative programme for the current 54

mandate “is already full”, some 14 months before it ends.

Of those currently on the Assembly’s books, the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Bill is the most advanced and received royal assent on 1 March 2020. The Bill, which will make coercive control an offence in Northern Ireland for the first time and is designed to give victims more confidence to come forward, was a priority of the previous Justice Minister Claire Sugden MLA upon taking office in 2016 but the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly prevented the Bill progressing onto statute.

In the absence of a Northern Ireland Assembly, Westminster confirmed its intention to extend UK legislation to ensure that coercive control was to

become a criminal offence in Northern Ireland, but the Bill fell when Parliament was dissolved in December 2019. A reintroduction of the Bill in March 2020 has now seen the Bill finalised.

Minister Long introduced the new Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill in March 2020. The Bill includes the creation of a new domestic abuse offence, two child aggravators associated with that offence, a statutory aggravation of domestic abuse associated with any other offence, and a number of associated changes to criminal procedures, evidence and sentencing in domestic abuse related cases.

The Bill passed the further consideration stage on 15 December 2020 and was expected to pass the

final stage before the end of the year but an amendment which confers a discretionary power on the Legal Services Agency to waive the financial eligibility test in private family law cases in circumstances where the applicant has been the victim of a domestic abuse offence saw the Justice Minister raise concerns about the financial implications on the legal aid system.

The second most advanced piece of legislation brought forward by the Minister is that of the Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Bill. A key commitment of the New Decade, New Approach agreement signed by all Executive parties at the return of the Northern Ireland Executive in January 2020 was for the delivery of committal reform to help speed up the criminal justice system. It follows a series of recommendations by the Fresh Start Panel, the Gillen review and the Northern Ireland Audit Office on the need for committal process reform.

The Bill includes provisions to remove the need to call victims and witnesses to give oral evidence pretrial. It also makes amendments to the Justice Act (NI) 2015 in relation to technical out workings of direct committal including broadening offences to be included from murder/manslaughter to all offences triable only on indictment.

Having been introduced by the Minister on 3 November 2020, the Bill passed its second stage on 16 November and will soon be scrutinised at committee stage.

Introduced at the same time that the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Bill was proceeding through its final stage, the Protection from Stalking Bill is the third piece of significant justicerelated legislation introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly by the Minister. With its committee stage set to be scheduled following its introduction on 18 January, the Bill will likely face a race against time to clear all stages before the conclusion of the mandate.

The legislation aims to make stalking a specific offence in Northern Ireland, bringing it in line with the rest of the UK. The 20-clause Bill also includes provision for the introduction of Stalking Protection Orders to Northern Ireland.

Initially, it was presumed that the Department would seek accelerated passage for the Bill (meaning that it would skip committee stage and potentially see the Bill introduced within 10 days), but that has not been the case.

The final potential Bill is a Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, targeted for spring 2021. The Minister has said that this would legislate for “a number of discrete policy areas that do not come within scope of the other Bills in the mandate”.

and Orders (closed 12 February): The consultation provides an opportunity to inform the development of proposals for legislation. It is intended to bring forward primary legislation to implement provisions around Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders; •

Consultation on the use of “consent to serious harm for sexual gratification” as a defence (closed 11 January): The Department will take steps to implement any recommendations which are accepted. If it is concluded that new legislation is required, its timing will be dependent upon fitting it into the Northern Ireland Assembly’s legislative timetable.

The Minister has outlined her belief that Introduction of the Justice Bill in early

Such a Bill may include, but not be limited to, consideration of a number of consultations recently launched or concluded by the Department, including:

2021 will ensure that the Bill can

•

forward.

Domestic Abuse Protection Notices

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The legislation finished the final stage on 18 January and has now received royal assent, with ambitions to bring the offence into operation before the end of 2021.

The Damages (Return on Investment) Bill is the latest Bill to be brought to the Assembly by the Minister. Introduced on 1 March 2021, the Bill, which is seeking to change the existing personal discount rate (PIDR) and introduce a new legal framework for setting the discount rate, completed its second stage eight days later.

complete its Assembly scrutiny and passage before the House rises in March 2022 for the next local elections, however it has yet to be brought

Definite legislation •

Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill Introduced: 31 March 2020 Final stage, 18 January 2021 Awaiting Royal Assent

•

Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Bill Introduced: 3 November 2020 Current stage: Committe stage, to be scheduled

•

Protection from Stalking Bill Introduced: 18 January 2021 Current stage: Committee stage, to be scheduled

•

The Damages (Return on Investment) Bill Current stage: Committee stage, to be scheduled 1 March

Potential legislation •

Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Introduced: Estimated for spring 2021

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Digital justice Embedding digital and remote innovation necessitated in response to the pandemic will be a key element of progress under the new digital strategy.

Recent years have seen a number of significant digital developments across the justice sector, not least the introduction of technology into court rooms, in the form of videos, or in the PSNI, where body-worn cameras are now the norm across the service.

More fundamental system changes include the Legal Aid Management System (LAMS) launched in July 2019 and used by solicitors and barristers that deliver publicly funded legal services and the launch of STRmix™ by Forensic Science Northern Ireland, a major advance in DNA evidence usage.

However, recognition has been given to the need to further modernise justice and the potential of technology and digital solutions to tackle the long-term challenges of complex systems for victims, witnesses, defendants and their families. These cumbersome processes have often meant that the speed of justice has not met public expectations and led to poor collaboration across the justice sector.

The five-year Digital Justice Strategy 56

was published in July 2020, containing three key principles that the strategy will seek to address in its lifespan, namely: citizen engagement; collaboration and modernisation.

maintain much of the digital and remote working that we have been able to embed during the crisis. It will then provide further opportunities for flexibility,” she said.

Probably more importantly, though, the strategy recognises its overlap of Northern Ireland Assembly mandates and has therefore set targets to be initiated in the current mandate and longer-term goals on which some progress will have been initiated.

Long also confirmed that “all six collaborative projects identified as delivery priorities for the first two years of the digital justice strategy 2020-2025 are under way and progressing well”, assessing that delivery of the strategy has already led to “tangible improvements”.

Much of the strategy was drafted prior to the outbreak of the pandemic but speaking recently in the Assembly, Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA said that while the pandemic has provided significant challenges across the court system and for all partners in the justice system, she believed the opportunities presented by the crisis in accelerating certain areas of digital justice are often overlooked.

“We have been working hard to ensure that the digital operation during the Covid crisis can be embedded in the system. Hopefully, we will be able to

“I anticipate the further rollout of digital evidence-sharing within the next year across courts and with the legal profession,” the Minister added.

The strategy includes priorities by March 2022 under each of its three core themes.

Digital communications and skills Digital communications and skills are focused on not only increasing public

Digital Justice Strategy Delivery Priorities ■ Theme 1: Digital Communications and Skills 2020 – 2021

■ Theme 2: A more effective Justice System

2021 – 2022

2022 – 2023

■ Theme 3: Innovation

2023 – 2024

2024 – 2025

My Justice Journey Staff Digital Capability and Skills

Bespoke Staff Training

Digital Evidence Sharing Optimising the use of Causeway Improving Disclosure Data Analytics Proof of Concept

Data Analytics Project Increasing Digital Channels

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Integration with other government services Awareness raising for stakeholders Digital case file Multi agency case progression arrangements Digital court arrangements Real Time Data Analytics Technology for large data

onfidence through better communication with those who come in contact with the justice system, including better information sharing but also equipping justice staff with skills to better utilise technology. My Justice Journey is the department plan to work collaboratively with its partners to provide secure access to information for all those in contact with the justice system from the first contact with the system until conclusion.

The Department estimates that My Justice Journey will take two years to plan and deliver from its start date of April 2020, with an ambition to: •

•

•

better understand what information victims, witnesses and defendants want to have access to; explore what technology and digital solutions could best fit these information requirements; and agree a timetable for the introduction of a new means of delivering personalised information to people who come into contact with the justice system.

On digital capability and skills, the department aims to, by the same date: •

conduct a comprehensive training needs analysis of its staff;

•

develop bespoke training opportunities for its staff; and

for justice system engagement and develop how justice can work in conjunction with other government services.

participate in the DoF’s Digital Academy.

On future priorities, looking towards 2023 to 2025, the Department is seeking to increase the availability of digital channels

•

have rolled out this facility to the legal profession and defendants.

A more effective justice system

On optimising the use of Causeway, the

The second theme seeks to address the challenges facing the Northern Ireland justice system in delivering in a faster more effective way. “We want to use advances in technology so that justice organisations can conduct their business as efficiently as possible and can communicate electronically with partner organisations in a seamless way,” the strategy states.

and prosecution services, as well as

For digital evidence sharing, the strategy proposes all organisations making use of digital evidence and sharing information.

In particular, it points to system changes in the PSNI and PPS on digital information management, putting them in a position to electronically share information.

The strategy puts forward a plan of phased introduction starting with the PSNI and PPS before rolling to the courts and then the legal profession and defendants. Adding that there is a plan to build on the introduction of the Legal Aid Management System to enable the legal profession to build on the developments.

March 2020 priorities are outlined as:

•

evidence in courts; and

•

•

system for sharing of information between the police, forensic science courts and prisons, the strategy says that year one will see a focus on making the enhanced management information more widely available to partner organisations, anticipating that ambitions will take two years to deliver, the strategy points to priorities as: •

provide access to enhanced management information from Causeway across partner organisations;

•

disseminate end-to-end performance information about the speed of justice system; and

•

determine priorities for the dissemination of additional management information.

More longer-term ambitions include the introduction of a single electronic case file for organisations involved in the detection, prosecution and sentencing of a case using technology to promote effective cross agency case progression to help speed up justice. It

deliver an electronic solution for the sharing of digital evidence between PSNI and PPS;

also suggests a move towards greater

have the facility to display this

online pleas.

use of digital technology in the justice system, such as virtual hearings and

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Innovation

Existing digital developments across justice Changing Lives app: Launched in 2016 by the Probation Board is designed to help offenders desist from crime and become rehabilitated.

Legal Aid Management System (LAMS): Launched in July 2019,

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the (LAMS) system enables members of the legal profession who supply legal aid to electronically submit applications and payment requests, search for and view cases, keep up to date with the progress of requests and communicate with the Legal Services Agency.

Prisoner Portal: Contained in Davis House, a new building at Maghaberry Prison, the Prisoner Portal is a self-service portal, allowing people to gain transferable ICT skills and manage some

The strategy acknowledges the difficulty in predicting the evolving technology of greatest value that best matches the justice system. Rather than adopt a unitary approach, the strategy seeks to build on the adaptation of new ways of working for each organisation for those engaging with the system. A key element highlighted by the strategy is the need to constantly assess those initiatives having the most positive outcomes, recognising budgetary constraints.

The improving disclosure ambition points to recommendations by the Gillen Review for a justice digital group, responsible for examining how technological advances could be used to improve disclosure and sets out its March 2022 ambitions as: •

understand how technology is used in other jurisdictions to assist with disclosure;

•

examine the potential for testing new digital approaches such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve disclosure practice; and

•

have an agreed set of priorities linked to the Disclosure Forum.

of their life events whilst in custody.

Electronic Case File: In 2018 the Public Prosecution Service released a tablet based Electronic Case File (ECF) application to all their Magistrates’ courts users. The system is used by prosecutors, counsel, and court support officers to ensure they have access to the most up to date case information in a digital format at court.

The solution has been enhanced with the implementation of a remote access solution providing staff with secure WiFi access to all PPS systems whilst at court.

Forensic Science Northern Ireland: STRmix™ assists investigations using DNA evidence that was previously considered too complex to interpret and includes a function that allows software to match mixed DNA profiles directly against a database.

Additionally, Vehicle Telemetry, allows FSNI’s Digital Electronics and Road Traffic Collision experts can use vehicle telemetry/telematics to piece back together the whole story of

On data analytics, the strategy says that the Department wants to “get better at analysing [the vast array of data held by justice organisations]…to gain new insights and a fresh perspective on the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system. In the first year of the strategy, the Department plans to lead on conducting proof of concept to help test out its capabilities and see how best to develop its approach for the future.

what really happened during an accident or indeed the exact

Longer-term ambitions include:

movements of a vehicle.

•

ensuring decisions are better informed by real time data and analysis;

•

exploring how information can be provided to staff through mobile devices and other technology solutions; and

•

using machine learning and other assistive technologies to deal with large volumes of evidence and information.

PSNI: As well as the rollout of body-worn video cameras across the service in 2016, In 2019, the PSNI introduced Fotoware digital photograph albums, replacing printed photo albums.

Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service: Existing remote video link facilities have been enhanced with the introduction of SightLink, a virtual meeting room facility, used to facilitate witnesses and experts providing evidence to court from around the world and also facilitates video conferencing. Over the last three years WiFi has been made available to the public in all courthouses. This has been expanded to create a secure WiFi service for staff, legal practitioners and the judiciary.

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Speaking on the strategy, the Minister said: “Modernising justice means we need to think differently about how we do things and better understand what citizens expect and want from us. We think the best projects involve the whole justice system working together.”

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Credit: Aodhán Roberts

PSNI discrimination findings ‘justified’ The Chief Constable of the PSNI has apologised after a report by the Police Ombudsman, investigating the handling of the Black Lives Matter protest, identified severe damage to confidence in policing among some within the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland.

Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson says that claims the PSNI’s handling of protests in Derry and Belfast, as well as a counter demonstration in 2020, amounted to unfairness and discrimination were “justified”, however, she added her belief that this was not intentional and not based on race or ethnicity.

The Ombudsman blamed the situation on a failure by police to “fully understand their human rights obligations”.

The PSNI came in for criticism after a number of differences between their handling of the Black Lives Matter protests and a Protect Our Monuments demonstration in June 2020.

Against the backdrop of Covid-19 restrictions, PSNI encouraged demonstrators to gather in a Covid-19 compliant manner for the Protect our Monuments demonstration but had attempted to persuade organisers of the previous Black Lives Matter protests to cancel their events.

Also contrasting was that the PSNI had issued enforcement notices for breaches of the public health regulations at the Black Lives Matter protest but did not issue any at the Protect our Monuments demonstration.

The Ombudsman’s report found no evidence of harassment at the protests

but added: “in undertaking planning for 6 June (Black Lives Matter protest), police failed to have sufficient regard to a number of issues including the international and domestic context of ‘Black Lives Matter’; a public response to the police use of force against George Floyd and other members of the black community in the USA, and wider concerns of racial inequality.”

Following the publication of the Ombudsman’s report in December 2020, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said, “the time is right to show some humility and say sorry”, six months after the events took place.

No apology was issued directly after similar findings were included in a Policing Board Report published in November. The Policing Board tasked its human rights adviser John Wadham to undertake a wide-ranging review of the policing response to Covid-19 between March and June 2020.

The review led to the Policing Board questioning whether the force’s approach to Black Lives Matter protests was “unlawful” and said that the reputation of the PSNI had been damaged by its handling of Black Lives Matter protests.

“The approach sent the wrong message and damaged the reputation of the PSNI,” the report said, adding: “A court

might rule that the actions of the PSNI were unlawful.”

The PSNI has recently announced it is to establish a task force to help rebuild relations with black, Asian and ethnic minority groups.

The PSNI has a legacy of cultural underrepresentation of Catholics, women and ethnic minorities in its ranks. Latest statistics at the end of 2020 show that of its overall police officer workforce, less than 32 per cent are Catholic, 30 per cent are female and less than 0.6 per cent are from an ethnic minority background.

In response to the Ombudsman’s report, the President of the UK’s National Black Police Association, a serving PSNI officer, Andrew George labelled the PSNI “institutionally racist” in relation to existing systems and processes within PSNI which work to the detriment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

The Ombudsman made a series of recommendations for future changes to police policies, namely the adoption of a human rights-based approach to policing protests, the review of Fixed Penalty Notices issued and potential redress and periodic reporting to the Policing Board on police engagement with BAME communities in Northern Ireland.

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Collaboration and community: Glasgow’s approach to justice Ann Fehilly, Group Manager within Comminity Safety Services at Glasgow City Council speaks to agendaNi about how Glasgow went from one of the UK’s most violent cities to one of its least violent through a collaborative, community-involved approach to crime prevention.

