eia - ccs budget savings web viewit will also help to identify and address any potential...

Equality Impact Assessment Template

Compulsory for all proposals

Throughout this document we use the word ‘proposal’ to refer to what we are assessing. In this context, the term includes the different things that we do, including strategies, functions, procedures, practices, policies, initiatives and projects.

Wrexham County Borough Council has developed this template with support from the Equality and Human Rights Commission template and the Welsh Local Government Association.

This template covers all equality assessment needs from initial screening to a full Impact Assessment, by following the 6 steps:

1. Screening the equality needs of the policy2. Data collection and evidence3. Involvement and consultation 4. Assessing impact and strengthening the policy5. Procurement and partnerships6. Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing

The aim of an equality impact assessment (EIA) is to ensure that equality issues have been consciously considered throughout the decision making processes of the work we do.

The EIA highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals in terms of equality. It therefore helps to ensure we have considered everyone affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our requirements under the general equality duties.

There is a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals. Our approach to EIAs will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential discriminatory effects before introducing something new or changing way we work and reduce the risk of potential legal challenges.

When carrying out an EIA you should consider both the negative and positive consequences of your proposals. If a project is designed for a specific group, you also need to think about what potential effects it could have on other areas of equality.

Department C&CS

Responsible Officer Trevor Coxon

e-mail address [email protected]

Full job title Head of C&CS

Rationale:

Why is this proposal being considered?

What need is being addressed?

Budget savings proposals 2014/15.

Request from Head of Finance

Aim:

What is the intended outcome of the proposal?

To Assess any equality implications of the above proposals

How:

How will the policy be delivered, by whom and by when?

Dept Budget delivery overseen by Head of Dept. and Dept Management Team.

Who:

Who are the people likely to be affected by this proposal?

How have you consulted with the people who are likely to be affected?

Client Depts., staff, Members of the Council and in some cases the public.

Through the various iterations of the budget preparation reports, direct consultation with relevant users of services and public consultation on the proposals in Nov/Dec 2013.

Measures:

How will you know you have achieved your aims?

What are your measures / indicators of success?

I will have made the identified savings whilst minimising detrimental impact.

Budget monitoring and customer feedback.

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal e.g Welfare Reforms

N/A

Screening Tool

As part of our annual Equality Return we have to evidence what we have actively done to support people with Protected Characteristics within our services, and also evidence where we may have a negative impact what we are doing to reduce the impact.Please place a ‘+’ or ‘-‘symbol in every box to indicate whether your proposal with have a positive or negative affect any of the protected characteristics. If there is no impact at all place ‘n/a’. If there is a positive and negative effect indicate both:

Carers AgeCYP-18

AgeAdults18+

Disability Gender / Sex

Pregnancy and Maternity

Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation

Marriage and Civil Partnership

Gender Reassignment

Q1Would this proposal significantly affect how functions are delivered to any of these groups?

n/a + +/- + n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Q2Would this discriminate any of these groups?

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Q3Would this proposal advance the equality of opportunity for these groups?

n/a + n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Q4Would this promote good relations between these groups and the wider community?

n/a + n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

3

Where you have identified a positive impact (+) above, please describe this:

Where you have identified no impact (n/a) above, please describe this:

If you have indicated a possible negative effect on any Protected Characteristic then please complete the relevant sections of the Matrix below. You need to consider:

What is the likely scale of the impact and how this can be reduced?

Who are the people who are likely to be affected by this proposal?

Increased use on online mechanisms to access customer services and Connect increases the likelihood that younger people will access our services and read our publicity

The proposed changes to Customer Service access online 24/7 is additional to the existing provision enhancing service delivery to our customers and the functionality of our transactional service offering. It is a complete “win, win”.

Not required.

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Equality Impact Assessment

List what information have you used to identify these issues e.g. consultation, stakeholder involvement, reports, data …

Based on the information you have gathered give a summary of key issues that have been identified.

How will we mitigate these issues to improve the service?

Who is responsible officer for delivering the mitigation?

Which other departments will you work with to achieve this?

By when Service Plan Reference

Carers

Age CYP -18

Age Adult +18 Surveys on use of on line facilities

Some very elderly are less proficient or less willing to access information online

We will produce some hard copy publications for these groups and ensure that customer contact and service retains some face to face and

Customer Services Manager and the Communications and Social Media Manager

All By implementation date of each relevant project

C&CS

5







telephone provision

Disability

Gender / SexPregnancy and MaternityRace/ Ethnicity

Religion or BeliefSexual Orientation

Marriage and Civil PartnershipGender

6







Reassignment

Following responses received to the public consultation exercise on the budget proposals (2014/15) for C&CS further specific reviews were carried out on the impact of digitising Connect and Update on service users and measures such as increased provision of hard copy materials were implemented.

Further, specific EIAs have been carried out in respect of Customer Service and Automated Telephony proposals which have been the subject of discrete approval reports.

Revision to EIA completed 03/01/2014Trevor Coxon

Head of Corporate and Customer Services

Please complete this text box within 12 months of implementation of the proposal:

Was any mitigation applied or was the proposal delivered as originally planned?

Did the proposal deliver as planned or were there other results?

Were the impacts confined to the target group, or were other unanticipated groups affected and how?

7

Department C&CS

Responsible Officer Dave Coates


Full job title ICT Manager

Rationale:

Why is this proposal being considered?


Budget savings proposals 2014/15.

Request from Head of Finance

Aim:

What is the intended outcome of the proposal?

To Assess any equality implications of the above proposals

How:

How will the policy be delivered, by whom and by when?

Dept Budget delivery overseen by Head of Dept. and Dept Management Team.

Who:

Who are the people likely to be affected by this proposal?


Client Depts., ICT staff.

Through the various iterations of the budget preparation reports, direct consultation with relevant users of services and public consultation on the proposals in Nov/Dec 2013.

Measures:



I will have made the identified savings whilst minimising detrimental impact.

Budget monitoring and service continuity.

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal e.g Welfare Reforms

N/A

8

Screening Tool

As part of our annual Equality Return we have to evidence what we have actively done to support people with Protected Characteristics within our services, and also evidence where we may have a negative impact what we are doing to reduce the impact.Please place a ‘+’ or ‘-‘symbol in every box to indicate whether your proposal with have a positive or negative affect any of the protected characteristics. If there is no impact at all place ‘n/a’. If there is a positive and negative effect indicate both:

Carers AgeCYP-18

AgeAdults18+



Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation


Gender Reassignment









9

Where you have identified a positive impact (+) above, please describe this:

Where you have identified no impact (n/a) above, please describe this:

If you have indicated a possible negative effect on any Protected Characteristic then please complete the relevant sections of the Matrix below. You need to consider:



Not required.

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Equality Impact Assessment






By when

Service Plan Reference

Carers

Age CYP -18

Age Adult +18

Disability

Gender / SexPregnancy and MaternityRace/ Ethnicity

Religion or BeliefSexual Orientation

11






By when


Marriage and Civil PartnershipGender Reassignment

Revision to EIA completed 06/01/2014Dave Coates, ICT Manager

Trevor CoxonHead of Corporate and Customer Services

Please complete this text box within 12 months of implementation of the proposal:

Was any mitigation applied or was the proposal delivered as originally planned?

Did the proposal deliver as planned or were there other results?

Were the impacts confined to the target group, or were other unanticipated groups affected and how?

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September 2013

Department Corporate & Customer Services

Departmental reference number for this EIA [Please contact HoD secretary]Responsible Officer Sioned Wyn Davies


Full job title Legal Services Manager

Title of Proposal or Policy Minor restructure of Place Team

Rationale:

Why is it being considered?


In order to achieve savings and allow the Principal Legal Officer and Legal Executive to retire on 31 March 2014.

