Equality Impact Analysis Template

 

Equality Impact Analysis (EqIA) (or Equality Impact Assessment) aims to make services and public policy better for all service-users and staff and supports value for money by getting council services right first time.

 

We use EqIAs to enable us to consider all relevant information from an Equality requirements perspective when procuring or restructuring a service, or introducing a new policy or strategy. This analysis of impacts is then reflected in the relevant action plan to get the best outcomes for the Council, its staff and service-users.

 

EqIAs are used to analyse and assess how the Council’s work might impact differently on different groups of people. EqIAs help the Council to make good decisions for its service-users, staff and residents and provide evidence that those decision conform with the Council’s obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

 

This template sets out the steps you need to take to complete an EqIA for your project. If you have any questions about your EqIA and/or how to complete this form, please use the contact details at the end of this form.

 

Title of Project/Service/Policy

Core Capital Programme

Team/Department

IT & Digital

Directorate

Business Services

Provide a comprehensive description of your Project (Service/Policy, etc.) including its Purpose and Scope

The IT & Digital Core Capital Programme provides the basic technology capabilities that support the underpinning functioning of the organisation.  This programme funds activity that is described as Core Need.  This means providing technology that enables staff to connect, collaborate and work efficiently from wherever they need to be whilst operating highly available, secure and reliable services to support the continuous working of everything else.

 

Within the programme, there are five essential programmes of foundation activity:

 

1.    Compliance - supporting the Council in meeting its legal requirements & basic operational standards. This ensures the Council can continue to connect to central government & NHS services & maintain the technical controls to meet their compliance requirements. This includes certification for PSN, NHS Data Security & Protection Toolkit & Cyber Essentials Plus. These certifications underpin the council’s partnership working programmes & the supportive, connecting technology they rely on.

 

2.    Cyber Defence - Cyber-attacks are growing more frequent, more sophisticated & more damaging when they succeed.  Whilst compliance provides the basics to stay safe and secure, the Cyber Defence Programme proactively enhances our organisation’s resilience.

 

3.    IT Core Infrastructure - With a basic need to store and manipulate data, these services provide the foundation to support the working of everything else.  These are mission critical heartbeat services that are essential to ensure the council keeps working on a resilient and reliable basis. 

 

4.    Staff Technology Refresh - This programme provides staff with the technology tools that they need to do their work more efficiently.  Refreshing equipment at regular intervals is vital to ensure that it stays up to date and safe to use. 

 

5.    Enterprise Resource Planning - This programme seeks to ensure that the pan enterprise systems that support core business processes and decision making remain reliable, resilient and readily available to keep all other services working.

 

 

Initial assessment of whether your project requires an EqIA

 

When answering these questions, please keep in mind all legally protected equality characteristics (sex/gender, gender reassignment, religion or belief, age, disability, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity) of the people actually or potentially receiving and benefiting from the services or the policy.  

 

In particular consider whether there are any potential equality related barriers that people may experience when getting to know about, accessing or receiving the service or the policy to be introduced or changed.      

 

Discuss the results of your Equality assessment with the Equality Lead for your department and agree whether improvements or changes need to be made to any aspect of your Project.

 

 

Question

Yes

No

 Don’t Know

1

Is there evidence of different needs, experiences, issues or priorities on the basis of the equality characteristics (listed below) in relation to the service or policy/strategy area?

Yes

 

 

2

Are there any proposed changes in the service/policy that may affect how services are run and/or used or the ways the policy will impact different groups?

 

No

 

3

Are there any proposed changes in the service/policy that may affect service-users/staff/residents directly?

 

No

 

4

Is there potential for, or evidence that, the service/policy may adversely affect inclusiveness or harm good relations between different groups of people? 

 

No

 

5

Is there any potential for, or evidence that any part of the service/aspects of the policy could have a direct or indirect discriminatory effect on service-users/staff/residents?

 

No

 

6

Is there any stakeholder (Council staff, residents, trade unions, service-users, VCSE organisations) concerned about actual, potential, or perceived discrimination/unequal treatment in the service or the Policy on the basis of the equality characteristics set out above that may lead to taking legal action against the Council?

 

No

 

7

Is there any evidence or indication of higher or lower uptake of the service by, or the impact of the policy on, people who share the equality characteristics set out above?

 

No

 

 

If you have answered “YES” or “DON’T KNOW” to any of the questions above, then the completion of an EqIA is necessary.

 

The need for an EqIA will depend on:

·         How many questions you have answered “yes”, or “don’t know” to;

·         The likelihood of the Council facing legal action in relation to the effects of service or the policy may have on groups sharing protected characteristics; and

·         The likelihood of adverse publicity and reputational damage for the Council.

 

 

Low risk

Medium risk

High risk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.           Update on previous EqIAs and outcomes of previous actions (if applicable)

 

What actions did you plan last time?

(List them from the previous EqIA)

What improved as a result?

What outcomes have these actions achieved?

What further actions do you need to take? (add these to the Action Plan below)

 

Not applicable

 

 

 

2.           Review of information, equality analysis and potential actions

 

Consider the actual or potential impact of your project (service, or policy) against each of the equality characteristics.

 

Protected characteristics

groups under the Equality Act 2010

What do you know?

Summary of data about your service-users and/or staff

What do people tell you?

Summary of service-user and/or staff feedback

What does this mean?

