By David Thompson

Copyright newsletter

Jon Burrows says the party will back Paul Givan’s plans “in principle” – arguing that it is “fundamental to ensuring the safeguarding of pupils”. Last week, the party had declined to say whether or not it would support the plans to make it a criminal offence to obstruct inspections during industrial action by teaching unions – despite issuing a lengthy statement on the matter. However, Mr Burrows says that the party is not issuing a “blank cheque” to the DUP minister. He told the News Letter: “The Ulster Unionist Party supports the Education Minister’s proposal in principle; inspection is fundamental to ensuring the safeguarding of pupils, maintaining standards and ensuring good practice is shared. It is right to support strengthening the legislative protection of school inspections. “Our principled support is not a blank cheque for the Minister; we will scrutinise the bill and use the committee stages to look at the bill in more depth to ensure voices are heard and that the proposed legislation is both robust and fair. For me, that is the reasoned and sensible approach. “Northern Ireland should not be the region in the UK with the weakest legislative protections for inspection; however, we will work well to ensure the provisions are as tightly drafted as possible so as not to impinge existing industrial rights outside of inspection periods. “The Ulster Unionist Party will always do what is in the best interests of our young people and balance that with being strong supporters of our hard-working teachers and a party that stands for what matters most to parents. “It is evident that other parties like the SDLP and the Alliance Party are not reading the room when it comes to safeguarding children and young people via inspections. “This should be a non-negotiable. We should be collectively focusing on optimising a draft bill, not abdicating responsibilities to minimise all possible risk or harm to children and young people”, the North Antrim MLA said.