This is a tag applied to all posts published before May 2022. This is because they are all using the same single post template that won’t be used on new posts going forward.
Half way through the fiscal year, Northern Ireland (NI) still has no 2017-18 budget. A previous blog, Who has the power of the purse if… Read More »Reclaiming the power of the purse
While women are increasingly better educated than men, they earn less, feel less financially secure, provide the bulk of unpaid care, have smaller pensions, face… Read More »Women’s economic transition to retirement
Death and serious injury from road traffic collisions (RTCs) are tragic events bringing untold pain and suffering on families. At the same time, through better understanding of what causes them and targeting appropriate action, they are preventable.
This article was written by second year Ulster University Student Michael McVeigh (Health and Social Care Policy), based on a research report completed while on a six-week work placement in the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service. It gives an overview of how people with learning disabilities are being cared for in Northern Ireland and asks the question: how have health and social care needs and policy development improved since the Bamford review published its Equal Lives Report in 2005?
Mutual recognition and co-operation underpin many EU law provisions. This article looks at some of the legislative options for one particular provision following Brexit; the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
In 2016 the former Minister for Education, Peter Weir MLA, spoke of wanting to address composite classes, whereby a single teacher is responsible for two or more years of students at the same time. The former Minister suggested that it is more difficult for teachers to deliver high quality education in composite classes and that pupils need to be able to interact with peer groups. He stated that by the end of the planning period, he expected actions to address ‘the issue of primary pupils being taught in a composite class of more than two year groups’. This article looks at the evidence base on composite classes in Northern Ireland and around the world, considering how common they are, their educational outcomes and benefits and challenges.
The Westminster general election of 8 June 2017 resulted in a ‘hung parliament’, with the Conservatives as the largest party but without an overall majority. The result was: Conservative (318), Labour (262), SNP (35), Liberal Democrats (12), DUP (10) and Others (13). The Labour vote surged by over 3.5 million (38%), from 9.347 million in 2015 to 12.878 million in 2017. The Conservatives received 42.4% of the vote, while the Labour share rose from 30.4% in 2015 to 40.0% in 2017, an increase of 9.6 percentage points. Locally, the two largest parties (DUP and Sinn Féin) dominated the election, mainly at the expense of the three smaller parties (UUP, SDLP and Alliance). This post reviews the general election of 2017 in Northern Ireland; it follows a recently published research paper on the election results.