employing body to make a declaration that its aim was to have equality of employment opportunity without regard to religious or political considerations. Action.-The Ministry of Community Relations has been given the task of obtaining declarations from public bodies and local authorities. All statutory bodies and local authorities have now made a declaration of equality of employment opportunity.

17. Public employment: Codes of employment procedure.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To require every public body in Northern Ireland to adopt an approved code of employment procedure. Action.-The Ministry of Community Relations has been charged with the responsibility of ensuring that model codes are evolved and adopted by local authorities and public bodies. All statutory bodies have adopted acceptable codes of employment procedure and all local authority associations have evolved model codes of employment procedure which are in the course of adoption by local authorities.

18. Public employment: Local Government Staff Commission.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To establish a permanent statutory Local Government Staff Commission with strong advisory powers to assist local authorities in the selection of candidates for senior and designated appointments and with a continuing duty of reviewing appointment procedures; and to establish an Interim Commission acting on a non-statutory basis to fulfill these functions while the structure of local government was being reviewed.

Action. An Interim Staff Commission was established in June 1970 under the chairmanship of Sir Cecil Bateman, K.B.E., and is fully operational on a non-statutory basis. The legislation for a Permanent Staff Commission for local government will be brought forward in the autumn of 1971 and the Permanent Commission will take over from the Interim Commission on a date to be fixed. A temporary staff commission for employees in the health and personal social services has also been established under the Health Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Welfare Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 to deal with the problems raised by re-organisation.

19. Public employment: Study of Public Service Commission.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To make a further study of the idea of a Public Service Commission concerned with certain aspects of staffing throughout the public sector including both local government service and the Civil Service.

Action. The idea of a Public Service Commission covering both the Civil Service and the local government service has been examined in detail by the Civil Service Management Division of the Ministry of Finance. It has been decided that the implementation of the proposal would be too complicated to achieve in the very tight timetable laid down for local government re-organisation and that until re-organisation is fully established the Civil Service Commission and the new Local Government Staff Commission should deal separately with staff matters in the Civil Service and in local government. The idea of a Public Service Commission will then be re-considered. In the meantime, the Government has established a Working Party to look into the question of central training arrangements and organisation for the whole of the Public Service in Northern Ireland. The Chairman of this body will be Mr. Paul Osmond, C.B., a Deputy Secretary in the Lord Chancellor's Department in London who has had considerable experience in the Civil Service Department on training matters.

20. Anti-discrimination clause in Government contracts. Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To introduce an antidiscrimination clause in all Northern Ireland Government contracts.

Action.-On 22 June, 1971, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland announced that those tendering for any Northern Ireland Government contract advertised after that date will be required to complete an undertaking not to practise any form of religious discrimination in the performance of the contract.

A similar requirement will apply to a contract where the Northern Ireland Government meets one hundred per cent of the cost and another body acts as its agent.

No tenders will be considered from a contractor who fails to complete the undertaking. Any person who considers he has been discriminated against in his employment or intended employment may complain to the Department which has appointed that contractor who will refer the complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for investigation.

21. Review of other forms of discrimination.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To consider what furthe action to prevent discrimination in other fields might be desirable.

Action. Action has already been taken, as described in the preceding paragraph, to prevent discrimination in employment within the private sector in relation to Government contracts. The Government has now begun to turn its attention to the possibility of further initiatives in the private sector. Progress in preventing discrimination within that part of the private sector which is not directly amenable to Government control depends on the active cooperation of employers and the trade union movement, and account has to be taken of practical problems in a wide variety of different locations and circumstances. It is important to distinguish discriminatory practices as such from the whole complex of factors such as accidents of location, the particular blend of industrial skills required in the labour force, or traditional methods of recruitment-which affect the balance of employment in any given concern.

Accordingly, further detailed consultation with representative employer and trade union interests will be required to determine the most practicable means of ensuring continued progress in this field.

22. Housing allocation.

Commitment in the Communique of 29 August 1969.-To introduce a points scheme for housing allocation as originally proposed in the five point reform programme announced by the Northern Ireland Government in November, 1968.

