Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I offer apologies on behalf of the Committee for the long wait. We have a packed schedule and have been dealing with legislation. Obviously, when we are dealing with legislation, it gets due scrutiny and our full attention.

We have Helen Lewis, principal scientific officer of the chemicals regulation branch in the industrial pollution and radiochemical inspectorate, and Aoibhinn Corrigan, deputy principal in the chemicals and industrial pollution policy branch, natural environment policy division. I have just mentioned to members the fact that we have a hard stop this afternoon. That is to do with broadcasting more than anything else; it is not that we do not want to spend more time with you. You can give us your presentation, and then we will move to members' questions.

Ms Aoibhinn Corrigan (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Thank you, Chairman and members, for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today regarding amendments to the Environmental Protection (Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and other Dangerous Substances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. I am acting deputy principal in the chemicals and industrial pollution policy branch, and I am joined today by my colleague Helen Lewis, who is principal scientific officer of the chemicals regulation branch in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Helen and I work collaboratively to deliver regulations on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Helen's team is responsible for compliance monitoring when the amendments come into force.

The amendments will require all equipment containing PCBs that are above the new lower threshold concentration of 0·005% PCBs by weight and a volume of 0·05 decimetre cubed to be removed from use by the end of 2025 and to ensure environmentally sound waste management thereafter. That is a requirement of the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), to which the EU and UK are signatories and from where the amendment comes.

PCBs fall into the category of persistent organic pollutants. Parties of the Stockholm convention are committed to removing PCBs from production and use. The use of PCBs has been regulated in the UK since the early 1980s, but some PCBs are still in use, predominantly in the high-voltage transformer equipment in energy infrastructure. In Northern Ireland, the main stock of equipment that still contains PCBs is held by Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks and is equipment that was brought into use before 1987. Oils containing PCBs can leak from transformer equipment and enter the environment, where they can cause serious health effects in humans and animals. PCBs can have adverse effects on the immune system, liver, skin, reproductive system, gastrointestinal tract and thyroid glands. PCBs remain common contaminants of animal and human food chains, generally at low concentrations, and diet remains one of the main sources of exposure in the general population.

The Department carried out a regulatory impact assessment in order to assess the impact to NIE Networks, which was identified as the biggest holder of stock containing PCBs in Northern Ireland. The number of other holders was considered to be statistically insignificant so were excluded from the assessment. PCB-contaminated equipment will have to be replaced at the end of its useful life. However, the amendments bring forward the replacement date of some of NIE Networks' equipment that would have had to be replaced eventually. The assessment indicated that a central cost of £385,685 would be incurred by NIE Networks to meet the requirements of the amendments. The cost incurred by NIE Networks is due to the decommissioning of contaminated equipment before the end of its useful life. While there is a cost, it is considered by DAERA officials to be acceptable in order to achieve the safe destruction of the equipment.

The Department carried out a consultation exercise that ran between 23 May 2022 and 22 July 2022. DAERA engaged with approximately 60 targeted NI stakeholders, including small and medium-sized companies and public bodies, via a short survey that ran for nine weeks. Seven responses were received from businesses and public-sector organisations. None of the responses expressed any serious misgivings about the proposed amendments.

The amendments were laid in England and Wales in July 2020 and in Scotland in February 2021. They came into force in the Republic of Ireland in 2020. Northern Ireland continues to follow EU chemicals legislation, as required under annex 2 of the Windsor framework, and both the EU and UK are party to the Stockholm convention. Therefore, the amendments will bring Northern Ireland into line with Britain and the EU. By not laying the amendments, we would be in breach of the Windsor framework and would remain divergent from GB and the EU, as well as being in breach of the Stockholm convention. That would incur the risk of EU law infractions by the NI Government.

Minister Muir issued an Executive paper on 5 March 2025 regarding the amendments. He received replies from the Justice Minister, Health Minister and Economy Minister, none of whom had any issues with the amendments. They were in support of them. The amendments were approved by the Executive at a meeting on 30 April 2025.

