Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment Toolkit

This Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment (EQIA) Tool provides a way to assess the potential impact of policies or functions on people who currently experience disadvantage in their dealings with the SEHD/NHSScotland whether as patients, carers, members of the public or members of staff.
The EQIA is intended to support recognition of the rights accorded to vulnerable groups under the developing SEHD/NHSScotland Equality and Diversity approach and the current legislative and policy framework.
The EQIA should be used as early as possible in the development of policies and functions.
Failure to assess the likely impact of new or ongoing work could lead to legal challenge as well as the inability of services to provide care for those who need it most.
There may well be policy initiatives that are assessed as having no specific impact on anybody from a disadvantaged community, but it is essential that you follow the process outlined and are able to provide evidence for this decision.
The Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment Tool is based on the principles outlined below and uses focused questions to elicit information which might otherwise not come to the attention of decision-makers. It draws heavily from a number of existing Impact Assessment Tools.

2. GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Central to the development of an NHS in Scotland which places the patient at the centre of its services, is the need for it to be aware of and responsive to the needs of everyone in Scotland including those who currently experience difficulty in accessing services whether on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race/ethnicity, religion/faith and/or sexual orientation.
In order to achieve this it is essential to explicitly consider the equality and diversity impacts of all policy developments and service provision.
This involves an assessment of the impact of the outcomes a proposed initiative would produce for people from equality groups: it is not accomplished by asserting the initiative would treat everyone the same.
It must be applied early in the policy development process

THE TEN STAGES OF EFFECTIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT:

STEP 1

How does the policy, function, service development or change fit in to our wider aims?

In undertaking an EQIA, the following questions will prove useful:

How will you put the policy into practice, and who will be responsible for it?
What outcomes do you want to achieve with the policy?
How will you measure progress towards and/or achievement of those outcomes?
Who are the key stakeholders in relation to the policy?
How does the policy relate to other authorities' policies in this area?
How does your organisation interface with other bodies in relation to the implementation of this policy?
How will you measure the effectiveness of your impact assessment?

Where more than one organisation or agency is involved in implementation or where the policy links with other policies, arrangements should be put in place to involve others in the impact assessment process where relevant.

STEP 2

Will we have to examine available data and research, and collect other information?

You will need to consider how you will identify the data required and how to collect any other data that will enable you to assess the likely impact of the policy. You may already collect data, hold relevant monitoring reports, or have conducted research exercises. It is recommended that organisations work with others in their own sectors and across sectors to share information and identify any gaps in data.

The Rapid Impact Checklist (Step 3) may help to identify the types of information required, and the gaps in available information.

You will find the following types of information useful:

Demographic data and other statistics, including census findings
Recent research findings including studies of deprivation
The results of consultations or recent surveys
The results of equality monitoring data, from your Department, Board and other public bodies
Information from groups and agencies directly in touch with particular groups in the communities you serve, for example qualitative studies by trade unions and voluntary and community organisations
Comparison between your policies and functions and similar policies and functions in other departments and public bodies
Analysis of records of public enquiries about your department and/or services or complaints about them
Analysis of complaints of discrimination by public bodies in employment or service delivery
Recommendations of inspection and audit reports

It is important to involve service-users at an early stage in the policy-making process in order to mitigate any potentially negative factors. ²⁵ You may therefore consider sharing information that is already in the public domain with the people who are likely to be affected by your policy. They will then be better able to understand the basis for your decisions.

In deciding how and what information/data should be collected and used, you should consider:

? Who needs to be involved in determining what information we need (researchers, statisticians, community representatives and so on)?

? What information is needed to ensure that all perspectives are taken into account?

? What then do we need to know specifically in relation to this policy?

? What existing quantitative data is available in-house and externally?

? What existing qualitative or evaluative research is available in-house and externally?

? Is there a need to generate new primary data?

? Is there a need for secondary analysis of existing data?

? If so, who will be responsible for undertaking and overseeing this work?

? Who will be partners in information gathering?

