Committee for Health - Primary Legislation

Adult Protection Bill

The Adult Protection Bill was formally introduced by the Minister of Health on Tuesday 17 June 2025. The Bill completed its Second Stage on Monday 30 June 2025 and was referred to the Committee for Health for scrutiny (the Committee Stage of the Bill).

The purpose of the Bill is to make provision for the purposes of protecting adults from harm, and for connected purposes.

Further information on the Bill can be found below:

• Read the Bill as Introduced
• Read the Bill's Explanatory and Financial Memorandum

An Explanatory and Financial Memorandum (EFM) is a document that accompanies a bill. It provides a detailed explanation of the bill's purpose, background, policy objectives, and its potential financial, human rights, and other impacts.

Call for Evidence

As part of the Assembly’s legislative processes, the Assembly’s Committee for Health will now consider and take evidence on the Bill and report its opinion to the Assembly. This is known as the 'Committee Stage' of the Bill. As it was the Minister of Health who introduced the Bill, it is the responsibility of the Assembly's Committee for Health to take forward the Committee Stage.

As part of the Committee Stage, the Committee is seeking views from stakeholders on the objectives, proposals and potential consequences of the Bill and would welcome your views and comments on its contents.

The closing date for comments is Friday 26 September 2025.

How to submit your views

It is important that your submission is structured to address the specific clauses and schedules of the Bill. If appropriate, it should include any amendments you wish to propose to the text of the Bill.

Written submissions should be sent electronically in Word format (not PDF) to: adult.protection@niassembly.gov.uk.

If you cannot submit electronically you may send in a hard copy written submission to:

The Health Committee Clerk,
Room 416, Parliament Buildings,
Ballymiscaw,
Stormont,
Belfast,
BT4 3XX.

Organisations or individuals responding to this call for views should note that their written submission (either in whole or part) may be published on the Committee webpage and may be quoted in the Committee’s report or referred to in Committee meetings (which are public and are broadcast).

The Committee recognises that in some circumstances people may prefer for their evidence to be treated as confidential or published anonymously. If you wish to do this, please make this clear when submitting your evidence.

Before sending us your views please read the Northern Ireland Assembly Committees Privacy Notice. This tells you how we process your personal data.

Useful Information

• View the current progress of the Bill and all related information
• Guide to submitting evidence to Assembly Committees in written or other formats
• Understanding a Bill: a guide for stakeholders
• Assembly Committees Privacy Notice

Contact Us

If you have any queries or require any further information about the call for evidence or the Committee Stage of the Adult Protection Bill, please contact the Health Committee Clerk:

Email: adult.protection@niassembly.gov.uk 

Telephone: 028 90521145.