Department for Social Development

Department for Social Development
Department overview
Formed December 1999
Preceding Department Department of Health and Social Services
Jurisdiction Northern Ireland
Headquarters Lighthouse Building, 1 Cromac Place, Gasworks Business Park, Ormeau Road, Belfast, BT7 2JB
Employees 7,452 (September 2011) [1]
Annual budget £505.4 million (current) & £161.6 million (capital) for 2011-12 [2]
Minister responsible Nelson McCausland
Website
www.dsdni.gov.uk
Northern Ireland

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The Department for Social Development is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister for Social Development.

Contents

Aim

DSD’s overall aim is “tackling disadvantage and building sustainable communities”. [3]

The incumbent Minister is Nelson McCausland (Democratic Unionist Party). [4]

Responsibilities

The department's main responsibilities are as follows:

Northern Ireland has parity with Great Britain in three areas:

Policy in these areas is technically devolved but, in practice, follows policy set by Parliament to provide consistency across the United Kingdom [5].

The department is also responsible for the following public bodies:

(jointly with the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister)

It also oversees the Office of the Social Fund Commissioner.

DSD’s main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:

In the Irish Government, its main counterparts are:

History

Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of Royal Assent to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the United Kingdom government under Prime Minister Tony Blair. The process was known as devolution and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DSD is one of 11 devolved Northern Ireland departments created in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.

A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:

Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.

Ministers for Social Development

Minister Party Start End
    Nigel Dodds Democratic Unionist 2 December 1999 11 February 2000
Office suspended
    Nigel Dodds Democratic Unionist 30 May 2000 27 July 2000
    Maurice Morrow Democratic Unionist 27 July 2000 24 October 2001[21]
    Nigel Dodds Democratic Unionist 24 October 2001 14 October 2002
Office suspended
    Margaret Ritchie SDLP 8 May 2007 24 May 2010
    Alex Attwood SDLP 24 May 2010 5 May 2011
    Nelson McCausland Democratic Unionist 16 May 2011

Direct rule ministers

During the periods of suspension, the following ministers of the Northern Ireland Office were responsible for the department:

See also

References

  1. ^ "Northern Ireland Quarterly Employment Survey Historical Data". Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. http://www.detini.gov.uk/sep_11_table_5.14.xls. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  2. ^ "Budget 2011-15". Department of Finance and Personnel. http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/revised_budget_-_website_version.pdf. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  3. ^ Northern Ireland Budget 2011-15, page 99
  4. ^ http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/work-of-the-executive/ministers-and-their-departments.htm Northern Ireland Executive
  5. ^ Northern Ireland Act 1998, Part VIII, Social security, child support and pensions
  6. ^ "About". DWP. 2009-01-20. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/about-dwp/. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  7. ^ "Communities and Local Government: About us". Communities.gov.uk. http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/about/. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  8. ^ "Big Society". Cabinet Office. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/big-society. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  9. ^ "About us". DCMS. http://www.dcms.gov.uk/about_us/default.aspx. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  10. ^ "Department of Social Protection: Overview". Welfare.ie. http://www.welfare.ie/EN/AboutUs/Pages/dsfa_overview.aspx. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  11. ^ "Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Mission Statement". Environ.ie. http://www.environ.ie/en/AboutUs/. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  12. ^ "Department of Justice and Equality: Other Regulatory Functions". Justice.ie. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Other_regulatory_functions. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  13. ^ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Commencement) Order 2000
  14. ^ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2000
  15. ^ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) Order 2001
  16. ^ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2001
  17. ^ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) (No.2) Order 2001
  18. ^ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) (No.2) Order 2001
  19. ^ Article 1, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Suspension of Devolved Government) Order 2002
  20. ^ Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2007
  21. ^ Office suspended for 24 hours on 11 August 2001 and 22 September 2001

External links