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7.5 The Act also requires public authorities to prepare Equality Schemes stating
how they propose to fulfil these duties. In FebruaryMarch 2001 the Equality Commission approved the Equality Schemes of each of the eleven government
departments. The core of all Schemes, in terms of the duty to have due regard to the promotion of equality of opportunity and regard to the promotion of good
relations, is the Equality Impact Assessment EQIA of policies. However, not all policies or proposals for legislation require an EQIA. A policy does not require an
EQIA if it has been screened out at an early stage of policy development by answering the four screening questions set down by the Equality Commission on
page 36 of its Guide to the statutory duties and reproduced in all departmental Equality Schemes. A note should be kept of the reasoning behind such
assessment. Where an EQIA is required, the Equality Commission has issued helpful Practical Guidance on Equality Impact Assessment. Each Department
has equality personnel who can advise on these issues.
7.6 It is essential that there is a statement in all Executive papers covering:
• a summary of the outcome of an EQIA; or
• if an EQIA has not yet been carried out, when it will be done; or
• a statement that it is the Ministers view that there are no equality issues
and a brief explanation as to the reasoning behind this view. It may be useful to refer to the screening criteria mentioned in paragraph 7.5 in
this statement.
New TSN
7.7 New Targeting Social Need New TSN requires all Government departments and
relevant agencies to tackle social need and social exclusion by targeting efforts and available resources on people, groups and areas in greatest objective social
need. The policy has three complementary elements: tackling unemployment and increasing employability; tackling inequality in other policy areas such as health,
housing and education; and Promoting Social Inclusion PSI. Overall the
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approach to the promotion of New TSN is one of mainstreaming - the aim is to facilitate total integration of New TSN into the policy and programme
development of all departments.
7.8 One way in which a policy might be designed in order to promote New TSN