“Our approach is grounded in strong partnership between Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland, which means that staff are co-located, and both have access to ICT systems across both agencies,” Fehilly begins.

“Partnership arrangements with Police Scotland ensure our service delivery is driven by an intelligence-led approach, allowing us to deliver targeted services to the citizenship of Glasgow and measure the impact of our services.

Essential to the work is that we work in partnership with a broad range of services, including Scottish Fire and Rescue, the National Health Service, both nationally and in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, our transport providers and a wide range of third-party organisations across the city. Our

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community has been central to that process.”

Glasgow City Council works collaboratively, both internally and externally, to deliver its services to the people of Glasgow, with the belief that a collaborative approach is key to achieving their desired outcomes.

Fehilly says that the work and the issues are often complex and interconnected; that a single service approach can often be regarded as a very two-dimensional approach to a three-dimensional range of issues.

She outlines the four key priorities of her Community Safety team: “In terms of community safety, crime and antisocial behaviour, or the perception of it within our communities, can often

have a significant emotional or personal effect on individuals and their communities. Improving community safety is fundamental both to promoting social inclusion and improving the quality of life within our communities.

We look to reduce environmental instability, a neighbourhood that looks vandalised and uncared for can foster antisocial and criminal behaviour, reflected in the broken window theory.

Fostering positive behaviour and improving the appearance of communities can also improve the quality of life within our communities.

“Supporting victims of gender-based violence and the protection of welfare of women and children who are victims of violence and abuse is a critical

Fehilly lays out Glasgow’s intelligenceled approach, which focuses on early intervention and problem solving. The Council meets partners on a monthly basis to analyse data that allows a greater focus on smaller geographies to work at that neighbourhood level. This approach allows the Council to respond to issues affecting communities and provide communal reassurances to those affected, endeavouring to get resources to the right people in the right places at the right time.

“An example of the analytical support that we provide to our partners is a community safety assessment, a partnership of planning, design and resources to deliver our services that targets the most disadvantaged communities and enables us to address issues at a neighbourhood level,” she says. “The section has been developed and designed to provide information that supports all of our services around antisocial behaviour, hate crime and domestic violence. We do similar for environmental degradation.

“We use a range of information that is overlaid to inform who, when, where and why we should deploying our resources and targeting intervention that includes violent crime, crimes of indecency, offender information, antisocial behaviour incidents, also our complainer matrix, in terms of who are the most frequent complainants, and also our public space CCTV incidents, malicious fires and of course central again is community intelligence that comes in through our own officers or through our elected members.”

“Community safety has a key role in terms of creating the conditions in which local communities want to and feel they can play a role in local decision making. If individuals are experiencing high levels of crime or antisocial behaviour, or living with substance misuse or domestic abuse, they’re less likely to be able to play a role in local decision making.”

Such joined-up thinking and action was required in Glasgow, a city that Fehilly admits once had a reputation as a less than savoury place to live and work.

“One neighbourhood in Glasgow, Bridgeton, where our office is located, has got the lowest lifespan in the UK. 54 is the average length of life for a male in the Bridgeton area. Half a mile up the road, it’s 79-86. We have cheek by jowl, adjacent communities and I’m sure it’s very similar in Ireland.

Community safety has a key role in terms of creating the conditions in which local communities want to and feel they can play a role in local decision making. If individuals are experiencing high levels of crime or antisocial behaviour, or living with substance misuse or domestic abuse, they’re less likely to be able to play a role in local decision making.

“Glasgow has had a bit of a reputation as a mean city, one of the most violent cities in Europe,” she admits. In the mid-2000s, youth gang activity, organised crime, signal crime, and alcohol related disorders within the city had reached “an unsustainable level”.

Glasgow hospitals recorded over 1,000 overnight admissions as a result of violence, there were over 100 territorial gangs with around 2,000 young members participating in behaviour ranging from “very minor street disorder to gang fighting and knife crime in our streets”.

Yet the last decade has delivered change for Glasgow, and the city is now shedding its reputation through an approach “built up over the last decades is grounded on the partnership approach in communities that was

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community safety issue within Glasgow and the national Scottish context. We recognise that not all people are as vulnerable as others and that some groups are more vulnerable than others when it comes to victimisation. We aim to reduce antisocial behaviour and offending by working with individuals and groups to encourage them to address the causes of the behaviour and provide additional supports where appropriate. We have restorative justice behaviours underpinning our approach across the spectrum. Our approach recognises that a range of interventions are required and on occasion no one action will be sufficient. It also recognises that any approach must be consistent, integrated ad have the ability to be escalated when required.”

initiated in the late 1980s and early ‘90s that is often branded as crime prevention”. “In the past 10 years, the Scottish Government has directed and monitored national policy to deliver this through the National Performance Framework,” Fehilly says. “Close lines have also been developed along the lines of the Justice in Scotland visions, which are very much about living in safe and cohesive, resilient communities and that prevention and early intervention are at the heart of any improvement process. Our system and interventions are proportionate, fair and effective.”

Crime has reduced significantly in Glasgow in the last decade and it is no longer ranked as the most challenging city in terms of violent crime in the UK. Residents no longer fear high levels of crime, most evident in surveys carried by the Council that found 60 per cent of respondents think that agencies are working well together and that they feel safe and secure in their neighbourhoods. Reported antisocial behaviour has been consistently declining over the last decade. From being one of the most violent cities in the UK, Glasgow is now one of the least violent cities in the UK. “Safety and perception of safety is paramount for our residents, but also for our visitors and inward investment,” Fehilly adds. “Tourism and business all benefit from a safe city.”

Concluding, she says: “There is no magic wand. Our work relies on partnerships working across all sectors.

It is often about negotiating and compromising sometimes. Ultimately, the community is at the heart of our activity.”

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Policing in a pandemic PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton talks to David Whelan about the budgetary pressures facing policing, the impact of the pandemic on resources and the forced acceleration of digital progress in response to Covid-19.

Describing the 2021/22 budgetary outcome for the PSNI as a “flatline budget”, Hamilton says: “That means we get exactly the same as we got last year. The problem with that is that it doesn’t factor for pay inflation and other types of inflation. In real terms that means there is a hole in the budget of around £23 million, which equates to around 300 officer posts.”

With Brexit funding for the PSNI yet to be secured in its entirety, falling around £5 million short according to the Deputy Chief Constable, Hamilton says that the hole created in the PSNI’s budget means that rather than ambitions and efforts to grow the organisation this year, numbers may have to “drift back”.

Pointing to a “nearly one quarter of one billion pounds in cuts” over the last decade for the PSNI, which Hamilton highlights as disproportionate compared to any other UK police force, the Deputy Chief Constable says that funding on an annual basis has proved a challenge.

The PSNI has not had a multi-annual budget for almost a decade and the Deputy Chief Constable summarises: 62

“When funded from year to year, it’s very difficult. It forces you into shortterm thinking on an annual basis and that’s really problematic for us.”

and allocated upon a number of assumptions for the year and very few of those assumptions actually occurred.”

Budgetary pressures for the PSNI existed before Covid-19 but the organisation’s operational response to the pandemic has intensified that pressure. Discussing the impact of the pandemic on the PSNI operationally, Hamilton explains that while early predictions for a 30 per cent rolling absence rate did not manifest, the PSNI did have to adjust to deal with an 18 per cent absence rate at peak.

Asked whether the operational pressures had an impact on the PSNI’s ability to meet demand, the Deputy Chief Constable responds: “The worstcase scenario around resourcing never actually happened but what we did have was individual cases where we had to close stations or stand down entire teams but we never really saw any kind of drop off in our ability to meet demand,” he explains.

“Early on we focused on a contingency plan that would answer calls for service, particularly 999 calls, but thankfully we never had to invoke that plan. We also put all of our frontline officers on 12hour shifts for a number of months and that allowed us to have sufficient resources on the ground,” says Hamilton.

One advantage the PSNI has had in minimising disruption is the development of their own contact and trace system inside the service.

Hamilton says that vigorous implementation has meant that disruption has not lasted long in any area of business.

Highlighting how these adjustments meant further financial pressures, Hamilton says: “The thing that has been most hard to manage has been the overtime budget. [The budget] is bid for

Adaptation Discussing the adaptations implemented by the organisation, Hamilton explains that the procurement

of 1,000 laptops to facilitate remote working pre-Covid was doubled and a business model was very quickly created to allow those in the organisation who are not primarily frontline to work from home.

The Deputy Chief Constable flags an interesting recognition that the shift to home-working for non-frontline staff has seen “quite considerable” drop offs in sickness rates and no recognised drop off in productivity. However, he explains that the ability to appropriately measure such statistics would have been ideally implemented in policy, had they not needed to be rolled out at speed.

Asked whether pandemic-related adaptations to flexible and home working are to be a permanent feature for the PSNI going forward, Hamilton says: “I hope so. I’ve always been an advocate of flexible working. We are quite a hierarchical organisation with multiple layers of supervision and rank structure but I’ve always been of the view that people should be able to do their work wherever they need to, provided the work is done.”

Public confidence Another challenge facing the PSNI in the unique context of Covid has been around maintaining public confidence while also enforcing changing and evolving restrictions. A number of highprofile incidents have brought criticisms of the PSNI’s approach, not least their handling of the Black Lives Matter Protest in June 2020, with the Police Ombudsman reporting severe damage to confidence in policing among some within the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland and describing claims that the handling of the protest compared to a counter demonstration amounted to “unfairness and discrimination” as justified.

Asked to describe how challenging policing the Executive’s pandemic restrictions has been for the organisation, Hamilton highlights that level of regulatory change is without parallel in policing history.

“I don’t think anyone, in a stable situation, would have done it [introduce and amend regulations] in that way but things had to be done fast for various reasons. Fast law is difficult law and sometimes it’s not always the best law.

I think the big test everyone had to apply and continues to apply for the coronavirus regulations is necessity and proportionality. Those tests are based in law but there is also a degree of subjectivity at times and not everyone agrees on what is necessary and what is proportionate. That puts policing in a really difficult spot.”

Three planks In March 2020, in an interview with agendaNI, Police Chief Constable Simon Byrne pointed to three key planks of change he envisaged for the PSNI in the form of an investment into more officers for neighbourhood policing; modernisation of the PSNI estate; and digital PSNI.

Hamilton believes that the enforcing of health regulations is something that most police officers and most legislators never really conceived and this has led to a trying and testing time for the community and “an unparalleled time of challenge for policing”.

With officer investment “stuck in the funding envelope”, Hamilton points to progress in relation to the PSNI estate and digital. The PSNI have got approval to move from a strategic business case to an outline business case in both areas. Discussing the PSNI’s aspiration to rationalise the size of its estate in Belfast, the Deputy Chief Constable says that while work in this area is in its infancy, the PSNI will continue to develop on its plans.

Asked whether he believes the public are understanding of the challenge faced by policing, Hamilton adds: “I think we risk trying to think of the public as a single thought process. I think the view on regulations and enforcement varies and there is no single narrative around this.

However, it is in the area of digital where he believes most progress has been done. “Digital has gotten the most traction given the level of work we have had do over the year. The nice thing is that in moving so fast we have been able to prove and disprove some of the concepts,” explains Hamilton.

“I do think that sometimes because of the history of policing in Northern Ireland and the history of challenging people’s behaviours, there has been a reluctance to do any of this without the police. That has drawn us in to a lot of areas where we are uncomfortable and the nature of some of the issues that we have in our communities is that people feel that only the police can mount challenges to people’s behaviour.

Pointing to the wider impact of digital progression for the organisation, he adds: “Some of the discussion around officer numbers also relates to alternative ways of working.

Affordability for police staff numbers may also be connected to how much differently we can do our business and do it more cheaply. However, to do this we need both capital and revenue investment and we hope to continue to invest on revenue lines to create a more effective and efficient workforce.”

“I think it’s an impossible question to answer and I think history will probably make its judgement on these things.”

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Describing how the pandemic has helped accelerate progress, through necessity, in some areas, he adds: “Things that would have taken us one year to pilot and one year to policy up we did in around two weeks. I think across many sectors, there is a realisation that your business models can be done in a different way if you want them to and we’re no different to that.”

“Things that would have taken us one year to pilot and one year to policy up we did in around two weeks. I think across many sectors, there is a realisation that your business models can be done in a different way if you want them to and we’re no different to that.”

Hamilton acknowledges the financial constraints in which the Department of

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volunteering schemes and police community support officers, as creations of potential entry points into the police, he adds: “It still remains a difficulty. Every time we open recruitment we get around 5,000 applications across the province. Quite rightly, jobs are allocated on a meritbased principle, which is entirely in line with the law but we haven’t came up with the solution to fully-balanced recruitment.”

Hamilton believes that the PSNI could be better assisted in relation to attracting a more diverse workforce and believes the settling of “environmental factors” including the PSNI’s requirement to “be in the legacy space”, would be a healthy factor for policing in Northern Ireland.

Outlook

Justice and the Executive are also working on and outlines initial moves by the PSNI to recruit a strategic partner to aid with change and transformation issues.

Diversity Another area marked out by Chief Constable Byrne for progress was the creation of a more diverse workforce.

Latest workforce composition figures show no significant progress in increasing the number of officers in the PSNI who are Catholics (31.9 per cent), women (30 per cent) or from an ethnic minority background (0.58 per cent).

Acknowledging the figures, Hamilton says that there are few organisations in Northern Ireland “working as hard around its diversity demographic” as the PSNI. “There is quite rightly a challenge laid down to us that if you police your communities well, make them open and accessible, with confidence levels in them, then you attract people to join,” he says.

Pointing to existing barriers to better diversity, including how the police are viewed in Northern Ireland’s society, he adds: “There is a massive responsibility on people like me to make sure the PSNI is an attractive place to come to work. We have seen really strong progress over the last 10 years, particularly in the area of female recruitment, but not so much in the 64

minority ethnic community and the overall BAME community.

“I think there are a number of reasons for that. Part of it is that some of the newer communities… have issues with trust around policing, globally, not just in Northern Ireland. So, we’ve had to make up a lot of progress there. I wouldn’t deny that the issues that have arisen for the BAME community out of the Black Lives Matter report probably adds to levels of concern and mistrust.”

In relation to Catholic recruitment, Hamilton acknowledges that the progress following the Patten recommendations has slowed but says that the PSNI are developing strategies, processes and programmes annually to assist with this, as well as focusing on outreach for every recruitment programme.

He adds: “Objectively speaking, in many areas we have proven to have shown our bona fides but it still isn’t enough. There is a burgeoning issue for a number of years now for people, from whatever community they identify, around the process of getting into the police. There is a strong sense that the process favours the more well educated and primarily the middle classes of Northern Ireland. That is a challenge because of the competitive nature of applying for a job and finding a balance in a purely merit-based process which is open to everyone.”

Describing initiatives with neighbourhood policing, including

Turning to the year ahead, Hamilton believes that the greatest challenge facing the PSNI will be the unknown of transitioning out of Covid. This, he states, relates not just to finances but also recognises trends in other countries where the ending of lockdown has coincided with a rise in reports of domestic abuse and sexual assault and he aims to make sure that the PSNI retains the confidence of victims to report crimes.

Equally he is aware of historic trends of rising inquisitive crime in times of higher levels of unemployment but maintains that his glass remains half full in terms of recovery.

“I think the community has shown its resilience over the last year. It has been horrific for people, particularly those who have lost loved ones but we’re coming through and I hope that a little bit of the good will that we had in pulling together at the start of all of this is retained.”

For the PSNI as an organisation, Hamilton describes a potential better budgetary process as an advantage but says that his main ambition for the year is to see policing “consolidate and improve” community sentiment.

“The purpose of what we do hasn’t changed and I’d like to see the PSNI as one of the organisations that helps lead our community out of the crisis because I think we possess a lot of skills and a lot of commitment. I’d like us to be a key part of the recovery,” he concludes.

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Developing a social economy Department for the Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA describes the “key role” of social enterprise in building a stronger Northern Ireland economy.

