Debate contribution: Areas with Natural Constraints (Payments) Bill: Extension of Committee Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 5 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

5 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Areas with Natural Constraints (Payments) Bill: Extension of Committee Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5524997

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. The date of 22 January 2027 was agreed after a discussion in Committee on 16 April 2026, and I will outline the reasons why the Committee agreed to request an extension. The Committee was first briefed on the Bill on 16 March 2026 by the sponsoring member, Declan McAleer, the Deputy Chair of the AERA Committee. The Bill will take considerable scrutiny, despite comprising only two clauses, as it is an enabling Bill that places a statutory duty on the Department to use powers in the Agriculture Act 2000 to permit the modification of the basic payment scheme to include a payment scheme for areas of natural constraint, otherwise known as ANCs. The 2020 Act provides the power to make regulations to provide the ANC payments, although that power has not been exercised by the Minister to date. The Deputy Chair advised us that the aim of the Bill is to restore income from support payments that were vital to upland farmers in a range of social, economic, environmental and financial ways. The Committee will need to undertake wide-ranging scrutiny of the intentions of the Bill, which include compensating farmers for all or part of the additional costs and income forgone due to production constraints in ANCs; easing the burden of operating in challenging farming environments; addressing the reduction in agricultural opportunities in ANCs; and promoting greater equality of opportunity for farmers in those regions. The Committee will need to look in detail at the financial implications of and the need for the ANC Bill. The Bill states that payments should be reinstated at levels "no less" than those provided for under the Areas of Natural Constraint Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018, which have expired. The payment rates, specified at schedule 2 to the regulations, are based on "qualifying forage area". We will consider any unintended consequences of the Bill and consider in more detail the environmental and ecological impacts associated with ANCs. We will also consider whether the payments could maximise delivery of sustainable food production and whether they should be linked to improved environmental outcomes in ANCs. We will explore potential alternative measures and look at the impacts of the previous ANC payments. The Committee supported the intention of the Bill, but some members have initial concerns about its viability as enabling legislation, its budgetary implications and its potential impact on other support schemes. The Committee is requesting a significant extension of Committee Stage in order to ensure full scrutiny of the range of significant issues that were raised at Second Stage by Committee members and, indeed, other Members. In addition, the Committee is completing Committee Stage of the Dilapidation Bill and needs to build in time for an imminent Executive fisheries and water environment Bill and for other Members' Bills, including the Hunting with Dogs Bill, which has been introduced. The Committee would rather have the scope to consider the Bills in parallel than unnecessarily rush scrutiny of one, or any, of them just to get it over the line. We have learnt from the Agriculture Bill and the Dilapidation Bill the lesson that significant evidence can come to us late in Committee Stage. Although we set a long extension period for the Committee Stage of the Dilapidation Bill, we are now down to the wire in taking new evidence from important groups while still meeting our reporting deadline. The Committee is due to receive a briefing on the ANC Bill from the Research and Information Service (RaISe) on 21 May. No doubt RaISe will highlight further pertinent queries and issues that the Committee will want to pursue with external witnesses and the Bill sponsor. The Committee's public call for views will open in the next week or so, and I encourage all interested individuals, stakeholders and groups to respond to that. We wish to give the focused issues and wider impact of the Bill due diligence and scrutiny while keeping on top of our extensive remit to scrutinise statutory rules and new policies as they emerge. Having consulted the Bill Office and considered the evidence that we wish to take and our ongoing work and commitments, the Committee seeks the support of the House to extend the Committee Stage of the ANC (Payments) Bill to 22 January 2027. The Committee will, of course, work at pace to report in advance of that date if it is possible to do so.

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:38 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 reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification