Northampton Borough Council

Equality Impact Assessments

Worksheet and Templates

Contents:

EIA worksheet
EIA Action and Improvement Plan
EIA Summary Report (for publication)
Template for Initial Screening
Template for Full Equality Impact Assessment

September 2008

Full guidance available on the intranet or upon request from the policy team

For help, additional information or feedback contact 01604 837573 or

Equality Impact Assessment Guidance v0.3September 2008

EIA Worksheet

Purpose of an EIA / Improvement tool to help us eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and good relations between all sectors of the community
Key questions / Answers / Notes / Actions required
Getting started-Initial Screening
Is this policy/activity[1] existing or a new? / Yes
How will the policy/activity be finalised/ adopted? (e.g. cabinet/board or delegated power) / Cabinet report 15th October / Attach screening to any report produced for approval
Also: Finalise Cabinet report by 1st October
Who is the lead officer conducting the assessment? / Bill Edwards
Who else is/has been involved? / All partners within the Community safety partnership, community groups, unions
Identify the aims/objectives/purpose of the policy/activity. / The aim of this policy is to ensure that a systematic approach is taken in the reporting, recording, investigating and monitoring of all Hate Crimes and Incidents across all services. It is the Council’s aim to ensure that every service area has a designated officer responsible for ensuring victims/witnesses are spoken to, appropriate action is taken and the Hate Incident Reporting form is completed. An important factor for this policy is awareness raising and training in understanding hate incidents, particularly for those officers within each service nominated as the persons responsible for receiving reports of Hate Crimes and Incidents. / Complete
Why is this policy/activity required? What outcomes do you want to achieve with this policy and for whom? / At present, NBC do not have a corporate policy on Hate Crime. The Cross Government Action Plan on Hate Crime requires all Community Safety partners to have a plan in relation to it. As an authority we need to be working to ensure we act to address issues of discrimination. Increased reporting and more effective and co-ordinated responses. / Complete
How do these outcomes interact, meet or hinder other policies, values or objectives of the council – this question will not always apply / This policy meets the corporate priorities of safer, more effective partnerships, and putting the customer first. / N/a
How is this policy/activity delivered or implemented already? / There is no corporate policy so there are ad hoc arrangements within different service areas that are not monitored or reviewed. / Online reporting form has been developed. Training for nominated co-ordinators and staff commencing October (if policy adopted)
Who is the policy/activity being aimed at? / All people who live work or visit Northampton
Who is affected/benefits by the policy/activity? / All those who could be a victim of a Hate incident or crime
Who implements the policy/activity? / The policy will be implemented across all service areas / Training of Nominated Co-ordinators and staff in October
How does the local authority interface with other bodies in relation to the implementation of this policy/activity? This question will not always apply / The Community Safety Partnership has responsibility for ensuring a plan to address Hate Incidents is in place by Dec 2010. each individual partner is therefore undertaking a similar process to this, and there are interagency meetings to ensure similar processes are set up with Single points of contact in each organisation. NBC is also facilitating the training for triners in other agencies on their implementation of their policies.
What information exists already? / Hate Incident/Crime is greatly underreported but it is well documented that the impact on the victim is significant. By implementing this policy we hope to attain better and more accurate information about the situation in Northampton / Links set up with Compass unit to collate and analyse data
From your perspective, how is the policy/activity actually working in practice for each equalities group? / The policy hasn’t been implemented yet. At present staff are generally unaware of how to deal with or report a hate incident/crime and therefore equality groups are not likely to be receiving an effective service. / Implementation
What factors or forces are at play that could contribute or detract from the outcomes identified earlier? / Lack of buy in or effectiveness of policy implementation / Manage Risk
Does application of the policy/ activity have the potential to cause adverse impact or discriminate against different groups in the community or make a positive contribution to equalities? (Consider the six strands of equalities or any other group that may be disadvantaged) What evidence do you have? / There are no adverse implications for any groups. The whole purpose of this policy is to reduce discrimination against all members of society by more effectively dealing with hate related incidents / If there is no potential for adverse impact then have this confirmed by the Corporate Equalities Steering Group representative for your area and signed off by your service head/Board/Director. Any queries, or if these are the same person, check with the policy team
Also:
How would you assess the risk/urgency for addressing this issue? / Victims of Hate related crimes and incidents report that the impact on themselves, their families and communities has devastating effects. There are many high profile cases that have shown statutory organisations have failed to provide an effective service to people in their community. As an authority we urgently need to ensure the chances of this occurring in Northampton are mitigated. / Adoption at Cabinet

Equality Impact Assessment Guidance v0.3September 2008

Template for Initial Screening

Equality Impact Assessment – screening.

