Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment – the Guide.

Equality and Human Rights

Impact Assessment: the
Guide

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Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment – the Guide.

Acknowledgements

Aberdeen City Council’s Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment has been
informed by the following sources:

• Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2008

• Duty to Promote Disability Equality - Statutory Code of Practice (Scotland), Disability
Rights Commission, 2006
• Gender Equality Duty Draft Code of Practice Scotland, Equal Opportunities
Commission, 2006
• Guidance Note Three, Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland, 2004
• NHS Scotland Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment Toolkit, 2004
• A Guide for Public Authorities in Scotland, Commission for Racial Equality in
Scotland, 2002
• Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment Toolkit, Argyll and Bute Council
• Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit EMA Solution Plus, London
• Integrated Impact Assessment, West Dunbartonshire Council
• The Best Practice Guide on Human Rights and Best Practice Guide on Equality and
Human Rights produced by McGrigors Rights for Aberdeen City Council

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Contents Page
Introduction
4

When to carry out an Equality and Human Rights Impact

5
Assessment (EHRIA)

What you need to think about before you start

6

General points and tips 7

Notes to accompany the Equality and Human Rights

Impact Assessment Form

Step 1 Identify essential information (Questions 1 – 7) 8

Step 2 Outline aims of function, policy or procedure (Questions 8 – 9

11)

Step 3 Gather and consider evidence (Question 12) 10

Step 4 Assess likely impacts (Questions 13 – 14) 13

Step 5 Apply the three key assessment tests for compliance 14

assurance (Questions 15 – 18)

Step 6 Monitor and review (Questions 19 – 21) 17

Step 7 Report results and summary of EHRIA to public (Questions 18

21 – 23)

Step 8 Sign off 19

More detailed guidance and good practice

Example of EHRIA in action 21

More about the EHRIA 22

Legislative framework 22

Public sector duties 24

What is an impact? 28

Who is the focus of the EHRIA? 29

Making modifications to your function or policy 30

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Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment – the Guide.

Introduction
This Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA) Guide helps us through
the assessment process enabling us to carry out a comprehensive and robust EHRIA on
the Council’s policies and functions.

This Guide should be used in association with the corresponding form -

“ Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment: the Form”

Impact Assessment is not an added burden to policy development but an integral part of
the process, which will help to provide a well-balanced and well thought-out policy.

The Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment will help us to assess the impact of
the Council’s policies, procedures and functions on the diverse groups within Aberdeen
City. It will ensure the Council meets the commitments set out in its Race, Disability and
Gender Equality Schemes and will also help the Council to maximise opportunities to
promote equality and good community relations.

The process of an EHRIA should not be seen as an end in itself. The aim of the
assessment is to promote equality of opportunity and the outcomes of the EHRIA are
the most important factors.

If we do an EHRIA and find a certain equalities group does not have equal access to our
service, or is over-represented, or is not getting as good a service, we must do
something to resolve the situation.

The equality target groups and related equality strands are

• people with disabilities (disability equality)
• women, men and transgender people (gender equality)
• people from ethnic minorities including refugees and Gypsies/Travellers (race
equality)
• lesbians, gay men and bisexual people (sexual orientation equality)
• people from different religions or with different beliefs (religion / belief equality)
• younger and older people (age equality).

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When to carry out an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment

All new functions, policies and procedures should go through the EHRIA process.

For new functions, policies and procedures, the EHRIA should be used early on in the
development stage. This will ensure that project teams and officers are thinking from the
outset about the potential impacts on different equality target groups and others.

Similarly, when using the EHRIA process to review functions, policies or procedures it is
important that the EHRIA is used early on in the reviewing process.

In line with this, EHRIA should be seen as an integral part of the planning process and
should never be thought of as an add-on or used as a last minute check.

Project teams need to be prepared to make changes to the function, policy or procedure
should the EHRIA identify that the function or policy is likely to be unlawfully
discriminatory or impact negatively upon human rights.

Key Terms

Direct Discrimination: Treating a person less favourably than others on grounds of

Race, Disability, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion/ Belief or
Age.

Indirect Discrimination: The application of a provision, criterion or practice that puts

people from different backgrounds at a particular disadvantage
and cannot be shown to be proportionate with achieving a
legitimate aim.

Human Rights: The rights set out in European Convention on Human Rights, as
incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.

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What you need to think about before you start an EHRIA

It is important to think of the EHRIA as a loop rather than a linear process. EHRIA is a
continual process with eight key steps. Each step builds on the previous step and feeds
into the following one.

Outlined below are the eight key steps in an effective EHRIA process.

Step 1: Identify essential Information

Step 2: Outline aims of function, policy or procedure

Step 3: Gather and consider evidence

Step 4: Assess likely impacts

Step 5: Apply the 3 key tests for compliance assurance

Step 6: Monitor and review

Step 7: Report results and summary of the EHRIA to the public

Step 8 Sign off

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General points and tips

When doing an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment we should keep the
following points and tips in mind:

• EHRIA is not an ‘add on’ or a last minute check. It is an integral part of the policy
/service development and decision-making process.

• The EHRIA is a process and each stage takes time. You should allow sufficient time
for each stage.

• EHRIAs should not be completed by one officer in isolation, but involve stakeholders.
Remember that we all have a legal responsibility when working with partners to carry
out an EHRIA.

• Be objective - take the perspective of someone outside the Council or the project
team.

• If the likely impact(s) of a function, policy or procedure is unknown you must take
action to acquire this information. You can seek guidance from others, engage with
communities and learn from best practice from other Councils.

• Completing an EHRIA is similar to undertaking a risk assessment. It involves

predicting and assessing the implications of a function or policy on a wide range of
people. The Council needs to take action if any unlawful negative impacts are found.

• EHRIA is not an end in itself. It is an ongoing process that requires functions, policies
and procedures to be assessed, monitored and reviewed for any negative impacts
on the groups.

• EHRIA is not an exact science. It is a learning process. We can make mistakes and
learn from them. Doing nothing is not an option.

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STEP 1: Identify essential information

These guidance notes refer to questions 1 – 7 on pages 2 - 3 of the accompanying
Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form

Questions 1- 5: General Information – name of function, policy or procedure,

officers completing the form, date of Equality and Human Rights Impact
Assessment.

Please complete this section fully.

Questions 6 and 7 relate to partnership working.

The Council, when delivering a partner project, has a duty to conduct an EHRIA when
the Council:

• Is the lead agency in a multi-agency partnership, or

• Has initiated the function, policy or procedure even if the Council is not the
operational lead.

Question 6: Who else is involved in the delivery of this function, policy or

procedure? (for example, other Council services or partner agencies)

Question 7: How have they been involved in the Equality and Human Rights
Impact Assessment process?

Where more than one service has a large involvement in the delivery of the function,
policy or procedure it is recommended that officers from each service work together to
do the impact assessment.

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STEP 2: Outline aims of function, policy or procedure

These guidance notes refer to questions 8 -11 that you will find on pages 4 - 5 of the
accompanying Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Question 8: What are the main aims of the function, policy or procedure?

You should clearly state the main aims of the function, policy or procedure.

By functions we mean the full range of the Council’s duties and powers.

By policies we mean the formal and informal decisions about how we carry out our
duties and use our powers. This includes any strategies, information on processes
and procedure documents. It includes both written and unwritten material. The term
policy is being used here as a ‘catch all’ term, covering all aspects of activity
including procedures and practices.

Question 9: Who are the people intended to benefit from the function, policy or
procedure?

This information should be readily available from the planning of the function, policy or
procedure.

Question 10: Is the function, policy or procedure intended to increase equality of

opportunity by permitting positive action or action to redress disadvantage?

You should say whether the function, policy or procedure has been specifically
developed to increase equality of opportunity by having a positive differential impact.

When dealing with policies targeted at particular equality target group(s) it is important to
be aware that these will by definition have a differential impact on other groups.

You must be able to demonstrate that the proposed function or policy is lawful (does not
cause discrimination for any other equality target groups or violate the human rights of
any person and that there is a basis in the relevant equality or human rights law). The
differential impact should be justifiable in fulfilling a legitimate aim by proportionate
means. This is addressed in Step 5 of the EHRIA in applying the key tests of legality,
legitimate aim and proportionality.

Question 11: What impact will the function, policy or procedure have on
promoting good relations and wider community cohesion?

As a council we have an important role to play in bringing communities together and in

addressing any divisions that may form in communities because of inequality or
perceived inequality.

