Alliance Call For UK Damp And Mould Guidelines To Be Extended To NI

The Alliance Party has called for the UK's new strict guidelines on damp and mould must be extended to Northern Ireland.

The new UK government guidelines means that in England and Wales landlords are required to solve the underlying problems creating damp and mould.

Highlighting how NI tenants have no such protection, Alliance Housing Spokesperson Kellie Armstrong, said: "Too often landlords blame tenants saying they don't open windows and cause the issue by drying clothes on radiators. Many tenants are exasperated by such excuses as it is clear wet walls are due to a failure of the fabric of their home rather than tenant actions.

"The new guidance issued in England and Wales does not extend to NI. Landlords in NI will not have to comply with these new legal standards. Awaab's Law will force social landlords to fix damp and mould within strict time limits, in new amendment to the Social Housing Regulation Bill. New powers for Housing Ombudsman to help landlords improve performance, in amendments to the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, England.

"Extending this legal protection for tenants is top of my agenda for a returning NI Assembly. Every day the DUP blocks a return to Stormont is another day where laws and rules to protect tenants cannot be legislated on.

"This break in parity means people across NI will continue to have to live with mould and damp that contributes to lung and breathing issues and ill health. People here will not have the legal protections that will require landlords to provide maintenance and solutions to remove mould and damp from homes.

Having no Executive or NI Assembly is harming people across NI.

"We need to see urgent reform to end this cycle of stop-go politics so frequently shown by the DUP and Sinn Fein, by moving to weighted majority voting, where no Party has the ability to collapse the government of NI, and no Party has the ability to abuse people of NI by using us as leverage for political negotiations."

Dept Of Finance To Review NI Defamation Law

The Department of Finance has called for input on its review of Defamation Law in Northern Ireland.

The Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) received Royal Assent in June 2022 and introduced a number of changes to the law here, including the removal of the presumption in favour of trial by jury in defamation cases. In line with the Act, the department is now reviewing the defamation law in Northern Ireland, including how the Act has been operating.

The department now wishes to engage with stakeholders, to gauge their views on how the Act has changed defamation law and practice in Northern Ireland and obtain their opinion on other aspects, including those raised during the debate on the Act in 2022.

Further details on the review, including how to have your say, can be found here.

The review will run from 13 November 2023 until 26 January 2024. Following this the department will formally report on its findings.

UUP 'Seriously Concerned' For NI's Essential Primary Care Services

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are "seriously concerned" about the fragility of Northern Ireland's essential primary care services.

Highlighting that the pressures across the service well known and caused in large part by historic underinvestment, UUP Health Spokesperson Alan Chambers said: "Yet, despite the sheer importance of primary care, a swift and all-encompassing response has all too often been lacking. For instance, the last UUP Minister of Health - Robin Swann - previously had no choice but to go against the advice of his own Department of Health officials and increase the number of GP training places in Northern Ireland to an all-time high of 121. The advice not to increase training places – despite the critical need to do so - was indicative of the challenges of not having a multi-year funding settlement in place, as well as perhaps a lack of urgency in which the issue was recognised previously.

"The ongoing absence of a functioning Executive and Ministers in post are once again starving the system of the political accountability and decision-making that it so obviously requires.

"GPs and their staff are seeing the gap between demand and what they are actually able to deliver widening by the day. Yet, as we enter now into the critical winter months, our GPs do not yet even know if or when they will receive the DDRB uplift in pay and expenses that should have been confirmed months ago.

"Whilst the reformation of the Executive would not resolve everything, it would allow a multi-year budget to be set, a pay award to be delivered, as well as other critical action such as identifying an appropriate and final way forward for GP Indemnity in Northern Ireland."