City of York Council

Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		Place
Service Area:		Transport
Name of the proposal :		Enhanced Partnership for Buses
Lead officer:		Sam Fryers
Date assessment completed:		08/09/22
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise

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.

The council has recently received confirmation of £17.36m funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) in respect of York’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). The funding is conditional on the council setting up a statutory Enhanced Partnership (EP) with local bus operators. The funding will be used to improve local bus infrastructure, fares and services during the period 2022-2025, with the principal objective of growing patronage by 25%.

1.2	Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)
	Commercial bus operations in the UK remain deregulated as per the Transport Act 1985. Whilst the Enhanced Partnership will bring bus operators and the council into a statutory partnership, the vast majority of decisions around commercial bus service provision will remain the sole responsibility of independent bus operators.

1.3	Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?
	Service users- anyone who uses local bus services for any purpose. Bus operators- the service provider.

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.
	The EP has a stated objective to provide substantial growth in bus patronage across the city, helping to meet the Council Plan objectives ‘Getting around sustainably’ and ‘Good health and wellbeing’.

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
Statutory stakeholder consultation		To solicit the views of bus users and organisations representing bus users.

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 BSIP and draft EP provide high-level detail on desired outcomes and measures across the city. Many of the fine details of individual schemes and interventions are yet to be worked out.		Fine detail will be discussed and agreed through the forums and groups defined in the EP governance structure, once the partnership has been made.

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		Over 65’s already receive free off-peak bus travel, but will stand to benefit from many of the proposed BSIP improvements to bus infrastructure and information. However, the rate of post-Covid patronage recovery has been slow amongst this group, so the EP will need to work to address this.	+	M
Disability		Many disabled residents already receive free off-peak bus travel, but will stand to benefit from many of the proposed BSIP improvements to bus infrastructure and information. Proposed measures will improve provision of audio-visual information and introduce a customer charter with a specific objective of ensuring wheelchair users are not left behind by multiple buses. Requirement for disability representative on the EP Forum.	+	M
Gender		No effect	0
Gender Reassignment		No effect	0
Marriage and civil partnership		No effect	0
Pregnancy and maternity		No effect	0
Race		No effect	0
Religion and belief		No effect	0
Sexual orientation		No effect	0
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer		No effect	0
Low income groups		Proposed interventions will make certain categories of bus fare more affordable, specifically youth and multi-operator fares.	+	M
Veterans, Armed Forces Community		No effect	0
Other		No effect	0
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.		None	0

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?
No negative impacts have been identified. Positive impacts will be maximised by including representatives from groups with protected characteristics within the EP discussion forum.

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
No major change to the proposal.		Making an Enhanced Partnership will unlock £17.3m of central government funding and deliver significant improvements to local bus infrastructure, fares and services. No negative impacts of making an EP have been identified.

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?
	The Enhanced Partnership will include a Forum for stakeholders and passenger groups to provide feedback and recommendations, along with a Passenger Liaison group with a brief to set up regular bus user engagement events. Feedback from these will be considered and acted on as appropriate by the EP’s Operational Delivery Group.