A cohesive community is one where:

• There is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities
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• The diversity of people’s different backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated

and positively valued
• Those from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities
• Strong and positive relationships are being developed between people from different
backgrounds and circumstances in the workplace, in schools and within
neighbourhoods. (Local Government Association and the Home Office).

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STEP 3: Gather and consider evidence

These guidance notes refer to question 12 that you will find on page 6 of the Equality
and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Question 12: What evidence will you use to identify any potential positive or
negative impacts?

This question refers to the evidence you will have to show whether the function, policy or
procedure will have any potential positive, neutral or negative impacts on any of the
equality target groups.

Detail the evidence you have used in carrying out your EHRIA, for example consultation
research etc.

Examples of some sources to assist with collection of data:

• Census data
• Service user records
• Observational information
• Research reports
• Complaints data
• Data/information from external sources

Consultation

The EHRIA process should be informed by consultation.

Do you have sufficient information about the needs and concerns of the different
equality target groups / communities of interest to allow you to consider the impact on
these groups?

Please check the Zone for equalities information as a first step. When there is little or
insufficient information in a particular area, research or data collection may be needed to
remedy this. There is a duty to undertake consultation as part of the EHRIA process.

The Council's Community Engagement Protocol, (available on The Zone

http://thezone/Web/FILES/CommunityDev/community_engagement_protocol_2pdf) sets out
the Council's commitment to consulting with the communities of interest forums.

We support a number of communities of interest forums, which are actively engaged in

policy and service planning, design and development. They are expert groups whom
you can approach to explore their views on the issues.

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Communities of interest Contact

• The Ethnic Minority Forum and Roddy MacTaggart 523014

• The Disability Advisory Group rmactaggart@aberdeencity.gov.uk

• Gypsies/Travellers Sandra Bruce 523039

sandrab@aberdeencity.gov.uk

• The Lesbian, Gay, Babs Greenwood 522831

Bisexual and Transgender Community babsg@aberdeencity.gov.uk

• Aberdeen Women's Alliance Shimei Fan 522506

Shimeifan@aberdeencity.gov.uk

• The Older People's Working Group Lesley Dunbar 523011

LeDunbar@aberdeencity.gov.uk

• The Youth Action Committee Hamish Cattanach 523410

hcattanach@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Collation and analysis of this gathered information will allow you to assess whether there
will be a different impact on any of these equality groups.

If you decide to modify your function, policy or procedure because of the information
gathered the revised function or policy must go through the EHRIA process again. This
will make sure there are no unexpected negative impacts on any other individual or
groups.

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STEP 4: Assess likely impacts

These guidance notes refer to question 13 - 14 that you will find on page 7 of the
Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Question 13: What, if any, equality target groups or others could be affected by
the function, policy or procedure?

Place the symbol in the relevant box. Consider also the relationship between belonging
to an equality target group and the effect of wider cross cutting issues eg a gay
homeless person.

To assess the impacts of the function, policy or procedure you should ask the following
questions:

• How might the function, policy or procedure impact upon ethnic minority
communities, including Gypsies/Travellers?

• How might the function, policy or procedure impact upon people with a
disability?

• Would the impacts upon women and men differ?

• Would ethnic minority women and men be affected in the same ways?

• Would women and men with disabilities be affected in the same ways?

• What about age considerations when thinking about impacts?

• How might people from the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual community be
affected?

• Would the impact on gay women and gay men be the same?

• What about people of different faiths, religion or beliefs?

• Will any other individual or group be adversely affected?

• Are the impacts positive, neutral or negative?

• Do you need more evidence to assess the impacts? If so, you should consult
with expert groups, stakeholders and partner agencies.

From your evidence decide if the function, policy or procedure is going to have a
positive, neutral or negative impact.

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Question14: From the equality target groups highlighted, what positive and
negative impacts do you think the function, policy or procedure might have?

From the groups you have identified in answering question 13, describe in more detail
any positive and negative impacts you have highlighted. Again note any cross cutting
issues identified.

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STEP 5: Apply the three key assessment tests for compliance

assurance

These guidance notes refer to question 15 - 18 that you will find on page 8 and 9 of the
Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Step 5 draws together all the steps of the impact assessment tool to ensure that the
applications of a Council policy is non-discriminating and human rights compliant.

