In Wales, it is a specific duty under the Public Sector Equality Duties to undertake equality impact assessments.
Equality impact assessment (EqIA) is a process which enables us to consider the effects of our decisions, policies or services on different communities, individuals or groups, particularly in relation to those most vulnerable in society.
It is framed around the 9 protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010. From September 2020, in Wales, an additional obligation will be added with the inclusion of the “Socio-economic Duty”. This requires the Health Board (as a relevant public body) to have “due regard” to the need to reduce the inequalities of outcome resulting from socioeconomic disadvantage.
There is a strong link between duties under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the process of equality impact assessment and the introduction of the socio-economic duty. Used together, they recognise the correlation between protected characteristics and socio-economic disadvantage and work towards reducing the inequalities that are prevalent in society.
Click here for more details on the Socio-economic duty (opens in new tab)
EqIAs are completed for every policy that we develop. You can find each EqIA with each policy on our Policies and Procedures pages here (opens in new tab)
The EqIAs that are completed for our Board decisions can be found on our Board papers alongside the paperwork for each decision. You can access our Board Papers here (opens in new tab)