? Is there a need to consult? If so, how can we ensure it is inclusive?

? Who will sign-off the final data and information assessment?

You should consider the above questions in order to ensure that this part of the impact assessment is sufficiently wide, rigorous and inclusive.

You should plan how you are going to identify, collect and assess existing and new data and information. This is a critical part of your impact assessment, as it will provide the evidence base for later decisions on the content of the proposed policy, and also whether to proceed with implementation. In addition, you should also consider the following questions and answers:

Q	Who needs to be involved in the planning stage?
A	It will be important to involve all the relevant individuals and groups researchers, statisticians, experts, community groups to ensure that the data collection is sufficiently wide and covers the relevant information.
Q	What data and information do you have in-house?
A	After having agreed what data and information you need, you should check the in-house quantitative databases and qualitative reports to see to what extent they meet your needs.
Q	What data and information is available externally?
A	Here you should pro-actively identify research and data that is available from external sources. It is important to check the validity of both in-house and external data to ensure you assess appropriately and hence draw reliable conclusions from it.
Q	Do you need new data and research?
A	If there are information gaps in some of the areas where you feel you need more data, you should consider generating primary data. Here it will be important to have clear criteria for the award of the research responsibilities, be it to internal staff or to an external researcher, in order to ensure you ultimately get the information you need.
Q	Is your new and existing data using the appropriate ethnic categories?
A	You should use the Census 2001 ethnic categories. However, you should also consider whether these ethnic categories capture the information you need i.e. they may not reflect sufficiently the ethnic diversity in your area. For more information you should also refer to the CRE's guidance on ethnic monitoring http://www.cre.gov.uk/duty/scotland/pdfs/scot_pg_localgov.pdf
Q	Are there any data protection and human rights implications in data collection and analysis?
A	There are data protection and human rights implications. Please see the web link above.

STEP 3

Completing a Rapid Impact Checklist (RIC)

Step 3 in the EQIA process enables you to screen policies and functions for potential impact on the equality target groups and other relevant groups. It is part of the development and planning process of any piece of work.

To meet the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, you should work on the assumption that until you have had a chance to complete a RIC, all proposed policies or functions are relevant to the race equality duty.

The checklist is intended to highlight potential health and wellbeing impacts on equality and other groups based on the knowledge and understanding of the stakeholders who participate. This then helps to identify any ways in which the policy or function should be changed, or areas where further evidence may be required in order to propose recommendations.

The checklist should be used in a group exercise with a group of stakeholders who bring different perspectives. It is important to include people who have a good understanding of the policy or function (e.g. those involved in policy development) as well as people with knowledge of the equality target groups and other stakeholders. Experience suggests that the checklist can be completed within a 2-hour exercise involving 6-12 stakeholders. You may need to have more than one group to cover the relevant interests and perspectives. Following these you should compile a single summary report using the summary sheet provided.

Population groups

First the group identifies the different groups who may be affected by the policy or function:

The intended target group(s) including equality groups as defined in the EQIA
Other groups who may receive the intervention
Groups who may be affected unintentionally (positively or negatively)
People who are excluded from the benefits of the proposal
Staff involved in implementing or delivering the policy or function

Specifically consider other groups of people who are socially excluded:

Equality groups
Low income groups
Different age groups
Different genders
Those living in specific geographical areas (rural/urban/deprived areas)
Target Groups (e.g. People from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, Disabled People, People with Learning Disabilities, Homeless People, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Gypsy/Travellers).

Not all of these groups will be relevant. Define the relevant groups for the specific policy or function and add them to the checklist form. Groups need not be mutually exclusive.

Impacts

Next, use the checklist systematically to consider possible impacts on health and wellbeing. This is intended to help the group think broadly about indirect and unintended impacts as well as direct, intended ones. Not all the impacts on the checklist will be relevant and they are not mutually exclusive. However, the group should go through all the influences on the list to pick up unexpected impacts and areas where different members of the group have different ideas about likely impact. For each heading the group should consider what impacts may apply and which groups may bear those impacts. The impacts should then be summarised on the summary sheet.