Name of Strategy/Policy Hate Incident/Crime PolicyDate of Assessment: 09/09/10

Is this a new or updated Policy? New XUpdated

How is the Strategy/Policy finalised/adopted: Cabinet/Board Delegated

Lead Officer conducting the assessment: Bill EdwardsJob Title: Neighbourhoods, Licensing and Support Team Leader

Service area: Public ProtectionContact details:838986

Others involved in the assessment(this could include service users, front line officers, people with specialist knowledge or interest):

Partner agencies within Community safety partnership, community groups, Unions

Identify what the activity is trying to achieve – why is the Policy/activity[2] required(is there a statutory duty, how was the issue identified, who was the originator of the activity, etc).

At present, NBC do not have a corporate policy on Hate Crime. The Cross Government Action Plan on Hate Crime requires all Community Safety partners to have a plan in relation to it. As an authority we need to be working to ensure we act to address issues of discrimination. We aim to increase reporting and more effective and co-ordinated responses.

Purpose of the Policy/activity. The aim of this policy is to ensure that a systematic approach is taken in the reporting, recording, investigating and monitoring of all Hate Crimes and Incidents across all services. It is the Council’s aim to ensure that every service area has a designated officer responsible for ensuring victims/witnesses are spoken to, appropriate action is taken and the Hate Incident Reporting form is completed. An important factor for this policy is awareness raising and training in understanding hate incidents, particularly for those officers within each service nominated as the persons responsible for receiving reports of Hate Crimes and Incidents.

This policy meets the corporate priorities of safer, more effective partnerships, and putting the customer first.

Identify the main beneficiaries or people affected by the issue(who benefits or is affected - local residents and users of area, community at large, visitors to the town, contractors working in the area, people delivering the service etc).

All residents who may be affected by a Harte crime/incident could benefit from the implementation of this policy

What information exists already?

Information relating to Hate Incidents/crime in Northampton is lacking. Incidents are greatly under reported

Has any consultation been undertaken on this or related issue?

Yes, members of staff, community groups, unions

Are any reports or other relevant documents available from our organisation or from partners or other sources?

Not in relation to EIA

Which parts of the activity have the potentialfor adverse impact or to discriminate unlawfully? (Factors or issues that could contribute to inequality, consider risks and opportunities).None

Could a particular sector of the community be disadvantaged by the strategy/policy.

Yes No (give details of any evidence you may have)

If yes, proceed to undertake a full Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)

If no, then have this confirmed by the Corporate Equalities Steering Group representative for your area and signed off by your Service Head / Corporate Director/ Board. In the event of any queries, check with a member of the Policy team.

Action points (please make this SMART-state what/who/how/when)

Please see plan above.

I agree that this policy/activity should not proceed to a full Impact Assessment (If appropriate, date equality impact assessment will commence)

Confirmed by:Signed by:

Please attach a copy of this screening to the document it relates 

Copy to be sent to Policy Team Leader at 

Template for Full Impact Assessment

Full Equality Impact Assessment -Report

N.B. Please carry out an initial screening before undertaking a full assessment

The report should follow the standard reporting format for any Council report, and should have the initial Screening attached as an appendix.

The report must include the following areas:

Introduction

This should include a description of the service or policy[3]’s aims and objectives, the context in which it operates, the scope of the activity etc.

Background

This should give information about the perceived problems with the policy/activity that were identified in the initial screening. Do describe how the policy/ activity is being delivered at present. Include details of what the issue under consideration looks like, who delivers it, what factors influence it and/or drive it, what resources exist, who is affected by its application, what information is known about it.

Baseline data and research

This section should show how you collected your data, the sources and methodology used. It should give a clear analysis of all the quantitative data that is relevant to your service and make comparisons with the representation of particular groups in Northampton.

The quantitative data must include data on ethnicity, gender, disability, sexuality and age. If you have no monitoring data on any of these areas you should explain why, you should also include in your actions how you will monitor in future all the areas where there are currently gaps. Do include information regarding the staff who delivers this service, if this is appropriate.

