C O N S T R U C T I O N E M P L O Y E R S F E D E R A T I O N T H E V O I C E O F T H E I N D U S T R Y
CEF’S PEOPLE & SKILLS TASK FORCE: MODERN SLAVERY GUIDANCE The CEF’s People & Skills Task Force has developed a concise guidance booklet on modern slavery. Modern slavery comes in many different forms and is a growing issue. While it’s not always easy to spot, it’s a real problem and the construction industry is one of the most at- risk sectors. The full guidance can be viewed on our website: www.cefni.co.uk/downloads
CEF RESTATES THE SECTOR’S KEY ASKS OF THE NEXT EXECUTIVE IN THE CONTEXT OF FULFILLING THE NEED FOR A SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY FROM THE PANDEMIC … Assembly Election on 5May With the NI Assembly dissolving at the end of March, we now face into a 6-week period of the Assembly Election campaign, which will culminate on 5 May. Throughout the coming weeks, we will be looking to see what the parties and candidates say with respect to the construction industry and what this will mean for a new Assembly and Executive over the coming 2022-27 mandate. Back in January, the CEF laid out the sector’s key asks of the next Executive in the context of fulfilling the need for a sustainable recovery from the pandemic to help stimulate and grow the local construction sector. We stated that this must include, at a high level: • Greater consistency in procurement practice across the public sector, accompanied by the establishment of a Procurement Review Service, which seeks to avoid costly and time- consuming legal challenges. • Agreement of a multi-year capital budget that delivers key projects such as the remaining Executive Flagships, the York Street Interchange and the A1 Junctions as well as an absolute commitment to funding NI Water’s infrastructure programme over the coming decade. • The establishment of an independent Infrastructure Commission as well as delivering fundamental reforms to the governance and financing structure of the Housing Executive and NI Water. • Substantive changes, by way of a new Planning Act, to our two-tier planning system, which seeks to drastically speed up decision-making processes. • Setting an ambitious target of completing a minimum of 9,500 new homes for each of the next 15 years in order to meet our housing need. • A significant package of measures to enable the drive to net zero that must include a funded and ambitious housing retrofit strategy.
REVIEWOF 2011 PLANNING ACT The Department for Infrastructure has published its Review Report into the 2011 Planning Act. CEF made a detailed submission to the Review last spring and – given the significant interest from its membership in the review – CEF has welcomed the publication of the report by the Minister and the Department. The review report, and the next steps that are laid out, will enable changes to the existing legislation with the intent of making our planning system better. CEF welcomes that, and looks forward to advancing its views throughout this process in the next Assembly mandate. HOUSING SUPPLY STRATEGY AND NI WATER Following the consultation, the CEF met with DfC officials who are now preparing the final Housing Supply Strategy. Crucial in this will be CEF’s call for a much more ambitious strategy, which has, as a key target, the completion of a minimum of 9,500 new homes for each of the next 15 years to meet our housing need. Given the challenges to taking forward new housing development across much of the country, CEF continues to meet with NI Water to understand their progress with implementing PC21 as well as how their solution engineering processes can offset the need for development in towns/cities where there are capacity constraints.
The full manifesto can be read via: www.cefni.co.uk/downloads/
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