Aim:

What is the intended outcome of the proposal / policy?

Financial savings.

How:

How will it be delivered, by whom and by when?

The work currently undertaken by the two post holders will be allocated to the new post or shared amongst existing posts in the team.

Who:

Who are the people likely to be affected by this proposal or policy?


The team manager has been consulted and will allocate work to fee-earners at the appropriate level within the team.

Measures:



Implementing the proposal will achieve the saving as the posts will not be replaced, although a new post will be created.

Delivery of service is not affected.

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal. None.

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mailto:[email protected]

September 2013

Consider this in terms of: Statutory requirements; local policies e.g.

WCBC Housing Policy; Regional decisions e.g. those made by cross

county partnerships for your sector e.g. North Wales Chief Officers Board; and / or

National policies e.g. Welfare Reforms

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September 2013

Screening ToolAs part of our Annual Equality Return we have to evidence what we have actively done to support people with Protected Characteristics who receive our services. We also have to evidence what we are doing to reduce any negative impact.Note: Poverty and Welsh language and culture are not protected characteristics but we have included them because they are important considerations.Please place a ‘+’ or ‘-‘symbol in every box to indicate whether your proposal with have a positive or negative affect note: people may have one or more of the protected characteristics. If there is no impact at all place ‘n/a’. If there is a positive and negative effect indicate both i.e.. ‘+/-‘:

Carers AgeCYP

AgeAdults



Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation

Marriage and Civil Partners-hip

Gender Reassign-ment

Poverty Welsh language / culture


n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Q2Would this discriminate against any of these groups?






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September 2013

Where you have identified a positive impact (+) in the Screening Tool, please outline this briefly using bullet points:

Where you have identified no impact (n/a) in the Screening Tool, please outline this briefly using bullet points:

If you have indicated a possible negative effect on any Protected Characteristic within the screening tool, please complete the relevant sections of the Matrix below that correspond to that possible negative effect. You will need to consider:


Who are the people that are likely to be affected by this proposal, could they experience multiple disadvantage e.g. if they are young and have a disability.

There will be a reduction in the number of staff within the team delivering the service There is no perceived impact from an equalities perspective

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EIA: Are we being fair?

Please complete the relevant sections of the Matrix below that correspond to any ‘-‘ symbols you have recorded in the screening tool

List what information you have used to identify these issues e.g. consultation, stakeholder involvement, reports, data …


How will you mitigate these issues to improve the service?

Who is officer responsible for delivering the mitigation?


By when


CarersAge CYPAge AdultDisabilityGender / SexPregnancy and MaternityRace/ EthnicityReligion or BeliefSexual OrientationMarriage and Civil PartnershipGender Reassignment

17







By when


Welsh Language and CulturePoverty

Please respond to the following questions within 12 months of implementation of the proposal:

a) Was any mitigation applied or was the proposal delivered as originally planned prior to the Equality Impact Assessment?

b) Were the intended outcomes of the proposal achieved or were there other results?

c) Were the impacts confined to the people you initially thought would be effected, or were other people affected? How?

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Equality Impact Assessment: Are We Being Fair?





1. Screening the equality needs of the proposal2. Data collection and evidence3. Involvement and consultation 4. Assessing impact and strengthening the proposal5. Procurement and partnerships6. Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing


The EIA highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals in terms of equality. It therefore helps to ensure we have considered everyone who might be affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our legal responsibilities under the general equality duties (Single Equality Act 2010). There is also a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals.

19

Our approach to EIAs will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential discriminatory effects before introducing something new or changing the way we work and reduce the risk of potential legal challenges.

When carrying out an EIA you should consider both the positive and negative consequences of your proposals. If a project is designed for a specific group e.g. disabled people, you also need to think about what potential effects it could have on other areas of equality e.g. young people with a disability, BME people with a disability.

