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Anti-Poverty Strategy.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 October 2007

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

Questions (256)

Olwyn Enright

Question:

339 Deputy Olwyn Enright asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress made on the roll out of the poverty impact assessment across all Departments; the Departments which have had it rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22718/07]

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Written answers

Poverty proofing was introduced in 1998 on foot of a commitment in the first National Anti-Poverty Strategy. It is defined as "the process whereby Government policies and programmes are assessed at design, implementation and review stages in relation to their impact on poverty and on inequalities which are likely to lead to poverty, with a view to poverty reduction". Since 1998 it has been a requirement for significant policy proposals to indicate clearly the impact of a proposal on persons in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty.

Following a review of the poverty proofing process, the Office for Social Inclusion, which is based in my Department, has now produced a revised set of guidelines for what is now termed Poverty Impact Assessment. This change of name is intended to underline that the emphasis in the process should be on outcomes and that poverty impact assessment should form an integral part of the policy making process.

The revised guidelines are designed to better assist policy makers across all levels of Government in evaluating policy proposals in terms of their potential impact on poverty. They include a number of new steps to make the process more useful and transparent and a requirement to monitor the impact of any policy change.

The revised guidelines have been published on the website of the Office for Social Inclusion and have been presented to all Government Departments, who have responsibility for their implementation.

Support for the work of the Office for Social Inclusion in developing effective poverty proofing mechanisms is a key commitment in the Programme for Government. Following presentation, the Office is now commencing more focussed assistance to individual departments on implementation of the new guidelines. The experience gained from this process will also aid the development of training for staff in this regard across all government departments, as appropriate. The Office is also working with the Combat Poverty Agency on applying the new guidelines in a local government context.

I am confident that the new guidelines will serve as an effective tool in ensuring that the priority of combating poverty and social exclusion is kept to the fore in policy making and implementation at all levels of Government.

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