Role of the Civic Forum to be reviewed

"It is important that the most appropriate mechanisms and arrangements are in place for obtaining the views of civic society, as a whole, on issues which affect the lives of everyone living in Northern Ireland. That was recognised in August 2006 by the Assembly’s Preparation for Government Committee, on which all the major parties were represented, when they recommended that there should be "a review of the mechanisms for civic society to promote its views." We intend to carry out that review.

"The Civic Forum was originally established as a consultative mechanism on social, economic and cultural issues as they were perceived at that time. Civic society in Northern Ireland has changed enormously since the Forum was first established and the deputy First Minister and I want to determine what are the best arrangements for engaging with civic society in that changed environment.

"In the meantime, we think that the current members of the Forum might play a role in contributing to the policy development process across the range of Executive consultation exercises and we will be writing to most members of the Forum asking them whether they would be prepared to reconvene while the review was being carried out.

"At this stage we are simply ascertaining how many of the current members are available and will decide then whether to recall them based on their responses".

"NICVA believes that social partnership has a key role to play in the future governance of Northern Ireland. As a mechanism it extends participative democracy and can offer a range of additional voices to contribute to the process of making better decisions at a political level.

"The Civic Forum should embody this potential and as such, should be structured as a proper social partnership forum”