Debate contribution: The draft Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024
Debate contribution by Ms Kellie Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Kellie Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 November 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The draft Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4666027
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Minister. I rise as a member of the Committee for Communities and as Alliance housing spokesperson. In the initial briefing provided to the Committee for Communities by Mark O'Donnell, deputy secretary with responsibility for housing and sustainability, he confirmed that the Department would bring forward regulations for fire and electrical safety in the private rented sector. That comes as an outlier of sections 8 and 9 of the Private Tenancies Act.We put the requirement into legislation in the last mandate as part of the Private Tenancies Act. It is one of the improvement standards that the Assembly agreed to protect our private renters. The purpose of the regulations is to introduce the requirement for private rented landlords to have the hardwired electrical installation of a rental property inspected and tested by a qualified electrician at intervals of not less than five years. During consideration, the Committee requested clarification from the Department of whether the guidance would include a requirement for specific qualifications for electricians to carry out the work. A departmental reply on 11 October noted:
"The associated guidance ... is currently with the departmental design team for formatting in advance of laying the Regulations under the draft affirmative Assembly procedure."
The reply further notes:
"the guidance ... references the definition of a competent person within the Regulations and expands further on that statement by clarifying that an electrician needs to be registered with a recognised electrical trade body."
The Department's reply noted that:
"further advice is provided on how to establish the electrician is of a competent standard"
— but that, rightly —
"it would be inappropriate to promote one trade body over another, or create an adverse effect in restricting electrician supply".
I hope that the Minister can clarify that the regulations will state the minimum qualification that will be required for electricians to carry out the work in private rented homes. I ask the Minister if he can lay the guidance in the Assembly Library and supply a copy to the Landlords Association for Northern Ireland (LANI), which I welcomed and met last Friday. I appreciate that some landlords have said that it will add to their costs. However, most good private landlords, as confirmed by LANI, already carry out regular checks and maintenance on electrics in their properties. The introduction of the regulation causes them no issue or additional cost. I look forward to seeing the easy-read guidance. Alliance supports the regulations.
409 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.95).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.99 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:37 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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