Further evidence

Having identified impacts, ask:

Are there uncertainties that may affect our recommendations?
What else do we need to know to inform these?
What do we need to do to monitor impacts that arise after the proposal is implemented?

If we need to know more, consider the questions to be answered and document these on the summary sheet.

Make recommendations

Having identified the impacts, consider whether the proposal should be amended, or other actions taken, to maximise positive and minimise negative impacts. If so, write recommendations on the summary sheet.

Finally, is a more detailed assessment required?

When negative impacts on the groups are identified, it is likely that a full EQIA will need to be undertaken. If a decision is taken not to proceed with a full EQIA in this circumstance, you must be able to justify this.

Once section one has been completed the project is only required to go through the second stage of the EQIA if:

any equality target group or sub section of an equality target group would be negatively affected
and that impact is assessed as of high significance.

Even if the exercise highlights impacts that do not differentially affect a target group, you may need to carry out a fuller health impact assessment (HIA). A health impact assessment should be done when it will be useful to aid decision making. This could be, for example, if the exercise highlighted impacts on health and wellbeing that affected the whole population or other disadvantaged groups, and there is uncertainty about which impacts are most significant and how, or if, the policy should be adjusted. You may wish to prioritise HIA when:

Already vulnerable groups of people may be disadvantaged by a proposal.
The proposal has impacts over a large geographical area and large population.
Some results of the proposal may be irreversible.
There is conflict or disagreement about the proposal and a HIA may help to resolve it.
It is possible to change the proposal or implement other actions if necessary.
Time, money and expertise are available for further assessment.

Support for detailed HIA should be sought from your Director of Public Health and/or the Scottish Health Impact Assessment Network ( info@phis.csa.scot.nhs.uk ).

The Scottish HIA Network can also provide further advice and information on using the Rapid Impact Checklist.

The completed RIC report should be kept on file. It may be required for audit purposes.

It may be useful for the policy or function to go through the full EQIA process even if only positive impact has been identified, or the impact is of low significance. This would allow a thorough assessment to take place.

If you decide that the policy or function is not relevant to the duty to promote race equality, or equality based on the other strands, you should make sure the decision is duly authorised and recorded.

PLEASE NOTE

The RIC template can be found under section 3.1. You should now complete this template before progressing on to Step Four of the process.

STEP 4

How do we assess the likely impact of the proposed policy?

You can use the information you have gathered and analysed to decide whether your policy proposal could affect equality target groups differently, and whether any of these differences constitute an adverse impact. This information should be checked for both validity and accuracy. Limitations of both quantitative and qualitative forms of data should be taken into account during the process.

If the results of your analysis lead to a finding of potential adverse impact and/or unlawful discrimination you will need to investigate the processes and tackle any barriers or failings you find. You may need to consider alternative ways to achieve your policy objectives.

To reach a view on the potential impact you should consider the following questions:

? Is there an adverse impact on any equality group in respect of either the quantitative or qualitative data?

? Could the way the policy is carried out have an adverse impact on either:

Equality of opportunity for some groups?
Good relations between different groups?

? Does the policy promote equality of opportunity and/or good relations?

? Is the policy directly or indirectly discriminatory, and, if so, can the latter be justified?

? Is the policy intended to increase equality of opportunity by permitting positive action to redress disadvantages? If so, is it lawful?

? Is further research or consultation necessary?

? Would this research be proportionate to the importance of the proposed policy?

Positive Action: any policy targeted at a particular group by definition will have a differential impact on other groups. The assessment of this impact must take into account whether it is lawful and justifiable to address the needs of a particular group and also whether it promotes equality of opportunity and good relations.

STEP 5

What do we do if we find potential adverse impact?

If your assessment shows that your policy is likely to have an adverse impact on some groups, you need to consider ways of dealing with this. You could make changes to the policy, or in the way you plan to implement it, in order to remove or lessen the adverse impact. You may choose to consider a different policy altogether, which still achieves the aims and objectives of your original proposal, but avoids any adverse impact on equality.

