Debate contribution: Period Products (Department for Communities Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 6 May 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Period Products (Department for Communities Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4929573
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I beg to move
Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. Today, I seek the Assembly's approval of the draft Period Products (Department for Communities Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025. The introduction of the draft regulations is required under the Period Products (Free Provision) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022. The draft regulations mark another important step in the journey to making universal access to period products a reality and complement similar legislation from other Departments. Under section 2 of the Act, I propose to specify the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, the Local Government Staff Commission, the Northern Ireland Library Authority, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers' Superannuation Committee, National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland, Sport Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People and the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland. That means that those public bodies will make free period products available to staff and visitors on their premises. Some bodies that fall within the remit of my Department are not specified in the draft regulations, as they did not meet the definition of a "public service body" as set out in section 9 of the Act. They are Ulster Supported Employment Limited, the Northern Ireland Museums Council and the North/South language bodies. Once the regulations are made, there are further steps that my Department and the specified public bodies will need to complete. First, my Department will consult the relevant bodies on the guidance to be issued. The specified bodies will then consult on the ways in which products can be obtained, where they will be located and the types of period products that will be available. Following that, the specified bodies will publish a written statement on the arrangements that are to be put in place. My officials have been liaising with the arm's-length bodies on how the regulations will be implemented, and I am pleased to report that the Department's public bodies have fully embraced the scheme.
I am grateful to the Committee for its support, and I commend the motion to the House.
355 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 (0.77).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.77 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.69 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.30 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:26 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.