Northern Ireland Office ‘failed to comply with equality scheme over legacy Bill’

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) “failed to comply” with equality scheme commitments in its controversial Bill to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, the Equality Commission has found.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill has attracted widespread condemnation over its proposals to provide immunity for people accused of crimes during the Troubles – as long as they co-operate with a new truth recovery body – and stop future court processes.

It is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords.

An investigation by the Equality Commission has found that the NIO failed to comply with its equality scheme commitments in relation to its handling of its equality assessment of the policies in the Bill.

The finding comes after the Equality Commission in June 2022 raised concerns that the NIO had published its Equality Impact Assessment for consultation alongside the Legacy Bill, as it was introduced into Westminster.

Chief Commissioner Geraldine McGahey said that as the two were published together, it was not possible for the NIO to have taken into account any responses to the consultation.

“Our investigation found that the Northern Ireland Office had failed to comply with its equality scheme, as the Legacy Bill was introduced into Parliament at the same time as the Equality Impact Assessment was published for consultation,” she said.

“As the two were published together, it was simply not possible for the Northern Ireland Office to have taken into account the equality assessment of and any consultation responses received on those policies, prior to them being presented in the Bill.”

Ms McGahey said the commission is recommending a number of improvements to the Northern Ireland Office’s practices when it is developing policy options that will be legislated for.

“In particular, the Northern Ireland Office should ensure that the Secretary of State is provided with its equality assessment of the proposals at the appropriate point in the decision-making process, but certainly before the proposals are presented in a Bill before Parliament,” she said.

“It is therefore vital that the equality scheme processes should be applied and used as an integral part of the Northern Ireland Office’s policymaking process, rather than after the policy in question has been developed and the assessment of equality impacts appear as an apparent afterthought.

“As our guidance clearly states, a proper equality assessment should be conducted for all policies being reviewed or developed by public authorities and these should be presented to the relevant decision maker, in this case the Secretary of State, to inform decision making.”

Responding, a UK Government spokesperson said: “The Northern Ireland Office is fully committed to complying with its statutory duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. 

“We have noted the ECNI’s findings and taken appropriate steps to ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities.”