Have Your Say

We asked for your views on the future of the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme in Northern Ireland, particularly in relation to options for tariffs for small and medium sized biomass installations.

A total of 258 written responses were received.  The responses provided the Department with a range of information and views, including information from Scheme participants on costs associated with biomass installations, the impact of tariff changes and data on capital costs.

The Department is grateful to those who took the time to respond.

The Department for the Economy has published its Consultation Report which can be accessed by clicking on the following link: https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/rhi-non-domestic-consultation

The Consultation Report provides an impartial record of the views and information provided by respondents.  It also outlines the Department’s key considerations in identifying its preferred option for the long term payment structure for Non-Domestic RHI Scheme.

The Department will now identify a preferred option for the long-term payment structure.  The Department will then write to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland requesting that she sponsors legislation in Westminster which would give effect to that option (in the absence of a Northern Ireland Assembly).   

We asked your views on proposed changes to the management of Ash Dieback, a disease of Ash trees.  The question asked was;

The Department intends to modify it's approach to the management of Ash Dieback by discontinuing the use of Statutory Plant Health Notices in favour of a voluntary approach. Do you agree?

A total of 37 responses were received to the consultation; 23 of these were from representatives of organisations and 14 were from individuals.  

The majority of respondents supported the proposal, some concerns were raised around moving from a statutory to a voluntary approach, training in identification of the disease,  use of technology and the need for research- particularly on resilience.

We recognise that a wide range of views have been put forward and we wish to reassure all consultees that we have carefully considered the responses and will make changes to the legislation as appropriate. 

The consultation invited views on the proposed changes to the Northern Ireland Crime Survey.  The consultation period ran from 9 November 2017 to 9 January 2018.

Written responses from 7 organisations/individuals were received.  These included detailed comments on the proposals, as well as suggestions for additional questions and subjects to be added to the questionnaire.

The responses to the consultation were analysed by NISRA statisticians, and discussed by the Project Board, and resulted in a final version of the Year 1 questionnaire.  This questionnaire will ‘go-live’ in April 2018, whilst publications from the new Year 1 questionnaire are anticipated to be available from late 2019.  Work on the Year 2 questionnaire is ongoing.

A detailed response to the consultation, as well as updates on other changes to the Crime Survey can be found at https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/publications/consultation-changes-northern-ireland-crime-survey-summary-responses.  The final version of the questionnaire is available at https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-safe-community-survey-year-one-questionnaire-april-2018.