Who is submitting the proposal?
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Directorate:
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Place |
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Service Area:
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Economic Growth |
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Name of the proposal :
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UK Shared Prosperity Projects for: · E13 – Measures to reduce the cost of living: o York Community Energy
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Lead officer:
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Will Clarke |
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Date assessment completed:
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22/06/2023 |
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Names of those who contributed to the assessment : |
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Name |
Job title |
Organisation |
Area of expertise |
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Andrew Bebbington |
Housing Policy Officer |
City of York Council |
Housing |
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Will Clarke |
Economic Growth Officer |
City of York Council |
Economic Development |
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Tom de Simone |
Chair of YCE |
York Community Energy |
Energy efficiency advice |
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Ivana Jakubkova |
Energy advisor & treasurer |
York Community Energy |
Energy efficiency advice |
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Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes
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1.1 |
What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon. |
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The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a government-allocated fund which is intended to reduce inequalities between communities, as part of the government’s Levelling Up agenda, and replaces European Structural and Investment Funds.
The UKSPF was launched on 13 April 2022. City of York Council have been allocated £5,848,801 to spend over 3 years to March 2025. This allocation was conditional on the Government approving the Council’s Investment plan, that was designed with key stakeholders across the City. The investment plan allocated funding to York Community Energy (YCE) as part of E13, to provide energy advice and install energy efficiency improvements to the households of York. |
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1.2 |
Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.) |
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On the 9th January 2023, City of York Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC), which sets out the terms that will apply to the relationship between the Government and the Council regarding the administration and delivery of the UKSPF. This MOU will be for the period April 2022 to March 2025. It details the funding commitments from the Secretary of State and the delivery, financial expenditure, agreed milestones, reporting and evaluation, communications and branding expectations between the Parties and the steps the Secretary of State could take in the event of underperformance if required.
DLUHC has published guidance on the delivery of the UKSPF, referred to as the UKSPF Additional Information , which provides current information for the Council to follow with regards to the delivery of UK SPF. |
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1.3 |
Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests? |
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Stakeholders include York’s residents, communities, third sector organisations and advice services, housing sector, policy makers, health services and elected members.
The interests of these stakeholders are multivariate. With that in mind, DLUHC recommends establishing a Partnership Board made up of these stakeholders. The York UK SPF Partnership Board is a partnership body, bringing together these stakeholders and through its work, seeks to ensure that the York UK SPF Investment Plan matches the key challenges and opportunities identified in the City and follow the guidelines set out by the UK Government. Please refer to UKSPF Partnership Board Terms of Reference for more details.
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1.4 |
What results/outcomes do we want to achieve and for whom? This section should explain what outcomes you want to achieve for service users, staff and/or the wider community. Demonstrate how the proposal links to the Council Plan and other corporate strategies and plans. |
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The outputs and outcomes we intend to achieve from the commissioning of projects across E13 of UKSPF are as follows:
E13 – Measures to reduce the cost of living Outputs:
Outcomes:
The Council Plan is under construction at the current time, but these projects will seek to meet new and emerging priorities around: · improving people’s health & wellbeing · retrofitting and making peoples homes more energy efficient · decarbonising our housing sector to deliver a net-zero York
The project also aligns with the Greener Economy strand in York’s 10-year economic strategy, with the ‘Buildings’ strand of the 10 year Climate Change Strategy and the ambition to become a health generating city in the 10-year health & wellbeing strategy.
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Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback
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2.1 |
What sources of data, evidence and consultation feedback do we have to help us understand the impact of the proposal on equality rights and human rights? Please consider a range of sources, including: consultation exercises, surveys, feedback from staff, stakeholders, participants, research reports, the views of equality groups, as well your own experience of working in this area etc. |
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Source of data/supporting evidence |
Reason for using |
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Applicant’s own assessment of equality impacts
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YCE were asked to consider the equalities impacts of their proposal, the relevant affected groups based on protected characteristics, and any measures they propose in response to these impacts. As this is an expansion of a current service, YCE had current knowledge of what equalities impacts their work has. |
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Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge
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3.1 |
What are the main gaps in information and understanding of the impact of your proposal? Please indicate how any gaps will be dealt with. |
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Gaps in data or knowledge |
Action to deal with this |
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None identified |
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Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.
