Order Paper

• Indicative timings for the order of business
• Marshalled List of Amendments from 16 February 2024
• Questions for Urgent Oral Answer

The Assembly to sit at 10.30am.

1. Prayers

2. Executive Committee Business

Consideration Stage: Budget Bill

Minister of Finance

3. Question Time

3.1 Communities

4. Private Members’ Business

Motion: Action Plan on Waiting Lists

Proposed:

That this Assembly believes it is deplorable that none of the formal waiting time targets for health and social care services in Northern Ireland have been met since 2014; notes with concern a recent Northern Ireland Audit Office report which indicated that the number of people currently on health and social care waiting lists was equivalent to 26.3 per cent of our population, more than double the figure in England; further notes regional inequalities within Northern Ireland and the urgent need for same-time access regardless of where anyone lives; acknowledges the need to turbo-charge investment toward tackling the waiting list backlog over the remainder of this Assembly term; stresses the value of partnering on a much larger scale with national and independent providers to maximise existing capacity; and calls on the Minister of Health to publish an updated action plan to tackle the waiting time crisis within six weeks.

Mrs Diane Dodds
Mr Alan Robinson

Motion: Speech and Language Therapists

Proposed:

That this Assembly recognises how speech, language and communication difficulties can be a contributory factor in offending and reoffending within our criminal justice system; applauds the work of speech and language therapists, while recognising the concerns of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in respect of the impact communication difficulties can have on mental health; and calls on the Minister of Justice, in consultation with other Ministers, to examine how speech and language therapists can work with the Youth Justice Agency, and all our prison estate, to support the communication needs of prisoners and to develop training for prison officers to allow them to identify and support prisoners with communication difficulties.

Mr Doug Beattie
Mr Robbie Butler
Mr Mike Nesbitt

5. Executive Committee Business (cont’d)

Further Consideration Stage: Budget Bill

Minister of Finance

Final Stage: Budget Bill

Minister of Finance

6. Adjournment

Call for Immediate Progression on the A4 Enniskillen Southern Bypass

Mrs Deborah Erskine

Statements by Ministers may also be taken at any time subject to the Speaker’s approval.

Notice of Statements will appear on the Annunciator. *Subject to the necessary consents.