The UUP brought a motion, successfully amended by themselves and the SDLP on Housing Association Reclassifcation. The amended motion passed unanimously and read as follows:
"That this Assembly notes the decision by the Office for National Statistics to reclassify Northern Ireland’s 22 housing associations from independent social businesses to public bodies; recognises that this will have a significant impact on housing associations and their ability to provide new social and shared ownership homes; further notes that this decision will add nearly £1 billion of housing association debt to the Northern Ireland Executive’s balance sheet, seriously impacting on the Executive’s ability to borrow money for other initiatives across the Executive Departments; and calls on the Minister for Communities and Minister of Finance to expedite the steps necessary to reverse this reclassification; and agree quickly an interim derogation arrangement with HM Treasury to enable the sector to continue to function normally, to engage closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to agree a joined-up approach, and to outline a clear and detailed timeline for specific action, including bringing forward legislation, within the time frame that any HM Treasury derogation allows, to ensure that Northern Ireland’s housing associations can remain classified as independent social businesses."
Responding to the debate the Minister for Communities stated:
"Officials in my Department will now consider all the detail of the ONS announcement. They will also consider the response in the other jurisdictions — Scotland and Wales have just had their associations reclassified as well — and put forward proposals that best suit our needs."
Read the debate in full here.
The DUP brought a motion on Growing Northern Ireland's Exports.
The Alliance Party tabled a successful amendment to this motion making reference to the
"importance of Northern Ireland continuing to participate in the single market." (The amendment was supported by Alliance, SDLP, UUP and Sinn Fein. The DUP, Green Party and TUV voted against.)
The amended motion read as follows:
"That this Assembly welcomes the recent Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs export data for Northern Ireland, which record a growth rate of 9·5%; notes the Executive’s commitment to increase the competitiveness of the economy; recognises the importance of Northern Ireland continuing to participate within the European single market to improve external sales; and calls on the Minister for the Economy to ensure that growing exports is a key part of the Northern Ireland economic strategy."
Read the debate in full here.
Sinn Fein brought a motion on the Racial Equality Strategy.
"That this Assembly recognises the positive contribution that ethnic minorities make to our society; notes with concern an increase of 87% in hate-related crime in the last four years; and calls on all Ministers to continue to give priority to implementing the racial equality strategy and the Together: Building a United Community strategy, and to providing the financial support to ensure that both of these strategies are supported and implemented."
A UUP motion failed to gather enough support - with DUP and Sinn Fein voting against
Read the debate in full here.
The DUP brought a motion on Healthier Lifestyles for Children, it was successfully amended by the Alliance Party and passed as follows:
"That this Assembly encourages schoolchildren to live a healthier lifestyle; acknowledges that following the introduction of a levy on drinks with a high sugar content, an estimated £18 million will be allocated from the Treasury to the Executive's Budget in 2018; notes with concern that only approximately 6% of pupils in each primary year are accessing two or more hours' physical education per week; calls on the Minister of Finance to ring-fence this money to fund an educational awareness and physical education programme in schools to benefit the long-term health of our children and to ease pressure on the health service; and further calls on the Minister of Education to improve the monitoring and reporting of physical education hours per week accessed by primary pupils and to issue a public consultation on the introduction of a statutory obligation on schools to facilitate an appropriate minimum amount of physical education hours per week for primary-school pupils."
(The Green Party and Sinn Fein voted against the amended)
Read the debate in full here. 