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Department Corporate & Customer Services

Departmental reference number for this EIA [Please contact HoD secretary]Responsible Officer Sioned Wyn Davies


Full job title Legal Services Manager

Title of Proposal or Policy Disbanding Insurance Risk Team

Rationale:



In order to achieve savings and allow the Team Manager to retire on 31 March 2014 without replacing him.

Aim:


Financial savings.

How:


The existing staff will be transferred as follows:-

Insurance officers (x2) to Finance i.e. new line manager. It has been agreed this will take effect on 1 January to allow a smooth hand over whilst the current manager remains in post.

Land Charges Officers (x2) & LLPG Officers (x2) to People Team (within Legal Services Section) i.e. new line manager. This transfer will take effect on 1 April 2014.

Who:



See above. As the only change is to the line manager no formal consultations were undertaken with staff, although proposals were discussed with relevant line managers. The Unions were advised of the proposals and raised

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mailto:[email protected]

no issues. Staff have been informed.

Measures:



Implementing the proposal will achieve the saving as the post will not be replaced.

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal.





None.

22


Carers AgeCYP

AgeAdults



Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation












23






No change in role of staff affected No change in service to be provided Staff will report to new line manager is main change New managers will take on some additional duties in connection with the new service function, but this in itself has no

equality impact.

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September 2013







CarersAge CYPAge AdultDisabilityGender / SexPregnancy and MaternityRace/ EthnicityReligion or BeliefSexual OrientationMarriage and Civil PartnershipGender Reassignment

Welsh Language and CulturePoverty





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September 2013

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September 2013

Equality Impact Assessment: Are We Being Fair?

Template





1. Screening the equality needs of the proposal2. Data collection and evidence3. Involvement and consultation 4. Assessing impact and strengthening the proposal5. Procurement and partnerships6. Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing


The EIA highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals in terms of equality. It therefore helps to ensure we have considered everyone who might be affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our legal responsibilities under the general equality duties (Single Equality Act 2010). There is also a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals.

Our approach to EIAs will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential discriminatory effects before introducing something new or changing the way we work and reduce the risk of potential legal challenges.

When carrying out an EIA you should consider both the positive and negative consequences of your proposals. If a project is designed for a specific group e.g. disabled people, you also need to think about what potential effects it could have on other areas of equality e.g. young people with a disability, BME people with a disability.

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September 2013

Department Corporate and Customer Services, Communications Unit

Departmental reference number for this EIA [Please contact HoD secretary]

CCS/EIA006

Responsible Officer Victoria Davies


Full job title Publicity Officer

Title of Proposal or Policy Update’s move to exclusive electronic format

Rationale:



It is being considered to remove design and print costs to save money from the budget

Aim:


Money will be saved in the Communications budget

How:

How will it be delivered, by whom and by when? Update will be delivered to staff via an online micro site. Staff will be alerted via an email link. The staff newsletter will continue to be compiled by Victoria Davies and will be issued on a monthly basis.

Who:



Staff likely to be affected by this are our ‘remote workers’, those members of staff who do not have regular access to a computer or those who may be on long term leave eg maternity.

Staff will be consulted via the Friday Bulletin and the staff newsletter

Measures: Achieving a saving in the budget

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September 2013



that will continue to be saved each year whilst staff are still able to continue to have access to the staff newsletter

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal.





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September 2013


Carers AgeCYP

AgeAdults



Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation




Remote workers


NA NA NA -+

NA+

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA -


NA NA NA -+

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA -


NA NA NA -+

NA + NA NA NA NA NA NA NA -

Q4Would this promote good

NA NA NA NA NA + NA NA NA NA NA NA NA -

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September 2013

relations between these groups and the wider community?





It may be that placing Update online on a micro site has benefits for some disability groups. For example deaf people could use it as a speaking site and those with visual impairment would be able to amend the size of the text and amend contrasts in a way that would not be possible with a hard copy version.

Women on maternity could still have access to the newsletter hosted on an external site by requesting the email link or via their mobile phone whereas they would not have access to the current newsletter on the intranet without citrix.

