Debate contribution: The draft Period Products (the Department for the Economy Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Debate contribution by Mr Conor Murphy on 29 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Conor Murphy

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

29 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

The draft Period Products (the Department for the Economy Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4485913

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

I seek the Assembly's approval for the draft Period Products (the Department for the Economy Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. These regulations were laid before the Assembly on 29 March 2024 and will come into operation once they are approved by the Assembly. Period poverty is the inability of some women or girls to access sanitary products and/or the education that is needed to use products effectively, often due to their economic status. Research by Plan International UK found that one in 10 females cannot afford to buy sanitary products, while one in seven have struggled to afford them. In the South of Ireland, 50% reported occasional experience of period poverty, and 10% reported use of less suitable sanitary products. The Period Products (Free Provision) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 aims to remove financial barriers to accessing period products. It places a statutory duty on Departments to specify public service bodies that will be legally required to provide access to free period products in accordance with agreed arrangements. The Act also places importance on respect for the dignity of those who will avail themselves of those products. This is progressive, positive legislation and a major step towards eradicating period poverty. The draft regulations relate to my Department's section 2 duties under the Act and specify the public service bodies within my Department's remit to which that legal requirement will apply. The Assembly has already approved similar regulations that were brought forward by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Department of Education. The Executive Office is progressing section 1 of the Act to require period products to be obtainable free of charge to everyone who needs to use them. As bodies in the educational sphere are specifically referenced in the Act, I will turn to those bodies first. In further and higher education settings, students who experience period poverty can find that they are unable to attend classes, or even exams, if they do not have access to period products. It was acknowledged during the Assembly's consideration of the Bill that nobody should miss out on their education because of that. The draft regulations aim to address that by placing a statutory duty to provide access to free period products on the six further education colleges and the five higher education institutions. I am proud of the work that my Department has already undertaken in that area, through its designing and delivering successful pilot schemes in each sector. In particular, I note the excellent work of the stakeholders involved in delivering the higher education pilot, which, in its three years of operation, is projected to deliver over 180,000 products to those in need. That pilot was significant in the development of the overarching Act. It is because of the successful implementation of the pilot schemes that both sectors stand prepared to deliver the statutory obligation that the regulations will place on them. The Act is permissive and does not place any limitations on free provision. Although I am keen to keep any limitations in the regulations to a minimum, it is important that the safeguarding of young persons and vulnerable adults in those settings be maintained through limiting access to those who have a legitimate reason to be on the premises. That is staff, students and visitors. In line with the outcome of the consultation conducted by the further education colleges and the higher education institutions, the draft regulations therefore define "premises", "persons" and "in use" for the purposes of the Act in order to help define more clearly how the products should be made available. I turn now to the non-education bodies that fall within my Department's remit. The regulations specify the Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITBNI), the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), the Consumer Council, the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal (ITFET), Invest NI and Tourism NI. The specification of those bodies is in keeping with the overall aim of the Act. There are some bodies that fall within the remit of my Department that are not specified in the draft regulations. Members may wish to note those bodies and the reasons for their non-inclusion. First, the Industrial Court is not specifically included, as it uses premises that will already be covered by the specification of the Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal. Secondly, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not been included, as its interaction with the general public tends to be at workplaces on other sites rather than on its own premises. Thirdly, NI Screen has not been included, as it does not fall within the Act's definition of a public service body. InterTradeIreland is not specified, as it is a cross-border body and therefore not solely within the function of my Department. Finally, the Certification Officer is not included, as he is a statutory appointee rather than a body. All the bodies mentioned here today, both those that are specified in the draft regulations and those that are not, were consulted in accordance with my Department's statutory duty under the Act. The draft regulations before Members today reflect the outcome of that consultation. Our specified public service bodies will be carrying out their own consultation exercises with product users on the specific arrangements for the free provision of period products on their individual premises in due course, after the regulations come into operation. I thank them for their cooperation thus far. I also thank the Economy Committee for its prompt scrutiny of the draft regulations. I commend the regulations to the Assembly.

930 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification