Equality Impact Assessment Template

Compulsory for all proposals

Throughout this document we use the word ‘proposal’ to refer to what we are assessing. In this context, the term includes the different things that we do, including strategies, functions, procedures, practices, policies, initiatives and projects.

Wrexham County Borough Council has developed this template with support from the Equality and Human Rights Commission template and the Welsh Local Government Association.

This template covers all equality assessment needs from initial screening to a full Impact Assessment, by following the 6 steps:

1. Screening the equality needs of the policy

2. Data collection and evidence

3. Involvement and consultation

4. Assessing impact and strengthening the policy

5. Procurement and partnerships

6. Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing

The aim of an equality impact assessment (EIA) is to ensure that equality issues have been consciously considered throughout the decision making processes of the work we do.

The EIA highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals in terms of equality. It therefore helps to ensure we have considered everyone affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our requirements under the general equality duties.

There is a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals. Our approach to EIAs will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential discriminatory effects before introducing something new or changing way we work and reduce the risk of potential legal challenges.

When carrying out an EIA you should consider both the negative and positive consequences of your proposals. If a project is designed for a specific group, you also need to think about what potential effects it could have on other areas of equality.

Department / Corporate & Customer Services (All)
Responsible Officer / Roger Davies, Jill Proud & Gwawr Murphy
e-mail address /


Full job title / Senior Performance, Improvement and Partnerships Officer
Rationale:
Why is this proposal being considered?
What need is being addressed? / Review advice services provided by WCBC, identifying links to third and private sector provision of advice.
Aim:
What is the intended outcome of the proposal? / Review advice services provided by WCBC, identifying links to third and private sector provision of advice.
Undertake a literature review on advice services offered by the providers identified above.
Map provision of advice services in and across Wrexham and overlay with cost of provision.
Produce a final report which makes recommendations to support WCBC in continuing to offer effective advice services going forward which includes consultation with stakeholders regarding the advice provided.
Overall, remove the potential duplication of advice service provision, maintaining the level of service to the customer and service user, whilst reducing and removing any duplication in cost.
How:
How will the policy be delivered, by whom and by when? / Once a policy decision has been made by SLT / Lead Members then it will be up to the commissioning contact officers to implement along with the forthcoming implementation of the ProcurementCommissioning Hub.
Who:
Who are the people likely to be affected by this proposal?
How have you consulted with the people who are likely to be affected? / Those affected by any proposal will depend upon the findings of the advice services review and the resulting policy decision made by SLT/Lead Members. It is likely that contracts will end as a result of any duplication in service being identified. Therefore in each instance the contract in question and the decision to cease commissioning it will have to be equality impact assessed and the client & service user consulted with. These can only be carried out once a potential duplication has been identified and any policy decision made.
Consultation with individual contract users and the client service areas/organisations will take place through the commissioning officers.
Measures:
How will you know you have achieved your aims?
What are your measures / indicators of success? / Benefits for the Authority in terms of efficiencies, removing duplication and a reduction in costs.
Also aligned with outcomes identified in the Council Plan.
Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal e.g Welfare Reforms / Welfare Reforms: A commissioning review of Welfare Rights, carried out in 2011, recommended that the current Welfare Rights Service should be further developed to increase co-ordination with third sector agencies such as the CAB and shelter
A Welsh Government review, published in May, recommended the establishment of Regional and Local Advice Networks to increase co-ordination and efficiency between advice providers across the sector, to look at opportunities for sharing resources (such as locations) and to promote joint funding opportunities.
The current Third Sector Commissioning Review includes analysis of contracts for advice services, including the CAB.
At the end of 2012, advice services was proposed and agreed as a strategic assessment theme. However, a scoping workshop later concluded that whilst there were opportunities to improve co-ordination of services and strengthen provision of advice, the increasing demand for these services make it unlikely to yield savings.

Screening Tool

As part of our annual Equality Return we have to evidence what we have actively done to support people with Protected Characteristics within our services, and also evidence where we may have a negative impact what we are doing to reduce the impact.Please place a ‘+’ or ‘-‘symbol in every box to indicate whether your proposalwith have a positive or negative affect any of theprotected characteristics. If there is no impact at all place ‘n/a’. If there is a positive and negative effect indicate both:

Carers / Age
CYP
-18 / Age
Adults
18+ / Disability / Gender / Sex / Pregnancy and Maternity / Race/ Ethnicity / Religion or Belief / Sexual Orientation / Marriage and Civil Partnership / Gender Reassignment
Q1
Would this proposal significantly affect how functions are delivered to any of these groups? / N/A at this stage of the review / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
Q2
Would this discriminate any of these groups? / N/A at this stage of the review / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
Q3
Would this proposal advance the equality of opportunity for these groups? / N/A at this stage of the review / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
Q4
Would this promote good relations between these groups and the wider community? / N/A at this stage of the review / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A

Where you have identified a positive impact (+) above, please describe this:

Where you have identified no impact (n/a) above, please describe this:

If you have indicated a possible negative effect on any Protected Characteristic then please complete therelevant sections of the Matrix below. You need to consider:

What is the likely scale of the impact and how this can be reduced? N/A at this stage of the review

Who are the people who are likely to be affected by this proposal? N/A at this stage

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Equality Impact Assessment

List what information have you used to identify these issues e.g. consultation, stakeholder involvement, reports, data … / Based on the information you have gathered give a summary of key issues that have been identified. / How will we mitigate these issues to improve the service? / Who is responsible officer for delivering the mitigation? / Which other departments will you work with to achieve this? / By when / Service Plan Reference
Carers
Age CYP -18
Age Adult +18
Disability
Gender / Sex
Pregnancy and Maternity
Race/ Ethnicity
Religion or Belief
Sexual Orientation
Marriage and Civil Partnership
Gender Reassignment

Please complete this text box within12 months of implementation of the proposal:

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