Action. The Ministry of Development has prepared a model points scheme which was accepted as being soundly based in the 10 October Communique. In the interim period before the effective operation of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Northern Ireland Government has ensured that all public authority housing is allocated on a points scheme, based on the Ministry of Development model code. The creation of a Northern Ireland Housing Executive, discussed in paragraph 26, was also designed, amongst many other things, to end allegations of sectarian discrimination in housing allocations.

23. Ministry of Community Relations

Commitment in the Communique of 29 August 1969.-To designate a Minister with special responsibility for community relations.

Action.-A Ministry of Community Relations was set up under the Ministry of Community Relations (Northern Ireland) Act 1969 which became law on 25. October 1969. The first Minister of Community Relations, Dr. Robert Simpson, M.P., was initially appointed as a Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Department, before the creation of his Ministry. Mr. David Bleakley succeeded Dr. Simpson on 25 March, 1971. The Ministry has been involved in monitoring the progress of work in implementing the Joint Communiques, in advising other Departments on community relations aspects of their work, in carrying out its obligations in relation to the Community Relations Commission, and in adminis tering the Social Need (Grant) Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 which became law on 9 June 1970 and empowers the Ministry to pay grants normally of 75 to local authorities and voluntary bodies for projects designed to improve social amenities in urban areas suffering from social deprivation.

24. The Community Relations Commission.

Commitment in the Communique of 29 August 1969.-To introduce legislation to set up a Community Relations Board to promote good relations between all sections of the community; half the members of the Board to be Protestant and half Roman Catholic.

Action. The Community Relations Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 became law on 11 November 1969. The Act established the Community Relations Commission, a body independent of the Government. The duties of the Commission include encouraging the establishment of harmonious community relations and advising Northern Ireland Ministers on questions relating to community relations. The Commission is able to assist local bodies concerned with community relations, to provide training courses, to promote conferences and to undertake research. The Chairman of the Commission is Mr. Maurice Hayes and its membership is evenly balanced between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The Commission has been active in establishing a Community Development team to work in Belfast, Londonderry and other major towns, in convening conferences and in sponsoring research.

25. Incitement to Religious Hatred.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.—To keep under review the adequacy of the existing law against incitement.

Action.-The Incitement to Hatred Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 became law on 2 July 1970. The Act imposes penalties for incitement to hatred and for the circulation of certain false statements or false reports.

26. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-To establish a Central Housing Authority.

Action. The Housing Executive Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 which provides for all public authority house-building and allocation to be the responsibility of one central housing organisation, became law on 25 February 1971.

The house-building target of the Five-Year Development Programme (1970– 75) is 73,500 at a cost of nearly £300 million. This will represent a steep increase on existing output, even though the output of all new dwellings in the financial year 1970-71 was in itself a record figure of over 13,000.

The appointment of Mr. Desmond Lorimer as chairman of the new Housing Executive was announced on 4 March 1971. Five other members have been appointed by the Minister of Development. The remaining three come from The Housing Council, a new advisory body representative of existing housing authorities.

The membership of the completed Executive was announced on 6 May, 1971. The first full meeting was held within a week and the Executive at once undertook a study of the problems facing it. After extensive consultations, the Executive has publicly announced the programme which it wishes to carry out for taking over responsibility from existing housing authorities:

(a) The Executive will assume all the functions of the Northern Ireland Housing Trust on 1 October 1971;

(b) The Executive will assume all the housing functions of the Belfast Corporation about January 1972;

(c) The remaining local authorities having housing functions will become agents of the Executive under its policy control about April 1972;

(d) The functions of these authorities will be taken over fully not later than October 1972;

(e) Finally, the housing functions of the three Development Commissions 2 will be taken over not later than April 1973.

A full statement was issued by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive on 2 August 1971 on the progress made by the Executive and of its proposals for the assumption over a phased period of its full functions and responsibilities. 27. Local Government reorganisation.

Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969.-Although the process of local government reorganisation was started several years before the Downing Street Declaration, the decision to establish a Northern Ireland Housing Executive had such important consequences that it was necessary to re-examine the whole sphere of local government reorganisation. For this re-examination, the Northern Ireland Government undertook to set up a Review Body which would be broadly based and include representatives of the two main religious denominations as well as of business, professional and trade union interests to review in conjunction with the Ministries in Northern Ireland and local authorities, current proposals for reshaping local administration and to advise on the most efficient distribution of the relevant functions under the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland. This step was supported by the United Kingdom Government. Action.-An independent Review Body under the chairmanship of Mr. Patrick Macrory was appointed by the Minister of Development on 17 December 1969. Its Report, completed on 29 May 1970, was debated in Parliament in October 1970, after which the Government carried out an intensive study of the recommendations in the Report and of Parliamentary and public reactions to them. A major Statement, made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on 17 December 1970, laid down the principles on which a radical re-shaping of all local administration was to take place. Broadly, functions of a regional character such as health, personal social services, education, planning, roads, water, sewerage, fire service, electricity, electoral arrangements and many others were to be administered on a regional footing for the whole of Northern Ireland, while functions of a local or district character were to be administered on a local footing by twenty-six new District Councils operating in a new single-tier local govern

The Londonderry Development Commission was established early in 1969 in accordance with the undertaking by the Northern Ireland Government in the five point programme of reform announced in November 1968.

ment system. These decisions were subsequently debated in the House of Commons in January 1971 and given general endorsement.

Since then an intensive programme of action has followed. Consultative Documents seeking to convert the priciples of re-organisation into detailed administrative proposals were published in March and April 1971. A Local Government Consultative Committee representing the various categories of Local Authority has been actively at work, directly and through various sub-committees and working parties.

The first legislative step was embodied in the Local Government Boundaries Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 which provided for the appointment by His Excellency the Governor of a Boundaries Commissioner to recommend the boundaries and names of the twenty-six District Councils indicated in the Act and also the electoral districts or wards into which they are to be divided. The Act became law on 23 March 1971 and shortly afterwards a distinguished Lawyer, Mr. F. A. L. Harrison, Q.C., was appointed as Boundaries Commissioner. He commenced work at once. Time limits are embodied in the Statute with a view to ensuring that arrangements are in readiness for elections to be held to the new District Councils by the autumn of 1972, on new boundaries, new wards, universal franchise and votes at eighteen.

The Queen's Speech at the Opening of the New Session of Parliament on 22 June 1971 summarized the many legislative measures which will be necessary to give effect to the widespread programme of re-organisation replacing the historic system of seventy-three local authorities by new regional and local arrangements and transferring some forty thousand local government staff to new employers. This quite unprecedented task is to be completed by 1 April 1973 when the Housing Executive, the five Area Education Boards, the four Health and Social Service Boards, the Ministry of Development regional services, the Ministry of Finance Regional Rating service and the twenty-six District Councils will all come into full operation.

28. A new Committee system for the Northern Ireland Parliament.

Finally a new and important initiative not arising from either the Downing Street Declaration or the subsequent Communiques must be placed on record. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 22 June 1971, announced that:

"because of the increased work-load which will be placed upon us from 1973 onwards and the need for greater participation in our work by all honourable Members, the Government has decided to recommend to the House, for early implementation, a new Committee system. Alongside the Public Accounts Committee, which will continue to operate as at present, there should be three new Functional Committees of the House covering respectively the fields of Social Services, Environmental Services and Industrial Services. One of their principal functions would be the consideration of major proposals of policy. The second major function would be that of reviewing performances in other words, to probe and assess after the event the performance of executive functions by the Government and its agencies. A further possible function would be the consideration of certain legislation."

The Prime Minister said that the Northern Ireland Government was thinking in terms of Committees of not more than nine members each, broadly representstive of Party strength in the House. Of the three functional committees, plus the Public Accounts Committee, the Opposition should provide at least two chairmen. These would be salaried posts. Members serving on the Committees would receive a fee for attendance. "It must be recognised", the Prime Minister said, "that any concept of participation (by the minority) will be hollow which does not recognise the duty to participate in bearing the burdens of the State as well a enjoying its advantages; and that no duty is more important than to mount a united opposition to terror."