I will now pass over to my colleague Helen, who will discuss the regulatory aspects of the amendments.

Ms Helen Lewis (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Good afternoon, Chair and Committee members. I lead the chemicals compliance team in the industrial pollution and radiochemical inspectorate in NIEA. Over the past four years, my team has worked collaboratively with Aoibhinn's policy team to ensure that NIEA is ready to implement and enforce the regulations when the amendments come into force.

One of the key elements is for holders of PCB-contaminated equipment to register their pieces of equipment with NIEA. To make that easier for customers, we have engaged with digital services in DAERA to develop an online registration system that will go live shortly after the amendments come into force. The amendments will also provide NIEA with the legislative powers to take action where the registration duty is not complied with. Any action that is undertaken will be in accordance with the DAERA enforcement and prosecution policy, and our enforcement tools range from warning letters up to formal prosecution through the courts.

The cost for registration has not increased from that laid out in the original 2000 legislation, mainly due to the efficiency savings of having an online registration system. We will also be able to check for PCB-contaminated equipment during inspections under other regulatory regimes, and we will take the opportunity to do so. The charges will remain at an annual charge of £155 for holders of fewer than 20 pieces of equipment and £250 for holders of more than 20 pieces of equipment. The registration system will facilitate NIEA engagement with registered holders and enable holders to notify NIEA when the PCB-contaminated equipment has been disposed of and can be removed from the register. My team works collaboratively with the waste teams and the regulation unit, and we will ensure that the destruction of that material is undertaken by the appropriate means.

My team has also been engaging with other regulators in the UK, and we have held discussions with Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, which is the largest holder in Northern Ireland of potentially PCB-contaminated equipment.

We thank you for your attention, and Aoibhinn and I are happy to take any questions that you may have.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you so much. I have two brief questions, if that is OK. The paper that you submitted says that there were only a small number of responses to the consultation, with no significant matters being identified. I am always curious when people use those words. I suspect that some minor matters may have been brought up. What would have been a minor concern for a consultee as part of that consultation?

Ms Corrigan: We did not receive any negative concerns in the consultation regarding the amendments. Given the impact that PCBs can have on human and animal health, the responses were quite supportive of their removal. The regulations are also an amendment to existing legislation, so the fact that PCBs are monitored as closely as they are by Helen's team is familiar to the stakeholders that we have engaged with, so they are used to being monitored on that.

Ms Lewis: The regulations have also been widely publicised across the UK, with England, Wales and Scotland going first. The Republic of Ireland also went before us. PCBs are known to be really nasty chemicals and are listed in the Stockholm convention. Most businesses have electricity supply through Northern Ireland Electricity. We are well engaged with Northern Ireland Electricity.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Your paper states that there is a cost to NIE of £385,685. DAERA said that that does not constitute a considerable cost. Was NIE moving in that direction anyway, or will that additional cost be a consequence of the amendment?

Ms Corrigan: The equipment that contains PCBs will come to the end of its natural life. It lasts for approximately 60 years. It depends on the manufacturing. That is the cost of, essentially, decommissioning equipment that would still have been in use but has been taken out of use early. The economist who did the regulatory impact assessment considered that that was a reasonable cost on the "polluter pays" principle.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I take it that NIE is aware of that and that it has been communicated.

Ms Lewis: Yes.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Will it then be actioned and reported on?

Ms Lewis: Yes. Certainly at a UK level, Northern Ireland Electricity attends an Energy Networks Association meeting, as do we. That has been going on for three or four years, so we are in good communication with Northern Ireland Electricity on the matter.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Members, are there any other questions?

Miss McIlveen: Can I clarify that all elements of the draft rule stem from the Stockholm convention and are replicated from GB, with no deviation from that? Is it exactly the same?

Ms Corrigan: It is exactly the same, yes. We are just later in laying ours due to retained EU law and different things, including staffing pressures. They will bring us exactly in line with GB.

Miss McIlveen: That is grand. Thank you.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you very much for the presentation.