Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many equality impact assessments have been carried out in the last three years on public service reforms which impact on (a) departmental staff and (b) members of the public; and if he will make a statement.

​It is the responsibility of policy leads to conduct Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) where appropriate and as such there is no central record of the number of assessments made. To provide you with this would require us to gather information from over 200 posts and departments and the cost of doing this would be disproportionate and exceed the appropriate cost limit. Policy leads are however encouraged to engage with the relevant staff support groups early on in policy formation to ensure that no group are disproportionately or disadvantaged. The FCO's Diversity and Inclusion Team provides expert guidance and support, where needed, to ensure EIAs are conducted effectively.