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Older People's Commissioner

The Final Stage of the Commissioner for Older People Bill took place on 7 December 2010 and was unanimously passed by the Assembly without amendment.
The Bill received Royal Assent on 25 January 2011 and is known as The Commissioner for Older People Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. The next step in this process is the recruitment of the Commissioner and this is currently underway. The Act requires that the appointment of the Commissioner by the First Minister and deputy First Minister may only be made after taking account of the views of older people.
On Monday 7 March Junior Minister Newton and Junior Minister Kelly attended and spoke at the Older People's Participative Forum held in Belfast City Hall.  This event marked the start of the recruitment stage of an Older People’s Commissioner.  The event was designed to enable older people to discuss and express their views on the recruitment process and make their recommendations on the skills, qualities and criteria required for a Commissioner.  
Ministers and officials have considered these views and recommendations and they have informed the requirements of the post. As a result of this event, two people from the representative group of older people attending were nominated to sit on the Interview Panel to select a Commissioner. Ms Felicity Huston, the Commissioner for Public Appointments spoke at the event and participants also heard from Dame Joan Harbison, the Older People’s Advocate, on her experience in this role.

Commissioner for Older People Appointment Competition

The Commissioner for Older People post has now been advertised and you can obtain further information and application details by contacting HR Connect quoting reference IRC89464.
HR Connect Recruitment Team
PO Box 1089
2nd Floor
The Metro Building
6-9 Donegall Square South
Belfast
BT1 9EW

Please note that the closing date for applications is 12 noon on Friday 15 April 2011

The PDF version of the public advert for the post of Commissioner for Older People can be accessed below.

Background

The legislation to establish a Commissioner for Older People was agreed by the Executive and introduced to the Assembly in May 2010 and it was debated and supported by the Assembly on 7 June. The Bill completed its OFMDFM Committee Stage on 15 September 2010. The next step was the Consideration stage on 16 November 2010 when the Assembly considered and debated the Bill in plenary and voted the individual clauses and schedules into the Bill. This stage was followed with the Further Consideration Stage where the Bill proceeded without amendment.
Below is the link to the NI Assembly website where you can view the Act and its associated Explanatory Notes and review the passage of the Bill through the Assembly:
As part of OFMDFM's response to the Assembly's OFMDFM Committee's scrutiny of the legislation, the Department prepared a paper providing information on the issues that the Commissioner for Older People could address and potentially investigate.
The final version of the paper together with a table setting out the department’s response to consultee comments to the OFMDFM committee’s own consultation on the Bill and policy proposals can be accessed in PDF and word formats below:

Commissioner for Older People - Consultation Analysis and Report

OFMDFM considered each and every response to the public consultation and in May 2010 published its formal position in a report which can be accessed in PDF and Word formats below:
A concise summary of the May 2010 final proposals (16 pages) can also be accessed in PDF and word format below.
Alternative versions of these documents are available on request.  Alternative versions can be requested by contacting the Bill Team at the address below:
Commissioner for Older People Legislation Team
Equality Rights and Social Need Division
Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister
Room E3.18 Castle Buildings
Stormont Estate
Belfast BT4 3SR

Public Consultation to establish an Office of a Commissioner for Older People - October 2009 - January 2010 - Consultation Responses

This public consultation closed on 7 January 2010 and you can access the responses from the link below. Evidence gathered from the public consultation events is also included here.

Consultation to establish an Office of a Commissioner for Older People

The proposals to establish a Commissioner for Older People were set out in this consultation paper and the accompanying Draft Bill which represented the Executive’s view on the best way to achieve that Programme for Government commitment.

The consultation paper and questionnaire can be accessed in pdf and word formats below:

Also available is the Draft Integrated Impact Assessment and questionnaire.

Detail on Public Consultation Events in November 2009

As part of the consultation into a Commissioner for Older People over 400 people attended a series of 9 public meetings held from 16 - 27 November, chaired by the Older People's Advocate, Dame Joan Harbison.