Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee

Minutes of Proceedings - 16 January 2025

Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee minutes of proceedings 16 January 2025.pdf (322.89 kb)

Present:

Robbie Butler MLA (Chairperson)

Declan McAleer MLA (Deputy Chairperson)

John Blair MLA

Tom Buchanan MLA

William Irwin MLA

Michelle McIlveen MLA

Áine Murphy MLA

Patsy McGlone MLA

Apologies:

Nicola Brogan MLA

In Attendance:

Dr Janice Thompson, Assembly Clerk

Mr Nick Faulkner, Assistant Assembly Clerk

M Michael Greer, Clerical Supervisor

Mr Stuart Gilmour Clerical Officer

The Meeting Opened in Public Session at 10.08 am

The Chair reminded Members of the ‘Declaration of Interests’ and asked if there are any new interests to declare, relevant to the items under consideration at this meeting, that had not already been declared at the first meeting.

1. Apologies

Nicola Brogan

2. Chairperson’s Business

The Chair advised he had received correspondence, dated 14 January from

the Northern Ireland Shows Association (NISA) requesting an opportunity to meet with the Committee to discuss the Independence Resilience Review of the Agricultural Shows in Northern Ireland, which was commissioned in 2022.

The NISA also extended an offer to host a Committee meeting at the Balmoral Show in May.

Agreed: The Committee noted that it had already agreed to host a Committee meeting at the Show and agreed to schedule a briefing from NISA as soon as possible.

3. Minutes

Minutes of the 12^th December 2024 were agreed and signed by the Chair to be published.

Agreed: The minutes were agreed.

4. Matters Arising

4.1 The Committee considered the response from Solace NI, dated 10 December, in reply to its letter of 11 November, regarding The Environmental Protection (Single-use vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. The Committee wrote to Solace NI,following the briefing from DAERA Officials regarding the regulations at its meeting of 7 November, requesting that Solace detail concerns it has around the enforcement of the proposed ban by councils; the level of engagement councils have had with the Department and if their concerns had been taken on board.

The Committee noted the response from Solace stated that Local Government supports the need to create a ‘smoke free generation’ and the proposed ban on single-use vapes.

The Committee noted the concerns that Solace NI raised including:

The additional resources required for promotional and communications activities and enforcement.
the timeframe to see any actual reduction in costs associated with the disposal of single-use vapes will be considerable;
· The costs incurred by councils in relation to investigation, case preparation; and legal work for successful prosecutions are not fully covered by the courts.
the demand to undertake investigation and enforcement work will be considerable due to the high level of illicit and non-compliant products; and
additional responsibilities in supporting the implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill within existing resources, thereby limiting the scope to enforce the ban on single use vapes.

The Committee noted that the correspondence provided a timeline and details of SOLACE NI engagement with the Department.

The Committee noted that Solace NI has proposed that the Department carries out a full regulatory impact assessment before determining an enforcement model to ban single-use vapes in Northern Ireland.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward the response to the Department for comment on the concerns and to the Committee for Communities given their remit with councils.

4.2 The Committee considered a Clerk’s Memo from the Clerk to the Committee for Finance, dated 16 December, and copies of Commissioning letters. This is in relation toDepartment of Finance Commissioning Letters to Departments - 2024/25 Spring Supplementary Estimates (SSEs) and January Monitoring.

The Committee received an oral briefing from Department Officials regarding the 2024-25 January Monitoring Round, at its meeting of 12 December, on the outcome of DAERA’s internal consideration of the January Monitoring Round and details were provided of these returns to DoF.

At that meeting the Committee raised a number of concerns regarding 2025/2026 Just Transition funding and the impact of the 700 registered vacancies within the Department.

Agreed: The Committee noted the memo.

4.3 The Committee considered correspondence from the Department, dated 16 December, regarding Consultation on the Interaction of Compliance Obligations under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) and CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation).

