Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many equality impact assessments undertaken by the Ministry of Justice since December 2019 identified the possibility of indirect discrimination on the basis of any of the protected characteristics defined by law; and in relation to such assessments, on how many occasions they (1) altered the policy proposal, (2) decided not to proceed with the policy proposal, or (3) continued the policy proposal without amendment.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) ensures that assessment of the equalities impacts of its policy proposals is integrated in the development, implementation and review of its policies. Where potential negative impacts are identified, including the potential for indirect discrimination, we take the necessary mitigating actions or adopt alternative approaches. We do not keep central records of all our equality assessments undertaken since December 2019 but publish our policy consultation equality assessments regularly on the MoJ consultation hub which is publicly available on GOV.UK: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/consultation_finder/.