AQO 996/22-27 Oral question to the First Minister and deputy First Minister
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the appointment of a Climate Commissioner.
Asked by John Blair MLA on 10 October 2024
- Answered
- Oral
- Answered in the Chamber
- Tabled
- 10 October 2024
- Answer due by
- 21 October 2024
- Answered
- 21 October 202411 days after tabling
- Department
- The Executive Office
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Answered in the Assembly Chamber on 21 October 2024. Extract from the Official Report (Hansard), including any supplementary questions:
Mrs O'Neill
Establishing the office of climate commissioner here is a key requirement of the Climate Change Act 2022 that falls to this Department. When established, it will be an important element of our support to transition to net zero. Prior to February 2024, officials took forward significant development work on the options for the commissioner, including how they will complement existing advisory bodies, and began drafting the required regulations. In recent weeks, the deputy First Minister and I have agreed that the necessary procedures should be undertaken to have the regulations laid and made in the Assembly as soon as possible. That will be an important first step in establishing the office of the commissioner. Our officials are undertaking the work required to have the regulations laid and made. The Committee for the Executive Office will also consider them in due course. The appointment of the climate commissioner will follow once the Assembly procedures are complete and the regulations are in place. Although there is no date stated in the Act for when a climate commissioner should be appointed, once the regulations have been approved, we will move as quickly as possible to see that that appointment is swiftly made.
Mr Speaker
Mr Blair, you have a few seconds.
Mr Blair
Thank you. Will the First Minister indicate why it has taken so long to appoint commissioners on a range of issues from climate to victims to languages, given that that was supposed to have been done within 100 days of restoration?
Mrs O'Neill
There has perhaps been a bit of confusion about what was presented by officials in terms of the first 100 days, but it was not a work programme set out by me and the deputy First Minister. Suffice to say that, when the legislation was brought forward, Ministers were not in place, so a lot of work was happening in their absence. It is important that we get it right, and that is why we have revised the timeline for laying the regulations. It is complex, and we need to make sure we get it right. We restated our commitment to bringing it forward as part of the environmental improvement plan.
Mr Speaker
Time is up.
Mrs O'Neill
We are moving at pace, and, hopefully, it will be by the end of the year.
Mr Speaker
We now move to topical questions. I call Justin McNulty