Mr. Laurence Bond:

I was specifically referencing Scotland to some extent precisely to do with the practice they have developed in regard to proofing types of expenditure that are not tax and welfare, which to some extent are to a significant degree handled by SWITCH-type approaches and not just SWITCH. In that sense, that there are significant types of expenditure that one cannot model only through SWITCH, but it is important to know what is their impact in terms of poverty, inequality or equality. The system the Scots have put in place precisely addresses that to some extent because they have not had tax and welfare capacity and have therefore been able to focus on it..

Deputy Barrett asked if there were other examples, I do not have an example that springs immediately to mind, but we have just introduced section 42, where there is a duty on public bodies to take account of equality and human rights. That seems very positive to us and is a great step forward but it is the case already in certain countries, for example Finland springs to mind, where those types of requirements are built in on a constitutional level and to some extent they would have a system whereby they have an office that has some oversight in regard to decision making of government and whether it is taking human rights into account.

As I do not have the exact mechanism clear in my head, I would not like to propose it specifically. The reference to Scotland is precisely to do with non-tax welfare spending and the need to look at mechanisms and systems to proof that expenditure also, not just to restrict what we are talking about to tax welfare spending. In that context, I know that there is a reference in the Government's submission to the committee to the fact that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is looking at trying to develop a wider social impact assessment. It is quite important to look at what is proposed and how it can be built on to actually address the concerns being considered here. Similarly, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to develop the broader policy impact system that operates through regular impact assessments to take account of some of these issues, partly through the Cabinet office. It is very important to look at what is proposed at the Cabinet to ensure it takes on board the equality and poverty proofing mechanism. To some extent, there are things that can be built on, but they need to be developed further. It is not that we are doing nothing on these issues, it is just that we clearly need to develop and build on what we have in place to take account of equality and human rights.