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Question 15: Does this policy/procedure have the potential to interfere with an
individual’s rights as set out in the Human Rights Act 1998? State which rights
might be affected and how.

In identifying human rights breaches certain key articles of the European Convention of
Human Rights (ECHR) will be of particular relevance for Aberdeen City Council.

• Article 3 “right not to be subject to torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or

punishment”,
• Article 6 “right to a fair and public hearing”,
• Article 8 “right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence”,
• Article 10 “freedom of expression”,
• Article 14 “right not to be subject to discrimination”, and
• Article 2 of Protocol 1 "right to education"

An introduction to what you need to know about such articles can be found in Aberdeen
City Council's Best Practice Guide for Human Rights. The electronic version of this
document is located in the Zone under Resources Management, City Solicitor’s section.

If you answer “no” to this question, then go to question 19.

Legality
Question 16: Where there is a potential negative impact is there a legal basis in
the relevant domestic law?

The Council must act lawfully and use its powers in a way which are within its legal
authority - there must be a basis within UK or Scots law for the Council’s action.

Legitimate Aim
Question 17: Is the aim of the policy identified in Steps 1 and 2 a legitimate aim
being served in terms of the relevant equality legislation or the Human Rights
Act?

Is the Council pursuing a legitimate aim in the way in which it is interfering with the right?
For example, Article 8 provides the right to respect for private and family life, home and
correspondence and is what is termed a "qualified" right, meaning that it can be
interfered with where the interference serves a "legitimate aim", a justifiable purpose, as
outlined in Article 8(2):

There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except
such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the
interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for
the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the
protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Similarly under Race Relation legislation a defence to indirect discrimination is where

the discrimination is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

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Proportionality
Question 18: Is the impact of the policy proportionate to the legitimate aim being
pursued? Is it the minimum necessary interference to achieve the legitimate aim?

The key test is that of proportionality. In order to meet this test the Council will need to
consider whether the interference with rights is necessary in a democratic society, and
whether there is a pressing social need for it. If there are relevant and sufficient reasons
and if the interference is proportionate to the aim of responding to that need - is the
proposed solution one that involves the minimum necessary interference with the
person(s)’s rights?

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STEP 6: Monitor and review

These guidance notes refer to question 19 - 21 that you will find on page 10 of the
Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Question 19: How will you monitor the implementation of the function, policy or
procedure?

The Council has a duty to monitor the implementation of its functions and policies for
any negative impacts on the equality target groups and for human rights breaches.
Monitoring is an essential part of the EHRIA process. You will only know the actual
impacts of the proposed function or policy once it has been put into practice.

Question 20: How will the results of the monitoring be used to develop the
function, policy or procedure?

It is important to think of the EHRIA as an ongoing process rather than a one-off

exercise. Therefore the results of your monitoring arrangements should be fed back into
the future development of the function or policy. If, as a result of your monitoring
arrangements you find there is a negative impact upon any of the equality target groups
or risk of any other human rights breach, you must take action to modify the function or
policy. It is important to remember that any modified function or policy must go through
the EHRIA process to ensure that there are no negative impacts for any other groups.

Question 21: When is the function, policy or procedure due to be reviewed?

Say when your function, policy or procedure is due to be formally reviewed. Formally
reviewing the Council’s functions and policies is sound management practice and will
also help the Council to evaluate the actual effect of our functions and policies.

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STEP 7: Report results and summary of EHRIA to the public

These guidance notes refer to question 22 - 24 that you will find on page 11 of the
Equality and Human Rights Assessment Form.

Question 22: Where will you publish the Equality and Human Rights Impact
Assessment?

Please say where you intend to publish this EHRIA by ticking the appropriate box(es).

The Council has a duty to publish a summary of the results of all EHRIAs. It is important
that if the function or policy is going to a Council Committee for approval that you include
a summary of the result of the function’s or policy’s EHRIA. This is to demonstrate that
an EHRIA has been completed and that there are no negative impacts on any of the
equality target groups.

If you are not reporting to committee you must note where the EHRIA summary will be
published, for example, in a public performance report.

Question 23: Please summarise the results of the Equality and Human Rights
Impact Assessment and give an overview of whether the policy, function or
procedure will meet the council’s responsibilities in relation to equality and
human rights. This summary needs to include any practical actions you intend to
take / have you taken to reduce, justify or remove any adverse negative impacts.