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

social economy report

Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA pictured with (centre) Andrew McCracken, Finance Director at Crumlin-based social enterprise Transport Training Services, and Colin Jess, Director of Social Enterprise NI.

The Covid pandemic has had a devastating effect on businesses and individuals here in Northern Ireland. The social enterprise sector has been and continues to be absolutely vital in helping our society to get through these difficult times.

Recently I launched my Economic Recovery Action Plan which sets out a range of decisive actions to kick-start economic recovery in Northern Ireland and build a more competitive, inclusive and greener economy. I believe the social enterprise sector has a key role to play within this plan and the longer term building of a stronger Northern Ireland economy.

As referenced within the plan my department is leading a crossdepartmental Social Economy Policy Group to deliver an integrated strategic approach to the social economy. The vision of this policy group is: “To cultivate an environment which supports the development of a more sustainable social economy sector capable of making a significant contribution to the social and economic life of Northern Ireland”. Their priority is to focus on how departmental policies/programmes support sector growth and to contribute to the development of an integrated strategic approach to the social economy.

In addition, my department also funds the social economy sector through the Social Economy Work Programme, the main objective of which is to identify and implement a programme of

“Northern Ireland’s economic recovery will be driven by innovation, investment and a skilled workforce.” initiatives to enable the continued growth of a sustainable social economy sector across Northern Ireland.

Recently it was confirmed that Social Enterprise NI has been successful in securing the grant to deliver the new work programme for the next three years which enables them to continue and build on the good work they have delivered to date.

While we move towards recovery and the reopening of the economy, we cannot understate the devastating effect the pandemic has had on our communities and lives. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented financial difficulties for many businesses including social enterprises. In order to help protect jobs, prevent business closures and promote economic recovery the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive have put in place a number of support schemes and initiatives to support local industry and businesses, many of which have been available to social enterprises.

In September of last year, I also announced that the eligibility criteria for the Department for the Economy’s

Skills Focus and InnovateUs programmes had been extended to enable social enterprises to apply for support. As I mentioned at the launch of the Economic Recovery Plan, Northern Ireland’s economic recovery will be driven by innovation, investment and a skilled workforce. We need to ensure we have people with the right skills, who can adapt to the changing labour market, to ensure that the local economy can recover and start to grow again.

The Skills Focus and InnovateUs programmes have enabled businesses to access learning, fully funded by my department, from the local further education colleges for upskilling and reskilling of staff with the aim of boosting innovation within the sector.

I hope the aforementioned gives everyone a flavour of the key role that the social economy sector plays in Northern Ireland and the importance my department places on continuing to support the sector. I look forward to continuing to work with Social Enterprise NI and other stakeholders to contribute to the Recovery Plan and to grow the economy for the benefit of all.

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Social Enterprise: The future of business social economy report

Director Colin Jess says: “A large amount of time was spent in lobbying for our members and wider sector. We met with ministers and government officials, surveyed members and ultimately co-designed a support fund with social finance provider Community Finance Ireland. The original amount allocated was oversubscribed but as a result of further lobbying for additional funds, these were released to meet the demands of the sector.”

Social Enterprise NI also notes that social enterprises have a role to play when considering the spend and demands on a budget for Northern Ireland. For example, social enterprises can give the Department of Health some breathing space by their early intervention and redirecting individuals away from creating demands on the health service, to providing them with employment.

Social Enterprise NI Director Colin Jess discusses the challenges faced by the sector during that pandemic and highlights the levels of innovation utilised to ensure social enterprises continue to support those at greatest risk.

As we are all too well aware, 2020 was a difficult year for all business sectors across Northern Ireland. The social enterprise sector was no different. A year, ago Social Enterprise NI hosted an annual conference on Thursday, 5 March. As delegates left the conference, no one could at that stage have predicted what the next 12 months would have in store.

Despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, and not for the first time, the social enterprise sector stepped up to the mark when most needed and ‘rose to the challenge’ to support those at greatest risk, left exposed and under pressure due to the pandemic.

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Social enterprises are businesses and like any other organisation they strive to generate profit with a strong commercial focus. The only difference is what they do with their profits. Profits are reinvested back into the organisation for the benefit of their social mission rather than providing dividends to individual shareholders.

Representative body Social Enterprise NI state that the sector faced up to the challenges of the pandemic and despite a delay in financial support funds getting released for the vast majority of the sector, have shown a real willingness and ability to ensuring that their service users were impacted as little as possible during this time.

Additionally, social enterprises who work with offenders claim that those who have come through their programme are less likely to reoffend and spend time in employment, again making less demands on an already stretched Department of Justice budget.

Social enterprises stood beside their local communities and helped those most vulnerable in society who were shielding or unable to access to transport for those much-needed food and medical supplies. Social enterprises by nature will innovate and just ‘do the right thing’. Many organisations adapted early in the pandemic to show what lies at the heart of their social mission.

In no particular order, some examples of innovation are: • The Resurgam Trust stepped up in the early days of Covid-19 and amongst many initiatives, converted their Social Enterprise Bar into a soup kitchen providing over 17,000 meals to those within their community.

• Millburn Community Association offered daily hot meals for the elderly and vulnerable, and developed a

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value prescription delivery service in partnership with a local pharmacy.

• Bolster Community in Newry coped with a 70 per cent increase in service requests and delivered over 10,000 engagements. Additionally, during Covid-19, they carried out a successful rebranding of their business.

Then we have others such as Madlug CIC who entered a social partnership with a worldwide brand, IKEA, providing bags to 12,876 staff members across the UK, a great indication of the commercial business focus within the sector.

CAN created their own TV channel reaching up to 750,000 per week across the world and Books by Stellas linked with Refuge Hot Chocolate to create a Christmas hamper. Employers for Childcare lobbied successfully for childcare needs to be recognised during the pandemic, East Belfast Mission rolled out further assistance to those in need and organisations such as Kinship Care, Oasis and Arc Healthy Living ensured that they supported local families at a time of most need. As the pandemic continued, Inspire, TAMHI, RCity, The Hummingbird Project and GLL stepped forward to ensure the health and wellbeing of individuals was being looked after as well as Healthy Kidz who delivered a global virtual sports day during to over 25,000 pupils in 500 schools. Wee Chicks, Studyseed and Science Starz also ensured that children’s education was being looked after.

Mugshots, despite restrictions in accessing Hydebank, continued their work with offenders to ensure their programmes continued and Turnaround Project announced a new social partnership with Alpha Housing. Clearer were hit by the impact of Covid on the hospitality sector, however, turned this

social economy report

The list goes on. The NOW Group, USEL, Orchardville, Stepping Stones NI, Fox and Bean, The Quirky Bird, Superstars, Olive Lane & An Creagan have excelled in delivering catering to those in need, not to mention IncredABLE in Lurgan, who won the contract to operate the catering facilities at the new leisure centre at South Lakes, Craigavon. Indeed, also of note, Orchardville were successful at public tender and are contracted to provide the catering facilities for Castle Buildings.

(L:R) Orchardville Chief Executive Joan McGinn; GLL regional director and chair Gareth Kirk; Finance Minister Conor Murphy and SENI Director Colin Jess attend the launch of a £7 million package from the Executive to support social enterprises in August 2020.

into an opportunity and ‘pivoted’ their business model to produce sanitiser, a great example of the innovative approach which prevails within the social economy.

enterprise and learn how to support

Ledcom, Work West, Workspace, Ortus, East Belfast Enterprise, Fermanagh Trust and many Enterprise Agencies coped with the difficult conditions in supporting their tenants in every way possible. Viable Corporate Services and Kith n Kin provided invaluable financial and HR support to the sector.

should be considered by all.

These are just examples of the work carried out with over 800 organisations across the country with similar stories to tell and Social Enterprise NI are proud to support them.

It is clear that the activities listed above show the benefits that social enterprises can bring to the wider Northern Ireland economy. The sector, as a business model, is attracting interest from more and more organisations across the private and public sector. Social partnerships are being developed, bringing a collaborative approach to delivering support and best practice to situations which are facing everyone.

these businesses, please get in touch.

We must find a new way of doing business. Buying with social purpose and reinvesting profits back into society

To learn more about the sector and how to ‘Buy Social’, go to our directory website www.buysocialni.org.uk.

Additionally, if you are a social enterprise and not yet a member please get in touch and join the movement, or indeed an organisation from outside the sector who want to work with our members and support their work please get in touch and sign up for membership.

Social Enterprise NI would be delighted to have you onboard.

T: 028 9046 1810 E: info@socialenterpriseni.org W: www.socialenterpriseni.org

Social Enterprises NI believe that it is clear that we have to do business differently. We need a collaborative approach, using the skill sets which are available across all sectors for the common good.

If you want to hear more about social 69

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

‘On the shelf’ Social Value Bill Chair of the All Party Group on Social Enterprise and Alliance Party MLA, Stewart Dickson, says that hope for the delivery of social value legislation in this Assembly mandate is not gone.

The Chair of the All Party Group acknowledges the testing times that social enterprises in Northern Ireland have faced as a result of the pandemic but expresses his amazement at the agility of many of those enterprises to reimagine their services and continue to deliver for wider society and the economy.

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Recognising the valuable role played by

and Dickson, backed by the sector,

social enterprises, Dickson is a long-

pioneered the legal introduction of

standing champion of the introduction

social value obligations in the public

of a Social Value Act in Northern

sector through the introduction of a

Ireland, currently the only region of the

Private Member’s Bill.

UK not to have one in place.

The Bill received cross-party support

The public sector spends £3 billion

and was subsequently taken up and

annually on goods, services and works

shaped by the All Party Group on Social

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Highlighting that the All Party Group had worked through and modelled the proposed legislation with evidence taken from experiences in other UK regions, before the Department agreed to take it forward, Dickson bemoans the over three-year absence of the Assembly, stating: “The reality is that those three wasted years could have delivered a Social Value Act for Northern Ireland.”

Outlining his understanding that Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA faces a range of financial priorities since taking up post in January 2020, Dickson expresses his “exceptional disappointment” that Northern Ireland still does not have a Social Value Act. On whether enough time remains before the Assembly’s mandate ends in March 2022 to progress a Bill, Dickson says: “It’s a very simple and fairly short bill. I understand that the timing is awful given the Assembly absence, the pandemic, and the end of the mandate but I still believe the Minister should make the effort to bring this legislation forward. It is, after all, sitting there on the shelf ready to be used.”

While yet to introduce a Bill to the Assembly, the Department of Finance has not been completely idle on the implementation of social value in processes. In a welcome step, the Finance Minister announced in December 2020 the restructuring of the Procurement Board, which is responsible for developing the Executive’s procurement policy, including representation from key sectors of the economy, one of which is social enterprise.

The factoring of social value into contracts towards a contribution to social goods was one of the first items the Minister asked the new board to explore. Asked whether this step negated the need for a Social Value

social economy report

Enterprise, for which Dickson was Chair. However, despite a statement from the Department of Finance in early 2017 that the Executive was willing to bring forward legislation, Northern Ireland remains without a Social Value Act in 2021 and there is significant doubt whether the Department will bring a bill forward given the length of time remaining in the current Northern Ireland Assembly mandate.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy with representatives and board members from Social Enterprise Northern Ireland (SENI) pre-pandemic. The Minister has appointed SENI’s Director Colin Jess on to the new-look Procurement Board.

“It doesn’t make the whole apparatus of government across Northern Ireland do it because it’s not the law.”

Act, Dickson says that while the move was welcome, it does not generate an excuse not to deliver legislation.

to the future, he points to fresh emphasis on securing social value legislation.

“The policy to make social value a mandatory component only compels the Minister and, to a certain extent, other Executive departments to do that.

What it doesn’t do is take that out into the wider public sector such as local government and arms’ length bodies. It doesn’t make the whole apparatus of government across Northern Ireland do it because it’s not the law,” he states.

“We will continue to press the Minister.

In his address to us, the Minister did say that legislation in this mandate wasn’t impossible. However, if it really can’t be done by the end of this mandate then at the very least it has to be ready to run for the next mandate,” he adds.

Dickson believes that the All Party Group on Social Enterprise has remained one of the most active throughout the pandemic and has continued to meet regularly, adopting a digital approach. Most of the work, he highlights, has been in relation to raising many of the challenges faced by social enterprises in the early stages and pressing both the Department for the Economy and the Department for Communities on the type of financial support that was necessary.

Dickson assesses the All Party Group’s role in this regard as moderately successful, however, as the Chair looks

Concluding with a discussion on how the social enterprises can play a central role to Northern Ireland’s ambition for economic recovery, Dickson says that placing an imperative on government procurement to give first consideration to delivery by social enterprises has wider benefits.

“It’s often assumed that social enterprise is about charity and helping people in to work. Those are key and important planks but it’s also a sector that is delivering new, bright and innovative ways of working and it’s often the best and most cost-effective route for public sector purchasers and buyers,” he concludes.

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

AEL Chief Executive David Hunter with Alex Murdock from Cancer

Fund for Children.

Pivoting in pandemic AEL’s Chief Executive David Hunter discusses pivoting in a pandemic and the need for social value to be a core plank of plans to build back better.

Formed as a social enterprise in 1998, Acceptable Enterprise Ltd (AEL) has built up an impressive portfolio of businesses and training programmes over the past eight years from its base in the Centre Point building in Larne.

The social enterprise creates employment opportunities for individuals traditionally excluded from the labour market, particularly young adults with learning difficulties, and the business model consists of a broad mix of enterprises ranging from the manufacturing of bottled water, online retailing, an on-site café, and horticultural and allotment services.

Until very recently, the social enterprise boasted an impressive acceleration,

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growing its number of employees from 13 in 2012 to over 50 in 2020 and possessing an annual turnover of over £1 million, almost 70 per cent of which came from commercial activity.

However, as it has for many businesses, the pandemic has utterly changed the business landscape in which AEL once operated and brought about requirements for innovative solutions.

Hunter, AEL’s Chief Executive and a Director on the board of Social Enterprise NI, describes the initial shock felt by the social enterprise.

“I was in Dublin about to present on the importance of social value in the RDS when the then Taoiseach announced the immediate closure of schools and

public facilities from Washington,” he explains.

“The room immediately began to empty and the gravity of the situation we were facing was absorbed. We proactively took steps for our own organisation, moving prior to a similar announcement by the Executive in the following days, to reduce the footfall in our building with an outlook to keeping people safe and preventing the spread of Covid19.”

AEL were forced to stop over 100 weekly training placements for disadvantaged adults and introduce measures to continue operating its social enterprise businesses. However, as Hunter explains, lockdown had a

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

dramatic impact on many of these businesses.

For example, Clearer, AEL’s flagship social enterprise, which sources and bottled water, recognised a dramatic fall in orders, given that a large percentage of its customers were in the hospitality sector and were also under restrictions.

“When lockdown hit the businesses, our orders fell off the cliff and by the end of May I could barely look at our figures they were so bad,” explains Hunter.

AEL were forced to furlough many of their workers, retaining a skeleton staff to honour commitments to customers.

Hunter recounts a moment in May 2020, when he was sat in the normally bustling building in Larne, amidst complete silence, and “a feeling of helplessness and lack of control” over the eight years of hard work that had been put into building something wonderful.

At the same time Hunter had thrown himself into his work as a director on the board of Social Enterprise NI, lobbying for the sector and the supports necessary to maintain a sector that creates jobs and brings

Hunter explains that while the news was welcome, there was an understanding that using the support simply to pay running costs of the business were not getting to the root of the problem.

social economy report

Candyrush, AEL’s social enterprise which packages goods imported from around the world and sells them online, was closed in April, although re-opened in May.

added value to the local economy. To this end, Social Enterprise NI were successful in securing government support for the sector by way of a grant scheme.

“For AEL this meant that we had to put our heads together Clearer’s flagship product Clearer Water. and what we came up with was a simplistic plan to summer, strengthen those parts of our business the business was trading at the same least impacted by Covid-19 and level it had the previous year, taking diversify those areas heavily affected,” advantage of increased online trading. he says.