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4.1 |
Please consider what the evidence tells you about the likely impact (positive or negative) on people sharing a protected characteristic, i.e. how significant could the impacts be if we did not make any adjustments? Remember the duty is also positive – so please identify where the proposal offers opportunities to promote equality and/or foster good relations. |
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Equality Groups and Human Rights. |
Key Findings/Impacts |
Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0) |
High (H) Medium (M) Low (L) |
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Age |
YCE are continuing to prioritise the most vulnerable households when installing energy efficiency measures, which includes those above the age of 65+
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L
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Disability
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YCE are continuing to prioritise the most vulnerable households when installing energy efficiency measures, which includes those with disabilities
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+
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L
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Gender
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No specific impacts identified
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Gender Reassignment |
No specific impacts identified
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Marriage and civil partnership |
No specific impacts identified |
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Pregnancy and maternity |
No specific impacts identified |
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Race |
No specific impacts identified
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Religion and belief |
No specific impacts identified |
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Sexual orientation |
No specific impacts identified
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Other Socio-economic groups including : |
Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes? |
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Carer |
No specific impacts identified
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Low income groups |
YCE are continuing to prioritise the most vulnerable households when installing energy efficiency measures, which includes those with low incomes
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L
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Veterans, Armed Forces Community |
No specific impacts identified |
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Other
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No specific impacts identified |
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Impact on human rights: |
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List any human rights impacted. |
25. Right of Social Service – This right describes that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including housing. By working to tackle fuel poverty and improve the energy efficiency of people’s homes, this project has a positive impact on this human right. |
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L |
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Use the following guidance to inform your responses:
Indicate:
- Where you think that the proposal could have a POSITIVE impact on any of the equality groups like promoting equality and equal opportunities or improving relations within equality groups
- Where you think that the proposal could have a NEGATIVE impact on any of the equality groups, i.e. it could disadvantage them
- Where you think that this proposal has a NEUTRAL effect on any of the equality groups listed below i.e. it has no effect currently on equality groups.
It is important to remember that a proposal may be highly relevant to one aspect of equality and not relevant to another.
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High impact (The proposal or process is very equality relevant) |
There is significant potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or public facing The proposal has consequences for or affects significant numbers of people The proposal has the potential to make a significant contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights.
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Medium impact (The proposal or process is somewhat equality relevant) |
There is some evidence to suggest potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or across services, but mainly internal The proposal has consequences for or affects some people The proposal has the potential to make a contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
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Low impact (The proposal or process might be equality relevant) |
There is little evidence to suggest that the proposal could result in adverse impact The proposal operates in a limited way The proposal has consequences for or affects few people The proposal may have the potential to contribute to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
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Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts
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5.1 |
Based on your findings, explain ways you plan to mitigate any unlawful prohibited conduct or unwanted adverse impact. Where positive impacts have been identified, what is been done to optimise opportunities to advance equality or foster good relations? |
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YCE have target outcome and outputs to meet and have to manage their staff capacity in meeting these targets. Currently there is a strong number of referrals from vulnerable groups. We have made other advice and support services that work with vulnerable groups aware of the YCE offer and have marketing support available to boost the visibility of the service in order to maximise positive equality impacts
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Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment
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6.1 |
Having considered the potential or actual impacts you should be in a position to make an informed judgement on what should be done. In all cases, document your reasoning that justifies your decision. There are four main options you can take: |
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- No major change to the proposal – the EIA demonstrates the proposal is robust. There is no potential for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact and you have taken all opportunities to advance equality and foster good relations, subject to continuing monitor and review. |
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- Adjust the proposal – the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations.
- Continue with the proposal (despite the potential for adverse impact) – you should clearly set out the justifications for doing this and how you believe the decision is compatible with our obligations under the duty
- Stop and remove the proposal – if there are adverse effects that are not justified and cannot be mitigated, you should consider stopping the proposal altogether. If a proposal leads to unlawful discrimination it should be removed or changed.
Important: If there are any adverse impacts you cannot mitigate, please provide a compelling reason in the justification column. |
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Option selected |
Conclusions/justification |
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- No major change to the proposal – the EIA demonstrates the proposal is robust. There is no potential for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact and you have taken all opportunities to advance equality and foster good relations, subject to continuing monitor and review.
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The proposal has positive impacts on equalities and there appears to be no potential for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact. |
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Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment
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7.1 |
What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment. |
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Impact/issue |
Action to be taken |
Person responsible |
Timescale |
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Ensuring positive impacts are optimised |
Revisit the EIA to consider how best to optimise the positive impacts on equalities once the grant agreement is signed and the full scope of the project is finalised. |
York UKSPF Team |
By December 2023 and every 6 months until the end of the project. |
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Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve
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8. 1 |
How will the impact of your proposal be monitored and improved upon going forward? Consider how will you identify the impact of activities on protected characteristics and other marginalised groups going forward? How will any learning and enhancements be capitalised on and embedded? |
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YCE will provide quarterly reports in order to release funding for projects. Within these reports, we will expect discussion around impacts and it is here where monitoring can occur. We will also be holding regular project meetings in the intervening periods of reporting and any immediate issues can be raised here also. We’ll revisit the EIA to consider how best to optimise the positive impacts on equalities once the grant agreement is signed and thereafter for every 6 months of the project.
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