Department of Health's, draft Equality Action Plan and draft Disability Action Plan 2025-2030
Overview
Section 75 (S.75) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires public authorities, in carrying out their functions as they relate to Northern Ireland, to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity and regard to the desirability of promoting good relations across a range of categories as outlined below.
Under S.75 there is a requirement to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between:
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persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation;
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men and women generally;
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persons with a disability and persons without; and
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persons with dependants and persons without.
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In addition, without prejudice to the obligations above, in carrying out the functions, there is a requirement to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.
The Department carried out an AOI in preparation for the development of the Equality Action Plan during 2024 and the summary report is available separately in Annex A. In conducting the AOI internal and external stakeholders were invited to submit potential health inequalities with any qualitative and quantitative evidence.
The findings from the AOI were used to inform the draft Equality Action Plan (EAP) and draft Disability Action Plan (DAP) to update the previous 5-year action plans from 2019-2024 for implementation in 2025.
Why your views matter
The current Department of Health’s (DoH) Equality Scheme was published in 2022. One of the key commitments is to carry out an Audit of Inequalities and develop a Section 75 Equality Action Plan. This consultation seeks your views on the Audit of Inequalities and draft 5-year Equality Action Plan and draft Disability Action Plan (Annex B and C). Please see Consultation Response form for applicable consultation questions (Annex D).
What happens next
Data Controller Name: Department of Health (DoH)
Address: Castle Buildings, Stormont, BELFAST, BT4 3SG
Email: equalityandhumanrights@health-ni.gov.uk
Data Protection Officer Name: Charlene McQuillan
Telephone: 028 90522353
Email: DPO@health-ni.gov.uk
Being transparent and providing accessible information to individuals about how we may use personal data is a key element of the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The Department of Health (DoH) is committed to building trust and confidence in our ability to process your personal information and protect your privacy.
We will process personal data provided in response to consultations for the purpose of informing the development of our policy, guidance, or other regulatory work in the subject area of the request for views. We will publish a summary of the consultation responses and, in some cases, the responses themselves but these will not contain any personal data. We will not publish the names or contact details of respondents but will include the names of organisations responding.
If you have indicated that you would be interested in contributing to further Department work on the subject matter covered by the consultation, then we might process your contact details to get in touch with you.
The lawful basis we are relying on to process your personal data is Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR, which allows us to process personal data when this is necessary for the performance of our public tasks in our capacity as a Government Department.
We will only process any special category personal data you provide, which reveals racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious belief, health or sexual life/orientation when it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest under Article 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR, in the exercise of the function of the department, and to monitor equality.
How will your information be used and shared
We process the information internally for the above stated purpose. We don't intend to share your personal data with any third party. Any specific requests from a third party for us to share your personal data with them will be dealt with in accordance the provisions of the data protection laws.
How long will we keep your information
We will retain consultation response information until our work on the subject matter of the consultation is complete, and in line with the Department’s approved Retention and Disposal Schedule Good Management, Good Records (GMGR).
You have the right to obtain confirmation that your data is being processed, and access to your personal data.
You are entitled to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
You have a right to have personal data erased and to prevent processing, in specific circumstances.
You have the right to ‘block’ or suppress processing of personal data, in specific circumstances.
You have the right to data portability, in specific circumstances.
You have the right to object to the processing, in specific circumstances.
You have rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
If you are not happy with how we process your personal information and if you wish to request access, object or raise a complaint about how we have handled your data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer using the details above.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Audiences
- Anyone from any background
Interests
- Health and social care policy
- Health and social care legislation
- Quality and safety
- Regulation of health and social care
- Provision of health and social care services
- Improvement of health and social care services
- Patient/service user advocacy
- Staff engagement
- Eye Health
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