City of York Council

Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		People
Service Area:		Education and Skills
Name of the proposal :		York’s 10-year Skills Strategy
Lead officer:		Alison Edeson / Maxine Squire
Date assessment completed:		28.01.22
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise
Alison Edeson	Skills Manager		City of York Council	Skills and Partnerships
Skills and Employment Board through monthly meetings to drive strategy development.

Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes 

1.1	What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon.
	To update the Executive about York’s 10-year Skills Strategy that has been developed through the city-wide partnership (Skills and Employment Board) and through consultation with businesses, Elected Members and other stakeholders, and to seek the support for the Council’s role, as a partner, in delivering its shared priorities.

1.2	Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)
	National and regional policy changes including the FE Whitepaper (January 2021) have been taken into account by the partnership in developing the strategy.

1.3

Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?

Skills and Employment Board is an outside body which comprises: Askham Bryan College, City of York Council, Department for Work and Pensions / JobCentre Plus, Grounded HR, Federation of Small Businesses, Netsells, Simpson York Limited, The Skills Network, Trade Union Congress, West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, University of York, York College, York & North Yorkshire LEP, York St John University. Stakeholders include policy makers, place shapers and customers e.g. public-funded, private, community and independent training and skills providers, schools, young people, parents and residents, employers, businesses looking to locate in York, Elected Members, industry bodies and policy makers and funding bodies.  The strategy supports inclusive growth in the city for the benefit of residents and businesses and sets out expectations about partnership working and skills provision in the city.

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 (2019- 2023) and other corporate strategies and plans.

Four main Council Plan priorities apply: Well-paid and an inclusive economy, A better start for children and young people, Safer communities and culture for all, An open and effective council. The Skills Strategy has been developed in support of inclusive economic growth and will be an appendix/supporting strategy to the Economic Growth Strategy. The Cultural Strategy, alignment with digital strategies and the developing Climate Change Strategy have been considered as part of the evidence base, as have regional skills related strategies (e.g. from York and North Yorkshire LEP) and national research and policy developments.  The strategy focuses on where the partnership approach can add value to the skills development in the city and is underpinned by principles of inclusivity and sustainability – these are: · Foster a culture of lifelong learning · Put mental health and well being at the centre of what we do · Focus on the demand for skills from businesses and residents as a priority · Ensure individuals have the all-round ‘people’ skills that employers want · Build and champion partnerships to enhance all aspects of skills provision · Positively include disadvantaged people when planning and delivering skills provision · Embrace technology and digitisation to maximise opportunities for people and businesses · Contribute to Net Zero ambitions by proactively adapting and developing skills provision The priorities within the strategy include the need to support levelling up across the city (and wider region), utilising talent more effectively so that people from all backgrounds can get better chances to access good jobs and enterprise for all.

Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback 

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.
Source of data/supporting evidence		Reason for using
An extensive list of resources is included at the end of the Strategy – all of which informed the underlying evidence base.		To ensure the skills strategy was underpinned by robust (and not anecdotal) evidence
Make it York Business Survey (Q2 2020)		Direct Business Engagement – impact of the pandemic on immediate and longer-term skills / recruitment needs.
Future of Work Research (University of York)
Sector Roundtables (Spring/Summer 2020)
Conversation with National Skills Academy for Rail (Oct 2020 and May 2021)		Sector skills needs (Rail Tech) in York
York Business Week Skills Event (Nov 2020)		Direct Business Engagement to promote skills support available and encourage businesses to work with skills providers to shape provision.
Business Leaders Group (Dec 2020)		Direct Business & Strategic Leaders Engagement
Explore Management Team (May 2021)		Alignment with Digital Inclusion and community learning partnership work.
Hospitality Summit (July 2021)		Direct Business Engagement – bringing Skills Board members and Hospitality partners together to address sector skills needs.
Hospitality Association Meeting (Sept 2021)		Direct engagement around the developing strategy and how partners can work together to deliver shared priorities.
Our Big Conversation survey  (ongoing)		Direct Business Engagement
Monthly Skills and Employment Board Meetings (Dec 2020 – Sept 2021)		To share emerging evidence base and feed in representation from employees, employers, skills providers and partners.
Executive Member Decision Sessions in September and December 2020, and March and April 2021		Public forum to support public and cross-party feedback. Important to provide opportunities for those not directly involved in strategy development to have their say, especially seldom heard or hard to reach.
The one-year skills plan (and evidence base to that point) was a key agenda item at the commissioned joint scrutiny session (Economy & Place and Children, Education & Communities) on 1 February 2021
Conversations with individual stakeholders (such as Guild of Media Arts) have also taken place during strategy development		Keen to receive input from interested stakeholders – particularly those who are not directly involved in strategy development, seldom heard or hard to reach.
10-year Skills Strategy was considered at the Economy and Place Scrutiny Forum on 28 September 2021 and will feature as an appendix to the developing Economic Growth Strategy.		Forum to support cross-party scrutiny / feedback
Further consultation with residents, schools and businesses is being planned with the Economic Development Team, Skills and Employment Board and partners.		This will be to inform the implementation plan and pick up more resident, young people and schools voices.

Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge

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.
Gaps in data or knowledge		Action to deal with this
The next stage is to develop implementation plans in conjunction with stakeholders e.g. rail sector		Further consultation with residents, schools and businesses is being planned with the Economic Development Team, Skills Board and partners.
10-years is a long horizion, especially with rapid changes in technology, education and work so the strategy needs to be able to evolve with local need.		Regular reviews and ongoing opportunities for stakeholder consultation.

Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.

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.
Equality Groups and Human Rights.		Key Findings/Impacts	Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0)	High (H) Medium (M) Low (L)
Age		The strategy emphasises an all age approach, and aims to help overcome key challenges around an aging workforce.	+	M
Disability		The strategy aims to support people from all backgrounds but no specific initiative around disability. However, ED&I is a key area in supporting employers to better utilise talent.	0	L
Gender		The strategy has key priorities aimed at supporting women out of low paid, part-time work and also aspirations around women into STEM and entrepreneurship	+	M
Gender Reassignment			0
Marriage and civil partnership			0
Pregnancy and maternity			0
Race		The strategy has key priorities aimed at supporting people from all backgrounds including different ethnicities in to good jobs, high skilled and STEM occupations	+	M
Religion and belief			0
Sexual orientation			0
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer		The strategy has key priorities aimed at supporting people out of low paid, lower skilled roles and into good jobs through Information, advice and guidance, reskilling and upskilling. This will possibly benefit veterans etc and will not disadvantage them.	0
Low income groups		The strategy has key priorities aimed at supporting people out of low paid, lower skilled roles and into good jobs through Information, advice and guidance, reskilling and upskilling.	+	M
Veterans, Armed Forces Community		The strategy has key priorities aimed at supporting people out of low paid, lower skilled roles and into good jobs through Information, advice and guidance, reskilling and upskilling This will possibly benefit veterans etc and will not disadvantage them.	0	L
Other
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.

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.

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.
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
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

Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts

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?

Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment

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:
- 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.
- 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.
Option selected		Conclusions/justification

Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment

7.1	What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment.
Impact/issue		Action to be taken	Person responsible	Timescale

Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve

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?