Image source, NI Assembly

Matthew O'Toole of the SDLP asks "for an update on the work programme priorities of the Strategic Partnership Group for the Holylands".

The minister says the Strategic Partnership Group for the Lower Ormeau Area and the wider University Area has met twice.

Deirdre Haregy adds that the group is currently considering an intervention proposal tabled by Belfast City Council with three objectives.

The proposals are to improve the area "focused on anti-social behaviour, community engagement and cohesion and environmental enhancement".

Mr O'Toole asks if the Private Tenancies Bill currently passing through the assembly can be of help.

Ms Hargey says she is considering the matter with her executive colleagues.

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The DUP's Thomas Buchanan asks the minister "what steps she is taking to address the need for social housing in West Tyrone".

Deirdre Hargey says there are 1,809 applications on the waiting list for a social home in West Tyrone and 219 homes have been allocated in the past year.

She says her plans to provide new social homes "will take time to come to fruition".

The minister adds that 179 new social houses are currently being built in the area.

Image source, NI Assembly

It's the turn of Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey to take her place in the Question Time spotlight.

The SDLP's Dolores Kelly asks "what steps have been taken to avoid delays in issuing this year's Winter fuel payments".

The minister says the scheme's run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in Westminster.

She says she has asked her officials to ensure that there are "no reoccurrences of the delays experienced last year on this year's payments".

Last year's delays were due to a new DWP IT system, she explains.

In reply to a follow-up question she says work is being undertaken to look at what can be done to arrange additional supports.

Here are five key points raised during Question Time with the health minister:

• Identifying people who work in the independent health sector and are eligible for the £500 recognition payment has proved more difficult than first thought but work has been almost completed
• Due to the pandemic there has been a reduction in the number of dementia patients attending memory clinics and this has affected waiting times
• The booster dose of Covid vaccines should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the first course of two injections, the minister says
• Trusts started booster vaccinations in care homes at the end of September
• Each of the major emergency departments across NI are operating significantly above capacity

Image source, NI Assembly

That concludes the period of listed questions so now it’s on to topical questions.

These can relate to matters of interest which have not yet been covered.

Thomas Buchanan of the DUP is back on his feet and asks the health minister about the implementation of services and funding to support victims and survivors of mother-and-baby homes and Magdalene laundries.

Robin Swann says he is aware of the recommendations included in a recently released report.

Image source, NI Assembly

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath refers to a report published today which detailed that 24 children in Northern Ireland with confirmed or suspected cancers had to wait over a year for a first appointment.

“We are failing most of society in Northern Ireland based on waiting lists,” responds the minister.

He says the report “highlights the challenges across the entirety of our health and social care system”.

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What’s steps is the minister taking “to address waiting times in emergency departments?” asks Sinéad Ennis of Sinn Féin.

Minister Robin Swann says these departments are often “bottlenecks”.

The pandemic and systemic pressures means emergency departments across NI “are now operating significantly above capacity”, he adds.

“The issues we are currently seeing in our emergency departments cannot be resolved by one off non-recurrent funding.”

Image source, NI Assembly

Thomas Buchanan of the DUP asks if the department is working with GP offices to ensure the resumption of face-to-face appointments.

Minister Swann says GPs are open and that even before the pandemic, “primary services were becoming increasingly under pressure”.

Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs asks his party colleague about GP out-of-hours services and what can be done to stabilise the service.

Mr Swann says “effective out-of-hours service is a priority for me and my department”.

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DUP MLA George Robinson asks the health minister to “outline the timetable for the Covid-19 booster vaccination programme”.

“The JCVI has advised that the groups 1 - 9 in phase one of the Covid-19 vaccination programme should be offered a booster dose of the vaccine,” responds Robin Swann.

The health minister says trusts started booster vaccinations in care homes at the end of September.

A total of 29,806 booster doses have been delivered to date, he adds.

Image source, NI Assembly

When will 16 and 17 year olds get a second dose of the vaccine, asks Alliance MLA Kellie Armstrong.

The minister says they’ve been offered the first dose and says 50% of those who are eligible have come forward to receive the vaccine.

When the JCVI says it’s right to proceed “we will do so” with a second dose, he adds.

Aisling Reilly, a newly installed Sinn Féin MLA, asks if the flu and booster programmes will take away from the delivery capacity of “already under pressure GP services”.

Minster Swann responds that there was “a massive uptake” in the flu jab last year and outlines the different approaches which are being adopted in order to deliver vaccinations.

Image source, NI Assembly

Can the minister outline his plans to address delays in dementia diagnosis appointments?

That’s the question from SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone.

Health Minister Robin Swann responds that due to the pandemic there have been a reduction in patients accessing memory clinics.

Virtual clinics have been trialled for a subset of patients, he explains adding that these have been kept under review.

Image source, NI Assembly

Sinéad Ennis of Sinn Féin asks what the Health Department can do to help support dementia-friendly communities.

Mr Swann replies that a number of services have been implemented to assist those with dementia.

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Robin Swann is at the dispatch box and primed to answer MLAs’ questions.

His first of the day comes from Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Delargy.

