northern ireland assembly Friday 3 July 2009 Social Development: Written Ministerial Statement The content of this written ministerial statement is as received at the time from the Minister. It has not been subject to the official reporting (Hansard) process. Equality Impact Assessment Published on Friday 3 July 2009 The Minister for Social Development (Ms Ritchie): Further to my statement to the Assembly on 23 April 2009, I wish to update the Assembly on the outcome of the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) consultation on the Social Security Agency’s Strategic Business Review implementation arrangements. The findings from the formal EQIA consultation has identified only limited Section 75 impacts. Having carefully considered all of the responses I am therefore content to proceed with the ’Customer First’ initiative, commencing with a pilot in North District which will be operational in April 2010. The pilot will allow all of the proposed changes to be carefully tested and fully evaluated in a controlled manner. Subject to the outcomes of the pilot, I will consider how best to rollout the changes across the rest of the network. A final report summarising the response to the EQIA on the implementation arrangements for the Strategic Business Review (SBR) within the SSA will be published (at noon) on 8 July 2009, on the Department for Social Development (DSD) internet site and can be accessed at: http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/sbr/sbr-publications.htm I am grateful to all those who contributed to the public consultation and I will provide Assembly colleagues with further updates on the pilot as we progress through the testing of the proposals. |