To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister, pursuant to AQW 6546/22-27, how they will ensure Child Rights Impact Assessments are carried out when developing any new policy likely to impact children and young people.

The Department is committed to effective consultation and engagement when developing and implementing policies. Policy makers are supported in a number of ways to best consider the equality implications of their policies.

There are a number of support teams that provide advice to policy makers in respect of equality assessments, including the appropriate statistical information to guide and inform policy making. There is guidance from the Equality Commission and training for all staff in respect of equality assessments, including Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs).

In addition, TEO chairs an interdepartmental group of Equality Officers for the purposes of sharing best practice in respect of screening and assessing equality impacts. In April 2023, the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young people (NICCY) attended a meeting of this group to promote and further embed the importance of CRIAs in policy making across departments.

NICCY has worked with the Department of Finance to develop two online training modules on the relevance and completion of CRIAs. In 2022, the Head of the Civil Service wrote to all Permanent Secretaries to make them aware of the new training resources and to invite them to help promote and embed the packages within departments.

The Department will continue to consider the use of CRIAs where policies are likely to have a particular impact on children and young people, alongside our commitment to deliver and embed our section 75 duties.