He wants “ an update on the HSC (Health and Social Care) Staff Recognition Payment for those working in the independent sector”.

The health minister replies that statutory payments were made in July but the independent sector is much larger and that workers are more transient.

Mr Swann commits that the payments will be made “as soon as possible”.

Image source, NI Assembly

Colin McGrath of the SDLP asks the minister for a definitive payment timeline.

Mr Swann reiterates that the payments have been more difficult to process for the independent sector than initially anticipated.

He says “we’re pushing on as hard as we can to get this payment out as soon as possible”.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

MLAs are back from lunch and gathering in the chamber for Question time.

It takes place during plenary sessions every Monday and Tuesday between 14:00-15:30.

It's an opportunity for members to question ministers about the work of their departments.

There are two slots during each Question Time session.

Today, the first slot goes to Health Minister Robin Swann and the second will focus on Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey. It’s her first reappearance at Question Time following a bout of illness last week.

Thirty minutes will be spent on Listed Questions with a further 15 allocated to Topical Questions.

MLAs will return to debating the Stability of Institutions and Referral to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee motion once Question Time ends.

With significant changes to this morning’s planned assembly schedule, that’s all MLAs have time for before lunch.

They'll return to their debate on the stability of the institutions after Question Time at 14:00.

MLAs will be joined by Health Minister Robin Swann and Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey.

Until then, we’re off to grab a quick coffee.

See you again shortly.

Image source, NI Assembly

“The Good Friday Agreement set the foundations for a new and inclusive NI where people from all backgrounds and identifies could feel safe,” says Robbie Butler.

He says his party, the UUP, is proud of the “peace it delivered”.

Mr Butler adds they were adamant that changes need to be brought in relation to the petition of concern mechanism which his party felt had been overused in previous mandates.

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Paul Frew speaks for the DUP and says he has only recently joined the Assembly and Executive Review Committee.

He says he has been calling for reform for many years.

The North Antrim MLA says that for some parties it's a case of the Good Friday Agreement and nothing else.

"For some they will cherry-pick when a political opportunity arises," he adds.

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Maolíosa McHugh is the deputy chair of the Assembly and and Executive Review Committee.

He runs through some of the committee’s consideration of matters contained in the motion.

On behalf of Sinn Féin Mr McHugh says any review of arrangements contained within the Good Friday Agreement “must be grounded in a commitment to equality and democracy”.

He says “recent comments from the two main unionist parties opposite, both very, very undemocratic and anti-equality in many respects”, says Mr McHugh.

“The UUP and DUP are now refusing to tell us that they would nominate a deputy first minister or if the people decide that Michelle O’Neill will be first minister,” he adds.

“The people, not any unionist party, will decide who is the first minister in the next mandate.”

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Colin McGrath speaks for the SDLP amendment.

He say the institutions "are a delicate system of checks and balances which are necessary because the society which we represent is diverse and divided".

"It can be somewhat utopian to believe that we simply scrap every guideline or every rule to have a simple majority-based voting system," Mr McGrath adds.

The South Down MLA likens the system to a house of cards and says that the removal of one element could see "the whole thing could come crashing down".

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Kellie Armstrong of Alliance opens the debate on the motion.

“In this mandate we have already suffered a three-year collapse and are again under the threat of another collapse due to politicking of some on Brexit and its progeny, the protocol,” says the Strangford MLA.

“Threats to bring down the political institutions are happening at a time when we have the worst patient lists,” she adds.

“We have people on benefits living in poverty choosing between whether to heat or eat,” she says, adding “the executive is failing to deliver effective government”.

“The designation system is not working,” adds Ms Armstrong.

Now it’s time for the first piece of private members’ business to be discussed at the assembly today.

It’s a motion brought by Alliance MLAs on the stability of the institutions.

You can read the wording of the motion in full here., external

Image source, NI Assembly

Next on the agenda are a number of motions to extend the committee stages of bills.

They are the Defamation Bill, the Private Tenancies Bill, the Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements Bill and the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill.

The motions to extend are all passed.

The Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Bill is now brought to the assembly by its sponsor, Rachel Woods of the Green Party for its first reading.

The bill's long title is read into the record and MLAs will have the opportunity for a wider debate at second stage.

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Trevor Lunn, an Independent MLA, seeks clarity on gatherings in domestic settings and when a gathering “becomes a house party”.

Paul Givan, the First Minister, responds that it’s capped at 30 and there is a definition of what constitutes a house party, which is more than 30, and a rave.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to have more than 30 in my own private dwelling,” says Mr Givan.

He adds that some people have made representations to him about prayer gatherings in private properties which include a large number of people.

That concludes the ministerial statement.

Image source, NI Assembly

Green Party MLA Rachel Woods says she has been contacted by constituents who are extremely vulnerable, or immunosuppressed or cannot take vaccines.

She says these people are concerned about the relaxation of restrictions and asks if there is any part of the regulations dealing with people in this situation.

Paul Givan says he has heard from constituents with similar concerns.

"I can understand that concern," he says adding that "this is all about trying to get the right balance".