Nobody should miss out on learning because of period poverty,
Economy Minister said today.
Minister Murphy was speaking as regulations were approved by the
Assembly to ensure that free period products will be available to
learners and staff at local further education colleges and higher
education institutions.
The Minister said:
“Research has shown that women can often struggle to afford
sanitary products and can find themselves using unsuitable
products as a result. In further and higher education settings,
students experiencing period poverty can find that they are
unable to attend classes or even exams if they do not have access
to period products. This is unacceptable and an issue I am glad
to be able to address.”
The Minister added:
“Today's move builds on the success of previous pilot programmes
in local further and higher education settings which have seen
more than 180,000 period products distributed free and helped
reduce period poverty.”
The draft Period Products (the Department for the Economy
Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (NI) 2022 were laid
before the Assembly on 29 March 2024 and will come into effect
after being approved. The regulations relate to the Department
for the Economy's section 2 duties under the Period Products
(Free Provision) Act (NI) 2022.
Notes to editors:
1. The Period Products (Free Provision) Act (NI) 2022 is
available on the legislation.gov.uk
website(external link opens in a new window / tab).
2. Non-educational bodies under the Department for the Economy
which fall within the remit of the regulations are:
- Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland
- Labour Relations Agency
- Consumer Council for Northern Ireland
- the Fair Employment Tribunal
- the Industrial Tribunal;
- Invest NI
- Tourism NI.
