To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister what discussions they have had with the Minister of Finance concerning the implementation of ethnic monitoring across the public sector workforce.

The remit of the Cross Departmental Working Group (CDWG) on Ethnic Equality Monitoring (EEM) is to investigate and implement plans for the introduction of EEM.

Executive Office Officials, as policy lead and chair of the CDWG on EEM, have been engaging with their Department of Finance counterparts to analyse the costs and benefits of amending existing systems, and/or incorporating EEM into the plan and budgets for the new Integr8 HR programme. This will then be addressed by the CDWG.

It is worth noting that voluntary monitoring of ethnicity already exists in a number of areas and the introduction of EEM will strengthen this and harmonise it across the NICS. Meanwhile, Officials have been exploring ways to advance public service provision monitoring to ensure progress of the wider pilot.