The correspondence was notification regarding the publication of a joint UK-wide consultation between the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments, and DAERA, acting as UK ETS Authority, entitled ‘The Interaction between CORSIA and the UK ETS’.

The purpose of the consultation is to address the potential issue of double charging arising from overlapping obligations between both schemes and the final two high level policy options as described in the correspondence were noted:

Option 1 price-based hybrid approach - a blended approach for flights which fall within scope of both schemes; and

Option 2 UK ETS only approach

Only UK ETS obligations would apply on UK to EEA and Switzerland flights and aircraft operators would be exempt from purchasing CORSIA offsets on these flights.

The Committee noted that copies of both the consultation document and associated Impact Assessment will be provided as soon as they are available.

Agreed: The Committee noted the correspondence.

4.4 The Committee considered correspondence from the Department, dated 8 January, regarding UK Government Response to Consultation Draft of Amendments to Annex A of the Joint Fisheries Statement.

The Committee received an oral briefing from officials on this matter on 19 November 2024. The UK fisheries policy authorities consulted on proposed amendments to Annex A of the Joint Fisheries Statement between 10 October and 21 November 2024. The Committee noted that following the consultation, the UK Government published its response on 18 December 2024.

Agreed: The Committee noted the correspondence

4.5 The Committee considered correspondence from the Department, dated 10 January, regarding Agricultural Planning Applications: Advice to Applicants.

The response stated that advice to inform agricultural planning applications had been available on the DAERA website until December 2023 when it was removed following a decision taken by the Department under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2022.

This instructed the NIEA should provide applicants and competent authorities with case and site-specific advice (on a case by case basis) until a new ammonia strategy and updated standing advice was in place. The Minister has also asked his officials to develop a step-by-step guide for farmers on what is needed to apply for planning permission.

The Committee noted that updated advice and guidance will issue once a new Ammonia Strategy has been finalised, cleared by the Executive and published.

The Committee commented that this is a major issue facing the farming community and that providing advice on a case by case basis is not sustainable as it inhibits planning ahead.

The Committee also commented on the length of time it took to receive replies to minor planning application queries and enquired if perhaps it was a staffing and resources issue.

Members also expressed an interest in pressing for a specific timeframe provided for completion of the step by step guidance in advance of the new ammonia strategy and updated standing advice and are keen to assist the Minister in the creation of this guidance and the strategy. A Member also stressed the importance of focus on reduction of ammonia emissions.

Agreed: The Committee noted the correspondence.

4.6 The Committee considered correspondence from the DEFRA dated 14 January regarding: Fair Pricing - Food Supply Chain.

At the meeting of 17October the Committee discussed the food supply chain. Following this a letter was issued to DEFRA requesting information on how the UK Government is intending to restore stability for farmers, deliver a resilient and healthy food system with a new deal that ensures fairness in the supply chain across all sectors.

The Committee noted that the response stated that the UK government sees food security as national security and intends to introduce a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security.

The Committee noted that DEFRA intends to use powers in the Agriculture Act (2020) to introduce ‘Fair Dealings’ Regulations, applying to businesses who are purchasing from farmers. Practices on a sector-by-sector basis are being reviewed and they are engaging extensively with industry and the Devolved Governments.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward the correspondence to the Minister and request an update on his engagement with DEFRA on the “Fair Dealings” reviews. The committee also agreed to forward the response to Farmers for Action.

4.7 The Committee considered the response from the Department ,dated 11 December, regardingthe ISNI Delivery Tracking System (DTS) – Investing Activity Report November 2024. The Committee wrote to the Department following consideration of the Report at its meeting of 28 November when it expressed concern that some relatively small construction projects are estimated to take over a decade to complete and requesting clarity on the reasons for this.

The Committee noted that the Department’s response states that those projects are contracts for Integrated Consultancy Teams (ICTs) who will oversee DAERA’s major projects, such as, the redevelopment of CAFRE Greenmount and Loughry Campuses as well as the Animal Health and Science Building.

The DTS report splits the consultancy and supply elements of these projects as these are procured separately.

