Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what information the Government holds on the number of equality impact analyses undertaken by government departments in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.

Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, all Government Departments are required to consider the potential impact of key decisions on groups with protected characteristics and keep a record of their decision-making process. The scope and nature of the analysis undertaken can vary considerably depending on the decision in question and the extent to which equalities considerations are relevant.

Public bodies have flexibility in how they document their analysis under the PSED and are not explicitly required under the legislation to produce an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA). The evidence which Departments can use to demonstrate their compliance under the PSED could, for example, include meeting notes and advice in Ministerial submissions.

The Government Equalities Office does not, therefore, keep a central record of how many EIAs are completed by all Departments as a simple tally of how many EIAs have been produced would not reflect the full extent to which equalities have been considered across the board.