Pam Cameron: I thank the Minister for her answer. I think of Ballyclare Comrades in my constituency, who have exciting redevelopment plans that would greatly benefit the club and the town. Can the Minister gave an assurance that there will be no more delays in delivering this long-awaited programme? What steps have been taken to progress the funding since assurances were given to clubs in February that it...
Pam Cameron: I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate. With the exception of amendment No 6, in the name of the Member for North Antrim, I do not support the amendments. I do not support the Bill, and my party does not support it. I voted against the Bill at Second Stage, and I clearly outlined our concerns with it at Committee Stage. We ensured that those concerns were recorded in the Health...
Pam Cameron: Yes.
Pam Cameron: I will continue after that intervention. With those overriding concerns on the record, I will address the amendments tabled by the Bill sponsor and representatives of the Alliance Party. Amendment Nos 1 and 3 amend clauses 2 and 3 and would grant to premises where abortions take place and to those that provide information, advice or counselling an unqualified right to become protected...
Pam Cameron: I thank the Minister for his statement to the House. I commend him and his officials for a highly successful scheme to bolster the local economy. Can the Minister outline the total spend in the South Antrim constituency? Is he able to provide the figures for monthly spend in that breakdown?
Pam Cameron: It gives me great pleasure to respond, as Bill sponsor, at Further Consideration Stage of the Autism (Amendment) Bill. Bearing in mind the Speaker's advice on what is appropriate for debate in each of the legislative stages, I will spare the House a list of thanks and save it for the Final Stage. I hope that I get some brownie points there, Mr Speaker. It is, however, appropriate to thank the...
Pam Cameron: We have no objection to this LCM on the mandatory reporting of healthcare payment data in the Health and Care Bill. We understand that this particular piece of legislation is related to recommendation 8 of the Cumberlege report, 'First Do No Harm'. Part of that report talked about the need for mandatory reporting of payments made by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to teaching...
Pam Cameron: I support the LCM on the transfer of functions of arm's length bodies, which originates from the Health and Care Bill. I understand that the arm's-length bodies transfer of functions provisions related to only five bodies that perform UK-wide functions. This is a permissive power to enable the future transfer of functions between bodies to promote streaming and efficiency. The bodies in...
Pam Cameron: I support the legislative consent motion. As we have heard, it came before the Committee. It really was hard to comprehend that the World Health Organization had determined that Northern Ireland was somewhere where those horrific practices could be found to take place. The Chair touched on that. It is absolutely clear that, in any humane society, no woman or girl should be subjected to that...
Pam Cameron: I rise to speak as a DUP member of the Health Committee. These are, undoubtedly, unprecedented times in the provision of healthcare in Northern Ireland. The sums of money that have been poured into protecting our people against COVID-19 are without parallel. It is worth mentioning that, when we take together resource spend and the like of National Insurance spend, the projected expenditure...
Pam Cameron: I will be very brief. Today is a very sad day, as the Assembly meets without the talented young man who was our Principal Deputy Speaker in this place. Christopher Stalford will be greatly missed within the DUP family. Christopher was fiercely loyal to his constituents in South Belfast. He excelled in his role in the Speaker's Chair. He was forthright and witty, and he had a great sense of...
Pam Cameron: I will indeed.
Pam Cameron: I thank the Member for his intervention and, yes, absolutely, I do. I also thank the Member for his role as vice chair of the all-party group on autism and the good work that he has done over the years. There has been some suggestion that the autism forum, created by the Department, could function as a suitable alternative for the reviewer. Although I welcome the creation of the autism forum,...
Pam Cameron: Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing the plenary session to continue to this late hour. I want to record my appreciation to you and all the Assembly staff involved. I am incredibly proud to bring this essential legislation to the House today. The Bill would not have been possible without the original Autism Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, and I want to acknowledge the previous work by the...
Pam Cameron: Before I outline our party's position on the amendments in the group, I will make some general observations that pertain to the Bill. Whilst we are obviously striving, through the Assembly's legislative process, to amend the Bill to make it more robust and better law, it is important to stress that much of the provision in the Bill relates to enabling powers. Therefore, the outworking of the...
Pam Cameron: As I said in my comments earlier on the group 1 amendments, the overriding aim of the Bill is to place the child's interests at the heart of every stage of the adoption process. All parties should be able to unite around that. As we examine the amendments today, I know that each party will be seeking to strengthen the Bill as much as possible. The Democratic Unionist Party supports a range of...
Pam Cameron: T9. Mrs Cameron asked Minister for Communities, after declaring an interest as the wife of a playwright, to state whether, given the severe impact that the pandemic has had on the arts, entertainment and music sectors, she is considering any further financial packages for those sectors. (AQT 2049/17-22)
Pam Cameron: At the outset, I wish the Minister, Robin Swann, all the best with his recovery from COVID. I presume that he will be coming back online to watch us through the debate. I thank the Chair of the Committee, Colm Gildernew, for summarising the Committee's scrutiny. That was really useful. As we know, this is a long-awaited Bill, so we are very glad to be at this stage today. Before I address...
Pam Cameron: A key issue that I have raised on a number of occasions, in the Chamber and at Committee, is the need for further investment at the Antrim Area Hospital. At the outset, I thank the Minister, the Department and the management of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust for their efforts in building business cases to greater develop facilities on the site. The new state-of-the-art mental...
Pam Cameron: I am delighted to speak in the Final Stage debate on the Organ and Tissue Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill. Whilst I do not doubt that we all support organ donation and the desire to prolong and protect lives, for some of us, including Members of the Assembly, deemed consent is not a subject that we are entirely comfortable with. I am pleased that, in our party, Members were not whipped on the...
