To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail (i) the average response time taken by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to review consent for effluent discharge for a property; and (ii) what actions are being taken to improve these times, particularly when the review is needed for a house sale completion.

The average time taken to process applications for new consents, variations to existing consents or consent transfers in 2021/2022 was 13.5 weeks.

This is a high-volume business area (averaging over 280 applications each month) and NIEA is continually seeking to improve service delivery. In November 2020, NIEA introduced a portal for applying online for new consents and transfers. Further reviews of processes and systems are ongoing under the Department’s Digital Transformation Programme to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of data management and service delivery.

Applications linked with house sales may involve a new application for consent; a variation, or a transfer of an existing consent and the NIEA will seek to process urgent requests as soon as possible, dependant on the type of application and information required.