AQW 5906/17-22


Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim


Tabled Date: 27/07/2020
Answered On Date: 10/08/2020
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the process used by his Department to identify and enable identification of partners to take part in the co-production and co-design of policies and legislation; and how it ensures its contacts are kept up to date and current.


Answer:
When developing policies to deliver on my vision of a “sustainability at the heart of a living, working, active landscape, valued by everyone” my Department seeks to adopt a best practice to policy making. In doing this officials make use of NICS guidance on policy development, such as the “A Practical Guide to Policy Making in Northern Ireland”, published by the NI Executive.
This guide recognises the fundamental importance of engagement and consultation during policy development, particularly with those who are to be affected by the policy or intervention. Co-production and co-design of policies are two of the approaches which are outlined in “A Practical Guide to Policy Making in Northern Ireland” and my Department adopts these techniques as appropriate, depending on the nature of the policy or strategy being developed. For example in developing the Green Growth Environment Strategy it is planned to adopt a co-design approach.
No matter what approach is adopted to engagement it is important that the relevant stakeholders are involved in the process. Relevant policy and operational areas of the Department maintain and update information on relevant stakeholders, which might, amongst other things, be based on previous engagement on policy development, information from operational / regulatory activity, responses to previous engagement and consultations and as a result of public advertisements.
In addition to this the Department maintains and updates a list of relevant groups who should be engaged in any consultation as a result of the equality provisions of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act.
Officials are mindful that there may be relevant stakeholders who, for whatever reason, may not be aware or involved in, development of a particular policy or piece of legislation. With this in mind a variety of communications channels are used, such as press releases, the DAERA website and social media channels, to draw attention of the Department’s work to the widest audience possible.