To ask the Minister for Communities whether she intends to use Section 75 monitoring to enable inclusion by publishing the proactive approaches taken to promote equity rather than publishing Equality Monitoring information that confirm discrimination has not happened.

Monitoring for the purposes of Section 75 provides for the continuing process of evaluating the impact of departmental policies and programmes to determine whether they have any adverse consequences, why these might be occurring and whether action needs to be taken to address any unfairness or disadvantage.

In accordance with Equality Commission guidance, the Department has undertaken an audit of inequalities to identify inequalities across the 9 Section 75 categories relevant to our functions. This has enabled the Department to identify areas where it can better promote equality of opportunity and good relations for our service users and those affected by our policies.

The Department conducts an annual review of progress on the implementation of our equality scheme commitments, including the publication of the Department’s Section 75 Annual Progress Report which presents the key projects and initiatives progressed during the year and reports on the impact and outcome of this work on people, relating to the relevant Section 75 category.