Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (the Duty) all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions. While ‘equality impact assessments’ may be produced, there is no legal requirement for duty assessments to be recorded in a specific format. We do not centrally monitor assessments in this area but are confident that we are meeting the Duty in our decision-making processes.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much the Department spent on unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
Staff at the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland undertake unconscious bias training through Civil Service Learning at no direct cost to the Office.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
A number of staff undertake a wide range of functions and activities including equality, diversity or inclusion responsibilities, which are undertaken in conjunction with other duties and not specifically referenced in job titles.