An equality impact assessment (EqIA) is a process designed to ensure that a policy, project or scheme does not unlawfully discriminate against any protected characteristic.
Definition
The EqIA process aims to prevent discrimination against people who are members of a protected category. The Equality Act 2010 defines 9 protected characteristics:
- Race
- Religion or Belief
- Disability
- Sex
- Gender Reassignment
- Sexual Orientation
- Age
- Marriage or Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and Maternity
Within the UK, EqIAs is a means of ensuring that the public sector equality duty is met. On 19 November 2012, then Prime Minister David Cameron announced that EqIAs would no longer be undertaken for government decisions.
See also
- Social Impact Assessment
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Health Impact Assessment
- Sustainability Appraisal
- Equality Act 2006
- Equality Act 2010
- Equal Opportunity
References
Further reading
Bainard, J., Jones, A., Bateman, I., Lovett, A. & Fallon, P. (2001) Modelling environmental equity: access to air quality in Birmingham, England Environment and Planning A 2002, volume 34, pages 695 – 716
Burningham, K. & Thrush, D. (2001) Local environmental concerns in disadvantaged neighbourhoods [1]
Capacity Global (2004) BME Communities Tackling Environmental and Social Inequalities [2]
Davies, A. and Binsted, A. (2007) Environmental Equity and Equality Impact Assessment in the United Kingdom (07-1568) - TRB Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM, TRB 86th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., January 2007 [3]
Friends of the Earth (2000) Pollution injustice [4]
Friends of the Earth (2001) Pollution and Poverty – Breaking the Link [5]
Gay, R., Jeffery, B., and Saunders, P. (2005) Burden of disease: environmental inequalities [6]
Greater London Authority (2003) Equality Impact Assessments - How to do them [7]
Transport for London (2004) Equality Impact Assessments - How to do them [8]
Walker, G. Fairburn, J. Smith, G. and Mitchell, G. (2003) Environmental Quality and Social Deprivation [9]
External links
- UK Equality Act 2006
- UK Equality Bill 2009 Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
- IDEA EqIA guidance
- TfL EqIA guidance
