Bristol City Council

Equalities Impact Assessments (EqIAs)

Guidance

Why do we do equality impact assessments

The purpose of an equality impact assessment is to improve the work of the council. They can be used to make sure that we do not discriminate and that we promote equality wherever possible.

Equality impact assessments are an objective way of considering both new proposals and our current ways of working to:

  • make sure that the council's policies and services meet the needs of the people of Bristol;
  • ensure that staff and customers are treated fairly and not discriminated against;
  • identify and address real or potential inequalities resulting from policy and practice development;
  • meet our legal duties to eliminate discrimination and promote equality;
  • work continuously to improve our services.

EqIAs require councils to consult with stakeholders, assisting us to engage with our customers and those affected by our policies. By ensuring that equality is part of our thinking throughout all of our processes, equality impact assessments will assist us to identify potential problems and make any necessary changes to policy or service delivery.

What is an equality impact assessment?

Equality impact assessments aim to ensure that the services we deliver are of excellent quality and are relevant and accessible to all our customers.

An EqIA is done by completing a standard form, or template. The main outcome of an EqIA is to ensure that, as far as possible, any negative consequences are eliminated or minimised and opportunities for promoting equality are maximised.

An EqIA will probably contain the following issues:

  • How does the policy, project, service, contract or strategy fit into the Council’s wider aims?
  • How will it be put into practice?
  • Who will be responsible for it?
  • What are the outcomes that are expected to be achieved?
  • How do we measure progress towards achieving these outcomes?
  • Who are the key stakeholders?
  • How will consultation with stakeholders take place?
  • What will the impact be - positive, neutral, negative?
  • Are there partners that need to be taken into account?

Who are the equality target groups?

The equality groups, or strands as they are called, are: gender, disability, age, race, sexual orientation and faith or belief. By this we mean: women, men and transgendered people; disabled people; older people, younger people and children; black and minority ethnic people; lesbians, gay men and bisexuals; and people from different faith groups. These strands include everyone and many people "belong" to more than one strand.

You may want to include other groups in your thinking: for instance, those marginalised by poverty or isolation due to poor transport, children leaving care or those who have responsibilities as carers. You may also want to consider specific groups of people who are covered by the equality strands but who may have specific needs such as people with learning difficulties or those from a specific ethnic group.

What do we mean by "impact"

Impact means the effect that something has on a situation or person. The council looks at three possible impacts in its assessments:

  • A neutral impact. This means that the change in policy or function would have no impact on the group in question.
  • A negative or adverse impact. This would be when the method of service delivery, change in policy or function, way a job is advertised or described could disadvantage one or more groups of people.
  • A positive impact for a particular equality target group, or an outcome that improves community cohesion and relations between groups.

There are two types of equality impact assessment:

Screening equality impact assessment - this is a desk top exercise to identify whether it is necessary to do a full equality impact assessment. It is carried out at the planning and development stage of the project.

Full equality impact assessment - continues on from the screening stage. It is a detailed assessment involving the consideration of data and consultation with stakeholders. It would include such issues as comparing the amount of people in an equalities group who might be, say, adversely affected by a policy with the amount of people in that group in Bristol as a whole. These are carried out in the workshop format with the support of an equality officer.

When do we have to carry out an EqIA?

Equality impact assessments should be built in from the start of any new proposals or reviews so that the results of the EqIA can be incorporated into the design and planning of the policy, project, service, contract or strategy.

The following projects and policies will always require an equality impact assessment:

  • All major strategies and key decisions
  • Other projects, policies, services/functions, strategies and commissioning or funding arrangements which are being developed or reviewed (or, in the case of strategies, re-tendered) and, either:
  • involve savings or expenditure of £75,000 or more; or:
  • the council is already aware of concerns from equalities communities.

Use the screening form (Part One) to assess the potential impact. If the result of the screening process is that there is the potential for a significant impact on any equality group or if any equality group has significantly different needs, then a full equality impact assessment (Part Two) must be carried out. If you are unsure you can seek advice from a directorate or corporate equalities officer as to whether or not a full EqIA is required.

The strategic equalities group will identify the key strategic decisions which require full equality impact assessments. The list is available on The Source.

Who should carry out an EqIA?

This should be done by the manager responsible for the delivery of the service with at least three other people. It is helpful if one of them is someone who is able to challenge and offer an independent perspective. This would ideally be a service user or someone related to the service (ie. a stakeholder). It is also important to involve an equalities officer who can facilitate the process.

How do I carry out a full EqIA?

The stages of an EqIA are:

  1. Identifying the aims and objectives of the policy, project, service, contract or strategy and initial consideration of needs and impact - this is also known as the "screening" stage. (Covered in Workshop One - see below).
  2. Collecting available data, research and information. (Done during preparation for Workshop Two).
  3. Identifying gaps in data and collecting new data if necessary. (Also done during preparation for Workshop Two).
  4. Consideration of data and assessment of impact. (Covered in Workshop Two)
  5. Propose measures and/or revisions to mitigate or lessen any adverse or negative impact. (Covered in Workshop Two).
  6. Consult stakeholders and consider the results of this consultation. (Done during preparation for Workshop Three).
  7. Plan actions to mitigate adverse impact and promote equality, including deciding on monitoring arrangements. (Covered in Workshop Three).
  8. Publish results and implement action plan. (Done following Workshop Three).