Agreed: The Committee noted the response and agreed to return to the matter later in the meeting as the latest ISNI DTS Report was to be considered in correspondence.

5. SL1 - The Animals (Identification, Records, Movement and Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025

The Chair sought agreement that this item be deferred until next week’s meeting.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to defer the item to next week’s meeting.

The next item on the Agenda was recorded by Hansard

6. Oral Briefing from RaISe- Agriculture Bill

The Committee noted that the Committee’s Call for Evidence on the Bill went ‘live’ on the website on Friday 10^th January and that there will press adverts issued to sign post to the Citizen Space survey.

The Committee approved the draft proof of the newspaper advertisement sign posting to the survey.

The Chair noted that as the Committee had some concerns with the title of the Bill that he wished to consider other press information from the Committee that would better highlight the types of organisations that the Committee would wish to respond.

The Committee considered the following paper:

RaISe Bill Paper Agriculture Bill (Northern Ireland) 2024

The Bill paper provided an overview of the Agriculture Bill (Northern Ireland) 2024 as introduced to the Assembly on 25 November 2024. It identified those areas within the Bill which may merit further consideration and, where relevant, compares similar provisions within GB and Ireland.

The following Official briefed the Committee: Mr Mark Allen, Research Office, RaISe

There then followed a question and answer session and the Committee discussed a number of issues with the Researcher, including:

Why there has been reluctance for other organisations to use the PO scheme and were informed that RaISe could do additional research on that matter if the Committee wished;
The low response rate to DAERA’s consultation plus the lack of detailed questions on the consultation;
The sufficiency of the impact assessment undertaken by the Department;
The Committee expressed concerns that the Department is seeking powers through this enabling Bill in advance of the completion of the review of policy - the Committee were informed that this appears to be a trend in Departments as it gives flexibility to them but there could be questions over the accountability of this approach.
The Committee raised concerns that if there is a move to discretionary funding then there is a risk that future funding of the scheme could be reduced or removed, especially in consideration of current budget constraints.
The Committee also noted that the Department has not quantified the scale of the potential risk If the scheme becomes liable for funding of GB-based POs.

The Committee thanked the RaISe Official for his briefing

Patsy McGlone MLA joined the meeting at 11.06am

Aine Murphy left the meeting at 11.07am

Aine Murphy re-joined the meeting at 11.13am

The meeting was suspended at 11.16am

The meeting reconvened at 11.32am

7 – Statutory Rule (SR 2024/211). The Direct Payments to Farmers (Cross-Compliance) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

The Committee consideredthe following paper:

SR -The Direct Payments to Farmers (Cross-Compliance) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 and the Accompanying Explanatory Memorandum.

The Committee noted the Rule is subject to the Assembly’s negative resolution procedure and that there have been no changes to policy content since the SL1 was considered by the Committee.

However, the title of the SR has been amended from ‘Revocation Regulations’ to ‘Amendment Regulations’ to reflect more accurately what the Regulations do - they amend two EU instruments and revoke two statutory rules. The content of the Regulations is not affected.

At its meeting of 28 November, the Committee was not in support of making the SR and Members expressed a range of views on the matter. Concerns were raised on penalties for minor breaches, the definition of breaches, specifically minor breaches, and how or when these are classed as intentional breaches.

The Committee noted on 28^th November that repeated breaches can become intentional breaches which invite higher penalties if the previous Regulations are revoked and replaced by these new Regulations. There was support voiced for higher penalties for intentional or repeated careless environmental breaches.

At this meeting Members expressed further views and were concerned that the Minister did not consider nor reflect on the concerns of the Committee raised at the meeting of 28 November.

Some Members suggested that the Department should have reflected on what was said at Committee on 28^th November and come back with proposals for amendments to provide a more tiered system of penalties and contended that there are already substantial penalties currently in place for breaches and that there was a need to segregate minor and major breaches.

There were varying views t regarding what is considered as minor breaches and a view was expressed for a need for harsher fines for environmental and food security breaches.

