Mr. Liam Herrick:

We monitor the level of compliance of all public bodies with their obligations under the public sector human rights and equality duty on an annual basis. In the past two years in particular, we have seen a significant uptick in the number of bodies meeting their basic obligations under the Act and in the number fully complying. There is definitely progress. We have developed guidelines and tools to support and assist public sector bodies in meeting these obligations. It is cumulative. Public sector bodies are now witnessing other public sector bodies meeting their obligations and that peer example is very influential. As the Deputy has identified, it is not yet universal across the system. That is primarily a question of awareness as opposed to a question of public will. We want to see more leadership and better examples. We then want to see full compliance across all areas including, for example, local authorities.