Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1 – National Targets, Strategies and Reports (Sections 1 to 18) Section 12: Northern Ireland strategies
61.Section 12 (subsection (1)) requires the relevant Northern Ireland department to publish and lay before the Northern Ireland Assembly the first Northern Ireland child poverty strategy within 12 months of Royal Assent.
62.Subsections (2)(a) and (b) specify that the strategy must set out the measures that the Northern Ireland departments propose to take to contribute towards achieving the UK targets in sections 3 to 6 and to ensure as far as possible that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
63.Subsection (3) requires that before the end of the period to which a Northern Ireland strategy relates, the relevant Northern Ireland department must review the strategy and publish and lay before the Northern Ireland Assembly a revised Northern Ireland strategy. Strategies must be published every three years; however, there is no requirement under this section to publish revised strategies after the beginning of the target year.
64.Subsection (4) concerns the content of the Northern Ireland strategy. Subsection (4)(a)(i) requires the strategy to describe the progress that the Northern Ireland departments intend to make over the period covered by the strategy in contributing to the meeting of the targets in sections 3 to 6 by the end of the target year. Subsection (4)(a)(ii) requires the strategy to set out the progress the Northern Ireland departments intend to make in the period covered by the strategy in achieving the aim of ensuring that as far as possible that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage. Subsection (4)(b) requires the strategy to describe the progress that the Northern Ireland departments intend to make (other than that which is a result of ensuring that the targets are met) by the end of the target year in ensuring as far as possible that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
65.Subsection (5) requires a revised Northern Ireland strategy to describe: the measures taken by the Northern Ireland departments in accordance with the previous Northern Ireland strategy, the effect that those measures had on progress towards meeting the targets in sections 3 to 6 and other effects of those measures that contribute to the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage.
66.Subsection (6) provides that a Northern Ireland strategy may not include proposed measures that relate to excepted or reserved matters, within the meaning of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
67.Subsection (7) requires the relevant Northern Ireland department to lay before the Northern Ireland Assembly an annual report describing: the measures taken by the Northern Ireland departments in accordance with the Northern Ireland strategy; how those measures have contributed to meeting the targets in sections 3 to 6 and the aim of ensuring as far as possible that children in Northern Ireland are not affected by socio-economic disadvantage.
68.Subsection (8) makes provision about the dates by which the annual reports must be laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly.
69.Subsection (9) specifies that the period to which a Northern Ireland strategy relates is three years from the date on which the strategy is laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly, except when a strategy is laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly less than three years before the beginning of the target year, in which case the period runs from the date it was laid until the end of the target year.