The Ulster Unionist Party’s Social Development spokesperson, Michael Copeland MLA, has questioned the actions of the DSD in preparing hundreds of thousands of copies of a brochure relating to the proposed Welfare Reform Bill before it has even passed the Assembly.
The East Belfast Assemblyman said;
“I question the actions of the Department for Social Development in producing, printing and intending to distribute almost 800,000 brochures regarding the proposed Welfare Reform Bill before that bill has been passed by the Assembly.
If I and my Party have our way, the final bill will be changed so significantly as to render this leaflet obsolete.
This appears to be an example of a Minister and a Department pre-determining the outcome of the democratic process.
The cost of this in terms of production and postage will constitute to an enormous amount of money that we can ill afford.”