Race equality scheme and impact assessment

Report: 13
Date: 04 December 2003
By: Clerk

Summary

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act places a specific responsibility on the MPA as a public authority to carry out an impact assessment on all relevant functions and (formal and informal) policies. The Local Government Equalities Standard and recommendations arising from the GLA “Equalities For All” review also proposes that the MPA should carry out impact assessment. Members are asked to approve the process outlined in this report for receiving the outcomes of these assessment and comment on the way in which it will wish to use the outcomes to inform further overall equalities objectives of the Board. 

A. Recommendations

That members:

1. Comment on and agree the direction of the draft guidance attached;
2. Agree the proposal outlined in paragraph 14 for receiving the outcomes of these assessments;and
3. Approve the programme of training that have been arranged 

B. Supporting information

RES Year One Status Report

1. The MPA published the first report of its progress against the actions outlined in its Race Equality Scheme on 2 September 2003. Members of the public can access this from the MPA website and copies are being printed in a range of community languages to be posted out to organisations on the MPA Consultation database. 

RES External Reference Group

2. The ERG is continuing to prove extremely useful to the MPA and the MPS. In order to support representation from the smaller community and voluntary organisations the MPA and MPS recently agreed to identify a small amount of money that can be used to meet the expenses of members attending the meeting. A programme has been planned for the next 4 meetings of the Group and as part of the process of informing and educating members of the group about the internal processes of the two organisations, briefing sessions will be held at the beginning of each meeting on an aspect of the MPA or MPS organisational processes. The meeting schedule is attached at Appendix 1. Members will note that the MPA and MPS have now signed up to providing briefing sessions and training (see para 12) for members of the ERG so that they will be adequately informed in order to proform their guidance and scrutiny role.

3. Arrangements are being made, as part of the access requirements of the scheme, so that minutes of the meetings can be made available on the MPA website at www.mpa.gov.uk

The assessment of policy and function

4. The guidance to inform the implementation of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 states that public authorities “will be responsible for ensuring that the general duty is an integral part of any function where racial equality is relevant.” The Authority will have to define its functions and then assess the impact on racial equality of what it is currently doing and what it is proposing to do. Have current or proposed policies conflict with the elimination of racial discrimination or the promotion of racial equality and good relations, a public authority will be expected to consider the changes needed to comply with the general duty, and make those changes.

5. Early in the development of the Race Equality Scheme, the functions and key policies of the authority were defined and assessed for relevance. Those assessed as having greater relevance to the general duty are outlined in the MPS RES, and steps are already underway to ensure that these are assessed annually.

6. An initial assessment of the relevance of the MPA policies was also carried out. However, the Act requires that this assessment should be an iterative process, and that all current and proposed policies should go through the process if being assessed for race equality impact.

General Equalities Impact Assessment

7. The Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Commission are also in the process of producing guidance that similar equality assessments be carried out in order to assess the impact for these areas as well. This practice will assist the MPA significantly in its progress on the Local Government Equality Standard.

Defining of a policy

8. There has been a good deal of discussion on what constitutes a policy and whether the MPA has any policies of its own, separate from those of the MPS. The guidance received from the Commission for Racial Equality is that a 'policy' is any prescription, whether formal or informal, written or customary, on how a function should be carried out. As such it will include policies, strategies, guides, manuals and common organisational practice (internal or external) and customs and practice’.

9. Such a broad definition could affect a wide range of activities that are carried out by the Authority, and the guidance sought from the CRE is that will expect that this requirement is adhered to, whilst ensuring that due regard is given to resources that are allocated to undertaking this requirement.

10. Draft guidance for the completion of impact assessments have been developed and revised following discussions with the Commission for Racial Equality and in light of the information gained at the series of training sessions that they facilitated for MPA and MPS staff on impact assessment.

11. The impact assessment guidance and proforma is attached at Appendix 1. The guidance and proforma are being used by MPA staff; it has also been discussed by the MPA Senior Management Team. It is presented to this Board for information. Impact assessment and the process for undertaking these are still emerging. The Home Office and the CRE will be producing guidance early in 2004; it is therefore proposed that further revisions of the guidance and proforma will be brought to the attention of this Board for approval.

Training

12. About 45 MPA and MPS staff attended three training and briefing sessions that were facilitated by the Head of Quality Assurance at the CRE. A further session is still to be planned for members of this Board so that they can gain an understanding of this requirement of the Act. Further training on other aspects of the Act will be arranged so that all staff are fully informed and given the appropriate competence to deliver on the requirements of the Act.

13. Training sessions will also be arranged for members of the MPA and MPS External Reference Groups so that they will be enabled to monitor the progress made by the two organisations against our respective RES.

Monitoring and publishing the outcomes of the Impact Assessments

14. The MPA is required to consult on all impact assessments and also to publish the results of these assessments. Discussions with the CRE indicate that they will look closely into the external consultation processes that have been put in place to meet this requirement. Following discussions with the members of the MPA/MPS External Reference Group, it is proposed that much of the consultation can be carried out through the networks that these organisations already have in place. There will be cost implications to this, and this has been accounted for in the current and 2004/05 budget submission. The detail of this is still to be fully developed and will be brought to the next meeting of this Board.

EODB Monitoring for Rae and Equalities Impact

15. The current ‘equalities implications’ section in the MPA committee report template goes some way towards encouraging committee report authors to give consideration to equalities in the reports developed. However, the quality of the information provided varies considerably, and in some cases, it is evident that relatively little meaningful thought has been given to race and equalities considerations of the subject under discussion.

16. It is therefore proposed that the current ‘equalities implications’ on the committee report template be revised and that report authors be asked to report on the ‘initial screening for impact on race and equalities’, in line with the requirements of the RRA. All committees from 1 January 2004, if agreed by this Board, will implement this change.

15. If members agreement with the proposal for change a series of meetings and discussions will be held with the MPS Secretariat and relevant directorates so that they can be fully briefed about the requirements.

C. Equality and diversity implications

Undertaking race and equalities impact assessments can significantly enable the MPA to estimate the likely equality implications of either implementing a new policy or initiative or of operating a current policy, function or service.

D. Financial implications

These are contained within the existing 2003/04 and future years and does not represent any growth in the budget previously allocated.

E. Background papers

• MPA and MPS Race Equality Scheme
• CRE Guidance on Impact Assessment

F. Contact details

Report author: Julia Smith

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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