However, as Hunter explains, as well as As a social enterprise, all of AEL’s introducing measures to ensure staff’s profits go back into the business and safety, re-opening the business also the money is used to change people’s meant new business models, managing lives in terms of employment and a disrupted supply chain. training programmes.

AEL’s major innovation has come in the After an initial closure, AEL’s Candyrush form of Clearer, as Hunter explains: enterprise re-opened in May 2020. By “With very little business being done, what we had was an asset of a water bottling plant. It took us to strip that back and think, actually what we have is a bottling plant, how can we use that?”

AEL explored options for using the plant to package and supply hand sanitiser, however, at the time, it was a swamped market, with other businesses, such as breweries, similarly diversifying their production lines and the cost of sourcing hand sanitiser was at a premium.

“We waited and we watched and most importantly we did this with a focus on how we could generate social value,” explains Hunter.

Clearer Hand Sanitiser operates

a return, refill and reuse model.

What AEL did was apply a focus which they had been invested in for their Clearer business, in terms of the environmental impact of packaging.

Pre-Covid, Clearer had diversified into glass bottle production and boasts a

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social economy report

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Clearer employees Nicole (left)

and Ryan (right) with AEL Executive

proud environmental focus in their product.

Clearer Hand Sanitiser remains true to the Clearer brand, providing a socially responsible product while supporting those most disadvantaged in our community. Hunter explains: “Clearer is committed to reducing plastic pollution, we encourage our customers to return their five-litre containers with their next delivery to be refilled and reused. Every return will result in a £1 donation to Cancer Fund for Children on behalf of Clearer Hand Sanitiser.

“In society there is a mixed understanding of what a social enterprise is. We are charities but the vast majority of our income comes from our business activities. It is how we use our profits to generate social value that differentiates us from the private sector.

In this instance we had recognised another charity in the Cancer Fund for Children who were almost entirely relying on fund giving and whose services had been hit hard by the pandemic. Clearer Hand Sanitiser is a good demonstration of a social enterprise business with a social, economic and environmental impact.”

Hunter hopes that the perseverance of the business and efforts to increase awareness of the role of social

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.

David Hunter at the bottling plant

enterprises will pay off. As well promoting the product to numerous organisations, Clearer recently received an order for its water from England, a sign that preparation for the re-opening of the economy is under way.

Speaking about how social enterprises can be given a more central role in the future economy, Hunter says: “Social enterprise and social value is a big part of build back better. How can organisations help to build back better?

They can look at their supply chains and look for opportunities to direct their investment to local and social businesses.

“In using a social enterprise, the impact of your purchase becomes so much more and you’re adding value to that purchase. The great thing is, you don’t have to do anything extra to generate that social value other than make the conscious decision to look for businesses like ours and include them in your supply chains.”

Asked whether frustration surrounds the delay in the Executive progressing a Social Value Act for Northern Ireland which would place a legal requirement on the public sector to include social value in procurement decisions Hunter says: “I’m interested in the actions occurring and what I have seen and

been a part of, with the Department of Finance, is the introduction of this through administration. We are moving towards a point where policy makers decide to administer for social value, including social value in the commissioning, before it gets to procurement and measuring that. As well as seeing, for the first time, weighting for social value in government procurement contracts.

That will change the landscape.”

Looking to the future, Hunter says that while change in any business is inevitable, the forced nature of change brought about by the pandemic is unprecedented and must be seen as an opportunity for lessons to be learnt around supporting local production and supply.

He adds: “I’m also really keen that AEL learns lessons and that we position ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that are there in efforts to build back the economy better, which I believe we’re already doing.

“Cross-sector collaboration, with the private sector backing projects like ours and government tenders which think about social value and social impact will help the economy not just survive but thrive in the future.”

Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Social value on public spending delivery of not only a proposed service but also addressing social, economic, and environmental issues in local communities.

Scoring for social value is to become mandatory in government contracts for the first time in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Finance’s newly reconstituted Procurement Board is currently developing a new policy of social value in government contracts, with the policy expected to come before the Executive shortly.

The Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA announced the restoration and restructuring of the Procurement Board on 1 December 2020, with a key structural change meaning that, as well as procurement practitioners, five new representatives from key sectors of the economy have been appointed.

“Procurement expenditure accounts for some £3 billion annually, representing a quarter of the Executive’s budget. This makes the Executive a hugely significant buyer of goods, services, and construction work. In order to fully realise this spending potential, I am reconstituting the Procurement Board, which develops the Executive’s Procurement Policy,” the Minister told the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Alongside representatives from construction, small business, manufacturing and trade unions, Colin Jess, the Director of Social Enterprise NI, was appointed to the board to represent social enterprise.

One of the first priorities tasked of the

board is to explore social value potential.

“The restructured Board will include procurement practitioners involved in the design and management of procurement exercises. These individuals will engage with their respective sectors in order to bring their views, experiences and fresh thinking to this important area of policy,” the Minister said.

Adding: “Among the first items I will be asking the new Board to explore are security of supply and social value. A stronger focus on security of supply will benefit local businesses and help increase employment levels while factoring social value into contracts can contribute to social good.”

Northern Ireland’s social enterprise sector has grown significantly in recent years and contributed an estimated £625 million in 2019. In the same year, it was calculated that some 843 social enterprises existed in Northern Ireland, employing almost 25,000 people, and generating a combined turnover of £980 million.

The social enterprise sector argues that by embracing social value, potentially millions of pounds of public money will be available for community benefit and encourages smarter spending, ensuring

social economy report

Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK without social value legislation. England’s Public Services (Social Value Act) 2012 went live in 2013, Scotland’s Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act was passed in 2014 and Wales implemented the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act in 2015.

In 2017, then Finance Minister in Northern Ireland Máirtín Ó Muilleoir committed to introducing a Social Value Bill before the collapse to the Assembly.

Since then, the Department has continued to signal its support for legislation, but no bill has been brought to the Assembly.

Previously, Northern Ireland’s public procurement policy was approved by the Procurement Board and then circulated in the form of Procurement Guidance Notes (PGN) to the public sector. However, it has been recognised that this process omitted opportunity for co-design with key stakeholders, didn’t always achieve the desired policy outcome and brought about inconsistencies in PGN compliance.

Changes mean that public procurement policy will now be brought to the Executive for approval, allowing for departments to raise any concerns prior to approval and ensure that any new policy carries the authority of ministers, ensuring a consistency of approach.

Recently, the Finance Minister acknowledged the short time left of the Assembly’s current mandate and set out procurement as a priority, stating that he was keen to ensure that Executive spending was “harnessed for the maximum social good”.

“The Procurement Board is currently developing a new policy on the inclusion of social value in all government contracts. For the first time this will make scoring for social value mandatory in government contracts. That is a game-changer in terms of how we use our spending power and I hope to bring that policy to the Executive shortly,” he stated.

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Social Enterprises leading the way in Social Value

Skills and the social economy social economy report

this kind and I look forward to organisations in this sector identifying opportunities to access Skills Focus and InnovateUs and engaging with colleges to take projects forward.”

The move was welcomed by the sector, with Social Enterprise NI Director Colin Jess emphasising the importance placed on building the skills base of people working in social enterprises to improve the services they provide and operational efficiency.

The future role of social enterprises in Northern Ireland’s economic recovery has been given a welcome boost by their inclusion in skills and innovation supports offered by the Department for the Economy.

From the outset of the pandemic, Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA has indicated her ambitions to put skills at the heart of Northern Ireland’s economic recovery and the inclusion of social enterprises in recovery support schemes indicate a central role in future recovery plans.

The Department for the Economy are currently developing a new long-term Skills Strategy with an expected launch date of summer 2021. In early March, the Minister Diane Dodds told the Northern Ireland Assembly that the strategy will aim to address not only the short term challenges arising as a consequence of Covid-19, but also in addressing the long-term weaknesses within the economy.

“We have an opportunity to consider more efficient ways to deliver training and development, particularly given the move to online delivery as a consequence of the pandemic. We need to change attitudes to learning and upskilling. Our economy is changing very quickly, with automation and digitisation transforming the workplace,” she says.

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“It is essential that employers and individuals recognise the need to invest time and money in people.”

The Minister outlined her intention to launch a suite of skills interventions, including employability skills, and highlighted a £15 million need for investment over the next three years.

It now seems likely that the social enterprise sector will be eligible to be involved in the scheme after the Department moved in September 2020 to broaden the eligibility criteria for their Skills Focus and InnovateUs programmes to enable social enterprise to apply for support.

“The Skills Focus and InnovateUs programmes enable businesses to access learning, fully funded by my department, from the local further education colleges for upskilling and reskilling and to boost innovation. I am pleased that social enterprises, as businesses in their own right, will now also be able to access this support,” the Minister said on widening the scheme.

“I know there is demand within the local social enterprise sector for support of

The Skills Focus programme aims to support collaboration between the business sector and further education institutions to provide tailored skills provisions to SMEs and is fully funded by the Department until March 2022.

The InnovateUs programme offers tailored training for small businesses to undertake innovation activity. The programme’s focus is small businesses with under 50 employees and aims to improves skills to engage in innovation activities across the business, enabling businesses to undertake additional and further forms of innovation, which will contribute to their growth and development.

In February, the Minister launched her Economic Recovery Action Plan. The report identifies supporting a highlyskilled workforce, stimulating research and development, building a greener economy and promoting investment, trade and exports as the drivers to recover.

As well as extending eligibility of their skills support schemes, the Department have identified ongoing work in leading the cross-departmental Social Economy Policy Group “to deliver an integrated strategic approach to the social economy”.

The Department currently funds the social economy sector through the Social Economy Work Programme and recently confirmed that Social Enterprise NI has been successful in securing the grant to deliver the new work programme for the next three years.

Technology report

Digital

Events

Print

THE TECH TRENDS OF 2021

technology report

THE CLOUD Distributed cloud technology looks set to play a major role in the future of the cloud. Distributed cloud is a technology that allows organisations to provide public cloud options for different physical locations. What this means practically is that the public cloud company will maintain and operate the service and physically execute at the point of need.

Distributed cloud helps with latency issues and with privacy regulations that require data to be contained within specific locations. Examples of distributed cloud include: on-premises public cloud, IoT edge cloud, metropolitan area community cloud, 5G mobile edge cloud and global network edge cloud.

The cloud will also play a role in the modernisation of enterprise systems that will migrate to the cloud as more organisations seek to digitise. While the cost of cloud migration has, in the past, proved prohibitive, this is beginning to change as organisations have found outsourcing arrangements that have changed traditional business cases for core modernisation. Other cloud options include shifting core assets to powerful platforms such as low-code options or embracing platform-first strategies by addressing technical debt in ERP systems and migration non-essential capabilities to other platforms.

TOTAL EXPERIENCE Total experience is the combination of previously siloed aspects such as multiexperience, customer experience, employee experience and user experience. The linking together of these experiences will streamline operations and experiences for both users and organisations.

For example, appointment systems will now be done via apps, which will notify those with appointments of the check-in process when they approach the physical location of the appointment, allowing organisation to manage capacity in response to Covid regulations.

Total experience will be part of a larger amalgamation of the digital and the physical, be it through online working, online shopping online schooling or other transactions. Deloitte predicts that “in the next 18 to 24 months, we expect in-person and digital experiences to become more seamless and intertwined”. Customer journeys will increasingly encompass the digital and the physical, where experiences will be tailored to fit individuals’ behaviours, attitudes, and preferences.

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CYBERSECURITY As cyberattacks continue to become more sophisticated. Cybersecurity will continue to move away from its more traditional castle-and-moat style. Zero trust architecture, which requires access request to be validated based on all available data points (user identity, device, location, and other variables), will become more and more prevalent.

Data, applications, workloads and other resources will now be treated as “individual, manageable units to contain breaches”, where access will be provided “based on the principle of least privilege”. The automation and engineering required for zero trust will strengthen security

technology report

posture, simplify security management, improve end-user experience and further enable modern enterprise environments. Zero trust will require a great deal of planning around addressing foundational issues in cybersecurity, the automation of manual processes and changes to security organisation and the technology landscape.

Also likely to play a role in 2021 cybersecurity will be privacy-enhancing computation, which is made up of three different technologies that protect data while it is being used in order to facilitate secure data processing and analytics. The first of these provides the environment in which data can be safely processed and analysed using third parties and hardware-trusted execution environments; the step performs the processing and analytics in a decentralised manner using federated machine learning and privacy-aware machine learning; and the third transforms data and algorithms before processing and analytics using differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, secure multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, private set intersection and private information retrieval. These steps will allow organisations to share data in untrusted environments.

THE INTERNET OF BEHAVIOURS The Internet of Behaviours is where browsing history, cookies, “digital dust” etc. are drawn from a variety of sources and utilised by both public and private entities in order to influence behaviour. The data utilised can come from sources such as commercial customer data, social media or facial recognition; as more and more data is created via our increasingly online and digitised lives, an even more comprehensive picture of citizens will be created through ever-evolving technology.

The Internet of Behaviours “presents significant and pervasive social and ethical implications” according to Gartner, a global research firm, and the collection of data to influence behaviour has the potential to be a powerful tool, as best seen in China, where citizens are subject to a Social Credit System that rewards behaviour through a point system that offers rewards and special privileges.

Examples of the Internet of Behaviours include law enforcement having access to the speed, braking and cornering data that cars now produce in exchange for lower insurance premiums. The prevalence of these measures will depend on a jurisdiction’s privacy laws and how data can be used legally.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Artificial intelligence engineering is based on three pillars: DataOps, ModelOps (or MLOps), and DevOps. DevOps deal with high-speed code changes and their principles must be applied across the data pipeline by organisations for DataOps and across the machine learning pipeline for MLOps in order to fully utilise AI engineering.

technology report

MLOps are seen as an increasingly important part of AI as it industrialises.

This sophisticated machine learning will help companies “efficiently discover patterns, reveal anomalies, make predictions and decisions and generate insights”. As organisations seek to further embrace engineered performance, MLOps will become increasingly important.

MLOps is the application of DevOps tools and approaches to model development and delivery to industrialise and scale machine learning, from development to maintenance and management; its prevalence will engineer a move away from artisanal AI to automated, industrialised data.

AUTOMATION Hyperautomation is an emerging trend in the automation sphere, where a business automates as many processes as possible using tools such as AI, machine learning, event-driven software, robotic process and task automation tools. Hyperautomation relieves organisations that are weighed down by organisational debt, that is to say technical, process, data, architecture, talent, social and security debt.

This debt is caused by extensive and expansive sets of business processes underpinned by various technologies that are often not optimised or connected. To enable hyperautomation, organisations have to digitise documents and artifacts in order to ensure that process workflows are digital, allowing the automation of tasks to begin.

Automation will also play a role in the increasing presence in workplaces of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) tools. New tools in the recruitment and advancement area of work will use AI, machine learning and automation to assist workplaces. Tools will be used to identify biased language in job postings using natural language processing, to nudge recruiters to increase awareness of potential bias using AI, and to identify optimal candidates for jobs and promotions using AI, machine learning and automation.

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EQ ICS: Delivering off the shelf solutions

How are the evolving demand of customers impacting software solutions?

There is a really interesting paradox when it comes to software solutions, particularly in the public sector. There has been an overarching demand for ‘off the shelf’ solutions over the previous couple of years, moving hand in hand with the rise of ‘SaaS’ and cloud based platforms.

Whilst this demand has evolved, the underlying business requirements for solutions to actually meet the needs of individual business units, still very much exists. In fact, it’s probably more prevalent than ever given the degree of governance that regulated and public sector bodies are subject to. It’s a real balancing act for suppliers taking these demands on board.

How do we give our customers an off the shelf solution, that manages to meet all of their complex business requirements?

We’ve often seen customers try to tackle this themselves, by bending their processes to fit the software. I suspect commercial capability maybe drives that way of thinking, but I’m not necessarily convinced it leads to better solutions, or rather to better underlying processes that genuinely benefit the business.

How are Equiniti working to bridge the gap?

We want customers to be able to confidently pick up a solution, knowing it ticks the compliance box of being an off the shelf, configurable product, without having to sacrifice or bend their underlying business requirements.

