AQW 165/11

Ms Dawn Purvis
Independent
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 09/09/2010
Answered On Date: 24/09/2010
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on their plans to publish a Sexual Orientation Strategy; and to detail the actions taken by their Department following the Sexual Orientation Consultation in 2006.

Answer:

The last consultation on a Sexual Orientation Strategy took place in 2006. Around the same time, under direct rule, our department established a short-term fund which helped to build capacity and partnership working across the LGB sector. The administration of the fund was overseen by a Steering Group initially chaired by an OFMDFM official, and latterly by a volunteer from the sector. The group membership consisted of volunteers and people working in the sector, who co-operated to deliver a range of successful outputs.

In addition, considerable work has been done across government and public bodies to develop, and keep under review, cross-departmental action plans to tackle identified inequalities which LGB and Transgender people face and to tackle issues which impact upon the community such as homophobic crime.

Through their work to encourage and promote such work across government, our department is aware that many other civil service departments now have well-established communications with key voluntary LGB groups, through which issues can be highlighted and addressed by the relevant authorities in a timely and responsive manner.

The recent CSI consultation document indicates that Ministers are fully committed to publishing the sexual orientation strategy. In order to help inform work on the forthcoming strategy, our department will seek to establish and build on contacts across the full range of relevant interests. We expect the newly established LGB and Transgender fora to provide useful conduits for key concerns to be raised, and we will seek to work collaboratively across government and with the wider public sector, to develop a Sexual Orientation Equality Strategy.