Stormont failed to complete equality tests for NI budget plans

Following an investigation, the commission made the finding in how the department had carried out its equality assessment and how it was presented to the decision maker.

While Conor Murphy has been Northern Ireland’s finance minister since the Stormont Executive was reformed in January 2020, this budget had been prepared during the three-year collapse of the Assembly.

The secretary of state had responsibility for the decision at that time in the absence of devolved ministers. Those in the role over the year included Karen Bradley to July 2019 and Julian Smith to February 2020.

The commission also found the department failed to comply with its approved equality scheme in relation to its commitment to consult on Equality Impact Assessments.

While the department presented an Equality Impact Assessment of its spending plans for the budget to the secretary of state, as it had carried out no consultation on it, this did not conform to its equality scheme commitments.

The commission also found there was no public consultation during the budget development process for 2019-20, either on a draft budget and spending plans/draft budget allocations, or on any Equality Impact Assessment of those plans.

The commission has made recommendations for the department to improve practices. Chief commissioner Geraldine McGahey said equality screening is a legal requirement. “The Section 75 duties established by the Northern Ireland Act require public bodies to ensure that equality of opportunity and good relations considerations are at the core of policy development; screening and equality impact assessment should be central to the policy making process,” she said.

“This is a legal requirement, compliance is not optional, and compliance with the duties is a vital building block for good governance and accountability within a public authority.

“In this case, the Department of Finance was compiling information for the budget for all our public services – a key policy that affects us all.

“Consideration of the need to promote equality of opportunity and the desirability of promoting good relations while developing Northern Ireland’s budget should be fundamental to the policy making process and not be side-stepped as it was in relation to the 2019-20 budget.”

The department has been contacted for a response.