HL Deb 24 February 2005 vol 669 cc222-3WA
Lord Laird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Who commissioned a report on equality of opportunity in Northern Ireland from DTZ Pieda of Edinburgh; how the firm was chosen; how much the report cost; and whether the consultants will consider equality of opportunity for teachers. [HL1224]

Baroness Amos

Research on equality of opportunity is an addition to an existing labour market dynamics study commissioned from DTZ Pieda by the equality directorate of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. The firm was chosen in order to maximise the benefit and value of its original work including the collection of a large corpus of relevant data. The cost of this additional research is estimated to be in the region of £6,500, subject to final agreement on the detail of a work programme. This work programme and costs will be published in the OFMDFM research branch website.

It is not intended to include a consideration of equality of opportunity for teachers in this research. This issue has already been the subject of an investigation by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland under Article 71(2) of the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998. The commission's findings and recommendations on the issue of the teachers' exception will be considered in the context of the development of a Single Equality Bill for Northern Ireland.