Debate contribution: Legislation Programme 2025-26

Debate contribution by Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly on 13 October 2025.

MLA

Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Legislation Programme 2025-26

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5176025

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We are pleased to present to the Assembly the Executive Committee's legislation programme for the 2025-26 session. On 3 October, the First Minister and I made a written ministerial statement to advise the Assembly of the legislation that Ministers of the Executive Committee intend to introduce in the 2025-26 session of the Assembly, subject to Executive agreement on the underlying policy and content of each Bill. Ministers believe that the proposals are important and can be introduced as Bills this session. However, while each Minister is fully committed to their delivery, it is important to note that the policy proposals for each Bill will be carefully considered by the Executive ahead of drafting and before introduction to the Assembly, in line with the agreed legislative process. It is important that the House fully understands the process involved. At this stage, it represents the four parties in the Executive and the individual Ministers putting forward their policy proposals for legislation. As yet, the Executive have not seen the policy content of most of those proposals, so our role as First Minister and deputy First Minister is simply to receive those proposals and put them together into a legislative programme. In addition, it is not the responsibility of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to bring those forward; that is the responsibility of the individual Ministers. We will, of course, work with Ministers to encourage them to bring those forward in a timely way, to identify whether there are any challenges to bringing those forward, to find out what the barriers are, and to see whether we can meet what has been set out. As we move towards the end of the mandate, achieving all that we wish to do in legislation will, undoubtedly, be challenging not just for Ministers but for the Assembly and its Committees. That may, in due course, require a further prioritisation of Ministers' proposals to ensure that the legislation that is most needed, with the greatest positive impact on our community, or the most urgent generally, is successfully enacted before the end of the mandate. It will also require all partners in the legislative process — Departments, Ministers and Members — to work together not only to provide effective and workable legislation but to ensure that it is progressed efficiently to meet the needs of those whom it is intended to help. I will now briefly set out the purpose of each Bill as outlined in our statement. The Minister for Communities intends to bring forward five Bills. The Northern Ireland debt respite scheme Bill will aim to establish and implement a scheme to ensure that legal protections are in place for debtors requiring breathing space from credit enforcement. The housing miscellaneous Bill will aim to implement proposals relating to antisocial behaviour. The pensions parity Bill will ensure that pension savers and providers here will benefit from measures included in Westminster legislation. The public authorities fraud, error and debt Bill will aim to correspond to equivalent Westminster legislation to combat fraudulent activity in the welfare system. In order to implement recommendations from the independent review of charity regulation, the Minister also proposes to introduce a charities amendment Bill. The Minister for the Economy recently introduced a Bill to make provision in relation to the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, which is listed in our programme. In addition, a Utility Regulator decarbonisation powers Bill will aim to provide a new advisory function for the Utility Regulator to enable it to support the Department for the Economy in the delivery of the Executive's energy, strategy and targets under the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022. The Minister will also bring forward an onshore petroleum licensing Bill to enact new policy, a Bill to establish a legal framework for a renewable electricity support scheme and an employment Bill to help to increase the proportion of working-age people in good jobs. The Minister of Education will aim to introduce Bills to strengthen provision on inspections, to establish an effective and outwardly-focused professional body for teachers, and to provide for all learners to participate in education, apprenticeships or training until they are 18. The Minister of Finance will introduce the normal Budget Bills as part of the annual financial cycle and will aim to introduce a marriage and civil partnership Bill that will include belief marriages and civil partnerships. The Minister of Health proposes to introduce two Bills on staffing and the control of data processing. The safe and effective staffing Bill will ensure and assure the provision of high-quality care, workforce planning and staff governance. The Health and Social Care (HSC) control of data processing Bill will amend and update existing legislation to protect the privacy of confidential patient information. The Minister for Infrastructure will aim to introduce a ports Bill to provide new and additional powers across several areas of harbours and trust port provision. The Minister of Justice plans to introduce Bills on sentencing and on victims and witnesses of crime. The sentencing Bill will implement decisions from the review of sentencing policy, the consultation on Charlotte's law and the statutory model for hate crime. The victims and witnesses of crime Bill will introduce measures to enhance the experience, protections and outcomes of victims of crime as they engage with the criminal justice system.

Finally, as First Minister and deputy First Minister, we will seek to introduce a race equality Bill to ensure that racial equality legislation fully reflects and responds to the needs of our minority ethnic communities and offers them the best protections from racism and discrimination in the environments in which they live and work. On behalf of the Executive Committee, we commend the legislative programme to the Assembly. We hope that Members and Committees will now engage positively with the Ministers responsible for the Bills as we seek to impact positively, in a practical and meaningful way, on the communities that we have been elected to serve.

1,001 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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