As an organisation EQ have always been good at meeting the most complex of requirements, which to my view, is the most difficult part of the equation. We’ve therefore been able to focus on how we take our existing solutions and make them off the shelf and fully configurable.

Whilst a challenge, I can honestly say it has been massively exciting and enjoyable taking the best technical solutions out there and using them to meet market demands. Our Perito Case product is seeing its biggest change in over 15 years. We can’t wait to share the results with everyone.

What are the challenges in delivering solutions for the future?

The challenges will be similar to what we’ve always seen, just amplified. By that I mean customers will always demand value, but with increased demand and expectations. Whilst customers would ideally like their core business requirements met with off the shelf solutions, we’re beginning to see an increased demand for ‘automated innovation’ on top, particularly in the area of Predictive Analytics. Using the underlying data within the solutions better in order to learn and predict outcomes, which in turn can automate processes. This is very exciting to see the full potential, but the challenge is how we harness the technology effectively within the market. It’s certainly something we’re well aware of and looking at seriously.

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Andrew Hughes, Technical Pre-Sales Lead at EQ ICS discusses the delivery of ‘off the shelf’ public sector software solutions to meet evolving customer demands. drive efficiencies across their organisations.

Andrew has been part of the NI IT sector for over 20 years. Graduating with 1st Class Honours degree in Computing Science at the turn of the millennium his career started with the development of cutting edge research based projects centred on the early use of mobile enabled software, alongside advanced speech recognition processing. For the past 15 years, he's been an integral part of EQ ICS as a Solution's Architect, Microsoft Practice Lead and most recently as Technical Pre-Sales Lead, driving product road mapping and customer solutions across EQ's portfolio of products and services.

T: 028 9045 4166 E: enquiriesMKT@equiniti.com W: www.equiniti-technology.com

EQ ICS is based in Belfast where they’ve been delivering technology-led solutions for over 50 years, helping clients reduce costs, deliver value and 81

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Transport 5.0 A HelB bus on the HRT bus line in Hakaniemi, Helsinki, Finland.

Smart mobility, or Transport 5.0, is the concept relating to the digitisation of transport around the world. agendaNi examines the ways in which it seeks to transform transport through tools such as route optimisation software.

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Smart mobility involves the digitisation and subsequent integration of different modes of transport that aims to make traveling safer, cleaner and more efficient, with an emphasis on a reduction of the use of gasolinepowered vehicles.

ride-sharing apps (Uber, Lyft, etc), bikesharing initiatives, real-time data analytics for the optimisation of both routes and transport options, machine learning for autonomous vehicles and physical infrastructure such as parking spaces and traffic lights.

In Transport 5.0, the Internet of Things is utilised in order to facilitate communication between modes of transport and user interfaces. Smart mobility is made up of many elements, such as traffic-reducing measures like

Under Transport 5.0, cities would be equipped with sensors, data platforms and software to manage transport infrastructure and services and have them act as one cohesive coordinated system.

Benefits of smart mobility Smart mobility is designed with the expressed intention of making cities safer, cleaner and easier to navigate via the optimisation of transport. Safety outcomes arrived at through smart mobility include a reduction in road fatalities through both a reduction in numbers of cars on roads but also through advanced driver assistance systems present in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles that warn drivers of potential hazards, and

automatic braking in emergency situations. Vehicle to Everything technology present in smart cars also automatically contacts an ambulance in the case of a crash, with traffic light patterns changing to facilitate the ambulance.

Pricing is another measure utilised to tackle congestion, where real-time traffic data is used to implement a pricing structure at peak times that prioritises high occupancy vehicles.

Through the prioritisation of high occupancy vehicles and the further adaptation of clean technology in transport, it is hoped that smart mobility can significantly contribute to transport’s journey to becoming carbon neutral. Economically, it is also hoped that the amounts of fuel wasted sitting in traffic (e.g. three billion gallons per year in the USA) and the amounts spent on traffic accidents per year can be significantly reduced through these measures.

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Aside from the traffic reduction benefits of ride-sharing and optimised public transport options, Transport 5.0, specifically the prevalence of autonomous vehicles, could reduce traffic congestion as well. Platooning, the coordination of speeds across vehicles, can limit start/stop driving and eliminate what is known as “phantom traffic”, where drivers wait for those in front of them to move before accelerating.

Mobility car sharing in St Gallen, Switzerland.

Examples of smart mobility Smart mobility is a central tenant of smart city planning, but it can also be adapted in a piecemeal fashion in order to reform transport in cities with older transport infrastructure. Examples of this include Viu Bicing in Barcelona, a bike-sharing system that is estimated to save the city €2.5 million per year.

Annual subscriptions cost €47, with users swiping cards to rent bikes from racks throughout the city.

Big Data is a decade-long project undertaken in Amsterdam that aims to integrate data collected from residents through 12,000 databases in 32 city departments. 100 pilot projects have resulted from this data including simple solutions such as refuse collection vehicles now collecting both recycling and general waste in order to reduce the number of trucks on the road.

Helsinki is often noted for its significant

A boat in carless Songdo, South Korea.

investment in becoming a smart city and its investment in smart mobility goes hand-in-hand with that aim; it is a stated goal for the city to eliminate the need for car ownership by 2025. The city provides an on-demand mobility system that calculates the fastest and cheapest way for commuters to reach their destination and allows the users to select public or private options such as ride-sharing, buses, automated cars, and transport for children. A platform named BOAT, launched in October 2018, allows Helsinki residents to access waterfronts and nearby islands via on-demand boats.

The Songdo Business District in Incheon, South Korea, is perhaps the most notable large-scale smart city experiment with significant investment in smart mobility. Built on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land and designed for 300,000 residents, Songdo is bikefriendly and car free, with over 100 buildings given Leadership in energy and Environmental Design certification.

Songdo’s subway system connects it to Seoul and Incheon, it has a water taxi system in place to allow residents to traverse its canals and its stated goal for the future is to have a bus stop within a 12-minute walk of all residents.

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Strategy for quantum technology in Ireland Irish physicist J.C. Séamus Davis, a professor at University College Cork and Oxford University, as well as an emeritus professor at Cornell University, who was awarded the Olli V Lounasmaa Memorial Prize in 2020 for his contribution to quantum physics, outlines the practical repercussions of a move to superconductive quantum computers.

Conventional information technology Programmable electronic computers have been available to governments since the 1940s, to businesses since the 1960s and to individuals since the 1980s. Today, the world’s fastest conventional supercomputers (Summit and Fugaku) achieve more than 1020 operations per second, the computational equivalent of about 100 billion iPhones or about one human brain. We all appreciate the vast and revolutionary changes wrought by such information technology on human society and life. What is less well appreciated is that all this computing power is utterly inadequate to address many of the gravest challenges now facing our civilisation.

Examples of these challenges include:

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first-principles design of biomolecules with the complexity of the Covid-19 spike protein; prediction of the consequences from engineering the human genome; prediction of the Earth’s climate and ecosystems decades in the future; prediction and discovery of extraordinary new materials for advanced technology; optimised management of individual and institutional logistics at largest scales; optimisation and stabilisation of the global financial system; or encryption and especially decryption of corporate and national data.

A key characteristic of such profoundly difficult problems is that the state of any element in the system depends on the simultaneous state of many (perhaps all) other elements. At relevant scale, these problems are completely intractable to conventional computing.

Quantum information technology The promise of quantum information technology (QIT) is to accelerate computation to the point that these and many other undreamt problems can be solved. This has generated a wave of quantum computer initiatives and startups that is fast becoming a tsunami.

Among the leading companies now focusing on quantum information technology R&D are: for superconductive qubits IBM, Google, Rigetti, Alice&Bob and IQM; for atomic qubits ColdQuanta and AtomComputing; for ionic qubits Honeywell, IonQ and Alpine; and for photonic qubits Xanadu, PsiQuantum and Orca.

All this accelerating innovation is motivated by the dream of replacing

our conventional, semiconductor-based systems, with a radically new and far more potent information technology based on the full power of quantum physics.

Quantum mechanics

Consider the simplest quantum system, one with just two possible states and often referred to by engineers as a ‘qubit’. To visualise the counterintuitive properties of such systems, Schrödinger famously used the meme of a cat with two possible states: dead or alive. Physicists, more prosaically, label these same two states as |0 ⟩ or |1 ⟩. Typically, the qubit is stable in its lowest energy state |0 ⟩ but it can be boosted into the higher energy state |1 ⟩. Key for quantum computing is that the qubit can be placed in a mixture of both states α|0 ⟩+ β|1 ⟩, a situation Schrödinger described as his cat being both dead and alive at the same time.

This quantum mixed state is unavoidably vulnerable to decoherence, in which the qubit spontaneously falls back to the low-energy state |0 ⟩, and the quantum mixture is destroyed.

Decoherence is the most pernicious enemy of quantum computing.

Quantum entanglement occurs when there are two Schrödinger cats that interact with each other. Suppose one cat is blue and with possible states α|0 ⟩+ β|1 ⟩ and the other red with states γ|0 ⟩+ δ|1 ⟩. As they interact, the overall state of the two-cat system can evolve into a|0 ⟩ |0 ⟩+ b|0 ⟩ |1 ⟩+ c|1 ⟩ |0 ⟩+ d|1 ⟩ |1 ⟩. This is a quantum mixture of both cats dead, blue dead with red alive, blue alive with red dead, and both cats alive, with all four possibilities coexisting at the same time.

John Stewart Bell, one of Ireland’s greatest physicists, showed theoretically how this extraordinary situation can and does occur in nature.

So, entangling two qubits creates four

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Quantum mechanics is the most successful of all physical theories, correctly describing, explaining and predicting phenomena from quarks to stars. Present technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, atomicclocks for GPS, lasers for fibre optic data networks, wireless receivers for 5G and many more, all operate based on quantum mechanics. But the full potential of quantum physics for advanced technology is still far from being achieved.

“Next in urgency, we need to create an extensive quantum science and technology ecosystem in Ireland.” simultaneous arrangements, entangling three qubits, eight arrangements, and so on. Completely entangling N qubits with each other would then create up to 2N possible arrangements, all coexisting at the same time. This exponential increase of controllable information, which was first pointed out by Richard Feynman, is the deep reason why quantum computers hold such promise.

Quantum parallelism For conventional computers, calculation speed can be increasing by splitting a calculation into N subsets and then carrying out each sub-calculation in parallel on one of N central processing units (CPU). That’s the basis of highspeed video processing, today.

Obviously, to quadruple the speed by using parallel processing, one must quadruple the number of CPUs. So, to increase the speed of conventional

computation by a factor of say 250 in this manner, one would need to build about a million billion CPUs in parallel.

An absurd proposition.

Now consider a 50 qubit quantum processing unit (QPU). If every qubit were entangled with all the others, then 250 possible arrangements would coexist at the same time on the QPU. In principle, this would allow 250 calculations to occur in parallel on one single QPU. And 50 qubit QPUs are not absurd. Elementary versions already exist and function, although complete entanglement of all qubits is still impossible. Thus, even though profoundly challenging to quantum engineers, deeply frustrating to corporate investors, and highly concerning to governments, the promise of quantum computing is also extremely attractive.

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“The final strategic decision we now face is whether to enter that technology report

scientific premier league.”

Qubit platforms For any practical implementation, a quantum computer must consist of N qubits, each individually quantum coherent, controllable and measurable, and capable of at least pair-wise quantum entanglement. Several quite distinct device platforms have been developed as the basis for quantum computing.

Atomic quantum computers consist of a row of atoms, often Rubidium, held in position at ultra-high-vacuum by laser light. Because these are atoms, maintaining quantum coherence is straightforward, controlling each by a separate laser is possible, and multiqubit entanglement has recently been demonstrated.

Ionic quantum computers are also based on a row of atoms, but in this case each is electrically charged and held electrostatically in position at ultrahigh-vacuum. Control and entanglement is achieved by lasers, analogous to the atom case.

Photonic quantum computers operate based on photons – quanta of light. Onchip semiconductor photonics is used to generate photons, each of which can be configured as a qubit, controlled by optical devices, and read out by superconductive single-photon detectors. A key long-term advantage of photonic quantum computing would be a capability to operate in air at room temperature, but this milestone has not yet been reached.

Finally, there is a solid-state electronics platform akin to semiconductor microelectronics, but now based on superconductor microelectronics.

Superconductors are materials in which

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all the elections occupy a single macroscopic quantum state. So, even though each superconductive qubit contains billions of atoms, it still operates quantum mechanically like a single giant atom.

Major cryogenic equipment is required to cool each superconductive QPU to millikelvin temperatures, i.e. far below the temperature of deep space. On the other hand, functioning 50+ qubit superconductive quantum computers are already commercially available and provide cloud accessible quantum computing services.

Fantastic roadmaps In the 1940s, a data bit could be stored and manipulated using mechanical latches, punch cards or electrical vacuum tubes. Few could then have predicted that the ultimate device platform for convectional information technology would be the semiconductor transistor. For quantum computing, we now find ourselves in the analogous situation. A number of functioning device platforms exist, but which of these, if any, will eventually dominate quantum information technology is unknown.

Although technical roadmaps have already been developed and published for each of these platforms, the utility of any given roadmap remains uncertain because the ultimate destination is unknown. Nevertheless, cloud-based access to quantum computing services using a variety of experimental platforms is already flourishing, and uptake by universities, corporations and governments is accelerating rapidly.

National strategy Because of the potential for revolutionary technological, scientific and economic change, along with the uncertainty on whether and how this will occur, flexible strategic planning is required. At the most elementary level, we need a documented national quantum technology policy, based on the global status quo of QIT and outlining a strategic framework within which to move forward.

Next in urgency, we need to create an extensive quantum science and technology ecosystem in Ireland.

Starting from today’s strong baseline of quantum research skills, we should expand and accelerate education and training of scientists and engineers in quantum physics, quantum devices, quantum software, and quantum computer operations and applications.

Developing this quantum-skilled workforce could probably be achieved without reinventing the wheel, based on existing commercially available quantum computer technology.

Finally, there are the profound scientific and technical barriers to commercialising compact, economical, ambient quantum computing and a quantum internet. That goal is probably decades away and, for Ireland to pursue it, large scale investment in leading-edge quantum research and development would be required. The final strategic decision we now face is whether to enter that scientific premier league.

Contact J.C. Séamus Davis Professor of Quantum Physics, University College Cork, Ireland Professor of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University, NY, USA Max Planck Fellow, Graduate Centre for Quantum Materials, Germany T: (+353) 083 039 2937 E: jcseamusdavis@gmail.com W: www.davis-group-quantum-matterresearch.ie

Green technology

Green technology will play a significant role in the decades to come as the Executive prepares to publish its energy strategy, which will run to 2050, later this year.

In the second of its e-bulletin updates on the energy strategy’s development, the Department for the Economy said that “diversifying the technology mix” is among the key issues arising in power generation. “Most renewable energy in Northern Ireland comes from onshore wind,” the bulletin says, “and the role of other technologies, including offshore wind (fixed/floating), marine (tidal/wave) and energy storage will be considered.”

With significant grid investment likely to be needed in order to meet whatever renewable target is set – at least 70 per cent by 2030 has been mooted by Minister Diane Dodds MLA – the diversity of technology is said to be an important consideration for both capacity and security of supply. Such a

diversity will be especially important due to the unsuitability of the north-eastern coast for the development of offshore wind farms.

In 2019, a department report stated the coast was unsuitable due to likely objections over how the offshore wind farms would affect the physical makeup of the area due to their proximity to the coast; this meant that Northern Ireland was excluded from the 2019 leasing round by the Crown Estate, the proprietor of the territorial waters off of the north Antrim coast.

While concrete commitments are understandably lacking before the publication of the strategy, the fourth ebulletin, issued in September 2020,

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states that the Heat Working Group is considering whether or not there should be a renewable target for heat and what technologies could be of use. Examples of renewable heat technologies include renewable biofuels, solar heating, geothermal heating, heat pumps and heat exchangers.