The templates and the workshop format will guide you through this process, giving examples as you go.

What information should I use to carry out an EqIA?

This will vary depending on the policy, project, service, contract or strategy, but could include the following:

  • Annual Equalities data audit
  • previous equality impact assessments, or those from other authorities, for instance Rotherham or Tower Hamlets.
  • national and local statistics and census data -
  • Local data on equalities demographics (see Quantitive data EqIAs on The Source)
  • Information from Bristol Partnership "State of the neighbourhoods" website and other qualitative data including feedback from stakeholder groups (also see Qualitative data EqIAs on The Source)
  • information from other formal audits, eg. Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)
  • monitoring reports, including workforce monitoring
  • user feedback and satisfaction reports
  • staff surveys, opinions and information from trade unions
  • strategy monitoring reports
  • complaints and comments
  • press coverage
  • knowledge, technical advice, expertise and experience of the people assisting in the completion of the EqIA

At what point should I involve stakeholders in the process?

The guidance requires that consultation takes place with appropriate stakeholders as part of the process of equality impact assessments.

This entails setting out what the council thinks are the main issues, checking whether we are right and asking if there is anything that we have missed.

One of the panel undertaking a screening EqIA should, ideally, be someone who can represent stakeholders views on this, in addition to the equalities officer. This is to ensure that peoples' needs are adequately assessed and that no wrong assumptions are made. Additional stakeholders must be involved in all full EqIAs. In the workshop format this takes place between workshops one and two.

How do I contact stakeholders and what do I ask them?

Each directorate will have its own stakeholders, eg. service users, tenants, partners, etc. A list of stakeholders is available on The Source or you can contact either your directorate equalities officer or the corporate equalities team for further information.

Equality Impact Assessment workshops

It is recommended that you follow the workshop format when undertaking a strategic EqIA. Your directorate equalities officer or an officer from the corporate equalities team will facilitate the workshops:

  • Workshop One - Introduction/Scoping/Reviewing screening if this has been done/Consideration of what data is available. Examination of data. Initial identification of any impact and/or different needs, gaps in data.
  • Preparation for Workshop Two - Collect and analyse available data and prepare report for Workshop Two. In some cases it may be necessary to collect new data.
  • Workshop Two - Conclusions from analysis of data including assessing the impact, planning and consultation.
  • Preparation for Workshop Three - Carry out consultation with stakeholders and prepare results for Workshop Three.
  • Workshop Three - Review and revise and action plan.
  • Following Workshop Three - Complete EqIA template, finish action plan, revise policy, project, service, contract or strategy, et EqIA signed off. Publish on The Source and send copy to corporate equalities team.

What happens with the EqIA once it has been done?

Once the EqIA has been completed:

  • Screening forms are signed by the manager responsible and an equalities officer
  • All full impact assessments will need to be signed off by a 2nd tier officer
  • action plans and impact assessment registers must be sent to the corporate equalities team for monitoring
  • all full EqIAs must be published on The Source and on the council external website.

Who do I contact if I have any further questions?

You can contact either your directorate equalities officer or the corporate equalities team.

Good practice and examples

Available at:

Glossary

Data - qualitative. Information gathered from individuals about their experiences either as employees of the council or as customers.

Data - quantitive. Numerical information gathered in the form of statistics either from the whole population or as samples of that population.

Discrimination - direct. When a person is treated worse just because of who they are.

Discrimination - indirect. This is when the effect of the way the council operates has a disproportionately adverse impact on one group or another. This includes attitudes and behaviour that can amount to discrimination through unintentional prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, stereotyping.

Equality Duty. Councils have a duty to promote disability, gender and race equality. This means they have a duty to promote such equality and to eliminate discrimination in the design and delivery of services and to address such issues in their workforce. Best practice would also include the duty to promote equality across other equality strands.

Functions. The activities and services carried out by the council.

Mitigate. Make better. Make less intense or serious.

Negative or adverse impact. Any element of a policy, project, service, strategy or employment practice that affects any particular group of people in a negative way. This includes the inability of that group to access a service or to get a job in the council.

Policies. All the ways, both formal and informal, in which a council and its officers carries out its duties and uses its powers. This includes long-standing "custom and practice" and management decisions as well as formal written policies.

Positive action. Measures designed to counteract the effects of past discrimination. May include initiatives such as targeted training programmes, reviewing selection procedures, prevention of harassment. Where this is the case policies will need to be checked to ensure they do not discriminate illegally.

Positive impact. Where the policy, project, service, contract or strategy has the potential to improve equalities and/or relationships between groups.

Project. A project is a time-limited piece of work with specific objectives.

Stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or body that is directly affected by a policy or function of the council and has an interest or stake in it. Who or what the stakeholders are, will depend on each individual project or undertaking.

January 2009

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