The public sector duties on race, disability and gender require that equality considerations are integrated into all the functions and policies of Scottish Government Directorates and Agencies. It means that all staff, not just those who have traditionally worked on equality issues, will need to understand the requirements and implications, and share responsibility for their implementation
A key part of the new duties is the requirement to impact assess all of our policies to ensure that we do not inadvertently create a negative impact for equality groups. It is the Scottish Government's policy that the equality groups we consider extends beyond those three areas covered by a public sector equality duty and includes the six equality strands we consider (age, disability, gender, race, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and religion and belief).
We do recognise, however, that impact assessing all of our policies is a process and will take time to deliver. Departments therefore will need to consider their approach and prioritise which policies should take precedence. Departments may wish to consider their key policy areas initially and then consider new and emerging polices. Remaining policies can then be impact assessed for equality issues, although there maybe a natural point for conducting an impact assessment, such as when a policy is up for review or significant changes are made to budgets.
The Equality Impact Assessment Tool is available to all staff via the Scottish Government's internal intranet and in the near future completed impact assessments will be available to view on the Government's external intranet on this page. We will also make available a read only version of the Equality Impact Assessment Tool. In the meantime you can view a Word or Pdf version of the tool on the Government website. (The guidance was revised slightly in December 2007.)