Introduction
At its meeting on 14 June 2001, the Committee for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment considered the above document, published by the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment (DHFETE). The consultation document seeks to fulfil the Department's obligations under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act, which places statutory duties on public authorities in Northern Ireland to promote equality of opportunity and good relations. It should be noted from the outset that the Committee's response does not contain an evaluation of the student finance proposals, but is directed at what members perceive to be procedural weaknesses in the Department's implementation of its obligations under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act and as set out in the Department's own Equality Scheme, published in February 2001.

Process for an Equality Impact Assessment
Members were initially unable to identify how the document fitted into the seven stage procedure for carrying out an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) as set out in Annex A of the Guide to the Statutory Duties. Whilst a departmental official subsequently confirmed that this document represented Stage 4 of the procedures i.e. formal consultation, and that there were therefore no plans to consult further, members felt that the general understanding of all consultees would have been enhanced by the Department setting out the stages of an EQIA in this document, indicating where the process had reached and how the document related to these stages. No indication is given in the document of the next stage of the process, including how responses will be taken forward and how the Department plans to monitor the impact of these proposals if they are introduced.

Confusion
The Committee felt that the use of the term 'preliminary impact assessment' added to the lack of clarity. There is no reference to this term in any of the guidance issued by the Equality Commission and, whilst the Department refers to a 'preliminary process' in its own Equality Scheme, this seems to refer to an internal Departmental process. As this document has been clarified as representing the formal consultation stage, and given the lack of information contained in the document on the previous three stages, the impression still exists that these stages are incomplete, and that this formal consultation is an attempt to fill in the gaps in the earlier stages.

Lack of Information
The Committee believes that the absence of information and hard facts relating to the preliminary impact assessment undertaken by the Department is a major deficiency. Neither those areas where the Department believes it has identified an adverse impact, nor where there is apparently no adverse impact, is supported by qualitative or quantitative evidence. Chapter 6 of the Practical Guidance states that such information should be made available and Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act states that the results of any Equality Impact Assessment must be published. This is also indicated in the Department's Equality Scheme. It is the Committee's view that the Department must supply information to all consultees on an automatic basis. Indeed Section 4 (2) (c) of the Guide to the Statutory Duties states that 'information should be made available to ensure meaningful consultation.'

The Committee realises that the Department may not have all of the information required to carry out a comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment at this stage. The way forward may well have been to indicate where the gaps in information occurred and then to seek assistance from affected groups to fill these gaps. The Department should also have indicated more clearly in its own Equality Scheme how it envisages rectifying these information deficiencies in the future.

The Committee has considered whether the document is confusing the obligation under Section 75 to promote equality of opportunity, with the equality of treatment? Although there is nothing in the document to suggest why the childcare grant is being introduced, the intention is presumably to promote equality of opportunity between those with or without dependents, or between men and women generally. How then can this have a potentially adverse impact on equality as stated in the consultation document?

The document also fails to indicate whether all the categories covered by Section 75 have been considered in the preliminary EQIA.

Measurement and scale of adverse impact
In Annex A of the consultation document, the Department lists 'a few areas where its preliminary impact assessment indicates a potential adverse impact on equality.' However, there is no indication of the scale of the impact and whether the Department considers this to be sufficiently important to consider alternative policies, nor indeed whether this has already been done. For example:

• The introduction of bursaries is likely to benefit Catholics. Has the Department considered adjusting the threshold for receipt of the bursaries so that Protestants and Catholics benefit equally?
• How does the Department propose to take forward the fact that a loans based system of support may have an adverse impact on Muslims? Are there relevant examples from other countries as to how this could be addressed?
• What is the scale of the negative impact on the decision not to award the childcare grant to those over 55 and on what basis was this decision taken?

Conclusion
The Committee for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment regards this Equality Consultation document as extremely important. There are several areas which need to be addressed by the Department with regard to conducting an EQIA. The Committee would appreciate a response to this submission and considers that the comments made will be beneficial in assisting the Department to effectively and meaningfully meet its statutory duty under Section 75.

Finally, the Committee reserves the right to give further consideration to this Equality Impact Assessment following receipt of your reply.

Esmond Birnie

Dr Esmond Birnie MLA
Chairman, Committee for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment

14 June 2001

Minutes of 14th June 2001