It should also have an analysis of qualitative data your service has monitored by equalities groups (e.g. satisfaction surveys, focus groups, questionnaires, research - consultation etc.). It should also outline any gaps that were found in the data and any actions that resulted from the exercise for data collection in this area in future.

Consultation

This should outline why you carried out a consultation, who was consulted, did you include those groups affected by the policy/function/change, how and why they were chosen, and the consultation methods used. Full impact assessments should include consultation with equalities groups and internal or other specialists in the equalities areas. There may be occasions when information can be made available from consultation or research carried out elsewhere (this can be in-house or by partners or externally). If so, please give full details and justify your decision. Consultation may be carried out at the start of the process, in the course of normal policy making, and can also be undertaken to validate and challenge any findings and proposals made. Further help or guidance can be sought from the Policy Team.

Results of the consultation

This should include all the key issues that arose during the consultation process, e.g. notes of any meetings, summary of any replies received.

Assessment of impact on particular groups

This should include a detailed assessment on the policy or activity’s impact on the different groups (gender, different racial groups, Disabled people, Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, Transgender people, older and younger people, different religion or beliefs) - this will come from the Initial Impact Assessment. It should give details of any ways in which the policy / activity could have an adverse impact on any of these groups e.g. where any equalities groups are over- or under-represented. Indicate if there are any positive impacts.

How will this impact be addressed?

This should outline all the options that were considered to mitigate the adverse impact of the policy / activity i.e. modifications to the way the policy operates. In other words - you have looked at the data and identified issues – What are you going to do about them? It should have a clear list of actions that you intend to take as a result of the equality impact assessment’s findings.

Include actions in an Action and Improvement Plan. Use template available. Note that these actions need to be reflected in your service/team plans so that they can be monitored and performance managed in line with the council’s corporate performance framework.

Performance and monitoring arrangements

This should outline the monitoring or data collection systems that have been put in place to monitor any adverse impact in the future with the timetable for action and how you will use the results to develop policy and practice. It should be clear how the actions identified above would be monitored. Who will check they are done? Have the relevant performance indicators been included and are they part of the service/corporate performance framework?

Publication of EIA

This should state how you intend to publish the equality impact assessment and to let all interested parties know the outcome of the equality impact assessment. The minimum legal requirement is that a summary will be on the council’s website.Template available. For guidance, contact the Communications Team.

Conclusions

This should include all the options that were considered during the process to mitigate the adverse impact, and the decisions that were then made by the council on the basis of the equality impact assessment to take forward. It should include the risks and benefits and social and economic cost analysis that was done during the process. It should also include an action plan with timescales for the next steps the service will take. It should include a date by which the policy / function will be reviewed in light of the findings of the equality impact assessment.

Who will be responsible for this?

And finally…

This assessment should be signed off by the Head of Service/Board/ Director following challenge by the Corporate Equality Steering Group representative or coordinator.

Reports can be produced to suit individual styles. Some people like to answer questions, some prefer to have more freedom. We have found that our best assessments where produced using the EIA worksheet or above questions as a checklist. If a further help is required or an alternative format preferred, please contact the Policy Team

Equality Impact Assessment Guidance v0.3September 2008

Equality impact assessment Action & Improvement Plan

The table below should be completed using the information from the equality impact assessment to produce an action plan for the implementation of proposals to:

1.Lower the negative impact? And/Or

2.Ensure that the negative impact is legal under anti-discriminatory law? And/Or

3.Provide an opportunity to promote equality, equal opportunity and improve relations within equality target groups? i.e. increase the positive impact

Please ensure that you update your service/business plan with the equality objectives/targets and actions identified below:

Area of concern/ negative impact / Changes proposed / Measure of success/ Performance Indicator / Lead Officer / Timescale / Resource implication / Comments

Sign off (CM/Head of Service):Date Service/Team Plan updated:

Equality Impact Assessment Guidance v0.3September 2008

Equality impact assessment: Summary Report

The results of equality impact assessments must be published. Please complete this summary, which will be used to publish the results of your impact assessment on the authority’s web site and return it to the Policy Team

Date of Assessment:
Completing Officer’s Title/Position:
Leading Officer’s Name and members of the Equality impact assessment team:
Policy/Activity that was Impact Assessed:
Summary of findings:
Summary of Recommendations and Key Points of Action Plan:
Groups that this policy will impact upon: ALL or:
Race
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Age
Disability
Religion or Belief
Other