Equality impact assessment explained

An equality impact assessment (EqIA) is a process designed to ensure that a policy, project or scheme does not unlawfully discriminate against any protected characteristic.^[1]

Definition

The EqIA process aims to prevent discrimination against people who are members of a protected category. The Equality Act 2010 defines 9 protected characteristics:

• Race
• Religion or Belief
• Disability
• Sex
• Gender Reassignment
• Sexual Orientation
• Age
• Marriage or Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and Maternity

Within the UK, EqIAs is a means of ensuring that the public sector equality duty is met.^[2] On 19 November 2012, then Prime Minister David Cameron announced that EqIAs would no longer be undertaken for government decisions.^[3]

See also

• Social Impact Assessment
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Health Impact Assessment
• Sustainability Appraisal
• Equality Act 2006
• Equality Act 2010
• Equal Opportunity

Further reading

Bainard, J., Jones, A., Bateman, I., Lovett, A. & Fallon, P. (2001) Modellingenvironmental equity: access to air quality in Birmingham, England Environment andPlanning A 2002, volume 34, pages 695 – 716

Burningham, K. & Thrush, D. (2001) Local environmental concerns in disadvantagedneighbourhoods http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hsa/papers/burningham.pdf

Capacity Global (2004) BME Communities Tackling Environmental and SocialInequalities https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072429/http://www.aaenvironment.com/CapacityReport.pdf

Davies, A. and Binsted, A. (2007) Environmental Equity and Equality Impact Assessment in the United Kingdom (07-1568) - TRB Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM, TRB 86th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., January 2007 http://pubsindex.trb.org/view.aspx?id=801739

Friends of the Earth (2000) Pollution injustice http://www.foe.co.uk/pollutioninjustice

Friends of the Earth (2001) Pollution and Poverty – Breaking the Linkhttps://web.archive.org/web/20120222061657/http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/pollution_and_poverty.pdf

Gay, R., Jeffery, B., and Saunders, P. (2005) Burden of disease: environmentalinequalities https://web.archive.org/web/20110607135951/http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/publications/burden_disease/7_supporting_doc.pdf

Greater London Authority (2003) Equality Impact Assessments - How to do them https://web.archive.org/web/20081119034548/http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/equalities/eq_impact_assess.pdf

Transport for London (2004) Equality Impact Assessments - How to do them https://web.archive.org/web/20051108233715/http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/downloads/pdf/about-tfl/report-library/eia-06-04.pdf

Walker, G. Fairburn, J. Smith, G. and Mitchell, G. (2003) Environmental Quality andSocial Deprivation http://environmentagency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/deprived_comms_643874.pdf

External links

• UK Equality Act 2006
• UK Equality Bill 2009
• IDEA EqIA guidance
• TfL EqIA guidance

Notes and References

1. Book: Equality impact assessment quick-start guide: A step-by-step guide to integrating equality impact assessment into policymaking and review. March 2010. Equality and Human Rights Commission. 978-1-84206-269-2. 3. 26 February 2016. PDF document. Ready: What is an equality impact assessment?. https://web.archive.org/web/20151223234057/http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/PSD/equality_impact_assessment_guidance_quick-start_guide.pdf. 23 December 2015. dead.
2. Web site: 2015-11-03 . Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) . 2022-06-18 . www.glasgow.gov.uk . en.
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20389297 BBC News