Written answers

Thursday, 24 November 2016

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Equality Proofing of Budgets

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

17. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if, in the formation of public expenditure policies, his Department carries out impact assessments of the potential effects these policies have on inequality rates here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36566/16]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government commits to developing a process of budget and policy proofing as a means of advancing equality, reducing poverty and strengthening economic and social rights, ensuring that institutional arrangements are in place to support equality and gender proofing. 

Cabinet procedures require a range of impacts to be considered in every policy proposed to Government. This ensures that the impact of policy proposals on gender equality, rural communities, North-South/East-West Relations, employment, persons experiencing or at risk of poverty or social exclusion, people with disabilities and industry costs are taken into account.

In addition, the Departments of Finance and Social Protection undertake distributional analyses to assess the impact of the main tax and social welfare measures using the ESRI SWITCH model.  The most recent SWITCH model analysis, conducted by the ESRI and published in the Irish Times in October, found that the greatest gains in Budget 2017 are in the lowest income quintile, driven largely by the welfare rate increases in the Budget.

This year, in order to facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of budget measures on household living standards, my department has undertaken initial work in the area of Social Impact Assessment (SIA). The SIA framework is defined as an evidence-based methodology which attempts to assess the impact of policy on households' financial positions. The assessment can be quantitative, measuring the change in incomes as a result of policy, or qualitative offering a description of how policies affect households' financial positions.

A series of three papers were published alongside the Expenditure Report on the Budget 2017 website . These papers were prepared by members of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) and include impact assessments of Targeted Childcare Schemes and the General Medical Services Scheme. In the future, the aim will be to expand the assessment, in so far as is possible within the available data constraints, to demonstrate the impact of particular policy measures across the income distribution. 

Overall, the analysis feeding into the decision making process has been improving over recent years and I envisage this positive dynamic continuing in the future.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.