Please provide a short summary of the EHRIA to include the main findings. If you are
reporting to committee this summary should be included in the committee report in the
section “Other Implications – Equality Impact Assessment”

This part of the assessment form should be used to outline the action you are taking to
modify your function or policy to remove or minimize any negative impact.

If no negative impacts have been identified then please make this clear in the summary.

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STEP 8: Sign off

These guidance notes refer to page 12 of the accompanying Equality and Human Rights
Assessment Form.

The final stage of the Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment is formally to sign
off the document as being a rigorous and robust assessment.

Before signing off the Assessment you must send a copy and the associated
policy document and / or committee report to:

Head of Service
Community Planning and Regeneration
Strategic Leadership
Ground Floor
St Nicholas House
Broad Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1GZ

Telephone 01224 523039 Email sandrab@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Officers will provide feedback on whether or not the impact assessment on the policy or
function will comply with the Council’s statutory equality duties.

If you are reporting to committee you should also include the Equality and Human
Rights Assessment with your draft committee report as part of the committee
report consultation stage. Once you have had feedback on your EHRIA then the
EHRIA should formally be signed off at the same time as your committee report is
signed off ready for committee.

Please note that, should you make changes to your committee report / policy after the
consultation stage, you should review and amend your Equality and Human Rights
Impact Assessment to reflect these changes.

4. Who should sign off the EHRIA?

3 signatures are required. The first signature is yours, as the person completing the
impact assessment.

You will require a second signature. This will be the person who has checked the impact
assessment. It could be a colleague, one who is designated as an equality champion for
your service, or your line manager.

Finally, your Head of Service should sign off the impact assessment. This can be done
at the same time as she/he signs off the committee report.

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More detailed guidance and good practice

In this section you will find further guidance and examples of good practice.

Example of the Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment

Process in Action

Adapted from The Duty to Promote Disability Equality – Statutory Code of

Practice (Scotland), Disability Rights Commission, 2006

A local authority is undertaking a complete review of its Library Services. In

accordance with their Council policy the review team undertake an EHRIA
as part of the review. As part of the EHRIA the review team consult with the
library users group and find that there are only a few disabled people in the
group.

The lead officer of the review takes action to encourage more disabled
people to participate in the users’ group. This action includes working with
local disability organisations, increasing the accessibility of meetings,
providing accessible transport to and from meetings and advertising the
meetings as accessible.

As a result of these steps there is a significant increase in the number of

disabled people participating in the user group and the whole group was
able to engage with the review, including assessing any potential impacts
on disabled people. The group puts forward a series of proposed actions to
improve the library service for disabled people including improved
accessibility of IT equipment, better representation of people with
disabilities in promotional materials about the local libraries and an increase
in the amount of positive information within the library about living with a
disability.

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What is an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA)?

The purpose of an EHRIA is to help ensure that the Council does not discriminate, and
utilises opportunities to promote equality, human rights and social cohesion.

An EHRIA involves thinking through the potential consequences of the Council’s policies
and functions on both the identified equality target groups and society at large. We need
to make sure that as far as possible, any negative impacts are minimised or eliminated
and that opportunities for promoting equality and respect for all other human rights are
maximised. This integrated impact assessment tool was developed to reduce the burden
of carrying out a variety of numerous and onerous impact assessments.

The EHRIA extends to monitoring the actual effects of the policies and functions and
requires the Council to take action if there are any concerns that the policy/function is
having a negative impact on the equality target groups or other groups or individuals.
The EHRIA evidences how we go about ensuring all services do not discriminate
against or adversely affect any of our population.

The Council has a statutory duty to publish results of all EHRIAs carried out.

Legislative Framework

The main pieces of legislation, which underpin equal opportunities and human rights and
are relevant to all local authorities, are:

• Equality Act 2006

• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• Civil Partnership Act 2004
• The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended by The Disability Discrimination
Act(Amendment) Regulations 2003
• The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 as amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1986, the Sex
Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 and the Sex Discrimination Act
1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• The Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
and the Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005
• The Human Rights Act 1998;
• The Scotland Act 1998;
• The Children (Scotland) Act 1995;
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989
• The Equal Pay Act 1975;
• The European Convention on Human Rights 1953

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Various service-related legislation now incorporates equal opportunity requirements, for

example: the Housing (Scotland) Acts 2001 and 2006 and the Planning etc (Scotland)
Act 2006.