The Committee was divided on the rule and a vote was taken.

The Committee divided: AYES 1 : NOES 7.

Ayes: John Blair MLA,

Noes: Robbie Butler MLA, Declan McAleer MLA Patsy McGlone MLA, Michelle McIlveen MLA, Tom Buchanan MLA, William Irwin MLA, Áine Murphy MLA

The Motion Fell.

Agreed: The majority of the Committee Members present agreed to put down a prayer of annulment in the Business Office regarding the Statutory Rule (SR 2024/211). The Direct Payments to Farmers (Cross-Compliance) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.

This will be debated in due course in the Assembly.

8 SR 2024/212 The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee considered the following paper:

SR 2024/212 The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted that the SR stems from the UK-wide consultation on ‘Creating a smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping’, including proposals to ban the sale and supply of single use vapes across the UK using environmental powers. The SR will keep DAERA aligned with the rest of the UK and recognises the strong support from the Northern Ireland public for a ban on single use vapes in the consultation.

The Committee noted that the SR is subject to the Assembly’s negative resolution procedure and that there have been no changes to policy content since the SL1 was considered by the Committee on 7^th November when it was briefed by Departmental Officials

At that meeting the Committee was content for the Department to make the SR and agreed to write to Solace NI regarding resources for the enforcement of selling and supplying ‘single use vapes’, once a ban comes in; and to ask the level of engagement Councils have had with DAERA. The Committee considered the response from Solace earlier in the meeting and agreed to keep the resource issues for councils in mind going forward.

Agreed: The Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has considered SR 2024/212 The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 and has no objection to the Rule, pending the Examiner of Statutory Rules Report.

9. SR 2024/225 The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Eradication Scheme (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted the following paper:

SR 2024 No 225. The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Eradication Scheme (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted that the Statutory Rule (SR) will amend the existing BVD Eradication Scheme Order (NI) 2016 and will require bovine animals born before March 2016 that do not have a BVD status, to be tested for BVD.

The Committee noted that the SR is subject to the negative resolution procedure and comes into operation on 1 February 2025. Department Officials briefed the Committee on this matter on 19 November and there have been no changes to policy content since the SL1 was considered by the Committee.

The Committee noted the 29th Report of the Examiner of Statutory Rules, which has considered the SR and the ESR had not drawn special attention to it.

Agreed: The Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has considered SR 2024/225. The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Eradication Scheme (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024 and has no objection to the Rule,

10. SR 2024/226.The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Control Order (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted the following paper:

SR 2024/226.The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Control Order (Northern Ireland) 2024.

The Committee noted that the Statutory Rule (SR) will make provision for the introduction of herd restrictions in Northern Ireland, as a disease control measure against BVD.

The Committee then noted that following final scrutiny of the Control Order, the Departmental Solicitor’s Office confirmed that this SR is not actually subject to any Assembly procedure. Therefore, the SR will not return to the Committee for further consideration after it is made and the SR comes into operation on 1 February 2025.

11. Correspondence.

11.1 The Committee considered the correspondence memo.

11.2 The Committee considered correspondence from the Minister, dated 12 December, regarding the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Interministerial Group.

The Minister attended the Group meeting on 18th November 2024 with colleagues from England, Scotland and Wales and discussions included:

The UK budget and that the funding settlement did not reverse real term cuts or provide multi-year certainty.
Implications of removal of ring-fencing, introduction of new tax provisions, and the concerns within the farming community, urging the UK Government to engage in four-nation dialogue.
Ministers agreed to hold a series of detailed policy discussions over the next year on areas for enhanced collaboration to include food security, environmental land management, reducing waste and pollution, circular economy, scientific research on water pollution, biosecurity and reducing barriers to trade, investment in nature recovery and Bovine TB.
Implementation of the Border Target Operating Model - importance of controls to protect biosecurity, public health and economies across the UK.
Potential negotiations on developing a UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary/veterinary agreement.
Impact of labour shortages in relevant sectors.