Before making a decision, you should also check that by adopting an option that reduces adverse impact on one group you do not create adverse impact on another group. If this is unavoidable you will need to satisfy yourself that you can justify this. You should seek legal advice on the issue of whether you can justify what may be an indirectly discriminatory policy. Here you need to know if you will be able to argue credibly that there was no non-discriminatory alternatives possible that would have achieved the same policy aims and objectives.

You may find the following questions useful if considering different policy options:

? Are there any alternative measures or mitigation that could be taken which would achieve the desired aim without the identified adverse impact?

? If so, could the alternative measures or mitigation lead to adverse impact for other racial or other equality groups?

? How far does each option advance or restrict the three strands of the race equality duty?

? If you do not adopt the option that is better for the race equality duty, what are the consequences for the racial groups affected by each option, and what are the consequences for you?

? Can you justify proceeding with an indirectly discriminatory policy i.e. can you argue credibly that the policy aims and objectives were essential and justifiable to the organisation and that the means you employed in achieving them were appropriate and necessary?

STEP 6

Will we need to commission further research before making our decision?

If there are gaps in your previous or planned consultation or research you will need to consider how best to address this:

? Is additional consultation or research desirable to investigate the impacts of the proposal on diverse groups?

? Does this mean the collection of new primary data?

? Does this mean the further analysis of existing data?

? Are there any experts/relevant groups/members of the public that can be contacted to get further views or evidence on the issues?

STEP 7

How and who do we consult about the proposed policy?

You must set out your arrangements for consulting the people who are likely to be affected by your policy proposals. This is a key part of your impact assessment and is an opportunity to obtain feedback on your proposed policy. The findings should have at least some influence in your decision making process.

Consultations must be proportionate and appropriate and you should make sure that you give yourself sufficient time to carry them out and feed the results into your final decision making.

In deciding who to consult, and what methods should be adopted, you should consider the following questions:

? How do we determine who will be affected by the policy?

? Who then is likely to be affected by the policy?

? Do evaluations show that previous attempts at consultation with particular groups were unsuccessful?

? How do we ensure that those affected are consulted effectively?

? What methods of consultation will be used and at which stages of the impact assessment?

? How will information be made available to those consulted?

? Will the information be accessible to all minority groups and how will we know this?

? What resources are available to encourage full participation by marginalised groups?

You should consider the Informing, Engaging and Consulting Guidance, when planning an inclusive consultation, www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/IECguidance.pdf The Informing, Engaging and Consulting guidance is based on the following principles:

The consultation methods you use should be tailored to the groups you want to reach.
The process should be properly planned with clear objectives and named responsibilities,
a timetabled action plan, training for staff, and clear explanations for consultees.
There should be monitoring and assessment of the consultation methods and outcomes,
with a willingness to change these if they are not genuinely inclusive.
The consultation methods used should enable the consultees to have enough time and opportunity to respond effectively.

You will also find it helpful to match the consultation methods you use to the subject of the policy and to the kind of information you are hoping to get.

The consultation methods used should enable the consultees to have enough time and opportunity to respond effectively.
Use focus groups so that you can explore issues in greater detail with a few individuals.
Use existing mechanisms, where possible, to avoid duplication of effort. For example, each Board area has a Black and Minority Ethnic Consultative Forum as part of its Fair for All implementation work this would be a good starting point for any race specific consultation process.
Use written questionnaires or interview surveys to reach a wider audience, or a particular cross-section of your local community.
Set up lay advisory groups for regular discussion and consultation and choose members for their special skills or experience.
You should ensure that you consult all those likely to be affected by the policy, making sure not to forget any equality groups.
Consult internally with all staff, including trade unions and staff associations.
Consult externally with relevant stakeholders who are interested in promoting equality from individuals to community groups.

You need to ensure that you make your consultation accessible to all groups.

STEP 8

How do we decide whether to introduce the policy?

The decision should be based on the following key factors:

The aims and objectives of the policy.
The results of the impact assessment.
The relative merits of other policies.
The results of your consultation.

