February Private Member’s Bills
Intro
This article is a short recap of all the Private Member’s Bills in consultation stage from Feb 2021 which we were not able to cover in an individual social media post (some may also be from January). For those unaware, a private member’s bill is simply a bill that is introduced by an MLA who is not a minister of any department. All of the bills below are still in very early stages so will most likely change drastically as they go through the normal processes.
Carers Bill - Mervyn Storey MLA (DUP)
Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JD3HCKN
The bill would look to institute:
a statutory duty on Health and Social Care Trusts to identify carers;
a statutory duty on Trusts to provide assessments to all Carers who wish to avail of one.
and a statutory duty on Trusts to deliver on action plans resulting from those Carer assessments.
Generally speaking, it is an attempt to update NI carer laws to match those in the other UK regions which had policy updates throughout the 2010s.
The Supporting Emergency Responders Bill (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) - Robbie Butler MLA (UUP)
Link to survey - https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/R7XQZI/
This bill will attempt to provide better support for emergency responders who have been through traumatic events and are likely to be coping with PTSD. Primarily it aims to create statutory duties over and above current health and safety requirements in respect of people whose occupation exposes them to traumatic experiences such as severe injury, loss of life or working in high risk or hostile environments.
The Environment & Nature Restoration Bill - Dolores Kelly MLA (SDLP)
Link to survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZQ7TVLZ
In a post-brexit NI, this bill targets possible weaknesses in the newly revised environmental laws. The bill is looking to establish a clear path to protect, restore and enhance the natural environment while also ensuring that the appropriate mechanisms and targets are in place to see a continued push towards a clean environment.
Suicide Prevention Training Bill - Órlaithí Flynn MLA (Sinn Fein)
Link to survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/53FLCG8
The current Stormont suicide prevention strategy has an aim to use community and voluntary organisations in their training. This bill would extend that to training public health officials as well those in government who deal with people in possible emotional distress. This training would be aimed at ensuring public sector employees are able to notice the signs of emotional distress and guiding individuals towards the appropriate channels. The hope is that this would reduce the chances of suicides.
Universities (Public Mission Agreement) Bill - Caoihme Archibald MLA (Sinn Fein)
Link to survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RLPCZT8
This bill would see that the Department for the Economy and NI universities enter into a public mission agreement which must be fulfilled due to the public funding which universities receive. The Public Mission Agreement will require that universities comply with the following Core Principles:
Accessible and Inclusive Education: Institutions must actively break down socio-economic barriers and increase social mobility. Institutions should endeavour to achieve equality of opportunity for their students and staff. Institutions must facilitate students with disabilities and must ensure equal access to education.
Governance Structures and Decision Making: Institutional governance must be transparent and must contain adequate representation of students and staff, have oversight and accountability. The academic freedom of institutions and staff will be upheld in the terms of the agreement between the institution and Executive.
Fair Staff Pay, Costs and Employment Procedures: Institutions must ensure that they are fair and equitable workplaces. Staff recruitment, dismissal and redeployment processes must be fair and adequate.
Social Value: Institutions must provide social value not only to staff and students but to the communities in which they are based.
Areas of Natural Constraint Payment Bill - Declan McAleer MLA (Sinn Fein)
Link to survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/R7B5RXM
The purpose of this ANC Bill will be to ‘compensate farmers for all, or part, of the additional costs and income foregone related to the constraints for agricultural production in the area concerned’. The need for this PMB arises from a need to:
alleviate the difficulties for farmers in Areas of Natural Constraints by way of reducing the burden of production costs;
address the impact of the reduction in agricultural opportunities for those farming in these designated areas;
better promote equality of opportunity for those farming in Areas of Natural Constraint
An area of natural constraint is effectively a piece of land which is difficult to farm on (e.g. a farm which is located on a steep hill). This bill wants to compensate those who have farms built on ANC.
Work-Life Balance Bill - Martina Anderson MLA (Sinn Fein)
Link to Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PT6RF65
This bill wants to provide paid carers leave in Northern Ireland as well as forcing the Minister for the Economy to produce a report with recommendations on how to improve workers’ rights for carers.
Additionally, this bill will look to extend the statutory limits of flexible working to part-time workers; fixed-term contract workers; or persons with a contract of employment or employment relationship with a temporary agency. This will effectively give all workers a right to flexible working.
Finally, this bill wants to introduce a ‘right to disconnect’, which would prevent employers from sending messages to employees between certain hours (Economy minister must also provide a report laying out a pathway for this to be better implemented).
