Debate contribution: The draft Waste (Fees and Charges) (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew Muir
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 12 January 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The draft Waste (Fees and Charges) (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5311939
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I beg to move
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring the motion to the House. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) operates an annual charging policy for its regulatory activities. The charging policy covers eight separate charging schemes, of which the waste management charging scheme is one. The waste management charging scheme requires legislation to be laid to make it operational. The NIEA charging policy is governed by the principles of 'Managing Public Money Northern Ireland' and operates under a full cost recovery model. That means that the NIEA charges operators the full costs of regulatory activities: they are not subsidised by the taxpayer. The fees and charges covered by the charging policy are uplifted annually. They are normally uplifted by the GDP deflator figure that is issued by His Majesty's Treasury in December each year. However, the charging policy allows for the Department to apply any other mechanism that it deems appropriate to ensure full cost recovery and prevent deficits being paid from the public purse. After analysis by NIEA officials, it was determined that the fees and charges for 2025-26 should be uplifted by 6·19%. That covers the employers' pay costs, and the uplift applies to schemes in the NIEA charging policy 2024-25.
Had the NIEA used the 2025-26 GDP deflator figure of 2·39%, as issued by Treasury, the agency would have lost an estimated £750,000 in fees and charges across all charging schemes, which would have been paid from the public purse.
Normally, the statutory rule (SR) required to bring the waste management charging scheme into operation each year is laid by negative resolution. However, the regulations are made under schedule 4 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which stipulates that those regulations will be subject to the draft affirmative resolution procedure unless they are only altering a fee or charge to reflect changes in the value of money. Therefore, because fees and charges are being uplifted by using a figure that is not a standard inflationary measure, the draft Waste (Fees and Charges) (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 are required to be laid by draft affirmative resolution. The work of the NIEA is very important to the protection of our environment. It is fundamental to human safety and to underpin a successful economy. The uplift is required for the NIEA to deliver an effective regulatory system, protect the environment and promote sustainable growth in Northern Ireland. Accordingly, I commend the statutory rule to the House.
418 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 (0.80).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.80 | 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 | 0.85 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.15 |
| 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 14:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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