The next item of business is a motion to affirm a statutory rule.

I beg to move

That the draft Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 be approved.

The Business Committee has agreed that there will be no time limit on the debate. I call the Minister to open the debate on the motion.

Today, I am seeking the Assembly's approval of the Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. It is a privilege for me to be able to introduce these regulations, part of a journey that began with the private Member's Bill that was brought by former SDLP MLA Pat Catney and subsequently became the Period Products (Free Provision) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 to create a legal right of free access to items such as tampons and sanitary pads. The Act places importance on respect for dignity and aims to remove financial barriers to accessing period products.

These regulations relate to the Department's section 2 duties under the Act to meet an individual's needs while they are on specified public service bodies' premises. The Executive Office is progressing section 1 of the Act to require period products to be obtainable free of charge to all persons who need to use them. It is working with a delivery partner to ensure that free period products are publicly available to anyone who needs them across Northern Ireland from 13 May 2024. Access to period products should be universally available, as is the case for many other basic hygiene products. It is important that people have access to the products in a dignified and confidential way.

My Department is liaising with DAERA's specified public service bodies, namely the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, the Livestock and Meat Commission and the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority as to how these regulations will be implemented at their various premises throughout Northern Ireland. They include a requirement for them to give regard to articles that are reusable when they are putting their arrangements in place. There is growing interest in reusable period products, which have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of single-use items. They might include, for example, menstrual cups and reusable period pants. Our specified public service bodies will be carrying out their own consultation exercises with product users in due course after the regulations commence, with reusable products being part of that process, and I thank them for their cooperation thus far.

I thank the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee for its prompt scrutiny of the SL1 for this regulation.

At its meeting on 7 March, the Committee considered a departmental written briefing on the SL1 for the Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted that the statutory rule (SR) is made under sections 2(1) and 2(13) of the Period Products (Free Provision) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and is subject to the draft affirmative resolution procedure.

The Minister at the time highlighted the importance of the Act for providing the basis for introducing vital support to tackle issues around period dignity. The Committee noted that the Act places a duty on the Executive Office to ensure that period products are widely available free of charge in public service premises. It also noted that the regulations are being made under the powers in the Act for public service bodies that have a duty to ensure that period products are widely obtainable free of charge in their premises. The Committee also noted that the regulations specify the public service bodies within the functions of DAERA that are subject to the duty; that funding for the provision will be bid for in line with normal financial planning procedure; and that the following bodies are designated specified public service bodies. The Minister has outlined them, so I do not need to repeat that.

The SL1 was considered, and the Committee was content for the draft SR to be made and to be subject to the draft affirmative resolution procedure. At its meeting on 21 March, the Committee considered the draft Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 and further noted that they would not be made unless and until affirmed by resolution of the Assembly. Members then considered the fifth report of the Examiner of Statutory Rules, which included the draft SR, and the Committee was content to note that the Examiner of Statutory Rules did not draw special attention to it.

The Committee agreed to recommend that the draft Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 be affirmed and made by the Assembly.

I welcome the regulations. It would be remiss not to mention, as the Minister did, the work of Pat Catney, who is no longer in the House but did an awful lot of work to bring the legislation forward.

Periods are difficult enough — as a woman, I know that — and we know that period poverty is a serious, cross-cutting issue. Women across the North who are living with low incomes have enough challenges without having to consider a money element of menstruation.

The regulations are to be welcomed. It is progressive, positive legislation. It is a brilliant example of what we can do when we work together, and I wholeheartedly welcome the introduction of free period products in public spaces. They are not luxury items; they are healthcare, and we have to ensure that people have the right to healthcare and to dignity. The regulations will go some way to delivering that, so I commend them and congratulate everyone who has been involved.

I thank those who have contributed to the debate. I call the Minister to conclude and wind up.

I thank Members for their contributions and the Business Committee for scheduling the debate. This is important legislation. It is progressive, and it is an example of what the Assembly can do when we work together. I was glad to move the motion today.

Question put and agreed to. Resolved:

That the draft Period Products (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 be approved.

Members, please take your ease for a moment.

Motion made: That the Assembly do now adjourn. — [Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Blair).]