To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) any steps his Department takes to ensure the consistent application of the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 across adoption agencies, and (ii) whether his Department monitors or reviews variation in access decisions.

The Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 (the 1989 Regulations) provide the framework for the operation of adoption agencies. Implementation within HSC Trusts is monitored as part of the established organisational management structures and the accountability arrangements for arm’s length bodies of the Department of Health. Within voluntary sector adoption agencies, implementation is monitored by the Regulation, Quality and Improvement Authority.

The 1989 Regulations also allow adoption agencies to provide access to the information held in adoption case records, as they think fit for the purposes of carrying out their functions as an adoption agency. Following concerns about how agencies were providing access to adoption records, in November 2023, the Department issued Circular FCPD 03/2023 and the ‘Access to Birth Records and Adoption Agency Case Records for Adults Impacted by Adoption Practice Guidance’.

The Department provided training for all Adoption Agencies to support implementation of the ‘Access to Birth Records and Adoption Agency Case Records for Adults Impacted by Adoption Practice Guidance’, monitored implementation of the guidance for 12 months, and committed to reviewing the guidance after one year.

A substantial amount of work has been carried out already on the review of guidance. Due to unplanned staff vacancies, this work was temporarily paused, but has now been resumed.

Decisions on the release of information from adoption records continue to be complex, and require consideration of specific circumstances by experienced social work practitioners, on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to monitoring of the implementation of the guidance, monitoring of access to adult adoption records was carried out from January 2021 to September 2024 through the provision of a monthly data return to the then Health and Social Care Board on the number and source of referrals. Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCTs) have continued to collate this activity internally.

My Department has recently reviewed the monitoring template with HSCTs, and it has been agreed that a revised template is required to more accurately capture service demand and strengthen the quality and assurance value of the data collected. The most appropriate future reporting arrangements have yet to be determined, including potential alignment with sixmonthly statutory function reporting.