Equality Impact Assessments (EqIA)
What is an equality impact assessment?
It is a systematic way of taking equal opportunities into consideration when making a decision.
Why do we do it?
We do it for three good reasons:
i. It helps us meet our public sector equality duty
The council has adopted an equal opportunities policy in line with the Equality Act 2010 and the specific duties introduced in July 2011 by the government to support the Act. The policy commits the council to carrying out equalities impact assessment as a means of ensuring that it meets its general duty enshrined in section 149 of the Act - the public sector equality duty.
ii. It is good practice in policy and strategy development
The council believes that it is good practice when developing a policy or strategy or a new initiative to anticipate the likely effects it may have and to take steps to prevent or minimise any likely harmful effects especially on persons who share any of the characteristics that are protected under the Equality Act. This ensures that disadvantaged groups are not further disadvantaged by the policies and strategies we adopt. It also ensures that councillors are properly advised of the potential effects of proposals before they take decisions that will inevitably affect people’s lives.
iii. It offers opportunity for stakeholder involvement in council decisions
Consultation is a key part of our equality impact assessment process so service users, staff and others likely to be affected by a proposal have the opportunity to get involved and shape the final decision. As part of the process, officers must obtain the views of people from the 'protected characteristics' to find out how the proposal is likely to affect them and use those views to inform their recommendations to Councillors.
How do we do it?
In Haringey, we do equality impact assessment by working through a number of questions using an equality impact assessment template:
- one for screening a proposal to decide if a full impact assessment is necessary
- one for a full equality impact assessment covering impact on service provision and on employment in the council
We have developed equality impact assessment guidance for officers to follow when conducting EqIAs. The guidance and templates can be downloaded from the attached files section below.
Using the right data
It is important that up to date information is used for conducting EqIAs. The most recent data can be found in:
- Equalities profile of Haringey (PDF, 677KB)
- Ward level Equalities data (Excel, 23KB)
- Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
- Haringey facts and figures
- Haringey Council employment profile (NB: hyperlink)
Do we publish results?
Yes, we do publish results of EqIAs. EqIAs should be attached to each report where there is a public decision and they should be published (via the policy team) as they are completed.
Equality Impact Assessments from previous years
- Equality Impact Assessments 2014-15
- For EqIAs before 2014-15 please see the appendices of the relevant committee papers
Attached files
| Filename | Filetype | Size |
|---|---|---|
| How to complete an Equalities Impact Assessment | 154.85 KB | |
| EQiA Template | DOCX | 135.19 KB |
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