Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I welcome the following officials to brief the Committee and take any questions: Mr Shane Doris, director of environmental resource policy division; Mr Nigel Chambers, assistant director of environmental resource policy division; and Mr Chris Conway, head of environmental principles, Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) liaison branch. Thank you very much, gentlemen. The floor is yours.

Mr Chris Conway (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Good morning, Chair, Deputy Chair and Committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to update you on the environmental principles policy statement (EPPS). The Environment Act 2021 imposes a statutory duty on DAERA to publish an EPPS. It also places a statutory duty on all Northern Ireland Departments and on UK Government Ministers, when making policy for Northern Ireland, to have "due regard" to the EPPS.

The observance of five environmental principles has been a central tenet of EU policy and legislation for many decades. When the UK left the EU, an environmental governance gap was created in respect of environment principles. The principles themselves are therefore not new; however, how they are to be applied is different. Under EU membership, the principles were baked into the policy and legislation process and applied systemically. Under the EPPS regime, policymakers will have to consider the principles in a more overt manner that is similar to the way in which they consider equality and other impacts.

In February 2022, the Executive and the Assembly agreed the legislative consent motion that approved the commencement of the Northern Ireland provisions of the Act. Under schedule 2 to the Act, DAERA must publish an NI EPPS following scrutiny by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The EPPS embeds in domestic policymaking the five internationally recognised environmental principles, the first of which is the integration principle. That can be defined as ensuring that environmental protection requirements are integrated into Departments' policies and activities with a view to promoting sustainable development.

The prevention principle concentrates on anticipating and preventing any potential environmental harm rather than reacting to any damage caused by unregulated action.

The precautionary principle is designed to assist with decision-making where there is scientific uncertainty. It is a core principle of environmental law. A precautionary approach captures the idea that regulatory intervention or the modification of a policy may be necessary if there is the potential for harm to be caused to the environment, even if the supporting evidence is incomplete or speculative and the economic costs of regulation are high.

The rectification at source principle states that environmental damage should be rectified by targeting its original cause and taking preventative action at source. That principle works closely with the prevention principle to ensure that damage to the environment is tackled when and where it occurs so that it does not have a long-term environmental impact on the community and biodiversity, spread further afield or have a delayed effect.

Finally, the "polluter pays principle" essentially means that the cost of preventing, controlling or remediating pollution or other environmental damage should be borne by those who cause it rather than those who suffer from the effects of environmental damage, or the community at large. Producer responsibility schemes are a good example of that.

Policymakers must demonstrate "due regard" to the policy statement when developing, revising or repealing policy. "Due regard" means that policymakers must actively and seriously consider environmental principles, not just acknowledge them, when developing policy. The legal duty is robust and supported by case law, requiring evidenced-based, timely and rigorous application across all policy areas, not just environmental ones. The statement allows for proportionate application based on the potential environmental effect of the policy. Policymakers are expected to apply the principles from the outset of policy development and to maintain records that demonstrate how the principles were considered and applied.

To develop the EPPS, DAERA engaged with the Office for Environmental Protection in June 2023. The OEP helpfully provided detailed advice along with more general comments and advice on the draft policy statement. In September 2024, the draft EPPS was issued for public consultation over a 10-week period. A total of 28 responses were received, and, although there may not have been a large number of responses, many were detailed and well informed. A cross-departmental working group (CDWG) was given the opportunity to review and comment on the latest draft of the NI EPPS. Following consideration of the minor comments that were received, appropriate revisions were made. The CDWG subsequently confirmed that it was content with the final version of the NI EPPS.

Throughout the process, DAERA officials also engaged closely with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) counterparts. The Act places a statutory duty on DAERA to consult the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the NI EPPS. The Secretary of State sent a letter to the Minister on 4 July commending the Department on its progress on the NI EPPS and confirming that DEFRA had no further comments.

I will set out the position in GB and Ireland. DEFRA has fulfilled its statutory duty for England, and its policy statement came into effect in November 2023.

Scotland has adopted a distinct approach in its legislation. In August 2023, it published 'Scotland’s Guiding Principles on the Environment: Statutory Guidance', linking the principles to environmental assessments and the planning regime. In Wales, the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill was introduced by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs on 2 June 2025. The Bill establishes certain environmental principles and an environmental objective. It will require Welsh Ministers and Natural Resources Wales, when making policy, and certain other public authorities, when carrying out an environmental assessment under the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Wales) Regulations 2004, to apply the principles and to integrate environmental protection. The Republic of Ireland, as a member of the EU, continues to apply the principles under EU legislation as NI did before Brexit.

When it comes to implementation and guidance, there is no statutory deadline for publication; however, delay in issuing the EPPS may attract criticism from stakeholders and prolong a governance gap created by the UK's departure from the EU. Our duty to lay the NI EPPS is an outstanding legislative obligation, and not fulfilling it carries the risk of legal challenge. Once the EPPS has been approved, staff will require support to understand how to implement their new duty under the policy. To assist with that, my team is working to develop a toolkit to guide policymakers.

The EPPS represents a significant step in embedding environmental considerations in policymaking across Northern Ireland. Its implementation will help to ensure that environmental protection is not an afterthought but a core part of decision-making. We look forward to working with colleagues across Departments to support that transition and to finalise the accompanying toolkit that will help to operationalise the statement in practice.

We are happy to take questions.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Excellent. Thank you. The report repeatedly refers to decisions made by policymakers when developing policies and so on. Who are the policymakers? Who will see the biggest difference, if there is any, with the application of what we are talking about today?

Mr Shane Doris (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): It applies to all Northern Ireland Departments, so it will apply to everyone involved in the policy development process at all levels. The guidance that will follow the EPPS will be rolled out to all staff across the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) who work in policy development to ensure that they are sighted on the principles and provided with guidance on how to apply them and how to document that.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Has there been a comparison of that guidance with what it would have been before Brexit? What key differences will people see and feel?

Mr Doris: There are no differences in the principles themselves; they are being applied in a more overt manner, and there is a requirement to document that application more clearly than before, when it would have been assumed that they had been considered. It is about closing the governance gap by making sure that, whatever the outcome, that is documented.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): OK. We just had the Minister in. Some of the fear around this is about making changes to planning, for instance, which is probably where the rubber will principally hit the road. Will implementation be a further blockage to planning? Will anybody notice the difference, or is it, as you intimated, just about codifying existing principles a bit better?

Mr Doris: It is about giving them due regard. It does not prescribe any outcome, so it does not tie the hands of Ministers making decisions by requiring them to balance social or economic outcomes with environmental outcomes. As long as any trade-off is documented and the logic behind it is set out, due regard for the principles is shown. The EPPS does not mandate a particular outcome.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): It is good that you came to that point, because I wanted to get to "due regard". There is a bit of a definition of that, but who wields the power to determine whether the requirement to have due regard has been met?

Mr Doris: It is open to scrutiny by the public, the Assembly and the OEP. It can look at the policy development process and, if it sees fit, make a determination. It will not always do so, but it may want to give particular focus to certain areas and to look at those to ensure that the process was followed.

Mr Nigel Chambers (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Litigation could be brought that would be comparable to what you see with equality duties; the duty to have due regard in decision-making is comparable.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): It is interesting that you talked about OEP's having a say. The OEP has presented to us before. Its remit is the environment only, so, as it pointed out, it does not have to balance economy and people. Will it have disproportionate weight in any litigation, or is it just an equal stakeholder?

Mr Doris: Again, it will be about how due regard has been applied to the principles. The OEP will not seek to see that the outcome is weighted towards the environment; it is about ensuring that the environment is considered in the process. It is not about being prescriptive or creating blockages — it should be looked at the other way around, as an opportunity to benefit all the areas involved — but about making sure that the environment is on an equal footing at the outset of consideration. The outcome does not necessarily have to land on the side of the environment; it is about making sure that it is properly considered.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): This my final question, and you can kick it out if I have not gauged it right. It seems that there are concentric circles that overlap. I asked the Minister whether he was aware of one of the key guiding principles of Natural England that is on mitigations and, in particular, betterment. We find paralysis in planning, for instance, because a planning application is determined by consideration of the one proposed building. However, Natural England has a policy that says, "If you can bring a betterment to the whole farm, that's where the benefit might be". In principle, would the new process overlap with or impact on that? Could that be picked up? It seems that it might be an avenue for that consideration of betterment.

Mr Doris: It would certainly be viewed alongside that process and contribute to it. Again, it would be about looking at everything in the round. That is the key part of it: looking at the principles and at how any of them may apply together and then at the other factors. Any decision should ultimately favour the overall outcome that brings benefits to all elements.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you very much. The questions may have been a bit rapid-fire for you, but thank you for taking them.

Ms Finnegan: Thank you for your presentation. What powers are there to implement this? Is it underpinned by legislation?

Mr Doris: It is set out in the Environment Act. There is a statutory duty in the Act that policymakers should give due regard to it, so it follows from that.

Ms Finnegan: We are dealing with very live examples, Lough Neagh being one of the most obvious, of where pollution has severe ecological and social impacts. How will the "polluter pays principle", as set out in the statement, influence future departmental decisions so that we do not repeat decades of under-regulation and public cost?

Mr Doris: Ultimately, it will be for each Department and each policy area to interpret the principles and set out the level at which they give regard to the environmental factors. As long as that is considered and set out —.

When it comes to your example, nothing that goes forward could blatantly disregard a potential impact on the environment. If any policy potentially has such an impact, the principles have to be considered. They cannot be ignored at the outset; they should be baked into the policy development right from the kick-off.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Members, are there any other questions at this stage? We have slightly more time on this one, with the oddity of having 21 sitting days, which will take us into the springtime. That is useful. Am I right in saying that the Committee has the ability to inform the final wording of the principles? We could offer an amendment to that as we scrutinise it a bit more. Members, I am not going to put you on the spot this morning, except to say that it would be useful for us to get our minds into the space of looking at the principles and the other issues that are faced by the rural, farming and agri community: there might be an opportunity to affect that in a positive way. I extend the option of a revisit early in the new year as we look at that, if that is appropriate.

Members, does anybody have any proposals or final thoughts? No. OK. I suggest, then, that we seek a briefing from the Assembly Research and Information Service on the design and implementation of the principles in other UK jurisdictions. I notice that Scotland did something different — the Republic is under the EU's jurisdiction — so I would like to tease that out a wee bit further.

Mr McAleer: Chair, we should follow up on the "due regard" issue by looking at how the Brown principles impact on it. What I picked up from the comments was that Departments would interpret it, but the Brown principles contain a ruling on how due regard is to be implemented. That could be picked up in a follow-up.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Yes, we could definitely do that.

Mr Doris: Apologies: the definition of due regard will follow that ruling; I may have misspoken about how that would apply. Departments would certainly have to give the principles due regard, and, as you said, how that is done is set out. They would still have the autonomy to make the ultimate decision, as long as they follow that process.

Mr McAleer: Thank you.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): That is us. Thank you very much. We really appreciate your time.