In the fifth of the bulletins, the Department states that it will consider how technology can be used to “prevent unnecessary journeys and ensure the capability to tap into new energy uses”, through the use of tech such as smart metering, smart charging of vehicles and high-speed broadband. The sixth of the bulletins states that the new approach to energy “may mean benefiting from new and smarter ways of generating and using renewable energy and technologies”. With offshore wind out of the question for now, these technologies are most likely to be the aforementioned heat tech, solar technologies and onshore wind turbines.

Further technological possibilities are being explored through the recently announced Carbon Capture and Storage Fund, the Prime Minister’s £1 billion 10-point plan for carbon capture processes and technologies. Though no criteria for the fund have been announced yet, there are several technological possibilities for the CO2 separation stage of CCS, but thus far only one has been used on an industrial scale: carbon scrubbing with amines.

For storage, the carbon would likely be subject to the process of geosequestration, which involves injecting it in its supercritical form into underground geological formations.

Yet more investment in green tech will be expected to come from a £250 million low carbon hydrogen production fund due in late 2021. For now, the latest of the Department’s bulletins states that the Executive plans to “aid and guide our consumers to integrate and utilise zero carbon technologies within the day-to-day home and working lifestyles”.

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Industry 4.0

Digital robotic manufacturing in an MIREA Laboratory

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, is the term for the ongoing process of automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices through the use of smart technology.

Industry 4.0 takes what was started in the Third Industrial Revolution through the introduction of semiconductors, mainframe computing, personal computing, and the internet, and brings these technologies to the next level by enhancing them with smart and autonomous systems dependent upon data and machine learning. A key difference from Industry 3.0 to 4.0 is that while computing was introduced by 3.0, computers now have the power to connect, communicate and make decisions largely without human involvement.

Cyber-physical streams, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems all combine to make Industry 4.0 and

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futuristic ideas such as the smart factory possible. It is the network of machines that connect digitally in an environment such as smart factories that create and share information in real time that is the true power of Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 and its real time information gathering allows companies to quickly diagnose issues and set about repairing them; one example cited by McKinsey and Co is that of an African gold mine whose sensors identified an issue with oxygen levels during the leaching process. Once fixed, the mine’s yield increased by 3.7 per cent, saving them $20 million annually.

Connected supply chains allow for the adjustment and accommodation of issues when new information is presented quickly across the system.

For example, should weather conditions delay a shipment, the system can communicate this along the chain and modify manufacturing priorities.

Shipping yards around the world have now started deploying autonomous cranes and trucks to streamline operations. These cranes include features such as anti-collision, zoning, and remote configuration technologies.

These features are aided by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and compute vision, meaning that the crane cycle is handled automatically, with the

operator only acting when required.

Operators in control rooms can operate several cranes from one room via onboard cameras and a remote control station.

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Robotics have now become much more prevalent in operations such as shipping and warehousing as part of Industry 4.0. Autonomous robots are now no longer an oddity as they move around the warehouses of companies such as Amazon. The robots in Amazon facilities cover the ground that human employees had previously been required to do by carrying empty shelving units to the employees, who now remain stationary. Once the robot’s shelving unit is full, an employee presses a button on the robot, prompting it to move to a different area of the warehouse, where the items it

“Digital-to-physical transfers such as 3D printing will also play a large role in manufacturing under Industry 4.0. The American car manufacturer Local Motors builds its cars almost entirely through 3D printing, with design crowdsourced from an online community. New models are built from scratch in a year, compared to an industry average of six years.” carries are unloaded for dispatch by other employees. Amazon estimates that these robots allow the company to store 40 per cent more inventory in their warehouses.

Other technologies such as additive manufacturing (otherwise known as 3D printing) and the Internet of Things and the cloud have also been critical to the development of Industry 4.0, allowing for manufacturing and data use to be revolutionised. The movements specific to manufacturing might be of most interest in Northern Ireland, given the region’s reliance on the sector as an economic force, especially in areas such as Mid Ulster and Derry City and Strabane.

On top of the possibilities unlocked by data-collecting sensor, advanced analytics will also greatly impact product development. Through the use of online configurations and purchasing data, manufacturers will be able to identify options that customers are willing to pay a premium for. Such techniques are said to greatly reduce production costs and development time, with companies reporting gross margin improvements of 30 per cent within 24 months.

Human-machine interfaces, such as the picking technology that utilises augmented reality developed by Knapp AG, will also become prevalent in manufacturing. In such technologies, pickers wear a headset that presents vital information on a see-through display which helps them locate items more quickly and precisely. With both hands free, the employees can build stronger and more efficient pallets. An integrated camera also captures serial and lot ID numbers, allowing for real time stock tracking. Error rates are reported to have fallen by 40 per cent where these technologies are used.

Digital-to-physical transfers such as 3D printing will also play a large role in manufacturing under Industry 4.0. The American car manufacturer Local Motors builds its cars almost entirely through 3D printing, with design crowdsourced from an online community. New models are built from scratch in a year, compared to an industry average of six years. Vauxhall and General Motors, while still bending metal, have also begun to use 3D printing and rapid prototyping as a means of minimising time to market.

The rollout of 5G, which will allow for

online speed previously exclusive to WiFi and other stationary hubs, will accelerate the progress being facilitated

by Industry 4.0. Research also suggests that further embracing of Industry 4.0 could be key to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. A McKinsey survey of manufacturing and supply-chain professionals found that 93 per cent planned to focus on supply chain resilience and 90 per cent planned to invest in digitisation as part of their plans to recover post-pandemic.

One notable expectation with Industry 4.0 is that planning will transition away from its current siloed nature – demand forecasting, supply planning, production planning, logistics planning, and sales and operations planning – towards a more integrated autonomous planning model. Autonomous planning relies on artificial intelligence, machine learning, internal data and external datasets from suppliers, customers, weather forecasters, demographic sources and broader economic indicators to create an image of future demand. In these Brexit- and Covidthreatened times, such clarity and informed decision making will be needed.

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public affairs agenda

Delivering at pace Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, Declan McAleer MLA talks to David Whelan about the implications of Brexit for the work of the committee and its priorities for the remainder of the mandate.

McAleer does not need to think twice when asked where the bulk of the committee’s energy has been spent following the resumption of the Northern Ireland Assembly in January 2020.

“Brexit has completely dominated the skyline of our committee,” states the Chair, explaining: “For over 40 years now, within the island of Ireland, agriculture and rural affairs has been driven by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). For us to be taken out of the EU, against the wishes of the majority of people in the North, has left a huge legislative and policy gap and has

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created significant challenges.”

The Chair points to the three large pieces of legislation which have dominated the committee’s workload, namely: the UK’s Agriculture Bill; the Environment Bill; and the Fisheries Bill.

“We have gathered evidence and scrutinised those pieces of legislation and raised major concerns. Concerns about how they would interfere with the Protocol and also the potential impact of divergence by Britain, given that we remain part of the EU’s single market.

“These have presented us with huge challenges and have occupied a lot of our bandwidth. Additionally, we’ve been doing a lot of this work remotely because of the pandemic.”

McAleer outlines that as well as scrutiny of the UK bills, the committee has dealt with a hefty volume of secondary legislation, in the form of statutory rules and instruments. He estimates over 50 pieces of legislation in this form have been dealt with by the committee since September 2020, which he explains had to be passed by the end of the transition period (31 December 2020) to enable the

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Department to have a functioning rulebook. The committee is also actively scrutinising seven common frameworks covering the creation of new policies such as fisheries management, animal welfare, water, and the emissions trading scheme (ETS).

“As a consequence of the legal separation of the UK from the EU, we’re making sure that we have the secondary legislation in place so that we in the North can continue to align with the EU regulations across the vast majority of areas, in line with the Protocol,” he states.

McAleer is Sinn Féin’s agriculture, environment and rural affairs spokesperson and was a member of the previously named Committee for

Budget As Chair, McAleer has been vocal in his concerns around the budget availability to the Department. Pointing to the commitment given by the UK Government to keep the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Budget at a ceiling of £330 million until the end of the current mandate in Westminster, McAleer believes that the absence of index-linking means that the recent budget represents a £3.3 million cut in real terms.

He has also raised concerns about the short-term nature of the current financial guarantees. “The CAP has a multi-year annual budget over seven years and we’re out of that. The South has got a €10.5 billion share of the CAP budget for

panic buying had led to importation of products, overlooking local produce.

Additionally, he points to “heavy lobbying” of the Minister on the need for and shape of support schemes for farmers and the horticultural industry.

McAleer says that the committee have been “pushing strongly” for Northern Ireland to have its own acts in relation to those progressing or finalised in the UK. “There is a Northern Ireland schedule of those Bills in Westminster, which the Minister enacts here. We have made it very clear that we want our own acts for here; Bills which are properly consulted and scrutinised through the channels of the Assembly. We think that’s important in the context of Brexit and to tailor that legislation for here.”

“As a consequence of the legal separation of the UK from the EU, we’re making sure that we have the secondary legislation in place so that we in the North can continue to align with the EU regulations across the vast majority of areas, in line with the Protocol.”

Agriculture and Rural Development between 2012 to 2016. Asked to consider whether the volume of the Brexit workload being undertaken by the committee is partly as a result of the committee’s absence for over three years, when the Assembly wasn’t functioning, he points to the fact that the command paper was only issued in May 2020.

McAleer points to May as effectively when “the clock started ticking” in terms of preparation.

the next seven years. On top of that, it has €1.05 billion from the EU’s Brexit adjustment fund. The South can now take that funding, along with its own national investment, and start mapping out and planning for the next seven years. In comparison, we are vastly underfunded.

“I am genuinely very fearful about the ability of our agri-food businesses and our farmers to actually compete with their counterparts in the South because the playing field is so imbalanced due to the EU exit. It is shocking.”

On whether tailor-made legislation passing through the channels of the Northern Ireland Assembly is a realistic ambition given that the current mandate only stretches to 2022, McAleer says: “Had we began the legislative process earlier in the mandate, then it would have been possible, but it would be very difficult now.”

McAleer believes that this desire was evidenced in the committee’s push to have a sunset clause for DAERA provisions in the UK’s Agriculture Bill,

“The Department was working at pace to try and prepare for a set of circumstances, even though it wasn’t sure what the final outcome would be in terms of the UK-EU arrangement. If Stormont had have been operational over those number of years, I’m not sure it would have made any impact because everything happened at pace effectively at the last minute.”

Asked about the influence of the committee in events as demanding as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, McAleer describes the role as vital in ensuring that local interests are represented.

To illustrate this, he highlights the role of the committee in the early days of the pandemic in successfully lobbying the supermarkets over concerns raised that

similar to Wales where provisions will expire in 2024. While the Minister has resisted this option, the Chair says that it is something the committee will continue to push for, explaining that a sunset clause would offer the appropriate time to do the groundwork on the introduction of primary legislation early in the next

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mandate.

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a just manner. That means that targets are set but move in a way that supports the farming and agri-food industries and in a way that they can handle.”

Asked on a realistic timeframe for delivering legislation, McAleer simply says he would like to see “immediate” progress, explaining: “Not only is legislating on climate right environmentally but it could also impact on our trade with the rest of the world if we are sending out a message that we’re not committed to sustainable agriculture practices.”

Concluding, McAleer outlines two more areas where he would like to see progress in the near future. The first is

“It’s wrong that we are the only part of these two islands that hasn’t got a Climate Change Act and I think that sends out the wrong message to the rest of the world about our commitment to making these changes.”

the delivery of a new rural development programme, following the exit from the EU’s programme. Suggesting that the Minister must put a draft policy to consultation, McAleer also outlines his concerns at “the lack of progress” of the UK’s Shared Prosperity Programme, expected to fund a new rural development policy for Northern Ireland.

The second is the requirement of a Bovine Tuberculosis Strategy, which he says the committee is pushing for. The Northern Ireland herd has an incidence

New Decade, New Approach A major element of the New Decade, New Approach agreement adopted by all five Executive parties and directly linked to DAERA was the pledge for the Executive to bring forward a Climate Change Act. In December 2020, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots MLA launched a consultation on a Climate Change Bill.

The move came after a motion in the Assembly in July, brought by McAleer, calling for the Minister to bring forward climate change legislation within three months, was passed. The Minister had declared the timeframe as “impossible”.

McAleer’s motion, which was nonbinding, had also called for “legally binding and ambitious sectoral emissionreduction targets”, and a “just transition to protect jobs”.

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In response to the Minister, Green Party leader Clare Bailey MLA introduced a Private Member’s Bill, co-sponsored by all parties except the DUP, declaring a climate emergency and proposing a series of targets to cut carbon emissions.

rate double that of its southern counterpart, costing the Department around €40 million a year, money McAleer believes could be better spent if Northern Ireland can get to grips with the disease.

Discussing the committee’s push for a Climate Change Act to be progressed, McAleer says: “It’s wrong that we are the only part of these two islands that hasn’t got a Climate Change Act and I think that sends out the wrong message to the rest of the world about our commitment to making these changes.”

“The EU exit means we’re losing an additional £5 million from the EU disease eradication programme for TB, so we need to get to grips with it. In 2014, Michelle O’Neill MLA (then Agriculture Minister) initiated the test, vaccinate and remove (TVR) pilot and set up the TB

McAleer does not believe that a successful agriculture sector, a large part of Northern Ireland’s economy, and climate action are mutually exclusive.

strategic partnership group. The

“I don’t think the farming community needs to see this as a negative. Yes, it will require some adjustment, but it is important that we do move towards it in

the closure of the consultation. We need

strategic group has outlined its proposals to address TB but the Minister has yet to set out his direction following serious progress in this area because of the cost and because of our international reputation.”

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Changes to Assembly Opposition standing orders This was subject to paragraph 2: “A party is not to be recognised as part of the official opposition if any member of that party holds a Ministerial office, or held a Ministerial office and ceased to hold that office otherwise than at a time when all Northern Ireland Ministers ceased to hold office.”

Paragraph 3 outlined that where only one party choose to be recognised as such, that party will be regarded as the official opposition.

Amendments

In October 2020, a New Decade, New Approach commitment was fulfilled when the Standing Order which regulates the Official Opposition was amended to enable a party to join the Opposition up to two years following the formation of an Executive.

Following the May 2016 Assembly election, the Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 provided for the formation of an Assembly Opposition.

Agreement on the legislation had been reached during the Stormont House talks in November 2015.

Section 2 of the 2016 Act provides that parties entitled to nominate an individual to ministerial office (or whose members comprise 8 per cent or more of the total cohort of MLAs) may choose to opt out and instead form an ‘official’ Opposition.

This Opposition may be formed with one or more qualifying parties.

The Assembly Opposition is tasked with scrutinising the work and performance of the Northern Ireland Executive. Standing Orders provide enhanced speaking rights for the Opposition, or more speaking rights than a member of the Opposition would otherwise be entitled to on the basis of numerical size in the Assembly.

This includes the allocation of at least 10 days per annum to Opposition business.

Formation As per the 2016 Act, an official Opposition may be formed at the time when a ministerial office is to be filled following: the first meeting of the Assembly; all ministers ceasing to hold office; or the application of section 18 (10) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 where a ministerial office is vacant for any reason (other than if a nominating officer of the party on whose behalf the previous incumbent was nominated does not nominate a person to hold that office).

The New Deal, New Approach agreement committed to amending the 2016 Act to provide for a party to join the Opposition up to two years following the formation of an Executive.

However, in October 2020, Standing Order 45A was amended.

Paragraph 1 now reads: “Where, at a time when all Northern Ireland ministers ceased to hold office”, a party is entitled to nominate a person to hold Ministerial office and declines to do so, that party may choose to be recognised as part of the official opposition.

An alternative paragraph 2 was inserted and provides: “Subject to paragraph (3), where, during the relevant period, a party is entitled to nominate a person to hold a Ministerial office under section 18(10) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, and declines to do so, that party may choose to be recognised as part of the official opposition”.

Paragraph 3 removes the following line from the original paragraph 2 “or held a Ministerial office and ceased to hold that office otherwise than at a time when all Northern Ireland Ministers ceased to hold office”.

Standing Order 45A makes provision for the timing of the formation of an Assembly Opposition.

Paragraph 4 co-opts the language of the original paragraph 3 and paragraph 5 defines the phrase “relevant period” in paragraph 2 as being a period of two years beginning with the date on which the Ministerial offices are filled under.

