To ask the Minister of Finance whether his Department will (i) update building regulations to ensure that changing places toilets are required as standard in every new public building; and (ii) update the policy so that all public and government buildings will retrofit changing places toilets within the next 5 years.

The Department is aware of and sympathetic to the dignity issues and impacts arising from the limited provision of changing places toilets (CPT). It will continue to support and encourage appropriate legislative changes to achieve a more equitable environment for all, with fully accessible facilities appropriately distributed in public places across the region.

Specifically:

The Department is engaging with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the other devolved administrations in relation to including requirements for the provision for changing places toilets in our building regulations.

The Department has responsibility for managing those buildings within the central government office estate. The Department plans to complete a CPT installation later this year on the Stormont Estate that will be fully accessible to the public. We will continue to consider future further instalments of CPTs on our office estate, learning from this important project.