Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the value and efficacy of equality impact assessments by public authorities in addressing the effects of policies on groups with protected characteristics.

It has never been a legal requirement in England to produce an equality impact assessment (EIA). The public sector equality duty and its supporting regulations require public bodies to have due regard to equality considerations when shaping policy and services, but it is up to individual public bodies to decide the best way to record how they have taken equality into account. The independent Steering Group which conducted a review of the PSED and reported in 2013 reported that some public bodies found EIAs helpful and that when carried out well they could highlight examples of good practice.