Over time this duty has developed into the carrying out of equality impact analyses, often referred to as equality impact assessments.
This is a process through which a council can look at new, existing or changing policies and services, and consider how they impact or might impact on different groups of people. It allows the council to identify the implications of changing services or policies, perhaps because of the need to make budget savings, and provides a very useful context for decision-makers.
We have our own process in place for carrying out these equality impact analyses. If you want to check whether a recent decision involved an equality impact assessment is being done, then please check our committee meetings.
Equality monitoring
Another way in which we can show we consider whether our services and policies treat people fairly is by carrying out equality monitoring. This is where you ask people about their age, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion and belief, trans status, and disability when you are monitoring who uses a service, whether they are happy with a service, and whether it meets their needs.
By carrying out monitoring you can see if you need to change a service, improve how people can access a service, or change a policy which decides how people get treated.
It's really important that when you ask for monitoring information, you use it and analyse it. If you're not going to do this, then don't ask for information. You should always explain why you are asking for such information and that it will remain confidential.