29. The Social Democratic and Labour Party, after welcoming this initiative in Parliament, decided later to withdraw from Parliament, along with the Nationalist Party and the representative of the Republican Labour Party. The Government of Northern Ireland has since emphasised that the offer of participation by the Opposition in functional Committees in the House of Commons has not been withdrawn. It can be implemented as soon as the Opposition return to Parliament.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

30. The Northern Ireland Government has been concerned to promote the economic and social welfare of all its people. Full British standards prevail in

Northern Ireland, and have prevailed since 1948, in the fields of social security, health and social welfare services, without regard to class or creed. In education, he private sector, aided by generous Government grants to voluntary schools, ccupies a far larger place than in Great Britain. But at each level of the eduational system-primary, secondary and higher education (including Universities)—standards and opportunities are equivalent to those in Great Britain. Since the War, 195,870 new dwellings have been built, equivalent to a total of some seven million for Great Britain allowing for population differences.

31. Unemployment has been the prime economic problem in Northern Ireland and has proved intractable in that the major staple industries of the area, shipuilding, traditional textiles and agriculture, have all been reducing their labour requirements substantially, thus offsetting the gains made in a vigorous industrial development drive, spearheaded by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Commerce which has negotiated almost 100,000 new jobs for Northern Ireland since 1945. In recent years a large programme of industrial training has been mounted by the Northern Ireland Government to provide the skills required by modern industry. The manpower and training facilities made available by the Northern Ireland Government to incoming industry are widely recognised outside Northern Ireland as a model for development areas generally. The training programme also has the object of increasing the range of economic opportunity for the working population. For example, the proportion of school-leavers entering apprentice training in Northern Ireland has risen from only 16 percent in the early nineteen-sixties to no less than 40 per cent as compared with slightly over 40 per cent in Great Britain.

32. The Northern Ireland Government has kept its economic policies under constant review and has not hesitated to seek expert advice from outside Northern Ireland on several occasions. In May 1968, before the political unrest which started in October 1968, the Northern Ireland Government invited three Consultants to draw up a Development Programme for the years 1970-75. The Consultants were Professor Sir Robert Matthew of Edinburgh, Professor Tom Wilson of Glasgow and Professor Jack Parkinson, formerly of Queen's University, Belfast, and now of Nottingham University. The Programme involved a review of progress made under the Matthew Plan of 1963 and the Wilson Economic Plan of 1965 both of which had been accepted and acted upon by the Northern Ireland Government. This Programme was in course of preparation at the time of the Downing Street Declaration and the issue of the two Communiques in 1969. The Northern Ireland Development Programme 1970-75 was published in June 1970 and dealt in detail with every facet of development in Northern Ireland: employment, industrial development, industrial training, industrial relations, housing, physical development and location strategy, mobility, amenity, tourism, agriculture, transport and communications, education, health and welfare and administration. 33. Along with the Consultant's Programme, the Northern Ireland Government published a White Paper (Cmd. 547) which set out the legislative and executive steps which it intended to take to implement the Programme over the five-year period. The whole program of public expenditure accepted by the Northern Ireland Goverment was estimated to cost some £2,400 million (at 1969 prices) over the five years 1970-75. In particular, the Government accepted an extremely ambitious housing target of 73,500 in the five-year period 1970-75 and further substantial initiatives in the field of industrial training. In addition, special provision was made for creating employment for older men, especially in the remoter areas of Northern Ireland.

34. The Northern Ireland Government is now preparing a report on the progress of the Development Programme in its first year. In public investment, progress has been generally satisfactory but continuing civil unrest has affected the rate of private investment and the creation of new industrial jobs.

35. In this new situation where there is a risk of a shortfall in private investment in commerce and industry, the Northern Ireland Government jointly with the United Kingdom Government have initiated a special social and economic enquiry to analyse the current position and to identify what further steps might be taken. The enquiry is being carried out by Sir Alec Cairncross, Master of St. Peter's College, Oxford, former head of the United Kingdom Government Economic Service; Mr. Charles Villiers of Guiness Mahon Ltd.; and Mr. Darwin Templeton, partner in a Belfast firm of chartered accountants. The terms of reference of the enquiry are as follows: "To review the prospects for economic and social development as envisaged in the Development Programme with particular reference to the present and expected levels of investment in Northern Ireland and to recom