Elected members and Directors have a duty to ensure that impact assessments are
undertaken in line with legislation. Services need to demonstrate how they are
delivering on their statutory duties laid out in the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000),
the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the equality legislation on gender. Service
plans should outline what services are doing to monitor existing policies and functions
and in relation to Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments of new, proposed or
significantly changing policies and functions.

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Public Sector Duties

As a public body, the council has legal duties relating to race, gender and disability. The
obligations within each area are set out below.
EQUALITY DUTIES
Race - General Duties
Aberdeen City Council, in carrying out its functions, must have due
regard to the need to:
• eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
• eliminate unlawful racial harassment
• promote equality of opportunity
• promote good relations between persons of different racial
groups

- Specific Duties
Publish a Race Equality Scheme (RES) (Education Authority to
publish Race Equality Policy). The RES must include:
• Functions and policies, or proposed policies relevant to duty
• Make arrangements for assessing and consulting on the impact
of policies
• Arrangements for monitoring
• Publishing
• Public access to information
• Staffing
Disability - General Duties

Aberdeen City Council must, in carrying out its functions, have due
regard to the need to:
• eliminate unlawful disability discrimination
• eliminate disability related harassment
• promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and
other persons
• take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities,
even where that involves treating disabled persons more
favourably than other persons
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
• encourage participation by disabled people in public life
- Specific Duties
Publish a Disability Equality Scheme (DES) including an Action
Plan
• Involve disabled people in development of DES
• Make arrangements for impact assessments
• Gather information in relation to employment, education
• Review arrangements

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Gender - General Duties

Aberdeen City Council, in carrying out its functions, must have due
regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful sexual discrimination

• Eliminate unlawful sexual harassment
• Promote equality of opportunity between men and women

- Specific Duties
• Prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme showing how
we intend to fulfil the general and specific duties and setting out
our gender equality objectives
• As a listed public sector body with 150+ staff we should
produce an Equal Pay Statement

We also have to:

• Gather information on how our work, services and employment
affect women and men
• Consult employees, service users, our trade unions and other
stakeholders.
• Assess the different impact of policies on women and men and
use this information to inform our work.
• Identify priorities and set gender equality objectives.
• Plan and take action to achieve gender equality objectives
• Publish a gender equality scheme, report annually and review
progress every three years.
• Publish an equal pay statement and report on progress every
three years.

Sexual orientation and religion / belief

Regulations came into force on 30 April 2007 prohibiting discrimination on the grounds
of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, premises,
education in schools and the work of public authorities. There are similar protections
outlawing discrimination on grounds of religion or belief.

It was not necessary for the council to change its existing polices to comply with the new
provisions as there has been in place a comprehensive equal opportunities policy since
1997, recognising the need to address inequality on the grounds of religion and sexual
orientation, and on wider grounds. Equality is one of the founding principles of Aberdeen
City Council.

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Age
Age discrimination law currently applies only in employment and vocational training and
does not apply to goods and services. However, it is the government’s intention to
strengthen and simplify the laws on equality and introduce an Equality Bill in the next
session of parliament. This Bill will make it unlawful to discriminate against someone
because of their age when providing goods, facilities and services and on carrying out
public functions.

Single Equality Duty

The Equality Bill will contain a new streamlined Equality Duty to replace the race,
disability and gender equality duties, which will also cover gender reassignment, age,
sexual orientation and religion or belief.

Why assess the impact on equality and human rights?

Carrying out EHRIAs is the key to mainstreaming equality and all human rights
throughout the organisation. This process will evidence that “equality thinking” and
human rights awareness is at the centre of all policy and planning and are not “bolt ons”.

EHRIAs will:
• help the Council progress the equality agenda within Aberdeen
• help promote a culture of respect for human rights in the Council
• raise awareness of equality issues among our staff
• ensure we address direct and indirect discrimination
• enhance customer service delivery
• ensure openness and transparency around decision-making
• improve our efficiency by identifying and addressing local needs more
effectively
• provide the opportunity to examine existing policies and functions, to ensure
that each is in keeping with broad equality and social justice objectives, and
will comply with Equality and Human Rights Legislation

There is a moral case to ensure we take pro-active measures to deliver equality.