Update is a staff newsletter aimed at sharing information with staff across the authority. The majority of groups listed would not be affected by the move to publish it exclusively online however, we recognise that some people may have reduced access but this will be due to the nature of their job role (remote workers) not their protected characteristics, per se.

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September 2013


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September 2013







Remote workers HR data on staff numbers

IT data on account user numbers

Spoken to relevant officers at the Council

Council currently has 6381 staff, made up of 3,638 corporate and 2,743 schools based staff.

The majority of staff have an email account and access to a computer however approximately just less than a third, both corporately and schools based staff, do not. These are workers whose jobs do not require them to have regular access to a computer.

They currently have access to a hard copy of the staff newsletter

Transferring to a web based system could make it more difficult for these

Staff will be given the option of viewing the newsletter via their mobile phones or the link can be sent to their personal email addresses if requested.

In addition supervisors will be requested to print out a copy and place it on the staff noticeboard or other appropriate place in the workplace where staff will have access to it

We will encourage anyone who is having difficulty accessing

Victoria Davies

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September 2013






staff to have access to ‘Update’

the newsletter for whatever reason to alert their line manager and we will endeavour to ensure any problems are resolved.

Disability Speaking to officers in the Council

Some people with disabilities may not be able to access a computer

See last bullet of ‘remote workers’

Victoria Davies





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September 2013

Equality Impact Assessment Template





1. Screening the equality needs of the policy2. Data collection and evidence3. Involvement and consultation 4. Assessing impact and strengthening the policy5. Procurement and partnerships6. Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing


The EIA highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals in terms of equality. It therefore helps to ensure we have considered everyone affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our requirements under the general equality duties.

There is a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals. Our approach to EIAs will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential discriminatory effects before introducing something new or changing way we work and reduce the risk of potential legal challenges.

When carrying out an EIA you should consider both the negative and positive consequences of your proposals. If a project is designed for a specific group, you also need to think about what potential effects it could have on other areas of equality.

Department Corporate and Customer Services, Communications Unit

Responsible Officer Emma Glover


Full job title Publicity Officer

Title of Proposal or Policy Connect’s move from print to e-zine

EIA number CCSEIA002

Rationale: This is being considered in order to address the need to save money.

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September 2013



Aim:


Money saved in the budget

How:


Connect will continue to be delivered to the public via an online micro site. Subscribers will be alerted via email. The magazine will continue to be put together by Emma Glover a minimum of four times per year.

Who:



This will affect those who are unable to access the internet in addition to those who make the personal choice not to go online.

Measures:



There will be a saving in the budget that will be continually saved each year.

Identify any other policy or decision [internal or external] that may affect your proposal. Consider this in terms of: statutory requirements; local policies e.g. WCBC Housing Policy; regional decisions e.g. those made by cross county partnerships for your sector e.g North Wales Chief Officers Board; and / or National policies e.g. Welfare Reforms

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September 2013

Screening Tool

As part of our Annual Equality Return we have to evidence what we have actively done to support people with Protected Characteristics who receive our services. We also have to evidence what we are doing to reduce any negative impact.

Please place a ‘+’ or ‘-‘symbol in every box to indicate whether your proposal with have a positive or negative affect note: people may have one or more of the protected characteristics. If there is no impact at all place ‘n/a’. If there is a positive and negative effect indicate both e.g. ‘+/-‘:

Carers AgeCYP

AgeAdults



Race/ Ethnicity

Religion or Belief

Sexual Orientation


Gender Reassignment

Areas of Deprivation


- -+

-


- -+

-


- -+

-


- -+

-


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September 2013

It may be the case that placing Connect online in a micro site (and specifically not as a PDF) has benefits to some disability groups. For example, deaf people could use it as a speaking site and those with problems with vision would be able to alter contrasts and text sizes. However, we would need to make enquiries as to whether this was possible and if it incurred extra cost.