Impacts identified from data and feedback (actual and potential)

What can you do?

All potential actions to:

·   advance equality of opportunity,

·   eliminate discrimination, and

·   foster good relations

Age

All staff & partners over employment age

Feedback collected during and at the end of each project within the programme

IT&D adopt a continual improvement approach throughout the service

Proactively act on Lessons Learnt reports to inform future projects

Disability

Some users have specific technology needs

Information is input into projects via Senior User role or need is identified through the Service Hub

Specific hardware or software may be identified

Referral via IT&D Accessibility Officer ensures right solution is identified.

Gender reassignment

Technology projects are gender neutral.  Data held within business systems is the responsibility of the business system administrator / information asset owner.

IT projects within the core programme deal with the technical environment within which assets are hosted and are not concerned with the specific detail of business applications.

The Core Programme is not responsible for individual application administration.

Review each project at initiation

Pregnancy and maternity

Devices that don’t connect to the network for defined periods of time are dropped from the network for security & license reasons.

People on maternity leave need to be able to log in after extended periods of absence and it is vital that their user experience of connecting to the network is uninterrupted.

A proactive process is in place to cover long periods of absence to ensure that staff entitled to do so, can connect to the network whenever they need to.

Due to the security implications of access management, this is audited periodically.

Race/ethnicity

Including migrants, refugees and asylum seekers

Core technology projects are user agnostic

N/A

N/A

Review periodically

Religion or belief

Core technology projects are user agnostic

N/A

N/A

Review periodically

Sex/Gender

Core technology projects are user agnostic

N/A

N/A

Review periodically

Sexual orientation

Core technology projects are user agnostic

N/A

N/A

Review periodically

Marriage and civil partnership

Core technology projects are user agnostic

N/A

N/A

Review periodically

Impacts on community cohesion

Technology services enabled by this programme allow staff to connect securely, collaborate with partners and work efficiently from wherever they need to be to carry out their resident facing services.

Projects implemented through the Core Programme help teams stay connected and interact with service users.

Requirements gathering at the outset of a project, captures user requirements and informs outcomes sought

Standard project management methodologies and project governance provides oversight and review.

 

Additional categories

(identified locally as potentially causing / worsening inequality)

 

Characteristic

What do you know?

What do people tell you?

What does this mean?

What can you do?

Rurality

Core technology projects are geographically agnostic, services are designed to enable working from any location

Poor signal reception in some rural areas possible

Alternative solutions are offered to accommodate this

Identify affected spots and proactively offer alternative solutions

Carers

Technology services support hybrid working for maximum flexibility

Staff survey feedback confirms satisfaction with technology tools

Technology services support flexible ways of working

Continue to enable hybrid working

Other groups that may be differently affected (including but not only: homeless people, substance users, care leavers)

Our core programme projects factor social value in at the procurement stage

People ask regularly how equipment can be reused and repurposed to serve disadvantaged groups

The scale of our work enables social value elements to be factored in at the procurement stage

Repurpose equipment as determined by the Digital Inclusion Board

Assessment of overall impacts and any further recommendations - include assessment of cumulative impacts (where a change in one service/policy/project may have an impact on another)

The IT & Digital Core Capital Programme provides the basic technology capabilities that support the underpinning functioning of the organisation.  These services are essential to support the working of everything else.  No significant impacts are expected. However, to minimise and prevent the unintended consequences of changes arising from the investment in technology, colleagues from HR&OD and the IT Accessibility function will be engaged during the process of development and implementation of the capital schemes within this portfolio of work.

 

 

3.           List detailed data and/or community feedback that informed your EqIA

 

Source and type of data (e.g. research, or direct engagement (interviews), responses to questionnaires, etc.)

Date

Gaps in data

Actions to fill these gaps: who else do you need to engage with?

(add these to the Action Plan below, with a timeframe)

Review of Capital Forward Plan and Core Plan Projects

14/10/21

n/a

Annual review at IT&D Capital Board to ensure updated in line with programme activity

4.      Prioritised Action Plan

NB: These actions must now be transferred to service or business plans and monitored to ensure they achieve the outcomes identified.

 

Impact identified and group(s) affected

Action planned

Expected outcome

Measure of success

Timeframe

Annual review to ensure updated in line with programme activity

Review at IT&D Capital Board

Activity remains aligned with user base

Via benefits identified in each project

Annual activity

Age: ensure all projects meet user needs

Proactively act on Lessons Learnt reports to inform future projects

User satisfaction

User feedback

Specific to each project

Disability: Specific hardware or software may be identified

Referral via IT&D Accessibility Officer ensures right solution is identified.

Solutions will be designed with optimal accessibility in mind

Feedback on use

Specific to each project

Pregnancy / maternity: ensure that staff entitled to do so, can connect to the network whenever they need to

Due to the security implications of access management, this is audited periodically.

Uninterrupted access for authorised business users

Process working as designed and verified periodically via audit

Ongoing

(Add more rows as needed)

 

EqIA sign-off: (for the EqIA to be final an email must be sent from the relevant people agreeing it, or this section must be signed)

 

Staff member competing Equality Impact Analysis: Nicky Wilkins                                              Date: 3rd November 2021

 

Directorate Management Team rep or Head of Service: Matt Scott                                            Date: November 2021

 

Equality lead: Sarah Tighe-Ford                                                                                                            Date: 4th November 2021