Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Finance to detail (i) the number of Rural Needs Impact Assessments (RNIAs) under the Rural Needs Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, carried out by his Department and its arm’s-length bodies, of policies, strategies, and services affecting rural communities; and (ii) a breakdown of (a) the number of; and (b) which, strategies and services that were enhanced as a consequence of the RNIA, in each of the last five years.
Minister of Finance: (i) Over the past five years (2019-2024), my Department and its arm’s-length bodies have completed a total of 62 Rural Needs Impact Assessments (RNIAs).
The following table presents an annual breakdown of the total number of RNIAs completed by DoF and its arm’s-length bodies.
| Year (1 April – 31 March) | Number of Rural Needs Impact Assessments completed by DoF and its arm’s-length bodies |
| 2019/2020 | 6 |
| 2020/2021 | 7 |
| 2021/2022 | 22 |
| 2022/2023 | 12 |
| 2023/2024 | 15 |
RNIAs completed by my Department and its arm’slength bodies are published annually by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) within the Rural Needs Annual Monitoring Reports. These reports are publicly available at:
https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/rural-needs-annual-monitoring-reports
(ii) The Act does not require public authorities to assess enhancements as a consequence of the RNIA. Therefore, my Department does not hold information on the number of, and which, strategies and services were enhanced as a consequence of the RNIA, in each of the last five years.
RNIAs do, however, form an integral part of the policy development process and help ensure that rural needs are considered across all relevant strategies and services. My Department meets its statutory obligations under:
Section 1(1) of the Rural Needs Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (the Act), which places a statutory duty on public authorities listed in the Schedule to the Act to have due regard to rural needs when developing, adopting, implementing and revising policies, strategies and plans and when designing and delivering public services; and
Section 3(1) of the Act, which places a duty on public authorities to monitor and report on activity under the Act and requires my Department to compile information on the exercise of its functions under section 1 of the Act and send that information to DAERA who collate and publish an annual report containing the information and lay this report before the Assembly.
ENDS
Your MLA 