Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what formal guidance the Government has issued to departments on equality impact assessments.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010 ensures that public bodies take account of equality and consider the potential impact of decisions on groups with protected characteristics. All bodies exercising public functions are subject to the PSED and need to understand the impact of their policies and services on people with different protected characteristics, and be able to provide evidence that this has been taken into account during the decision-making process. However, the legislation does not prescribe how this information needs to be recorded and it is not a statutory requirement in England to prepare or publish information in a particular form, such as an Equality Impact Assessment.

The Government Equalities Office has published a quick-start guide on the PSED and has circulated PSED guidance across Whitehall. It also provides advice to other departments on their legal obligations by delivering workshops and presentations to staff. A range of guidance on the PSED is also available from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.