Professor Angela O'Hagan:

I thank the Deputy for her question. It is one on which we are very closely engaged at the moment in Scotland, as I am pushing for that greater synergy to be part of the next phase of our work through the equality budget advisory group, EBAG.

If the overall budget is an expression of a government's priorities, we have those priorities set out in a number of frameworks. In Scotland, it is the national performance frameworks and in Ireland there are frameworks, including programmes for Government, that set out what the priorities are. They are the priorities for the government, but those objectives are pursued through a range of public bodies that are charged with delivering on those priorities and whom the national budget funds through the allocation of resources. It is essential that there is that follow-through from national government to the range of public bodies charged with implementing and pursuing those priorities, using the mechanisms that are in place, whether they are public sector equality duties or another range of auditing and reporting purposes in the alignment, whether it is through sustainable development goals or how those goals are framed in national performance frameworks. In Ireland, the performance budgeting framework has been in place for some time. That again needs to not just demonstrate but actively be conjoined at government level across public bodies and for there to be an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism that brings that information back through to the national level. That also means the need for effective parliamentary scrutiny through different parliamentary committees, budgetary office responsibilities and other oversight functions.