Online Equality Impact Assessment| Online Diversity Training & E-Learning Consultancy

Marshall ACM have been commissioned to develop an exciting new tool to help organisations implement Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).

Equality Impact Assessment is the detailed and systematic analysis of the potential or actual effects of a policy, which is carried out in order to establish whether the policy has a differential impact on different groups of people. The aim of Equality Impact Assessment is to eliminate discrimination and produce positive outcomes for equality.

Public sector organisations are currently required by law to carry out race, disability and gender Equality Impact Assessments, but this legal requirement will be extended, possibly from April 2011 to cover all protected characteristics of the Equality Act, namely age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Experience and best practice have resulted in a fairly well established process for Equality Impact Assessment, although the details are tailored to fit different organisational contexts, and the Marshall ACM system can be customised to ensure existing internal procedures are not bypassed. Normally managers are given the task of carrying out assessments in relation to the policies for which they are responsible.

The Marshall ACM EIA system includes an on-line training programme for managers, and an electronic tool to provide a framework for staff to input information, record decisions and produce reports. As well as providing this framework for individual managers carrying out assessments, the product is also an electronic Equality Impact Assessment management tool for the organisation.

 

Organisational Benefits

The training programme and electronic tool will:

• Ensure that staff are confident, competent and committed in relation to EIA activity
• Ensure transparency of the EIA process
• Ensure consistency of approach, process and reports across the organisation
• Allow ongoing monitoring of progress of individual EIAs
• Create central electronic storage capacity for EIA-related documents and work
• Facilitate the sharing of information on EIA within the organisation
• Facilitate production of high quality EIA reports
• Record IA activity and decisions

 

And most importantly ... deliver positive outcomes for equality.

 

Key Features

The Training Programme:

• Is based on a 'best practice' approach
• Offers a straightforward explanation of the legal background and the concept, aims and process of Equality Impact Assessment
• Provides practice examples
• Highlights the benefits of comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment, and the dangers of non-compliance
• Outlines staff responsibilities in relation to carrying out IAs

 

The Electronic Tool:

• Provides a clear, step-by-step electronic framework for those carrying out an Equality Impact Assessment, within which to record issues and decisions, and from which to produce reports
• Covers the Equality Act protected characteristics: race, gender, disability, sexuality, religion, age, gender reassignment and pregnancy and maternity
• Includes prompt questions, offers examples and suggests best practice decisions at different stages of assessment
• Includes a 'safety mechanism' which blocks continuation to the next stage of assessment without a comprehensive response
• Provides links to allow completion of an action plan proforma as the assessment progresses
• Offers generation of email up-date reports to the organisation's Equality Impact Assessment Coordinator as each assessment progresses
• Allows controlled access to progress on other Equality Impact Assessments being carried out within the organisation
• Provides organisational storage capacity for equality monitoring information to allow assessors full access to relevant data
• Generates date-driven email prompts for future policy review