9. Ms Ní Chuilín asked the Minister of Finance to provide an update on gender budgeting within her Department. (AQO 242/22-27)

I am committed to ensuring that my Department follows best practice in relation to its section 75 duties, not only in considering the equality impacts of its own spending decisions but also in respect of the wider Budget process. The gender impact of Budget proposals should be captured as part of the equality impact assessment information requested from Departments as part of the Budget process and provided to the Executive to inform their decisions. However, I have asked my officials to consider what more can be done in relation to gender budgeting.

Following on from that response, what consideration, if any, can be given to ensuring that the gender budgeting process can be improved?

As part of the Budget process for 2024-25, I have written to my Executive colleagues setting out the approach to our equality considerations. Going forward, I plan to engage fully with the Equality Commission on how we can improve equality considerations as part of that wider process. As I said, I want to fully consider how gender budgeting requirements can be better reflected. To that end, I will meet a number of the organisations that have expertise in respect of gender budgeting and that have carried out extensive research in that area.

The development of the Executive's social inclusion strategy, including the gender equality strategy, is another important step in improving consideration of gender in budgets. It will allow Departments to table Budget proposals in line with the priorities in those strategies. The work on the social inclusion strategy is being led by the Department for Communities and is an Executive priority.