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What is an impact?
The Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment considers three types of impacts.

Positive impact

A positive impact could improve equal opportunities and/or relations between different
groups and promote the better realisation of all human rights The positive impact on one
equality target group may be greater than on another. This is permissible but you must
always be able to demonstrate that positive impacts are justifiable in law and do not
amount to discrimination (direct or indirect) against any other equality target groups.

Examples of positive impacts:

• A Scottish Council decided that, based on the small number of women in senior
management positions, it would promote leadership and development training to
increase the number of women in senior management positions within the local
authority. This scheme is an example of positive action which has been designed
to encourage women to apply for jobs in which they are historically under
represented.
• Provision of accessible publicity materials, for example, the translation of
information about Council Services into Polish has helped inform our new
Polish Community in Aberdeen and allowed them to access Council services
more quickly.

Neutral impact

A neutral impact on the equality target groups indicates an impact that is neither positive
nor negative. This is permissible but we should think about ways to develop our function
or policy so that it has a positive impact on the equality target groups or other vulnerable
groups or individuals.

Negative impact

A negative impact could disadvantage one or more equality target groups or any other
individual or group where there is a potential human rights infringement or discrimination
issue.

A negative impact on one individual or group may be greater than on another.

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Who is the focus of the EHRIA?

Equality groups

We are required to ensure that people do not experience unfavourable prejudice, social
exclusion and discrimination simply because they are a member of a particular equality
group.

In accordance with the various equalities duties and current best practice, the Council’s
Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment focuses on all six equality strands –
race, disability, gender including gender re-assignment, sexual orientation, religion or
belief, and age – or Human Rights.

The related equality groups are – women, men and transgender people; people from
ethnic minorities including refugees and Gypsies/Travellers; lesbians, gay and bisexuals
(LGB); people from different religions or with different beliefs; younger and older people.
Any person, either a member of an equality target group or otherwise, may become the
victim of a human rights violation

LGBT - Notes on terminology.

1. Under the Gender Equality Duty we are required to have due regard to the need to
eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment against people who have
undergone, are undergoing, or intend to undergo gender reassignment.

2. Transsexual is a term used to describe people who consistently self-identify as the

opposite gender to the one assigned to them at birth. Many, but not all, transsexual
people take hormones and may undergo surgery to change their physical
appearance to match their chosen gender identity. They may, or may, not undergo
gender reassignment.

3. With regard to community engagement, most of the groups coming together to

provide support and address discrimination with regard to sexual orientation are
inclusive of transgender people. Hence the reference to LGBT groups (lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender).

4. Transgender is a broad umbrella term to describe a range of people whose gender

identity or gender expression differ in some way from the gender assumptions made
about them when they are born.

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Making modifications to your function or policy

If from the Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment process you have found that
a function or policy is likely to be unlawfully discriminatory or may be breaching an
individual's human rights, you must take action to modify or reject the function or policy
to ensure the Council acts lawfully.

The following questions will guide you through the process of modifying your function or
policy.

• How could you modify the function or policy to reduce or eliminate any identified
negative impacts?

• If you make these modifications could there be any negative impacts on other
equality target groups or others?

• Do you have enough evidence to assess the impacts on other equality target groups
or others?

• Have you consulted with external expert groups or organisations for advice or
guidance?

• If you make any modifications would they limit the ability of the function or policy to
achieve its purpose?

• Can you deliver your function or policy in a different way, which prevents any
negative impacts on the equality target groups or others?

• Is the policy proportionate or could the impact be lessened?

Please note, any modified function or policy must go through the EHRIA process.

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Who to contact for further advice and assistance

Please do not hesitate to contact the officers below for further advice including
assistance in undertaking the Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment.

Sandra Bruce, Strategist Roddy MacTaggart, Strategist

Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council
Community Planning and Regeneration Community Planning and Regeneration
St Nicholas House St Nicholas House
Broad Street Broad Street
Aberdeen Aberdeen
Tel: 01224 523039 Tel: 01224 523014
Email: sandrab@aberdeencity.gov.uk Email:
rmactaggart@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Babs Greenwood, Development Officer

Aberdeen City Council
Community Planning and Regeneration
St Nicholas House
Broad Street
Aberdeen
Tel: 01224 522831
Email: babsg@aberdeencity.gov.uk

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