Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many equalities impact assessments her Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (the Duty), all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. While ‘equality impact assessments’ (EIAs) may be produced, there is no legal requirement for duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format.

The Government Legal Department (GLD) is the Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) HR shared service provider and is therefore responsible for EIAs at the AGO. In the last five years, GLD has completed four EIAs when making substantive changes to HR policies and procedures (two EIAs in 2021 and two in 2023).

The AGO has completed no EIAs relating to policy changes. This aligns with its role as a department that does not hold policy in its own right.