Official Report (Hansard)

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Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister

The Sex Discrimination Order 1976 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

The Chairperson: We need to consider the Sex Discrimination Order 1976 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012.  The regulations are about gender-neutral insurance premiums, which, if you remember, we discussed towards the end of last year.  We had a briefing on the draft regulations on 28 November, and the regulations were then made on 21 December.

The letter from the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) that lays the regulations in the Business Office notes that there have been a couple of changes to the regulations since the SL1 was submitted to the Committee on 3 December.  The changes are to repeal only part of article 46 of the Sex Discrimination Order 1976 rather than all of it and to require OFMDFM to review and report on the operation of the regulations within five years of commencement.

Included in your papers are copies of the correspondence with the Business Office, the regulations themselves and the explanatory memorandum.  Also, e-mailed to you yesterday and in your tabled papers are a summary of the consultation on the regulations, the final regulatory impact assessment and the transposition note.  You will recall that the regulations give effect to a ruling of the European Court of Justice and that we had no option but to introduce them.  Before I put the Question, I ask members to make any comments that they may have on this. 

There are no comments, so if members have any objections to the regulations in light of the changes that I have just articulated, I ask them to make them known.  If no one wants any extra time to consider, I will take it that you are content for me to put the formal Question.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister has considered the Sex Discrimination Order 1976 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 (No 462) and subject to the Examiner of Statutory Rules' report has no objection to the rule. — [Mr Nesbitt (The Chairperson of the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister).]