To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, given that children are one of the largest groups of library users and that the consultation process is not open to people under 16 years old, for her assessment of whether the current public consultation process on the reduction of library opening hours is in breach of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on the basis of age discrimination.

The draft Equality Impact Assessment carried out as part of the Libraries NI consultation on opening hours identifies that children and young people under 16 make extensive use of libraries and that they are likely to be affected if their local library reduces opening hours.

Accordingly Libraries NI have developed a strategy to ensure participation by children in the consultation, in line with consultation best practice. This will include a separate (child-friendly) questionnaire. Libraries NI also intend to hold a number of engagement groups to which children will be invited.

Libraries NI have undertaken to amend their online consultation site to make it clearer how children can contribute in the consultation process.