Other News In Brief

Call For Cut To School Uniform Grant To Be Abolished

Sinn Fein is calling for a cut to the school uniform grant to be abolished.

Education spokesperson for the party Karen Mullan made the after after Secretary of State James Brokenshire confirmed the funds available to the health and education departments.

She said: "It's certainly ironic that James Brokenshire made this announcement while his government, supported by the DUP, is still pursuing its austerity agenda and cutting the block grant to the North.

"Nevertheless, any additional assurance that allows money to be spent on front line services is welcome and I have written to both the Education Department and the Education Authority to make it clear there is now absolutely no excuse for the disgraceful cuts they intended to make."In particular the cut to the school uniform grant was a direct attack on some of the most disadvantaged families and should be immediately reversed."Other key protections for vulnerable children such as the Special Educational Needs budget should also be protected."

New Footway To Be Developed In East Belfast

Work is to begin to develop a new footway in Castlereagh, east Belfast.

The £275,000 project will provide 400 metres of new footway on Church Road between Manse Road and the Henry Jones Playing fields. It will improve local pedestrian access and enhance road safety, particularly for school children.

The work is to commence on Monday, 24 July.

The Department for Infrastructure has programmed the works operations and traffic management arrangements to minimise inconvenience to the public. However, to ensure the safety of the public and contractors, it is necessary to close Church Road from 7am to 5pm daily from the 24 July to the 02 September.

Local diversions will be in place and access to properties and amenities on Church Road will be maintained from Ballygowan Road.

Voluntary Sector Organisations Are Being Pushed Into Financial Instability - SDLP

SDLP Upper Bann MLA Dolores Kelly MLA has said that the ongoing failure to restore devolution is pushing voluntary sector organisations into financial instability.

She said: "Over the last number of weeks, we’ve watched as more and more community and voluntary sector organisations are forced to put staff on protective notice as a result of the failure of the previous Finance Minister to pass a budget coupled with the political failure to restore devolution.

"Only this week more organisations have come to me because they’ve been informed by the Department of Communities that the Small Grants Programme will not be renewed until political agreement has been reached. That means that countless community organisations will be deprived of a key source of income.

"The ongoing stalemate cannot continue indefinitely. There's no point in parties talking about the size of their mandate if they're unwilling to use it positively to resolve the challenges facing us. But what's very clear is that those working hardest in our communities to tackle poverty, deprivation and under-employment should not be punished as a result of a failure of politics."

(CD/MH)