Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many equalities impact assessments her Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

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.

The Department promotes awareness of the Duty as well as relevant analytical and other tools to help ensure compliance with the Duty in departmental decision making.