You should consider the following questions in making your decision on whether to introduce the policy:

? Is there any adverse impact identified?

? What are the main consultation findings and what influence do they have on the proposed policy?

? Are there any alternative measures or mitigation that could be taken which would achieve the desired aim without the adverse impact identified?

? Can the adverse impact or indirect discrimination be justified?

? How can you justify proceeding with an indirectly discriminatory policy i.e. can you credibly argue that the policy objectives were essential and justifiable to the organisation and that the means you employed in achieving them were appropriate and necessary?

If you decide to proceed with the policy, regardless of having identified adverse impact, you must satisfy yourself that you can justify this decision.

Below are some important points that you should consider when deciding on whether to introduce a policy, especially if adverse impact has been identified.

Equality Impact Assessment shows that the policy is:

Directly discriminatory in any of the areas covered by legislation, the policy is unlawful and should be rejected. Such a discriminatory policy cannot be justified and you should find other ways of achieving your goals.
Indirectly discriminatory you should also reject it, unless you are satisfied that you can justify the policy under legislation. This means you would probably have to show successfully in court that:
- The policy was necessary to the authority effectively carrying out its functions.
- The organisation was unable to find another way of achieving the policy aims and objectives that had a less discriminatory effect.
- The organisation considers that the means it employed to achieve its policy aims and objectives were proportionate, necessary and appropriate.

If the policy shows that it may not promote equality of opportunity or good relations, you should consider alternatives, including mitigating measures to lessen negative impact, and increase the likelihood of promotion.

Finally you should ensure that you have recorded your conclusions at each part of the decision-making process. These conclusions can then be brought together into an impact assessment report that clearly demonstrates the relative weight given to particular forms of data, including the contributions made by consultees during the consultation. You should provide the reasons for your decision and recommend what is needed to ensure an effective and fair implementation of the policy, including any arrangements for training and regular monitoring post-implementation.

STEP 9

How do we ensure effective monitoring of the proposed policy?

To meet legislation, you will need to make arrangements to monitor the policy regularly. It is a requirement to monitor existing policies for any adverse impact. You should therefore consider whether your normal monitoring arrangements are suitable for the purpose and if not, how they could be revised accordingly.

You should not therefore consider the impact assessment as a one-off exercise. As you will only know the actual impact of your proposed policy when you have put it into practice, we would advise you to plan a review as soon as you can to see how the policy is working in practice.

You should consider the following questions when planning how to monitor the new policy:

? Do you think the policy should be piloted before full implementation, to check for any adverse impact?

? How will the policy be monitored after full implementation?

? Have you planned reviews of the policy? If so, how often and who will be responsible?

? Will you carry out a further impact assessment and consultation to check if the policy is not resulting in adverse impact? If so, when is this likely?

? Will you consider how to improve the policy, particularly in respect of promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations?

STEP 10

How should we publish the results of assessments and consultations?

Under the specific duty to publish a Race Equality Scheme, you must also set out your arrangements for publishing the results of the assessments, consultations and monitoring carried out to meet the duty and make these available. Within the context of the EQIA, these arrangements should be broadened to include the other equality strands.

This part of the EQIA process (based on the duties outlined in the RRAA) is about accountability. It aims to make sure that your monitoring, assessment and consultation activities and their results are clear and plain to the public.

What information will be published?

You should publish summaries of your impact assessment reports annually, distribute them widely and make more detailed reports available to those who ask for them.

What will be published in an impact assessment report?

You should consider publishing the following:

A description and explanation of the proposed policy and a brief account of how you assessed its possible affects.
A summary of the results of your assessment, including the likely impact of the proposed policy on promoting race equality.
Any available technical reports, and how to get them.
A review of your proposed policy (or policy options) in the light of your assessment.
A statement of what you plan to do next.

You should ensure that the report is published in a format that is accessible, taking into account the needs of particular groups.

« Previous | Contents | Next »

The Scottish Government

Publications

On this page: