Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) Equality Impact Assessments and (b) equality screenings have been produced by her Department in the last three months.

In line with the Equality Act 2010, Defra encourages and promotes the completion of Equality Impact Assessments to ensure our policies and decisions consider impacts on protected groups.

Defra does not hold information centrally on Equality Impact Assessments that have been produced by the department and is therefore unable provide details on the number produced. We do not carry out Equality Screenings, instead requiring teams to always demonstrate due regard to the aims of the Act and use the Equality Impact Assessment form.

To provide the information requested Defra would be required to contact all teams and this would incur disproportionate costs.