Originally, Standing Order 45A paragraph 1 outlined that where a party is entitled to nominate a person to hold Ministerial office and declines to do so, that party may choose to be recognised as part of the official opposition.

Following the Assembly’s restoration in January 2020, the UUP and the SDLP chose to nominate ministers. Currently, therefore, there is no official Opposition.

Instead, smaller non-Executive parties undertake an unofficial opposition role.

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Establishing a fiscal council The Northern Ireland Executive is set to establish a fiscal council to scrutinise public finances and a fiscal commission that will produce a cost-benefit analysis for the devolution of additional fiscal powers. agendaNi contextualises this ambition.

Independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) are a collective of fiscal commissions, offices of budget responsibility and parliamentary budget offices. Independent of the executive branch of government, IFIs are mandated to undertake the assessment of government fiscal policy and performance.

While some IFIs, such as the UK Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) prepare their own macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts, others, such as the French High Council of Public Finance analyse the forecasts prepared by government departments.

Unlike audit institutions, which conduct expost analysis, IFIs usually undertake exante analysis.

After 2008, there was a significant increase in IFIs established in OECD countries. This was a reaction to the Great Recession and the subsequent increase in national deficits. When appropriately designed, IFIs can promote greater fiscal discipline and contribute to the rebuilding of public trust in government budgeting processes.

•

forecasting Scottish Government revenue from fully or partially devolved taxes and devolved social security spending; and

The IFAC was established as a statutory body by the Fiscal Responsibility Act in December 2011. As well as providing independent economic analysis, it assesses official forecasts, fiscal stance and compliance with fiscal rules, while also endorsing macroeconomic forecasts.

•

forecasting onshore Scottish GDP.

In contrast to the IFAC, the PBO provides independent and impartial analysis and advice to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The PBO was established in 2017 following an OECD recommendation that the Oireachtas should “establish an Irish Parliamentary Budget Office to support parliamentary engagement and budget scrutiny” and a subsequent Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform report in 2016.

Scotland

Republic of Ireland

Meanwhile, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) was the first subnational IFI established in the UK. According to OECD listings, only two additional sub-national IFIs currently exist: the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario in Canada; and the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office, Australia.

Unlike the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office, which is a legislative budget office, the SFC is more similar to a fiscal council.

Existing independent fiscal institutions vary across jurisdictions in terms of role and remit. While some IFIs, including the Oireachtas Parliamentary Budget Office

The SFC is independent from the Scottish Government and its functions were established in the Scottish Fiscal Commission Act 2016. These include:

In 2014, the OECD published 22 principles of IFI design under nine broad categories: local ownership; independence and non-partisanship; mandate; resources; relationship with the legislature; access to information; transparency; communication; and external evaluation.

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(PBO), are primarily focused on the needs of the legislature, others, such as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC), are established by the executive branch.

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Wales In December 2016, a fiscal framework providing for the devolution of stamp duty, land tax, landfill tax and the creation of local rates of income tax was agreed between the Welsh and UK Governments.

As of 1 April 2019, the sub-national IFI role in Wales is fulfilled by the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) via contractual agreement from 1 April 2019.

OBR provides Welsh tax revenue forecasts to Senedd Cymru.

Northern Ireland Both the November 2015 Fresh Start Agreement and the January 2020 New Decade, New Approach propose the establishment of an Independent Fiscal Council for Northern Ireland (IFCNI).

Acknowledging the UK Government’s approval of the Executive’s plan to create an IFCNI, the Fresh Start Agreement outlined its proposed remit, stating: “The Council will: prepare an annual assessment of the Executive’s revenue streams and spending proposals and how these will allow the Executive to balance their budget; and prepare a further annual report on the sustainability of the Executive’s public finances.”

Committing to the establishment of IFCNI

by July 2020, New Decade, New

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“The establishment of both the Fiscal Council and the Fiscal Commission represents a real step forward… If we are to deliver on our social and economic priorities, it is vital that we have all the levers we need at our disposal.”

Work to establish a Fiscal Council and a Fiscal Commission began in early 2020 but was delayed by Covid-19.

Currently, the fiscal powers devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive are relatively limited in comparison to Scotland and Wales. These powers includes setting the regional rate and aspects of air passenger duty. In 2018, the rate of corporation tax was also devolved but has not yet been utilised. As such, the Fiscal Council is likely to have an equally limited remit.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA outlined: “The establishment of both the Fiscal Council and the Fiscal Commission represents a real step forward. We have secured very distinguished Chairs and members for these important pieces of work.

“As we hopefully begin to emerge from the pandemic, rebuilding and restoring our economy and wider society is that task in front of us. If we are to deliver on our social and economic priorities, it is vital that we have all the levers we need at our disposal.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA statutory basis but could potentially evolve as a non-ministerial department or as a statutory arm’s length body.

With its terms of reference developed in line with the OECD’s principles, the immediate focus of the Fiscal Council will be to prepare an annual assessment of the Executive’s revenue streams and spending proposals and to prepare an additional annual report on the sustainability of the public finances, implications of spending policy and effectiveness of long-term efficiency measures.

After its establishment, it is anticipated that the role and terms of reference of the Fiscal Council will be expanded to include economic and financial modelling. It is also expected that the Council will be legislated for on a statutory basis so that its independence can be safeguarded. An external evaluation will be conducted after four or five years in relation to progress towards adhering towards the OECD principles and recommendations.

“The work of the Fiscal Commission will inform that important discussion. And with ever increasing demands on public spending, and in time, increased fiscal powers, the transparency and independent scrutiny of the Executive’s finances that the Council will bring is something that I warmly welcome.”

Chaired by Robert Chote for its initial six to nine months, the Council will be staffed by: Esmond Birnie, a senior economist at Ulster University; Alan Barrett, chief executive of the ESRI; and Maureen O’Reilly, an independent economist.

Fiscal Council

The Fiscal Commission will be established with a lifespan of nine months and will be tasked with examining the case for and producing a report on increasing the Executive’s task varying powers. It will conduct research and provide independent advice on options for

The Fiscal Council will be a permanent organisation tasked with providing greater transparency and scrutinising public finances in Northern Ireland. Initially, the Council will be established on a non-

Fiscal Commission

devolution of taxes and other revenue raising measures to the Finance Minister to inform future recommendations and proposals in the next Assembly mandate.

While “a considerable amount of work” had previously been undertaken with regard to the devolution of Corporation Tax and Air Passenger Duty, alongside Aggregates Levy, Stamp Duty Land Tax and Landfill Tax; no “comprehensive formal review” of the fiscal options available to the Executive has ever been completed.

The Fiscal Commission will be chaired by Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and supported by: Iain McLean, professor of politics at Oxford University; Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Ulster University; and Lisa Wilson, senior economist at the Nevin Economic Research Institute.

Corporation tax Unveiling Budget 2021, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP signalled an increase in corporation tax to 25 per cent from April 2023. The establishment of the Fiscal Commission could ensure that businesses avoid paying this rate of tax. However, a lower rate of corporate tax and an associated reduction in revenue may simultaneously require a reduction in public expenditure.

While Executive parties had previously indicated a preference to mirror the Republic’s corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent, the subsequent reduction in the UK rate to 19 per cent temporarily suspended that ambition.

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Credit: Northern Ireland Assembly

Approach agreement elaborated on the remit outlined in the Fresh Start agreement, indicating: “[The Council will] have its membership and terms of reference agreed with the UK Government” and adding: “[The Council] will provide independent monitoring and reporting on the Executive’s performance in delivering the Programme for Government.”

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Parliamentary constituencies: Future review obligations

Credit: William Murphy

council-election day before the review date;

In 2020, a Judicial Review and subsequent Court of Appeal proceedings quashed the Boundary Commission’s final recommendations for the adjustment of Northern Ireland’s parliamentary constituencies and established obligations for any future review.

Across the UK, there are four boundary commissions. These are permanent bodies and required to keep the parliamentary constituencies under continuous review and, every fifth year, submit a report containing recommendations for the division of constituencies to the respective Secretary of State.

The Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland is responsible for reviewing Northern Ireland’s parliamentary constituency boundaries. This process is undertaken every five years, reflecting changes to population or local government boundaries.

Details of the 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies were announced in January 2021. The UK electoral quota is 73,392, and Northern Ireland will retain 18 constituencies.

However, the boundaries of the existing 18 constituencies will be altered as per the rules of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986.

In February 2011, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 received Royal Assent and substantially amended the 1986 Act, changing the rules, process and timing of

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reviews, as well as reducing the number of UK parliamentary constituencies from 650 to 600.

As provided for in the amended legislation, across the other components of the UK, the electorate of each constituency must be within 5 per cent of the electoral quota (from 69,724 to 77,062). However, in Northern Ireland, the same legislation provides for a greater range of 7 per cent of the electoral quota (from 68,313 to 77,062).

1986 Act The 1986 Act, which established the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, outlines the rules for the distribution of seats in the UK parliament.

Defining the factors which must be considered when delineating constituency boundaries, Rule 5 (1) of the Act states: A Boundary Commission may take into account, if and to such extent as they think fit: •

•

special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency; local government boundaries as they exist on the most recent ordinary

•

boundaries of existing constituencies;

•

any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies; and

•

the inconveniences attendant on such changes.

Rule 2 of the amended 1986 Act outlines the electorate allocated to each of the 650 UK constituencies (as per Rule 1).

“The electorate of any constituency shall be no less than 95 per cent of the United Kingdom electoral quota [of 73,392], and no more than 105 per cent of that quota.”

However, this Rule is subject to Rule 7 which is specific to Northern Ireland. Rule 7 allows for an exceptional scenario where the difference between the electorate of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom electoral quota, multiplied by the number of seats in Northern Ireland (determined under Rule 8), exceeds one-third of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland considers that having to apply Rule 2 would “unreasonably impair” its ability to take into account the factors set out in Rule 5 (1), or its ability to comply with section 3 (2) of this Act. In this scenario, the electorate of any constituency shall be no less than whichever is the lesser of N-A and 95 per cent of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and no more than whichever is the greater of N+A and 105 per cent of the United Kingdom electoral quota (where N is the electorate of Northern Ireland divided by the number of seats in Northern Ireland (determined under Rule 8), and A is 5 per cent of the United Kingdom electoral quota).

Therefore, Rule 7 facilitates a deviation from a range of 5 per cent to one of 7 per cent (from 68,313 to 77,062) in each Northern Ireland constituency.

Judicial Review However, one Belfast resident who stood to be affected by the proposals included in the Boundary Commission’s 2018 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies:

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Final Recommendations Report argued that the Boundary Commission made an error of law and misdirected itself, meaning that the report was legally flawed.

Judicial review proceedings were brought to the High Court by Patrick Lynch and the substantive hearing was heard in May 2019. Representing Lynch, Ó Muirigh Solicitors argued that the Boundary Commission had acted unlawfully and unfairly, radically moving away from its Initial Proposals, utilising Rule 7 without sufficient legal basis to do so.

In June 2019, the Court held: “The commission had fettered its discretion by failing to fully consider the consultation responses received in the final stage of the elaborate statutory process it had followed.” However, it refused to quash the Final Recommendations Report.

Appeal Lynch as the appellant then appealed this decision in the Court of Appeal on three grounds: error of law/incorrect reliance upon Rule 7; failure to give reasons; and failure to quash the Final Recommendations Report.

The Boundary Commission contended that the anticipated Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill 2020 could render any judgement academic.

However, the Court did not agree and affirmed: “This task has the potential to affect how the population of Northern Ireland is represented at Westminster, and as a consequence to some extent how it is governed for some years.”

The Court of Appeal decided to proceed and heard both the appeal and cross appeal in January 2020. Issuing its judgement in June 2020, the Court granted the appeals on the grounds that: The Commission failed to give adequate reasons for its decision concerning unreasonable impairment; Commission failed to act lawfully in relying upon Rule 7; and the Final Recommendations Report should have been quashed and sent back to the Commission in light of the above.

The Court rejected the Boundary Commission’s cross appeals for the same reasons and affirmed the decision that the Commission had fettered its discretion in its approach to

Parliamentary constituency profiles (2019) Constituency

Electorate

Area (km2)

Belfast East

66,245

55.3

Belfast North

72,225

50.3

Belfast South

69,984

44.8

Belfast West

65,644

45.2

East Antrim

64,830

593

East Derry

69,246

1,277

Fermanagh and South Tyrone

72,848

2,512

Foyle

74,346

184

Lagan Valley

75,735

468

Mid Ulster

70,449

1,350

Newry and Armagh

81,226

1,083

North Antrim

77,134

1,387

North Down

67,099

115

South Antrim

71,711

786

South Down

79,175

1,250

Strangford

66,928

655

Upper Bann

82,887

480

West Tyrone

66,259

1,996

Credit: House of Commons Library

representations received prior to the preparation of the Final Recommendations Report, with the consequence that the report was vitiated by procedural unfairness.

New legislation Having quashed the Final Recommendations Report, the Court sent it back to the Boundary Commission for lawful reconsideration.

Quashed

However, the Court indicated that any

Therefore, Lynch’s Judicial Review and subsequent Court of Appeal proceedings succeeded in their dual objectives: firstly, that Final Recommendations Report be quashed; and secondly, to ensure that the Boundary Commission properly exercise its functions in future, providing sufficient rationale for applying Rule 7. As such, future judicial reviews seem likely.

reconsideration by the Commission would

Following the ruling, solicitor Eoin Murphy stated: “The High Court has already established that the Commission had fettered its discretion and acted in a procedurally unfair way by failing to fully consider consultation responses received by it in the final stages of the re-drawing process.

21 received Royal Assent in December

“The Court of Appeal has now furthered this stating that the Commission misapplied the law and failed to give adequate reasons for this. This affirmation from the Court of Appeal will go a long way to clarifying the obligations imposed upon this or any future Boundary Commission.”

Currently, the Boundary Commission is

not be required should legislation be enacted that ensures that the 2018 review is abandoned and the Final Recommendations will not be implemented.

Subsequently, the UK Government’s Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 20192020. Amending the 1986 Act, it means the 2018 Review, which would have reduced the number of MPs to 600 will no longer be implemented.

The next review of parliamentary constituencies will take place in 2023. developing its initial proposals, which will be subject to a series of public consultations beginning in late 2021, before submitting its final recommendations to the Speaker of the House of Commons by 1 July 2023.

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CENTENARIES 1921 Memory and history are not synonymous. Memory is selective while history is an acceptance of facts from the past, regardless how discomforting they may be when examined through a modern lens. Together, they are uneasy companions.

The act of remembrance is often a tool of contemporary ideology or political expedience. Meanwhile, in the public consciousness, what is remembered is often as important as what is forgotten. It is here we see the greatest challenge to academic history: opportunistic public remembrance, selective amnesia and the transmission of half-truth.

2021 marks a number of significant centenaries from Ireland’s revolutionary period. How these events are marked, given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, remains to be seen.

24 MAY

ELECTIONS, 24 MAY 1921 The Government of Ireland Act granted home rule to Ireland and established two parliaments: The 52-seat House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the 128-seat House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The first Dáil dissolved and used the results of the Southern Ireland general election as the basis for seat allocation in the Second Dáil.

The Ulster Unionist Party, led by James Craig, won 40 of the 52 seats in the northern parliament, while Sinn Féin and the Nationalist Party won six seats each. The first assembly of the Northern Ireland Parliament was held in Belfast City Hall on 7 June 1921. Neither Sinn Féin nor the Nationalist Party took their seats.

In Southern Ireland, all 128 election candidates were returned unopposed. In June 1921, the Parliament of Southern Ireland was adjourned sine die after only the four non-Sinn Féin members (independent unionists representing the University of Dublin) sat. Led by Éamon de Valera, Sinn Féin won 130 seats across both elections (124 seats in the southern election and six in northern). As Sinn Féin did not recognise either of the new parliaments, its six candidates elected in the north continued to attend the Dáil.

Ulster Unionist leader James Craig and Sinn Féin leader Éamon de Valera.

