Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

[Translation: Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker.]

I am seeking the Assembly's approval of the draft Working Time (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. All Members will be aware that workers' rights are at the forefront of my economic vision, and I will continue to work towards improving them throughout the mandate.

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL) revoked aspects of EU retained law from 1 January 2024, together with the principle of the supremacy of EU law and some other legal concepts. As a result, the Department identified that certain commonly accepted principles relating to annual leave and pay could be at risk of misinterpretation if action were not taken to provide domestic legal clarity. Some of our annual leave rights are EU derived and, as such, could be restated using the powers in the REUL Act. My Department did that prior to 1 January 2024, and it included the issues of maternity and parental leave. Some other leave rights are domestically derived and require a statutory rule to be affirmed by the Assembly in order to be restated, and that is what I am seeking to do today.

The draft Working Time (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 seek to provide clarity in our legislation and restate certain statutory rights in relation to shared parental, parental bereavement, adoption and paternity leave. The purpose of the regulations is to remove any potential uncertainty in law about previously agreed and accepted annual leave entitlements following our exit from the EU.

The statutory rule amends regulations 2 and 17 of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. The amendment to regulation 2 provides clarification that the definition of statutory leave within those regulations is the same as that within Part 9 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. The amendment to regulation 17 provides that compensation related to an entitlement to leave will cover unused leave at the point that a worker's employment is terminated if the worker is entitled to carry over that unused leave into the next immediate leave year by virtue of a relevant agreement.

The draft Working Time (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 will provide legal certainty regarding leave entitlements. I look forward to the Assembly's support.