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September 2013

Inclusive Policy Audit Tool

Please complete the relevant sections of the Matrix below that correspond to any ‘-’ symbols you have recorded in the screening tool







Age Adult Welsh Government all-Wales statistics from the National Survey for Wales January - March 2012 Our own Citizen’s Panel results National Survey of Wales 2013/14 headline results Spoken to relevant officers at the Council Reshaping services - Equality Impact assessment Support Group

Just 37% of people ages 65+ use the internet Of those not using the internet, 56% stated they ‘Don’t want to’ and 35% stated ‘Don’t need to’. It is therefore based on personal choice and not an access issue we can address Of those aged 65+ not using the internet, 93.5% said they have never used the internet Wrexham has 22851 residents aged 65+ In Wales, 51% of those aged 65+ do not have household-access to the internet Officers in Adult Social Care are very concerned about moving away from a delivered paper copy. Jo

Hard copies available in libraries, leisure centres and reception areas. There have also been requests that we make printed copies available in doctors, community centres and old people’s homes (this would need to be looked at in terms of cost implications). Build the use of the online edition into the computer courses at our libraries – these are generally attended by older members of our communities

Emma Glover LibrariesCommunity Councils

2014/15

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September 2013








Ward says ‘Connect is one of the principle ways in which we are able to communicate with older people and so transferring to a web-based system would seriously hamper our ability to reach a significant proportion of our population. This, at a time when we are increasingly being asked to meaningfully engage with people who use our services, would represent a retrograde step’. Cost and broadband availability can be prohibitive to all groups of people Older people often lack the necessary computer skills

If budget allows, print on request (there is a design cost implication to this if the magazine is to be printable and reader-friendly and it may, therefore, not be feasible). Stories also sent to community councils to get news out via their publications along with promotion of online Connect and perhaps pointers towards computer courses. Suggestion made that printed copies made available for delivery via paid-for subscription

Disability Welsh Government all- In Wales, 40% of Speaking online Emma Glover 2014/15

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Wales statistics from the National Survey for Wales January – March 2012

Reshaping services - Equality Impact assessment Support Group

those with a disability do not use the internet 95% of people with learning disabilities can’t read or write.

version if possible Options to change text sizes, contrasts etc. (Clive Lloyd, Ian Woolrich, Pennie Ebbs, David O’Brien, Jo Tathum, Gary Brown) Inclusion of videos a positive thing for people struggling to read content.

Areas of deprivation

Welsh Government all-Wales statistics from the National Survey for Wales January –March 2012 The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) Reshaping services - Equality Impact assessment Support Group

WIMD divides Wrexham into 85 areas. Six are in the 10% most deprived areas in Wales, 14 are in the 20% most deprived, 29 are in the 30% most deprived and 44 are in the 50% most deprived. In Wales, 41% of those in the 10% most deprived areas to not

Work with communities first to get hard copies to those areas

Emma Glover Assets and Economic Development

2014/15

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have household-access to the internet In Wales, 32% of those in the 11-49% most deprived areas do not have household-access to the internet and 25% of those in the 50% most deprived areas do not have household-access to the internet Additionally, 30% of Wales’ unemployed do not have access to the internet Also, in Wales, people living in social housing were the least likely to have internet access at home (52%)

Other points to make:

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September 2013

Digital exclusion in Wales currently stands at 34%. Those with lower educational attainment are more likely to be digitally disengaged and, therefore, stories of training opportunities etc will reach

fewer of those who would gain most benefit. Two thirds of people without any qualifications do not use the internet, compared to 88% of those with a degree.

Unemployment is linked to greater digital exclusion. Connect does hold some job opportunities when a longer application deadline (or open ended deadline) is available.


a) Was any mitigation applied or was the proposal delivered as originally planned prior to the Equality impact assessment?


c) Were the impacts confined to the people you initially thought would be effected, or were other people affected. How?

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September 2013

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eia - ccs budget savings web viewit will also help to identify and address any potential...

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