Brown O'Connor Communications Weekly Look Ahead: Week Commencing 17 August 2020

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Forward Look

  • Health Minister Robin Swann MLA has announced that from 4am on Saturday 15 August travellers from France, Monaco, Netherlands, Turks and Caicos, Aruba and Malta into NI, will be required to quarantine for 14 days.

  • Education Minister Peter Weir MLA and CCEA Chief Executive Justin Edwards will brief the Education Committee at Stormont later this morning. This follows reports that one third of A-Level results were lower than what were predicted by teachers. 

  • Schools in NI have received revised guidance for reopening which includes relaxed social distancing rules and optional face coverings in classrooms.

  • The NI Assembly has opened the public consultation on Pam Cameron MLA’s Private Members Bill on Autism which intends to amend the 2011 Act.

  • Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA has allocated an additional £123 million from COVID-19 funding to support areas including apprenticeships, education and social enterprises.

  • Economy Minister Diane Dodds MLA has announced a new law to ensure that furloughed employees who are made redundant receive statutory redundancy pay based on their normal wages, rather than a reduced furlough rate.

  • Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson is drafting proposals to introduce a dedicated Police Ombudsman Act and will present it to the Justice Minister next month.

  • The UK Government has launched a consultation on transparency in digital campaigning. It is proposed that political parties and campaigners will have to explicitly show who they are when promoting campaign content online.

  • The first meetings of the Centenary Forum and Centenary Historical Advisory Panel announced by PM Johnson are expected later this month. Further details will be available in the Autumn.

  • The Department of Education has launched a public appointments competition to appoint a Chairperson to the Board of the Education Authority. The closing date for applications is Thursday 10 September.

  • The UK Government is advertising for a new ‘Head of Pandemic Preparedness’ to help ‘learn the lessons’ of Covid-19.

  • The NI Housing Executive are recruiting for a new Chief Executive. Further information here.

  • Belfast City Council planners are to recommend that the proposal for a £12 million aquarium in Belfast get the go ahead.

  • Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols has been appointed Shadow NI Parliamentary Private Secretary.

  • Well-known Derry freelance Journalist Leona O’Neill is to become a lecturer in Journalism at Ulster University from September.

  • Victoria Stokes has been appointed Senior Editorial Executive within the Penton Group. She will be looking after content for Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer, Neighbourhood Retailer and Licensed Catering News.

  • First Minister Arlene Foster MLA and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA have appointed His Honour Judge Geoffrey Miller QC to the NI Judicial Appointments Commission.

  • The All-Party Group on Climate Action will meet virtually on Wednesday 19 August.

  • The Education Committee will meet in Stormont on Thursday 20 August.

  • The Centre for Cross Border Studies Annual Conference will take place online on the 25th September. Keynote speakers include Julian Smith MP and Professor Deirdre Heenan.

Other Stories this week

  • Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín announced a further £10.8 million of funding for the voluntary and community sector to assist recovery from Covid-19.

  • The Office for National Statistics said the UK economy contracted by a record 20.4% in the second quarter. Ulster Bank economist Richard Ramsey has warned that NI will be living with the effects of the recession long after economic output starts to rise again.

  • A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Ulster Bank shows NI’s housing market has bounced back after lockdown with a rebound in interest and activity.

  • Health Minister, Robin Swann MLA, has announced the appointment of five Non-Executive Members to the Health and Social Care Board. Dr Theresa Donaldson, Mrs Catherine McCallum OBE, Mr Norman McKinley, Dr Nazia Latif and Dr Thomas Moore will continue in this role until no later than 31 March 2022.

  • The Department of Health has published a workforce review on Speech and Language Therapy. It aims to address workforce needs in this profession. 

Consultations

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