22 JUNE

NORTHERN IRELAND PARLIAMENT STATE OPENING, 22 JUNE 1921

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Created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the new Parliament of Northern Ireland first sat at Belfast City Hall on 7 June 1921 before King George V addressed the formal state opening on 22 June. It was a bicameral legislature, comprising a House of Commons with 52 seats, and a Senate with 26 seats. In his speech, the King appealed for reconciliation, stating: “I have therefore come in person, as the Head of the Empire, to inaugurate this Parliament on Irish soil. I inaugurate it with deep-felt hope, and I feel assured that you will do your utmost to make it an instrument of happiness and good government for all parts of the community which you represent.

“This is a great and critical occasion in the history of the Six Counties, but not for the Six Counties alone, for everything which interests them touches Ireland, and everything which touches Ireland finds an echo in the remotest parts of the Empire… May this historic gathering be the prelude of a day in which the Irish people, north and south, under one parliament or two, as those parliaments may themselves decide, shall work together in common love for Ireland upon the sure foundations of mutual justice and respect.”

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Crowds on Belfast’s Royal Avenue as King George V makes his way to City Hall to open the Northern Ireland Parliament, 22 June 1921.

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10 JULY

BELFAST’S BLOODY SUNDAY, 10 JULY 1921 On the night the truce was announced, the RIC launched a raid on Raglan Street off the lower Falls Road in Belfast. Having been tipped off as to the impending raid, the IRA ambushed the raiding party killing one policeman and wounding two more.

In immediate retaliation, a GAA hall was burnt on Raglan Street. However, the following day, according to a contemporary Irish News report: “The entire Nationalist district from Grosvenor Road on the one side right up to the borders of the Unionist quarter on the Shankill Road was practically in a state of siege from the early morning until late in the evening … While the trouble was in progress in these areas the sound of rifle and revolver shots rang out almost continuously … armoured lorries patrolled the streets, firing indiscriminately as they went.”

11 JULY

Alongside the police fatality, 11 Catholics and five Protestants were killed, while over 40 people were admitted to Royal Victoria Hospital and more than 60 others attended the Mater Hospital. Simultaneously, 161 homes were destroyed.

British soldiers man a barricade in Belfast, 1921. Credit: RTÉ Stills Library

TRUCE, 11 JULY 1921 Between 4 and 8 July 1921, a series of negotiations took place between Éamon de Valera and Lord Midleton (William St John Fremantle Brodrick), culminating in the signing of a truce on 9 July by Robert Barton and Éamonn Duggan from the Dáil cabinet and British General Officer Commandingin-Chief Neville Macready. That same day, in a dispatch to Commandant General of Second Southern Division Ernie O’Malley, IRA Chief of Staff Richard Mulcahy wrote: “In view of the conversations now being entered into by our Government with the Government of Great Britain, and in pursuance of mutual conversations, active operations by our forces will be suspended as from noon, Monday, 11 July.”

A crowd gathered outside the Mansion House in Dublin, on 8 July 1921, days before the truce came into effect, ultimately ending the Irish War of Independence. Credit: National Library of Ireland Ref.: HOG116

6 DECEMBER

ANGLO-IRISH TREATY, 6 DECEMBER 1921 Following the truce, Éamon de Valera travelled to London and met British Prime Minister Lloyd George four times in one week (from 14 July 1921), though negotiations did not begin in earnest until October 1921. Formal negotiations were conducted by pairs from each negotiating team. On the Irish side, this was Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, while on the British side Austen Chamberlain was joined by an alternating negotiator. At two stages, once in November and again on 3 December, the Irish plenipotentiaries returned to Ireland to consult with the Dáil cabinet.

Final amendments were made to the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 5 December 1921, with Griffith and Collins convincing the rest of the Irish delegation to sign it in the early hours of 6 December. Its main term included: the withdrawal of British forces from most of Ireland; Ireland would become a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, the English King would be the Head of State of the Irish Free State; members of the Free State parliament would be required to take an Oath of Allegiance which included the words “be faithful to His Majesty King George V, His heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship”; Northern Ireland would have the option of seceding from the Irish Free State within one month of the Treaty coming into effect and if it did so, a Boundary Commission would be established; and Britain would continue to control Treaty Ports, for the Royal Navy.

On 8 December, the Dáil cabinet voted four votes to three (including de Valera) to recommend the Treaty to the Dáil. Nine days of public debate began in the Dáil on 14 December 1921.

Dáil Éireann voted to approve the Treaty on 7 January 1922, with 64 in favour, 57 against and four (including the Ceann Comhairle) not voting.

The signature page of the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921.

The Irish signatories were: Arthur Griffith; Michael Collins; Robert Barton; Éamonn Duggan; and George Gavan Duffy.

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TRADE UNION DESK Fair taxation adds representation The ICTU’s John O’Farrell says that far from the perception that conservative views on taxes and regulation are being cancelled, such views are rampant.

If you believe what you read from this Tory government and its faithful stenographers, there is a wave of censorship excluding conservative voices and opinions. In universities across the UK, academics and experts are rigorously policed and intimidated by ‘woke mobs’, enforcing an orthodoxy across the professions and the media.

This is, of course, utter nonsense based on a sliver of evidence, but it plays well in the Government’s focus groups and in the minds of the readers of the Tory press who lap up culture war sabrerattling now that Brexit is ‘done’ and there’s not much else to worry about.

A couple of years ago, the BBC Reality Check team sent hundreds of Freedom of Information requests to every university across the UK and found no books being banned, and a tiny number of talks cancelled, mostly affecting Tibetans or Islamists. There were a few attempts by some activists in student unions to ‘no platform’ groups or speakers, but most of these were overturned. Anyway, student unions are not public bodies but private clubs or membership societies, and have the same rights to exclude views they don’t like as any debating society, any gentlemen’s club or any newspaper.

Indeed, there are certain views that are almost unspoken in UK media, unless it is to be subjected to distortion and ridicule. I don’t mean ‘contrarian’ opinions on Black Lives Matter, or gender identity, or the Irish Sea Border — I mean economics and social policies

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which affect millions more people more deeply than culture war spats.

I mean the kind of contrarianism that worries the shareholders, or, ‘follows the money’.

Here’s a bigger scandal afflicting universities at a time when campus life has been rigorously cancelled by Covid: thousands of smart young English people have been excluded from university since 2016 when Gideon Osborne scrapped maintenance grants as ‘unaffordable’. This had a greater impact on lower-income applicants than hikes in tuition fees

“After the last year, no economic proposal should be off-topic.” and saved what seems now a trivial amount, £1.6 billion.

passed on to his son Hugh, 28, without incurring inheritance tax.”

Over the same period, Osborne handed out billions to the most comfortable through cuts to higher personal tax thresholds and lower capital gains tax, slashing corporation tax and effectively abolishing inheritance tax, and then defanging the watchdogs of public finances: “The heirs of the late sixth Duke of Westminster paid no inheritance tax on the bulk of his £8.3 billion family fortune following his death in 2016… The rest of his wealth had already been transferred to family trusts which largely

The UK has the lowest levels of public spending and the lowest levels of government revenue in all of high-income Western Europe, spending about £4,833 less per person than the average comparator, or over £323 billion for everyone in 2019. This low level of public spending is accompanied by low levels of revenue, most of which comes from the tax take, including social contributions.

We can break overall taxes into taxes on labour, taxes on consumption and taxes

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Low levels of public spending compared to European norms (Public spending excluding debt interest per person 2019) United Kingdom Ireland Germany Netherlands France Comparator Average Belgium Austria Sweden Finland Switzerland Denmark Norway

£12,911 £14,707 £16,214 £17,087 £17,139 £17,782 £18,336 £18,615 £19,943 £20,144 £22,418 £23,305 £29,849

0

£5,000

£10,000

£15,000

£20,000

£25,000

£30,000

£35,000

on capital to help us see where gaps arise. These categories can also reveal much about tax distribution and even more about values and reveal the primary sources of ‘under-taxation’ in the UK is labour taxes — i.e. taxes and contributions linked to wages, transfer payments and pensions.

The UK levied less than half the typical level of employer labour tax per person in 2018. Employer tax could similarly help rectify gaps in the UK — meeting average rates per person would have increased receipts by nearly £121 billion.

For Northern Ireland, a per capita share of this increased revenue base would equate to just over £3.5 billion per annum. We could raise even more with equitable system of taxing property.

We could debate this, or not. A generation ago, agendaNi was one of the few Northern Ireland media outlets where a trade union case against cutting Corporation Tax could be published, because Tony O’Reilly saw cutting his press empire’s tax bill as a personal crusade and his newspapers set the ‘national tone’ on economics. The same newspapers banned use of the term ‘bubble’ from reporting the property boom. The same newspapers will speak out for wage freezes and corporate welfare in the months ahead.

Conservative views on taxes and regulation are not being cancelled, but rampant. After the last year, no economic proposal should be off-topic.

Labour tax receipts from employers

Comparator

Employer payments

United Kingdom

£1,260

High-income Western Europe

£3,077

United Kingdom as a % of average United Kingdom ‘under-taxation’

41% £1,816

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Political Platform Cara Hunter MLA Cara Hunter is an MLA for East Derry and the SDLP’s health and mental health spokesperson. She was co-opted to the Assembly in 2020 following the death of party colleague John Dallat.

Outline your background / career to date

From May 2019 to 2020, I was Deputy Mayor of the Council and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was an incredible

I studied journalism in California State University then later transferred to Liverpool John Moores University. I graduated in July 2017, and joined politics in 2018, where I began a campaign to gain a seat in the Derg district electoral area (DEA) in the Derry and Strabane District Council to improve rural access to mental health services.

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experience to engage with so many community groups, charities and sectors

in East Derry. I have sat on the Assembly’s Health Committee since December 2020 and I am also the SDLP’s Health and Mental Health spokesperson.

right across society. I gained a real insight into a number of topics, especially surrounding LGBT+ health issues, discrimination of minorities in the wider north west and legacy issues.

I stood in the 2019 Westminster election

What inspired you to get into politics?

I lost someone close to me to suicide and I really wanted to make a change.

I felt like the collapse of Stormont was

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“Initially I was disappointed and disillusioned by Northern Irish politics, but now I feel inspired to do all I can to try and positively change it.” awful and there was a real lack of urgency around accessibility of mental health services.

Initially, I was disappointed and disillusioned by Northern Irish politics, but now I feel inspired to do all I can to try and positively change it. Witnessing how poverty and austerity has impacted our communities here in the North is shocking and I hope to do all I can to tackle it. I’ve seen first-hand how it has impacted the wellbeing of people across the North.

Recently with Covid-19 and speaking to young people, I have seen how hard communities have been hit with a lack of income and opportunities, many have voiced they cannot wait to leave here, they view Northern Ireland as ‘backwards’. I hope to try and encourage young people to stay here through investment in apprenticeships, easier access to higher education and more, instead of moving to England or Australia to find opportunities.

Who do you admire in politics or public life/political role models?

communities. That the future of the island seeks to bring people together, when previous approaches by others was built around pillars of polarised politics. I found the SDLP history fascinating as it was built on civil rights and its commitment and work on bringing about peace in Northern Ireland which led to the Good Friday Agreement.

I also know the SDLP is a party committed to social justice and a fairer society for all, it aligns with my politics and beliefs.

What are your key priorities for your constituency/what are the key issues facing your constituency?

There are a number of issues facing my constituency of East Derry including unemployment and a lack of social housing. I see these issues daily in my constituency office and I am keen to help alleviate these problems. Investment in the constituency and small towns within it are key to its economic success.

Broadband issues are something I am keen to resolve. I have witnessed the impact of digital inequality due to limited

signal in rural areas. This lack of connectivity can limit educational opportunities and the growth and expansion of businesses in rural areas.

My colleagues and I continue to lobby for improvement of the digital infrastructure in the greater north west.

Since March 2021, many of our small businesses have suffered greatly during the pandemic and helping them recover as we emerge from lockdown and restrictions is where we must start.

Working with my party colleague, Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon MLA, I am keen to see improved transport links across the constituency too. I believe that this will go some way to improving the economic picture within the area. With the birth of the ‘staycation’ movement last summer, East Derry also has so much to offer especially to visitors and tourists with its many beauty spots and seaside resorts. I hope to do everything I can to promote the area even more as a fantastic destination.

I am a strong advocate for mental health services, especially for our children and young people. This is something which I am passionate about and I am determined to use my role as an MLA and my party’s spokesperson on mental health to ensure improved services and access to care. This includes within our schools, local communities and the health service itself.

What are your interests outside work?

I love weightlifting. I picked up the habit before lockdown kicked in. I miss it terribly, I found it really good for both the mind and the body. It’s been a great way to socialise safely too during this time.

I also love reading books on Irish history, politics and spiritualism.

I really admire Claire Hanna and Nichola Mallon and their ability to balance motherhood with being a politician in a very complex political landscape. I find them very motivating and inspiring.

What drew you to the SDLP? I liked that their concept of a New Ireland was inclusive of all traditions and

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Victims’ rights to investigation and participation Amnesty International’s Patrick Corrigan welcomes the co-design process approach being adopted for “a human rightscompliant investigation into a litany of alleged human rights abuses” in Northern Ireland’s mother and baby and Magdalene laundry institutions.

Credit: QUB HRC

When Amnesty first called for a public inquiry into mother and baby institutions, Skyfall was packing out the cinemas (remember them?), Gangnam Style was topping the charts and Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness still occupied Stormont Castle.

The then First and deputy First Minister rejected our call, and those of the survivors, on the grounds that they were focused on setting up what was to become the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry and did not want to widen its terms of reference, nor establish a parallel inquiry.

Neither the victims nor Amnesty gave up the pursuit of justice.

Ten years on, we are now finally close to the goal of 2012: a human rights-compliant investigation into a litany of alleged human rights abuses – from arbitrary detention and forced labour, to ill-treatment and forced adoption.

In January 2021, the Executive published a research report it had commissioned from academics at Queen’s and Ulster universities into mother and baby and Magdalene laundry institutions.

The 534-page report provides the fullest picture yet of the experiences of more than 14,000 women and girls sent to the institutions, most commonly as a result of pregnancy outside marriage, and what happened to their babies.

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The institutions were operated by both Catholic and Protestant churches and religious organisations, but were largely funded from the public purse. Many of the women and girls were referred or sent to the institutions by state welfare authorities and even the courts. State responsibility is in no doubt.

The researchers also document the movement of women, girls and babies across the Irish border in both directions.

Some 551 babies born in homes in Northern Ireland were moved to the Republic of Ireland, with some being adopted there or onwards in Great Britain and the United States.

The ground-breaking research exploded the myth once and for all that mother and baby and Magdalene laundry institutions were a phenomenon restricted to south of the border.

The historic abuses brought to life in the pages of the report, drawn from survivor testimony as well as public and privatelyheld records, left ministers with little choice but to announce their willingness to establish a proper investigation. Of course, they may also have been influenced by a legal case being pursued by a survivor challenging the failure to set up an inquiry.

In a meeting with survivors and Amnesty ahead of the report’s publication, the First and deputy First Minister committed the Executive to a co-design process, lasting up to six months, to agree powers and terms of reference of the investigation. They promised to implement the agreed proposals,

including a potential statutory public inquiry.

While some were disappointed that an immediate inquiry had not been announced, Amnesty welcomed the decision.

Not only do victims of human rights abuse have a right to an effective investigation, so too do they have the right to participate in decisions which affect our lives. This point is key.

There is no point in dusting down the HIA Inquiry model and re-opening Banbridge courthouse for hearings, when that particular inquiry has been widely criticised by victims for leaving them feeling retraumatised and lacking legal representation.

The recent Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in the Republic has also been widely criticised for its shortcomings, including the apparent destruction of victim testimony.

The Northern Ireland co-design process, being led by former senior police officer Judith Gillespie, is an opportunity to learn the lessons, good and bad, from previous inquiries. The next few months are an opportunity for survivors to determine the design of an inquiry which can finally meet their needs for truth, justice and acknowledgement. Watch this space.

Patrick Corrigan is Head of Nations and Regions and Northern Ireland Programme Director, Amnesty International UK.

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